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Brown, who also suffered from diabulimia for over a decade before ultimately founding We Are Diabetes, said the consequences can be devastating. She considers herself lucky—"I still have my eyes and my feet, although I have severe muscle pain, called myofascial pain syndrome"—but has worked with others through her organization who have gone blind or developed heart disease from restricting insulin. Six individuals she worked with ultimately died from complications of the disorder."Withholding insulin for the purpose of weight loss is very dangerous," Kronberg told VICE. Short-term symptoms include frequent urination, excessive thirst, dehydration, and diabetic ketoacidosis, the condition that put me in the hospital when I was first diagnosed. In the long term, Kronberg said withholding insulin can also cause nerve damage, heart attacks, stroke, gum disease, and infertility. And if you do it for long enough, you will die.And yet, I didn't really care. There was nothing parallel to the feeling of losing so much weight so easily, and my eating disorder became more important than my diabetes. One sickness had trumped the other.My eating disorder became more important than my diabetes. One sickness had trumped the other.
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