Diabulimia... The Eating Disorder that Strikes Diabetic Teens
Diabulemia is a new phrase for a phenomenon that is not very well-known. It is another form of bulimia, an eating disorder that typically strikes teens and young adults who are type 1 diabetics.
People with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin everyday for the rest of their lives, because their pancreas no longer produces it. Insulin helps the body process blood glucose by allowing the glucose to move out of the blood and into the cells for energy. When the body doesn't make insulin, glucose keeps circulating in the blood, rising to higher and higher levels. This produces many symptoms, one of which is rapid weight loss as the body is starved for energy.
The disorder occurs when teens with type 1 start to withhold their insulin doses in order to lose weight. Girls, typically, who are obsessively concerned about body image and being thin, may adopt this disordered pattern of skipping their insulin doses to just taking the bare minimum dose to survive.
This eating disorder is extremely dangerous. Blood sugar that is too high for too long can cause serious complications. Diabetes is the number one cause of blindness in this country. Cardiovascular damage is also a complication of long periods of high blood sugar. Complications can include:
In addition to these complications, diabetic ketoacidosis can also develop if blood sugar goes too high. This is a life-threatening condition that requires immediate emergency intervention and can be fatal.
What can parents do to help their teen? Kids with diabetes, who are not in good metabolic control, are more likely to suffer from the complications of uncontrolled blood glucose. Early treatment is important because the longer an eating disorder continues, the harder it is to treat.
More from About.com's Eating Disorders Guide, Matt Tiemeyer... More from your Diabetes Guide... Photo by Blake Campbell
Thanks for putting this information out there. My daughter is a type 1 who developed Diabulimia after being diagnosed. The tragedy is that her endocrinologist advised her on how to misuse her insulin to lose weight. He nor any other healthcare specialist have ever mentioned this condition. I am outraged that information about diabulimia is not a common component of diabetic education. I plan on advocating for that change until it is a reality. Thanks for helping.
Im a juvenile diabetic, I was diagnosed when I was 9 years old, I am currently 21, yet I have not been diagnosed with Diabulemia, but have been neglecting my body by not treating my juvenile diabetes with the correct amount of insulin. I do believe that this, condition should be known, and obviously it’s not!! This makes me very angry, none of my endocrinologists have ever even thought that this could be the case with me. Even though I have known what I was doing I never told them. So I think if this was taught to new comers of juvenile diabetes, that it may bring awarness to young women and their families so that when they see the changes, just as they notice the ketones as they become present something can be done! This needs to happen. I strongly suggest it!! I have been a diabulemic for 6 years now and we have a choice in one hand life and the other death. Knowing the consequences and what can and will happen still doesnt change my mind, I still choose death! This must change for the rest of these young women, I struggle everyday and fight and argue with my mother everyday over things that I know I should be doing. So please if the information is out there on the internet, then why not in the doctors offices?? If it was maybe people being affected by diabulemia would try to find out more about it and find other ways of losing weight instead of putting their lives in jeopardy. Please all I ask for is for it to be talked about..