Blood Sugar Diet Magic?
Today, CNN highlighted a supposedly new eating disorder, diabulimia. Apparently, 34 year old Lee Ann Thill was at a diabetic camp for teenage girls when she overheard counsellors reprimanding another camper for not taking her insulin so that she could lose weight. That lead to 17 years of taking “just enough insulin to function.”
The practice has seemingly been around for a long time, especially amongst young girls with uncontrolled type I (juvenile) diabetes. But it’s becoming more prevalent recently, in part due to the tips exchanged on diabetes and eating disorder internet bulletin boards. One expert suggests that 450,000 US type I girls - about one third of current diagnosed cases - have at some point practiced diabulimia. It does makes sense that juvenile diabetes would predispose people for disordered eating - to control it well, it means occupying your thoughts with carb counting and adhering to a specific diet. At most, if not all, times.
From the CNN article:
Jacq Allan, 26, of London, is a diabulimic.
“I’m constantly worried that my eyes are going to go, but they seem relatively OK for the moment,” she said. “I always wonder if this will be the day that some major organ fails. I kind of want something to happen because then maybe I’ll stop.”
The risks? Namely, early onset of diabetic complications, especially those related to eyesight and kidney function. Missing or lowering insulin doses can lead to hyperglycemia, which then leads to excessive urination and weight loss. My favourite effect of diabulimia is hypoglycemia. This leads to all kinds of horrible complications, such as shakiness and dysphoria.
As a side effect of my long-term eating disorder, I was diagnosed as hypoglycemic about eight years ago. I was also warned that if I did not get control over my disordered eating habits, I would likely become diabetic. I’m thinking, maybe that in light of diabulimia’s existence, that wasn’t such an unnerving threat.
bulimia, juvenile diabetes, diabetes type 1, diabulimia, insulin, hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, dysphoria, organ failure, pro-ana websites
June 19th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
That’s insane. I have known many diabetics dependant on insulin. It’s insulting to them to think tht this is a new trend. i’ve seen the shock people go into when the levels get out of whack. To go through that to loose weight…
June 22nd, 2007 at 8:39 am
[...] that some of the pictures I’ve posted have been triggering. But the main problem was that in my post a few days ago about diabulimia, I had said my favourite effect of diabulimia … shakiness and [...]
July 24th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
I read that too and was kind of surprised…