Diabulimia is a non-clinical term describing the diagnosis of an eating disorder in an individual with type 1 diabetes. Among healthcare professionals, this diagnosis is sometimes referred to as ED-DMT1.
Individuals suffering from diabulimia intentionally misuse insulin for weight control, including:
- Decreasing the prescribed dose of insulin
- Omitting insulin entirely
- Delaying the appropriate dose
- Or, manipulating the insulin itself to render it inactive.
Health risks of diabulimia can include hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels) and glucose excretion in the urine, which causes weight loss. In a sense, calories are “purged” this way, hence the term diabulimia.
Diagnosis among type 1 diabetics can be difficult
A person with diabetes who also suffers from an eating disorder may not be diagnosed with bulimia specifically or have any other symptoms of bulimia (binge eating, self-induced vomiting, etc.), while others may only withhold insulin after they have binged as a method of purging.
And, people with diabulimia may exhibit any number of eating disorder behaviors — or they may only manipulate their insulin and otherwise have normal eating patterns.
Diabulimia is not an official eating disorder diagnosis or a medically recognized term. It is a descriptive term for an observed behavior and is used widely in popular culture. While the term itself is inaccurate, it underscores a real and very serious pattern of disordered eating.
