If You Skip Your Insulin You May Even Die of Diabulimia
Diabulimia is a new term used to describe an eating disorder that’s beginning to victimize type I diabetics.
 |
|
| NovoFine Insulin Pen |
As with any other eating disorder, teens are the likeliest to develop it, but any diabetic dependent on insulin can become a victim. Diabulimia is developed when a type I diabetic begins to skip scheduled insulin injections as a means of weight loss.
Unfortunately, skipping an insulin dose can be too easy of a fix. Prior to diagnosis of type I diabetes, many will experience significant weight loss due to uncontrolled sugar levels. Once control of these levels is achieved, weight gain is inevitable and in teens, this can be devastating. As a result, skipping insulin is used and leads to hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia leads to excessive urinating which aids in the weight loss.
The risks of this disorder are very dangerous and include retinopathy, hypoglycemia, and diabetic ketoacidosis. It’s important if you have a type I diabetic in your home, to know the warning signs of this disorder.
If any potential signs of Diabulimia are witnessed, the patients healthcare provider should be notified immediately. Uncontrolled sugar levels can be extremely dangerous and should not be taken lightly. Although complications can be years coming, the set up for them occurs slowly and when they strike they can be devastating. Not taking the high levels seriously can be a deadly game and the invincibility many teens feel can make it worse.One expert who has studied the phenomenon estimates that 450,000 Type 1 diabetic women in the United States - one-third of the total - have skipped or shortchanged their insulin to lose weight and are risking a coma and an early death.
Type 1 diabetes is a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. People with this disease produce little or no insulin, so they take shots of the hormone daily.
It differs from Type 2, the form associated with obesity and which accounts for about 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes.
Insulin is vital for delivering glucose from the bloodstream to the body’s cells. Without insulin, cells starve even while the bloodstream becomes burdened with too much glucose.
When Type 1 diabetics skip or reduce their insulin, they risk falling into a coma or even dying. Blindness, amputations and kidney failure are some of the possible long-term complications.
Warning signs for diabulimia include a change in eating habits - typically someone who eats more but still loses weight - low energy and high blood-sugar levels, Goebel-Fabbri said. Frequent urination is another signal. When sugars are high, the kidneys work overtime to filter the excess glucose from the blood.
This purging of sugar from the body through the kidneys is similar to someone with bulimia, who binges and then purges, or vomits, Anderson said.
Studies show that women with Type 1 diabetes are twice as likely to develop an eating disorder. Ironically, good diabetes management, which requires a preoccupation with food, counting carbohydrates and following a diet, may lead some to form an unhealthy association with food, Goebel-Fabbri said.
Filed under Diabetes, Insulin, Obesity | Tags: Signs, type 1 diabetes | 1 Comment
October 1st, 2008 at 9:51 am
que pasa si por error un diatebico metitius tipo 2 insulino dependiente desde 18 años no se le pone insulina durante 4 dias
atte.
aida