Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Bogel bomb here. Today's episode discusses eating disorders. So
Speaker 1: if that's not a topic you're up for today, maybe
Speaker 1: skip it, and hey, take care of yourself, okay. Having
Speaker 1: type one diabetes, which used to be called juvenile diabetes,
Speaker 1: is a series health problem that's treated mostly by taking
Speaker 1: regular injections of insulin, but the disease can also trigger
Speaker 1: an eating disorder called diabetic bulimia or diabolimia. This involves
Speaker 1: skipping or altering insulin doses for the express purpose of
Speaker 1: losing weight. While patients often drop unwanted pounds, it's extremely
Speaker 1: dangerous for people with diabetes to skip insulin, leaving them
Speaker 1: vulnerable to dangerous complications. Diabellemia potentially affects as many as
Speaker 1: one third of young women diagnosed with type one diabetes,
Speaker 1: although men do experience it too. People who have type
Speaker 1: one diabetes are at double the risk of developing an
Speaker 1: eating disorder than those without diabetes, compared with better known
Speaker 1: eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Diabelimia has been more
Speaker 1: recently realized as a threat to people with diabetes, with
Speaker 1: its earliest appearances in medical journals in the nineteen eighties.
Speaker 1: It still hasn't earned an official medical diagnosis all its own,
Speaker 1: but it is recognized by most medical professionals and is
Speaker 1: referred to as e D d MT one, although this
Speaker 1: is more of a blanket diagnosis for people with type
Speaker 1: one diabetes dealing with any type of eating disorder. People
Speaker 1: with type one diabetes are required to maintain a fastidious
Speaker 1: diet and must also check their blood sugar levels multiple
Speaker 1: times a day. Eating disorders like diabelimia often emerge thanks
Speaker 1: to this hyper focus on food and numbers. Diabolimia can
Speaker 1: develop on its own, but sometimes a phenomenon called diabetes
Speaker 1: rebellion occurs, in which a patient will be so sick
Speaker 1: and tired of managing their sickness and tiredness that they'll
Speaker 1: actively ignore treatment rules. Then the behavior snowballs into a
Speaker 1: full blown case of diabelimia. For people with diabetes, the
Speaker 1: pancreas is an a to make insulin. The human body
Speaker 1: relies on insulin, which is a hormone to transport glucose
Speaker 1: from the blood stream directly into cells. Without insulin, your
Speaker 1: cells can't absorb glucose, thus it isn't stored as fat
Speaker 1: or used for energy like it's supposed to be. Instead,
Speaker 1: glucose collects in the blood and is eventually expelled from
Speaker 1: the body through urine, causing significant weight loss. Theoretically, by
Speaker 1: manipulating your insulin levels or skipping your insulin shots, you
Speaker 1: can eat anything you want and still lose weight, but
Speaker 1: this comes at a serious price. In the short term.
Speaker 1: Poor blood glucose management can actually stunt or slow growth
Speaker 1: in adolescent patients, keeping them from reaching their full physical potential. Further,
Speaker 1: assets called key tones can build up in the blood,
Speaker 1: causing a chemical imbalance that is potentially life threatening. Down
Speaker 1: the road, you could experience eye problems ranging from blurred
Speaker 1: vision to total blindness. The kidneys are always at risk
Speaker 1: for people with diabetes, and those who mismanaged their insulin
Speaker 1: are far more likely to wind up on dialysis in
Speaker 1: order to stay alive. Even more so o bring is
Speaker 1: the fact that the mortality rate is tripled for those
Speaker 1: with type one diabetes who experience eating disorders as opposed
Speaker 1: to those who do not. Signs of diabelimia can be
Speaker 1: settled if you know someone with type one diabetes and
Speaker 1: suspect an eating disorder, keep a close eye out for
Speaker 1: weight fluctuations, avoidance of doctor appointments, dodged questions about insulin
Speaker 1: or general disease management, as well as high HB A
Speaker 1: one C blood levels. People with diabelimia will often exhibit
Speaker 1: signs of hyperglycemia, like being very thirsty, unusually tired, having
Speaker 1: blurred vision, and needing to urinate more than is normal.
Speaker 1: In the U s alone, thirty million people experience eating disorders,
Speaker 1: with one person dyeing every sixty two minutes from related complications.
Speaker 1: In fact of any mental illness, eating disorders have the
Speaker 1: highest mortality rate. If you or someone you know is struggling,
Speaker 1: go to National Eating Disorders dot Org for ideas, contact
Speaker 1: a service like the Crisis text Line to get help
Speaker 1: without having to talk on the phone, or Google for
Speaker 1: other services available in your area. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Alia Hoyt and produced by Tyler Clang. For more
Speaker 1: on this and lots of other health related topics is
Speaker 1: at our home planet, how stuff works dot com.