What are the complications of diabulimia?

What are the complications of diabulimia?

Diabulimia is a serious health condition that can have severe short-term and long-term complications.

Short-term complications and side effects of diabulimia

Several of the short-term complications and side effects of diabulimia are associated with persistently high blood sugar. Short-term complications of diabulimia include:

• Diabetes-related ketoacidosis (DKA): Diabetes-related ketoacidosis is an acute life-threatening condition that occurs when your body doesn’t have enough insulin. Insulin is needed to turn glucose, the body’s normal source of fuel, into energy. If there is no insulin or not enough insulin, your body starts breaking down fat for energy instead. As fat is broken down, ketones are released into the bloodstream. For a person with diabetes, a high amount of ketones causes their blood to become acidic (the blood pH is too low). This creates an emergency medical situation that requires immediate attention and treatment.
• Severe dehydration: A lack of insulin can lead to a buildup of ketones in your bloodstream, which can turn your blood acidic. In an attempt to get rid of the excess ketones through your urine, your body ends up getting rid of too much fluid. This can cause severe dehydration.
• Slow wound healing: Having constant elevated high blood sugar causes poor circulation, decreases the function of your immune system and damages small blood vessels. All of these factors can delay wound healing and can sometimes progress into complications such as an ulcer in a person with diabetes.
• Staph and other bacterial infections: Having constant high blood sugar causes your body to produce certain enzymes and hormones that negatively affect your immune system, which makes you more susceptible to developing infections. This risk of infection in addition to slowed wound healing increases your risk of developing gangrene, sepsis or a bone infection.
• Yeast infections: Excess sugar in your blood makes it easier for yeast to overgrow. This often happens in the vaginal area.
• Loss of muscle mass (muscle atrophy): Without enough insulin, your body can’t utilize the energy from the food you eat. Because of this, your body begins to break down muscle tissue for fuel.

Long-term complications of diabulimia

Long-term complications of diabulimia are the same as the possible long-term complications of diabetes. However, people who have diabulimia may experience these complications sooner due to having continuously elevated blood sugar levels. Some people with diabetes may never experience complications of diabetes if their condition is well-managed.

Long-term complications of diabulimia include:

• Diabetes-related retinopathy: This is caused by damage to the blood vessels in the tissue at the back of your eye (retina) caused by persistently elevated blood sugar levels. It causes small black spots or “floaters,” which disrupt your vision. Persistent or recurrent retinopathy can eventually lead to blindness.
• Peripheral neuropathy: Peripheral neuropathy is damage to one or more nerves outside of your central nervous system — your brain and spinal cord. It results in numbness, tingling, muscle weakness and pain, usually starting in your hands and feet.
• Gastroparesis: Gastroparesis is a condition in which your stomach can’t empty itself of food in a normal fashion. It's caused by nerve injury, including damage to the vagus nerve. Continuously elevated blood sugar levels can damage the vagus nerve.
• Cardiovascular disease: Continuously elevated blood sugar levels can damage your blood vessels and heart, which can lead to various cardiovascular diseases.
• Kidney disease: Continuously elevated blood sugar levels make your kidneys work extra hard, which causes damage to your kidneys’ filtering system. This can lead to kidney disease.
• Liver disease: Insulin deficiency can lead to non-alcoholic fatter liver disease, a condition in which too much fat accumulates in your liver, causing inflammation.