Diabulimia

Nurses General Nursing

Published

wow

watching the morning show on fox 2 about a couple young girls afflicted with diabulimia..

diabulimia (a portmanteau of diabetes and bulimia) refers to persons with type 1 diabetes who omit their insulin injections for the purpose of weight loss. without the insulin injections, blood sugar levels rise as the cells cannot take in glucose. the body, in an attempt to lower the blood sugar, spills excess glucose into the urine.

prior to a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes there is a weight loss but, upon diagnosis, a person with type 1 diabetes is put on insulin injections, a more controlled diet, and several blood sugar checks a day. the weight that was lost is quickly gained back. however, someone who realizes that omitting or severely reducing insulin dosages leads to weight loss may be tempted to do so, especially if the individual believes they are overweight. omitting insulin injections does have the effect of losing weight, even though appetite and thirst increase, as well as urine volume.

has anyone seen this before? i'm wondering how common it is.

any thoughts?

read wikipedia article in its entirety:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/diabulimia

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Specializes in Geriatrics/Family Practice.

I've heard of this but so far have never witnessed it. I work family practice and internal med and figure it's just a matter of time before one of our young diabetics start doing this.

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

I had never heard this. I will do some more research on this. Thanks for posting!!

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Yes, have seen this often.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.

Haven't seen it but it is a topic of discussion on my Type 1 message board. And many parents are concern about it.

Woody:balloons:

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Specializes in SICU, EMS, Home Health, School Nursing.

I know of several young girls that do this and no matter how much people stress that it is hurting them, they continue to do it.

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Had a patient in my nursing home who was only 37 years old. That's how she ended up in the nursing home at such a young age. She is literally killing herself. She refused for us to do her acuchecks. She did not like out lancets. So she used her own kit. One day she told me her results were like 130's--required no sliding scale coverage. Then when her stat labs came back it was really 516!! When I mentioned that to her she just shrugged. Spoke to family who then told us that yes she used this to control her weight. She was also bulimic.

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Specializes in Trauma ICU,ER,ACLS/BLS instructor.
Wow

Watching the morning show on Fox 2 about a couple young girls afflicted with diabulimia..

_Diabetes Forecast(OCT2007) has Elliott Yamin on the cover, he talks about his crisis with diabetes as a teen. People Mag. did a thing on it a few weeks ago also. Very frightening.

Thanks for the post!

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Yes, have seen this often.

Please enlighten us :)

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
Please enlighten us :)

I have not only have first-hand clinical experience but a personal investment regarding the subject of bulimia and diabulimia.

The insulin-dependent DM patients with diabulimia that I've treated are very intelligent and have done a lot of research about diabetes, treatment(s), diet, etc. So, they are very well educated about DM.

Most had body dysmorphic issues (BDD). The injection itself would cause anxiety due to "leaving a mark on my (insert body part)". Many would present with severe dehydration and DKA requiring extensive and multiple hospitalization(s).

They have dual issues and as we know, DM is hard enough to manage without the additional eating disorder issue as well. I've listened as they would literally beg to be dx with a diabetic-related complication so they would stop.

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Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

Hmmm...interesting...learn something new every day. Thx for posting.

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Specializes in ITU/Emergency.

I looked after a 32 year old woman who had incredibly poor compliance and withheld her insulin, not due to bulimia but the end result is the same. She was almost blind, had kidney failure, peripheral neuropathy and a mulitude of other problems. She was a frequent attender in the ED and the last time I saw her she presented with a swollen ankle. She had fallen a week earlier, injuring her ankle but didn't seek medical attention at the time. Her father visited her a week later and bought her into the ED as her ankle was grossly swollen and discolored. On xray she had a nasty spiral fracture of the distal 1/3 tib and fib with marked talur shift and obvious displacement. Due to her neuropathy she couldn't feel any pain and due to her blindness, she couldn't see the extent of the damage. The ortho team said she would never have full function even if it healed after surgery. So sad, she was lovely but no one could get her to comply with treatment.

I appreciate that these women are often highly intelligent and understand the damage they are doing to their bodies but unless you have seen someone who is suffering from DM complications, than I am not sure it sinks in. My heart goes out to them.

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