Clinically Eating Disorders are basically serious preoccupations
with food, weight, and/or body image. Clinically there are three types:
Anorexia, Bulimia, and Compulsive Overeating.
I am going to be using the term eating disorder or problem, in a broader more
day to day fashion: any emotional preoccupation with body image, weight, or food.
This way we are not limited by medical facts and can deal with the realities
of all sorts of eating and body image problems.
WHAT is IDDM?
IDDM is Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus or juvenile-onset diabetes.
It generally affects children and young adults. It accounts for a small # of diabetics,
but it accounts for most cases of diabetes in people under 35.
The cause is still unknown and as of yet no cure exsists for IDDM.
What happens is a persons islets of langherhorn stop producing insulin.
Thus type 1 diabetics get there insulin through shots.
It is also neccesary to monitor blood glucose levels in order to keep close to normal.
Other tactics used are eating a healthy diet, excersising regularly, and destressing.
MY STORY
I was diagnosed type 1 diabetic in February 1982, I was seven years old.
The first couple years were ok, aside from adjustments to the new routine and
my parents increased fighting. I guess I blamed myself for their fights,
I was always putting myself in the midst of these fights. Often I tried to deflect
their anger at eachother onto myself. By the time I was 11 it was clear they were
headed to seperation and divorce. My response to the pain this created in me
was self inflicted pain and a warp perfectionism. I developed an eating disorder
that could best be classified best as "borderline anorexia". In that my symptoms
were: rigid food rituals, strict rules about amount of food eaten, purging,
exsessive excersising, and extreme fear of gaining any weight. At the same time
I developed a fanatical fear of ever getting high blood sugar, so I ran normal - low.
My eating disorder continued for the next 7 or 8 years, made worse by puberty.
I actually delayed menses untill 6mos. after I turned 15, which can be considered
a symptom of anorexia. Since my weight never went below "normal" the only clinical
diagnosis I ever recieved was "borderline anorexic" and inaccuratly, because of purging
bulimia. This is one of the reasons I choose to use non-clinical definitions.
My eating disorder was never caught by any of my doctors, in fact I was their star
diabetic patient, because I kept my blood-sugar so close to normal. Even the dieticians
missed the fact that I was barely eating enough to continue functioning, and I never
lied to any of them (but I also never offered the information on my Eating Disorder).
I can not pin point the cause of my eating disorder to one thing specifically,
the following are the main causes I see: indoctrination by doctors on the importance of
diabetics remaining thin, societal standards of beauty, stress/perfectionism, and
my family falling apart. I have been in recovery now over 3 years, it is rough sometimes.
Write me, Michelle Tichy at myhsthe@aol.com
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN DIABETES AND EATING DISORDERS
Type one Diabetics have eating restrictions placed upon them by doctors generally
upon diagnosis. They are told to follow a specific diet, to restrict their sugar intake
to next to nothing. From my experience it felt like, as a seven year old, it felt like I had
been locked in a cage and was only allowed to eat certain things, none of which was
"fun stuff". Some of my diabetic friends who were diagnosed in adolesence felt direct
pressure to be fanatical about food and even more about their weight. It seems to me
that direct pressure from doctors to be thin and constantly concerned about food is a
clear way to create the ground work for eating disorders. This assertion is validated
by research on diabetics and other young people with chronic illnesses and the
probability that they have body image or eating disorder problems. This research has
shown that young diabetics have a higher probability of developing eating and body
image issues then those in the same age group who have no chronic illness. Some
Diabetics, like myself develop fairly "typical" eating disorders and body image issues.
More common even are diabetic related eating disorders, such as running high
(hyperglycemic) so that your body produces ketones, which consume fat celle in order
to keep the body running. Another common diabetic eating disorder is the reduction
of insulin dosages in order to run high and not have to eat anything. On top of the
risks of eating disorders themselves, diabetic eating disorders put the body in crisis
due to ketones and other added bodily strains.