Diabulimia eating disorder: Diabetics risk coma, kidney problems, & death to be thin

A frightening new type of eating disorder called Diabulimia was highlighted this past weekend on CNN. Apparently, young women with Diabetes risk organ failure, comas, eye problems, and even death in the name of weight loss by intentionally missing their regular insulin treatments. One expert says that as many as 450,000 Type 1 diabetic women in the United States, one-third of the total, have skipped or short-changed their insulin to lose weight. The skipping of insulin treatments is likened to bulimia because it purges sugar from the body through the kidneys, which is much like what happens in bulimia, through binging, purging, and vomiting.

Jacq Allan, 26, of London is a diabulimic, and says that she's "terrified of insulin". At the time she was interviewed, Allan - despite suffering from a gigantic list of ailments that include chest pain, heart palpitations, muscle cramps, bacterial infections and lower back pain - said that she had not taken her insulin in two weeks, and weighed 42 pounds less than she did last year. She says she knows the risks that she's taking, and sadly admits that: "I always wonder if this will be the day that some major organ fails. I kind of want something to happen because then maybe I'll stop."

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