Diabetic Women 'Skip Insulin To Lose Weight'

Status
Not open for further replies.
Northerner

Northerner

Admin (Retired)
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Relatives of an anorexic woman who died after missing insulin jabs to lose weight say sufferers only get help when it is too late.

The lack of treatment on offer for diabetics who also suffer from eating disorders is a "national scandal", campaigners have warned.

Research suggests women who have type 1 diabetes are twice as likely to develop bulimia or anorexia, while 40% of sufferers aged 15 to 40 regularly skip life-saving insulin jabs in an attempt to keep their weight under control.

Missing the medication on a regular basis can cause infertility, organ failure, blindness and even death - but a specialist charity is claiming that many GPs are dismissive of the dual condition, which is sometimes referred to as "diabulimia".

Among those demanding greater support for sufferers is the family of Lisa Day, a diabetic student nurse who died after deliberately missing her insulin doses to drop dress sizes.

http://news.sky.com/story/1680366/diabetic-women-skip-insulin-to-lose-weight

Diabetics With Eating Disorders (DWED) can be contacted at http://www.dwed.org.uk/
 
Yes they do. I was diagnosed in 1988 and in the ward I was put in was a young lady who was in there because of that.
 
Austin Mini said:
Yes they do. I was diagnosed in 1988 and in the ward I was put in was a young lady who was in there because of that.
Click to expand...
The most difficult thing about it is that there are people trained in treating eating disorders, but who know nothing about diabetes, and people who know a lot about diabetes but nothing about anorexia and bulimia. It's such a dangerous combination but difficult to get 'joined-up' help, which is what DWED try to help with. They are an excellent charity and well worth supporting - they have very few resources and the problem is much underestimated.
 
Could we organise some sort of fundraising event for them?
 
Blimey O 'Reilly that's a very nice erm...,..... steam iron.

All power to you for what you did for them. I will just PayPal them a donation as I lack your personal flair for theatrical attire 😛
 
I am so glad the excellent DWED exists as sadly diabulimia is not an uncommon problem.

From my experience 25 years back there was absolutely no joined up thinking and help around. Trying to get help was a real battle, I was classed as an anorexic with Type 1 and went to an eating disorders clinic and a diabetes clinic. Thankfully the Doctor I saw at the eating disorders clinic was very helpful and we worked a plan to attack both problems but it took me years to start to behave differently. It is a vicious spiral of an illness with devastating consequences that is an enormous struggle to get out of and to not lapse back into. I still have little gremlins in my head sometimes all these years on but I manage to keep a lid on them.

I found the fixation - or so it seemed to me - with weight at every diabetes clinic through my teens and early 20's really hard to cope with. Being told to watch your weight when I was never overweight reinforced to me that my weight must be a problem. I can't remember the actual trigger that sent me down the path of manipulating insulin but I must have rationlised it to myself somehow. I had so many medics say to me 'just stop doing what you're doing and eat and inject normally' but that was the issue, I couldn't - even though I knew the dangers.

At least it is recognised as an illness these days but stories like this make me so sad.
 
This is very sad, and as someone who was the owner of an eating disorder when younger (before the diabetes) I can only really say, there but for the grace of God. I find the focus on food and control exceptionally difficult, because that's exactly what an eating disorder is, it's about controlling something, because inside you feel so very out of control in every way. I circled very close to an eating disorder after diagnosis, very very close, because the carb counting and controlling every morsel element of the regime pressed every single psychological button I have. It made me feel calm and focused, just like controlling food did back then. My flavour was limiting food, so the constant focus on food is very difficult for me, and the little control freak inside bloody loves the fact that I can see the result of that deprivation with the prize of a within range blood sugar. All the focus on diet also brings out the type A over achiever in me too, I was born with "get out my way I can do it" tattooed on my forehead. The only saving grace for me, that stopped me slipping over to the dark side was the fact that I'm more petrified of DKA than anything given the 62mmol/l blood sugar on diagnosis, that scared the bejeesus out of me, but that also presses a button, because the fear makes me crave low and controllable blood sugar. The most alarming part for me is that I'm a 40 odd year old woman, I have the experience to know what all this is, yet I displayed alarming signals to the dietician, DSN and consultant, they used words like releasing control, and I responded in a way that should have set alarms bells ringing in fierce stereo, yet absolutely nothing, and I was really really struggling, still am if I'm honest. If they couldn't spot my signals they've got no chance with a teenager or young adult who is actively hiding it, none whatsoever. Why on earth isn't diabulemia a recognised condition? We should start raising awareness about that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top