[Type 1 diabetes mellitus and bulimia--a life-threatening double illness]

Among 339 patients with anorexia nervosa and 208 with bulimia there were 11 (ten females) with both bulimia and type I diabetes. In all of them it proved impossible, often over many years, to control the wide swings in the carbohydrate metabolic state, resulting in often severe diabetic complications. From one to 15 years elapsed before a diagnosis of bulimia was made. In three patients the eating disorder had preceded the onset of manifest diabetes. Six patients did not vomit, a common sign of bulimia: they "regulated" their weight via renal glucose loss or even by manipulating insulin dosage. Psychotherapy had a favourable effect on the diabetes in six patients, three continued to need treatment, while two failed to undergo treatment.