Eating disorders and type 1 diabetes mellitus – case reports

Abstract

Type 1 diabetes and eating disorders, especially anorexia and bulimia, are increasingly common in children and adolescents. The coexistence of these diseases is both a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Focusing on food, both in terms of its quality and quantity, is one of the basic aspects of diabetes treatment, but also one of the integral elements of eating disorders. The article presents two cases of patients with type 1 diabetes who developed eating disorders. In one case, the reason was the patient’s fear of gaining weight after starting insulin therapy. In the other case, anorexia developed independently of the diagnosis of diabetes, but its emergence was masked as an attempt to improve glycaemic control. The need for cooperation between the diabetes team and the psychiatric team is also highlighted. In addition, we present methods to avoid weight gain that are typically used by diabetic patients.