My Nonprofit Reviews

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending Hidden Complexities of Treating Eating Disorders in Diabetics, organized by EDRC.

Shannon Aldworth, Director of Nursing for the Center for Hope, spoke about identifying and detecting diabulimia and ways that her facility treats this variant of bulimia among people with diabetes. She also spoke about the treatment challenges, such as helping people separate disordered eating behavior from decisions and behaviors related to the diabetes, and of helping clients adopt an intuitive eating philosophy, which is usually the opposite of how people with diabetes have been taught to approach eating. She reviewed results of a pilot research project for this population undertaken at Center for Hope; using their multimodality approach (including having patients receive their insulin via multiple daily injections rather than a pump that can be manipulated to minimize weight gain) the patients with diabulimia had, at the end of treatment, both better blood sugar and significant reductions in scores on the Eating Disorder Inventory-3.

We then heard from Erin Akers, founder and CEO of Diabulimia Helpline. Ms. Akers related her personal struggle with diabulimia, including several serious brushes with death; her struggles led her to want to help other people struggling with diabulimia. She told us about the various ways that people with diabetes can (mis)use their insulin regime to minimize weight gain.

Thanks, Janice, for helping disseminate information about this “hidden” form of bulimia.

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