Most of us have heard of some of the most common eating disorders, like anorexia and bulimia.
We also know some of the signs of disordered eating, like a fixation on the scale, secretive eating habits, and a sudden personality shift.
But there's an eating disorder that many have never heard of, even though it affects a lot of people: diabulimia.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association:
Diabulimia is an eating disorder which may affect those with type 1 diabetes. Diabulimia is the reduction of insulin intake to lose weight. Diabulimia is considered a dual diagnosis disorder: where one has diabetes as well as an eating disorder.
Natalie Ann Holborow, who has type 1 diabetes, suffered from diabulimia for a while. Now, she’s encouraging people to learn more and pushing for increased awareness.
Read Natalie's story below and learn more about why she thinks more people should know about diabulimia.
Thumbnail Photo: Instagram / Natalie Ann Holborow
[H/T: Distractify]
Natalie shared a post on August 27, 2o16, and it immediately got a lot of attention.
As of this writing, the post has over 1,000 reactions.
Natalie wrote:
This is a difficult one to post but one I feel is important because “diabulimia” is STILL not recognised as an official medical term in Type 1 diabetics and this desperately needs to change.
Insulin restriction, or diabulimia, is an eating disorder which affects as many as 1 in 3 diabetic females (obviously males can suffer too but the vast majority are females).
On the left, I was 22 years old, severely underweight and in outpatients treatment. I was terribly affected by the bullying I went through in school and lost a massive amount of weight by skipping not only meals but cutting back on insulin, something which is life-threatening as a type 1 diabetic.
I was so far into my illness it was impossible for me to think rationally.
I was blue with cold a lot of the time, losing my hair, hormones didn't work and you can see in my eyes how sad and consumed by it I was.
Fast-forward three years and I’ve switched to insulin pump treatment, take insulin with EVERY meal, have now got a perfect blood sugar average and have reversed the damage caused (my retinopathy has reversed completely) as well as kept my weight at a healthy level for over a year.
I can run half marathons now, and last week had the strength and energy to complete Tough Mudder Half, something I never thought I would do. Other sufferers aren't so lucky.
This post is simply to show how far I’ve come, to tell people it’s OKAY to speak out about it (and believe me I’m terrified sharing this) and that health professionals really need to keep an eye on patients to recognise that what they often deem to be “rebellion against diabetes” could in fact be an eating disorder.
You can clearly see the difference in weight in the two pics but the biggest difference? My smile. I'm fully living life now.
Diabetes is not just physical, and more needs to be done to support people mentally.
I've had that support from my mum and my amazing partner Matt as well as a fantastic psychologist, but the health service needs to wake up to the fact that with diabetes being so focused on food and control, more support is needed not to make patients feel guilty for bad blood sugar levels but to realise it may be a cry for help.
Had you heard of diabulimia before? Please SHARE this article to help raise awareness!
