A Case of Diabulimia: Skipping Insulin is NOT EQUAL to Weight Loss

Filed in archive Information , News , Treatment on June 17, 2007

Forcing one's self to throw up after eating in order to lose weight is called bulimia. This disorder is very common in teenage girls obsessed with their appearance and losing weight.

If you are a diabetic and you'd skip your insulin shot to lose weight is now called "diabulimia". One consequence of uncontrolled type 1 diabetes is weight loss. However skipping insulin doesn't mean you will lose weight but you could die.

As in the case of a bulemic diabetic obsessed with her appearance - Lee Ann Thil - a type 1 diabetic who didn't stop at forcing herself to throw up but skipped insulin too just so she'll lose weight. She did this for the next 17 years.

According to Thill, now 34, of Magnolia, N.J.:

"I took just enough insulin to function. I'm fearful for the future. I feel very strongly that had I taken care of myself, I could have lived as long as anyone without diabetes. I don't think that's going to happen now."

Today Thill is worried about the long-term damage brought about by her weight obsessed past: At 25, a blood vessel hemorrhage in her eye required surgery; At 28, doctors told her she had damaged kidneys.

Usually practiced by teenage girls and young women, diabulimia may be growing more common as the secret is now being exchanged on Internet bulletin boards for diabetics and those with eating disorders.

According to Ann Goebel-Fabbri, a clinical psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston:

"People who do this behavior wind up with severe diabetic complications much earlier."

According to Barbara Anderson, a pediatrics professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston:

The American Diabetes Association has long known about insulin omission as a tactic to lose weight.
But "diabulimia" is a term that has only cropped up in recent years and is not a recognized medical condition."

This is pretty scary. Parents should more vigilant - if your young child(ren) (especially if they're teenage girls!) is (are) type 1 diabetic(s) - in tracking your kid's condition and medication.

Find more details from the full report.