#diabulimia

[yurimage]

National Eating Disorder Awareness Week - Diabulimia

CW // Disordered eating

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Transcript Below

Diabulimia- Diabulimia is the informal term for an eating disorder specific to type 1 diabetics in which someone with the disorder intentionally restricts their insulin in order to lose weight. Although not listed as an official diagnosis in the DSM-V, it is an incredibly prevalent and dangerous eating disorder.

Type 1 Diabetes- Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disorder of the pancreas. Typically, the pancreas secretes insulin, a hormone that takes glucose from the blood and moves it into cells in order to be used as energy. However, in T1D, the body attacks itself and destroys the cells that secrete insulin. Without insulin, glucose from food sits around in the blood and builds up– causing a condition called hyperglycemia.¹ There’s currently no cure for T1D, so patients with the condition need to take insulin as injections or delivered through an insulin pump. T1D is irreversible, and life long, so patients need to take insulin for the rest of their lives.¹ T1D and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are not the same. In T2D, the pancreas still has insulin secreting cells; however, the body can’t properly use the insulin due to a high level of insulin resistance.² Because of the differences between T1D and T2D, diabulimia can only occur in those with T1D.

Insulin Restriction- In the absence of insulin, glucose can’t enter cells and instead stays in the bloodstream. Eventually, the body attempts to flush out excess glucose through urine– leading to severe dehydration. Since cells can’t get energy from glucose in this scenario, they instead try to get it from other sources– the body’s muscles and fat stores begin to be broken down for energy. This state is biologically the same as starvation as calories from food in the form of glucose are leaving the body before being used. The loss of calories and breakdown of fat and muscle, coupled with the loss of water weight from dehydration, lead to rapid weight loss.³ In diabulimia, insulin is restricted intentionally with the goal to lose weight.

DKA- In the short term, diabulimia leads to frequent urination and severe dehydration, immense fatigue and nausea and vomiting.³ If left untreated, these high blood sugars will eventually lead to a condition called Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA occurs when fat is broken down in the body. The breakdown of fat releases acidic compounds called ketones. Eventually, with enough build up of ketones, the blood itself becomes acidic and may eventually lead to coma or death.⁴ DKA must be treated in a hospital setting; and as such, is often the way that diabulimics are first treated for their eating disorders.

Health Consequences- Consistently high blood sugars will eventually lead to severe diabetic complications such as neuropathy (nerve damage), retinopathy (damage to the retinas in the eyes) or kidney disease.³ While long term health effects like eye damage and kidney disease are already common complications for those with T1D, diabulimia significantly increases the risk for these complications. A Japanese study found that insulin restriction was the most significant factor in developing retinopathy and kidney disease; meaning that these complications were more strongly correlated with insulin restriction than other factors such as how long someone had been diagnosed with T1D.⁵

Prevalence and Risk- When compared to girls without T1D, those in the same age range that were diagnosed with T1D were around 2.4 times more likely to have an eating disorder ⁶ One study that surveyed 112 teens with T1D found that around 27% restricted insulin dosages ⁷ An 11-year study found that those with T1D who restricted insulin had a risk of death 3.2 times higher than diabetics who did not ⁸

Why I'm Making This- Accessing treatment for diabulimia is incredibly difficult. When I first began to look for inpatient eating disorder treatment, I was turned down from every residential and inpatient facility in my state. The only reason I got into a residential that time was because my mom is a very determined and very convincing woman (she threatened to sue them). And that isn’t even accounting for the lack of diabulimia specific treatment. My last time in treatment, the hospital I was at recommended I enter inpatient; however, there ended up being only a few inpatient centers with diabulimia experience in my country-- the closest one rejected me because they couldn’t find an endocrinologist to oversee my diabetes care. This lack of treatment is especially dangerous with how severe the health consequences of diabulimia are. In fact, since beginning work on this infographic, I found out I may have kidney damage. Yes, as a result of diabulimia. I also have permanent eye damage, neuropathy, and I’m finally (3 months after leaving the hospital) recovering from the short term health consequences of my disorder. And even I am luckier than a lot of other diabulimics. With a disease so prevalent, and so, so dangerous, you’d think there would be enough support in treating it. But there isn’t. Largely I think, because most people simply don’t know that it exists. My only hope with making this infographic is that we can change that.

Sources:

1- “What is Type 1 Diabetes?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed January 31, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/what-is-type-1-diabetes.html.

2- “Type 2 Diabetes.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed January 31, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/type2.html.

3- “Diabulimia.” Cleveland Clinic. Accessed January 31, 2024. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22658-diabulimia.

4- “Diabetic Ketoacidosis.” Mayo Clinic. Accessed February 11, 2024. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetic-ketoacidosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20371551

5- Takii, Masato, et. al.. “The Duration of Severe Insulin Omission Is the Factor Most Closely Associated with the Microvascular Complications of Type 1 Diabetic Females with Clinical Eating Disorders.” International Journal of Eating Disorders 41, no. 3 (April 2008): 259–64. doi:10.1002/eat.20498.

6- Jones, Jennifer M. “Eating Disorders in Adolescent Females with and without Type 1 Diabetes: Cross Sectional Study.” BMJ: British Medical Journal (International Edition) 320, no. 7249 (June 10, 2000): 1563. doi:10.1136/bmj.320.7249.1563.

7- Markowitz JT, et. al.. “Brief Screening Tool for Disordered Eating in Diabetes: Internal Consistency and External Validity in a Contemporary Sample of Pediatric Patients with Type 1 Diabetes.” Diabetes Care 33, no. 3 (March 2010): 495–500. doi:10.2337/dc09-1890.

8- Goebel-Fabbri, Ann E., et. al.. “Insulin Restriction and Associated Morbidity and Mortality in Women with Type 1 Diabetes.” Diabetes Care 31, no. 3 (March 2008): 415–19. doi:10.2337/dc07-2026.

#type 1 diabetes #type 1 diabetic #diabulimia #national eating disorder awareness week #neda #eating disorder recovery #diabulimia recovery #mental health #mental health awareness #national eating disorder awareness #diabetes #i tried to make it like an infographic but i write too much and so it's more like a powerpoint... oops... #anyways idk i just wanted more info about this to be out here so i made this #please reblog it would mean a lot <3 #zelle.txt

[wishbonezz444]

🎀⭐️💫

#i just want to be th1n #th11n$p0 #th17 #th1gh gap #th1n$po #thinspri #th1gh gab #tw ed relapse #b0nesp0 #tw ana thoughts #tw ed vent #not pr0just for my self #notpro4n4 #diabulimia #thin$p0

[st4rvingmys3lf]

I can't ever recover.

That isnt me being all depressed and pessimistic. Its just the truth.

There will never be a time where I dont look at the back of a food packet to read the numbers. Recovering from an ed means you stop caring about or counting the numbers.

I literally cannot. I rely on those numbers to live.

Being diabetic means I will always need to count carbs. Therefore always looking at the numbers. Seeing the numbers.

How could I ever recover when I will be followed with numbers all my life.

Dont even get me started on the diabetes medical team and dietician. The check ups where they obsess over your weight, what you eat, how much insulin, your blood sugars, your carb intake.

It's not surprising so many diabetics get eating disorders when tahts what we deal with. And will always deal with.

So no. I can never recover.

It's just not realistic.

#pro 4na #pr0 ana diary #4na #diabetes #pr0 m14 #tw m14 #4n4 diet #4n0r3x14 #4n4 tips #4norex1c #dia bulimia #diabulimia #t1diabetic #tw ana thoughts #tw 4n4 #type one diabetes #t1d problems #not pr0 just for myself #m14

[junkiethin]

⚠️Block if you don’t want to see content like this, don’t report please and thank you

About me

20 years old👵

swedish🇸🇪

adhd/autism/cptsd📍

LOOOVE ghost hunting/paranormal stuff so much i think it’s so fun👻🔍

have had a huge interest in dinosaurs since the age of 8🦕🦖

dr|_|g add!ct👟🧊

chaotic w no interest in getting better

PRO RECOVERY❤️‍🩹 (just not for me atm)

diagnosed with ana but also have diabulimic tendencies🍽️

type 1 diabetic💉

have gotten hospitalised about 40x for consequences of my ed/diabetes combo

didnt struggle with an ed until 17⚖️

just here to vent/rant/keep some sort of diary of my life and also hopefully feel less alone📝📆

i am active since oct 2023, looking for like-minded people

#anorex14 #ed not sheeren #tw ana diary #tw ana shit #tw disordered eating #4n0r3xia #diabulimia #ed intro

[one-sadness]

it sucks when u cant even take your insulin without having a mental breakdown. life of a type 1 who struggles with weight and looks is dreadfull.

#tw ed diet #t1diabetic #diabulimia #tw self destructive behavior

[doctornowscokenail]

any1 else with an ed & T1D really struggle with not binging when they have a hypo??? it’s like someone else completely takes over my body and i can’t stop shoving food in my mouth.

#ed vent #t1d #ed but not sheeran #diabulimia

[trinitycove]

Ever been to America? And thought s?

I almost went to New York City when I was in 10th grade, before I quit, but I was very sick with Diabulimia and ended up not being able to go. This was 2010. I have thought about visiting there my whole life because when I was very young I thought about being a model, fashion designer, and writer at different times. I thought New York City was the place to be for those careers.

#me #ask #america #usa #new york city #t1d #diabulimia

[blue-imelda]

Self-conscious, itchy girl

You scratch too deep

With ruthless claws

Rip trenches across your body

Ruin what was once capable

of blooming the wildest tangles

of blue, trumpeted morning glories,

with leaves on the vine shaped like something to celebrate;

Valentine hearts.

—You are losing yourself in every way imaginable

Oh, you dumb, wilted thing

#my words #words #poetry #writings #diabulimia #eating disorder #personal #aubrey dunn #red Kewpie Doll

[yoursadboi]

take your insulin

take your insulin

take your insulin

#ed #type one diabetes #diabulimia #t1d

[wishbonezz444]

Is there anyone else that has type 1 diabetes and is trying to lose weight by skipping their insulin .

Just want to know and to see if anyone is in the same situation as me so I could follow similar people

#i just want to be th1n #th17 #th11n$p0 #th1gh gap #th1n$po #thinspri #th1gh gab #tw ed relapse #b0nesp0 #tw ana thoughts #tw ed vent #not pr0just for my self #notpro4n4 #diabulimia #d1abul1mia #tw ana relapse #anaorexya

[st4rvingmys3lf]

What is diabulimia (ED-T1)

This is copy/pasted from a dm I sent someone, excuse any mistakes

Feel free to ask questions or correct me

Basically it's an eating disorder that only type 1 diabetics can get. Type 1 is where the pancreas cant produce insulin which is needed to convert the food we eat into energy. Without this the body makes blood sugar go very high, and produce ketones which is like acidic poison basically which is very harmful to the body. One ofThe first signs of diabetes is extreme weight loss. This is because when the food we eat cant be turned into energy, the body almost eats itself, fat and muscle, to get energy to survive. This is how I was diagnosed. Once diagnosed t1 diabetics need to take insulin injections with food and 1 regularly either at night or in the morning. The doses vary person to person meal to meal.

A person with diabulimia purposefully takes less insulin than directed, or none at all. This is to purposefully send blood sugars high and develop ketones. Like pre diagnosis, with the insulin, the body cant turn that food into anything. It gets flushed out of your system basically. And like pre-diagnosis this will cause extreme weight loss depending on how much insulin is restricted etc. However it's very dangerous. Diabulimia is classed as the most deadly/dangerous ed despite not being officially recognised as a diagnosis. It can cause blindness, need for amputation, stroke, coma death etc. And these effects can all happen quite quickly. For me I basically restrict as much insulin as possible, but take just enough so I dont drop dead.

If you are diabetic PLEASE do not do this. I am already disordered and spreading awareness haha

#4n4 diet #tw 4n4 #pr0 3d #not pr0 just for myself #4n0r3x14 #4norex1c #4n4 tips #pr0 m14 #tw m14 #pro 4na #diabetes #dia bulimia #pr0 ana diary #diabulimia #diabetic #t1diabetic #t1d problems #T1 ED #type one diabetes

[xxb0n3s-and-ash3sxx]

ugh i swear to god if my blood glucose doesn't stop going below 90, forcing me to eat, i'm going to lose it. I've only eaten 368 cals today, and I'd like to keep it that way, but if I eat something small/low cal to try and fix it instead of a whole meal, it usually doesn't have enough carbs in it to keep the sugar up, making it come back down below 100 after like 20 minutes. I hate being disordered and diabetic. How can i stick to my limit and rules for myself if this shit is preventing me, and making me go above what i wanted to. :(

Not taking my insulin doesn't make me lose weight like i hear for most people. I think it's because my pancreas still works a little bit from "the honeymoon phase", or i just don't have that symptom. How can I lose weight like this.

#notprojustusingthetags #tw ed diet #disordered eating thoughts #anor3x14 #edn0s #ednso #diabulimia

[suspendedinthevalley]

my a1c is the lowest it’s been since i developed diabulimia and i’m so proud of myself for continuing to recover despite all the stuff that’s gone on in the last year :)

#a1c #type one diabetic #diabulimia #diabulimia recovery #personal #me #remember this

[ka1zer0]

I was doing so well for so long but it was so hard to just keep going on, day after day, it felt like I was going to break soon, then something traumatic happened (my bf made an attempt while intoxicated) and my mood got all unbalanced, I had a 4 day long manic episode, didn't eat the whole time (~70 hours), essentially relapsing into ED, ran out of insulin in my pump and my sensor expired and because I wasn't eating I didn't bother changing those, ended up crashing into a depressive episode, realized I'm actually sewerslidal, had a whole mental breakdown and relapsed into SH, got psychotic episodes, took meds, had an episode with vivid hallucinations and for most of it I thought it was all real, stayed at home for a month, not seeing anyone, got so sick from not doing insulin for a month that one night I just started violently throwing up and now I'm "trying to get better" at least to balance my body out a bit before I fully get back on my shit. I'm planning on restricting again for as long as I do insulin, and eventually I'll probably stop doing some for a while again. I lost like 4kg this month. Seems like nobody noticed, or they just don't want to bring it up. I know they wouldn't want to bring it up because they know it's bad for me, and tbh I'm at a healthy weight so it's not an issue, but I want to get so thin that they have to come up to me and tell me "yo dude, you don't look okay, you've lost so much weight and it's worrying" and I'll just play it off like everything else, mostly because it won't be a big deal in my head, until either being underweight or ketoacidosis gets me hospitalized (probably the latter cause let's be honest, I've only been a normal weight for 2 years out of 21)

So that's my recap for the time I was gone, not that anyone reads these, but I guess I do, as like a little diary ig...

#diabulimia

[enthusiasticallydawn]

Reckless Grace: A Mother's Crash Course in Mental Illness Book Review

I am sharing a few thoughts on a book called, Reckless Grace: A Mother’s Crash Course in Mental Illness by Carolyn DiPasquale. The book follows the lives of a mother (Carolyn) and her daughter (Rachel) in a unique way. I am hard pressed to find a comparison to give that would help, but as I do, one book comes to mind- a book I read in high-school, “Go Ask Alice”. However, that is too limiting,…

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#books #Carolyn DiPasquale #child loss #depression #Diabulimia #eating disorders #faith and grief #Journal writing #mental health #Mental Illness #Mothers and Daughters #recklessgracestory