Eating disorders can promote diabetes mellitus

Adolescents with type 1 diabetes often suffer from disturbed eating habits 
If the scale shows a few kilos suddenly and without diet, this may indicate a Type 1 diabetes mellitus, which is particularly likely to affect adolescents. The therapy of the disease is usually associated with a weight gain at the beginning. Therefore, sufferers often develop additional eating disorders to maintain their previous weight. A dangerous combination that can cause serious harm.
Type 1 diabetes usually breaks out at a young age
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease in which the body's own immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. As a result, the pancreas can no longer provide the body with the vital hormone itself (absolute insulin deficiency), so that compensation always requires treatment with insulin in the form of injections. The type 1 diabetes usually begins in childhood or adolescence, accordingly, the disease was previously also referred to as "adolescent" or "juvenile diabetes".

Eating disorders favor the development of diabetes. Image: vadymvdrobot - fotolia

Weight gain at the beginning of the therapy
In contrast to the slow onset of type 2 diabetes, type 1 is very sudden in most cases. Since insulin regulates the concentration of sugar (glucose) in the blood, the deficiency leads to an increased blood sugar concentration ("hypoglycaemia"). As a result, various symptoms such as e.g. severe thirst, frequent urination, dry skin, tiredness or involuntary weight loss. Especially young diabetics are often happy about the tumbling pounds - but with the onset of insulin therapy, many sufferers again take a few pounds.

"Before the diagnosis, they have often decreased, with the insulin syringes, they often take first, this can be a problem for those affected," said the physician and university teacher Stephan Herpertz in an interview with the news agency "dpa". Herpertz is Director of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the LWL-University Hospital Bochum.

Bulimia particularly prevalent
In order not to increase, affected people would often develop eating disorders. Women are more affected than men, according to psychological psychotherapist Bernhard Kulzer from the Diabetes Center in Bad Mergentheim. Above all, the so-called "Ess-Brechsucht" or bulimia is widespread, in which after an excessive food cravings certain measures are taken to avoid weight gain. These include self-induced vomiting, starvation, excessive exercise or the use of laxatives.

According to Kulzer, the so-called "insulin purging" is one of the methods intended to prevent an increase. In this case, the young diabetics intentionally inject less insulin to maintain their weight. "Due to the low insulin level, more sugar remains in the blood, which the kidneys then flush out of the body via the urine," explains Kulzer. But this procedure is risky because it is a short-term weight reduction, at the same time increases due to the insufficient insulin supply but also the risk of diabetes-complications. "This can be nerve and kidney damage, blindness or a shortened life expectancy," explains Wolfgang Wesiack, President of the Federation of German internists, to the "dpa".

Patients deliberately inject less insulin
According to Kulzer, young type 1 diabetics are almost twice as likely to be affected by eating disorders as bulimia, insulin purging or anorexia, as are healthy women of the same age. For outsiders, however, these are often not immediately identifiable by adolescents. Accordingly, changes in eating behavior in adolescents should always be closely monitored and taken seriously. For example, if an affected teenager wants to Suddenly stop eating with the family or exercise excessively, this could be important clues. The same applies if abruptly significant fluctuations in the blood sugar levels show up. In this case, parents should talk to their child and contact the doctor. Help could be given to diabetics with eating disorders through psychotherapy. Because this helps the person concerned to strengthen their own body and self-confidence, explains Bernhard Kulzer.

Binge eating leads to a stronger increase
According to the experts, overweight women with type 2 diabetes are also at greater risk of developing periodic food cravings with loss of conscious control over eating behavior. However, in contrast to bulimia, what is eaten is not vomited during the so-called "binge eating", so that those affected usually continue to gain weight. As a result, obesity limits the effectiveness of insulin, thereby also causing serious health problems, such as heart failure. Diseases of the kidneys, nerves or retina. (No)