type 2 and bulimia

[chrissie1stella]

Hi i have type 2 diabeties and am on lantus solo and novo rapid 4 times a day and can't get control of my sugar levels as i have bulimia which means i binge alot, even though i know i am ruining my health i just can't stop i am struggling to keep to a sensible eating pattern and my weight has gone right up and ali want is sweet food ,i wondered if anyone else has the same problem and if they have any suggestions on how to control these thoughts and feelings,feel like i am on self distucted at the moment and am already showing signes of complications which still hasn't stopped me

 

[Mileana]

You need some help with that bulimia, sweetie.

You seeing anyone for that?

 

[Defren]

Hi i have type 2 diabeties and am on lantus solo and novo rapid 4 times a day and can't get control of my sugar levels as i have bulimia which means i binge alot, even though i know i am ruining my health i just can't stop i am struggling to keep to a sensible eating pattern and my weight has gone right up and ali want is sweet food ,i wondered if anyone else has the same problem and if they have any suggestions on how to control these thoughts and feelings,feel like i am on self distucted at the moment and am already showing signes of complications which still hasn't stopped me

Hi Chrissie, welcome to the forum. Any and all ED are very dangerous, you know this, you don't need me to tell you. I strongly advise that you try to seek out some specialist therapy to help and support you while you come to terms with all the associated issues that surround ED.

An internet forum is never going to be the best place for specialist therapy, but we can and would be more than happy to support you through recovery. See your GP explain you would like to get help to get into recovery. You could even say you have found a diabetes forum that will support you while you get the hang of eating properly and not binging/purging. You have quite a road ahead, but the results are so worth the effort.

I wish you all the luck in the world, please let us know how you get on - Joanna.

 

[eddie864]

HI,

I used to be bulimic and probably was the same as you. I could eat my fridge and then throw it all up again to the point where I didn't need to "make" myself sick, I just was. Bulimia is mainly a symptom - I had Borderline Personality Disorder although it has calmed massively due to lots of therapy and time and with the therapy I ended up stopping. Bulimia is a horrible thing, guilt ridden and it makes blood sugar control a nightmare.

In diabetes terms I guess you have to have an idea of how long the food remains in your stomach and how much of the energy is taken in to gauge how much you are actually eating. You must be getting some pretty bad spikes of BG that are hard to manage. I think the only way to work this is to try and deal with the bulimia as I can't imagine any sensible way to work out insulin needs etc..

I thoroughly recommend seeing your G.P, getting some counselling or therapy to deal with the underlying issues. It really worked for me although it isn't a quick fix. But that said, you may end up working on a lot of underlying mental health issues as well as the bulimia and that has got to be worth a try.

 

[chrissie1stella]

hi thanks for all the replies,i have been having therapy and at the moment does not seen to be working as my brain is rejecting any thing that is said to me i suppose that is the way of the illness just got to keep battling the thoughts every day,i to have had borderline personality disorder for 20yrs and have been agrophobic for the same amount of time,so i suppose this is just another thing i have to fight,i must say the vomiting is not so much as a problem now so thats a plus but i still have the binging and have now been told i have to have my gallbladder out how they think i am going to able to do that i don't know.ut i will get through this like everything else just another chapter of life

 

[the_anticarb]

!

Hi, I had similar to you but I had diabulimia so I was underdosing on my meds to pee out the extra calories as sugar. You really do need help, I have found out the hard way that diabetic complications do not care if you have an eating disorder, and now have problems with my eyes.
I wish I could turn the clock back to before I had complications and stop myself but sadly it took the complications to actually stop me.

I still struggle but just about manage to keep things under control now through fear of further complications.
I had CAT (cognitive analytical therapy) for a while which was really helpful.
I don't know where you live but if in London I know they do it at Guys and St Thomas's if you can get a referral. It's not that widely known elsewhere in the country unless you can afford to pay for it yourself.
I also found that having a low carb diet for a while really stopped me craving the sugary, junky foods which I see as addictive in the same way as cigarettes are to some people.

There is an eating disorders website for diabetics (DWED) but sadly they only seem to want to help T1s from what I have read on their website although it may be worth contacting them to see if they can help you too.

Please take action before it is too late! Good luck

 

[lucylocket61]

Hi chrissie1stella

I am not a medical person, but I can identify with the agrophobia and eating disorder. Is very early days with your therapy?

what i did is to write a couple of key ideas on a card and keep it with me everywhere. I wrote them on a business card sized piece so I could fit it in my purse or pocket.

My 2 thoughts were ones to counteract my most immediate negative thoughts, so they changed over time. For example: I wrote:

Food is not my enemy
There are more good people than bad ones

These are just my examples to counteract my anorexia and fear of social situations. Yours will be different. This meant that every time I thought negatively about food or people, I could give my brain a positive message instantly before I got into a spiral of self-loathing etc.

It takes time to break the cycle of thought. Be gently with yourself. Facing your issues and permitting yourself to get help is a huge step. Be proud of that achievement.

Discuss this with your therapist and he/she will probably have loads of helpful tips and suggestions you can take on board. Small steps are big progress!!

as Defren said, we will help all we can.