I’m off to diabetes clinic again tomorrow, I’m being upgraded to the new Accu Chek insulin pump. I will be posting pictures and writing all about it when I get back from the hospital.
Today has been a fairly relaxed day off for me, I mowed the lawn and did a few things around the house but other than that I’ve been catching up with various emails and reading other peoples Diabetes related blogs. I’ve been contacted today by a media officer from Diabetes UK, she has seen my website and would like to interview me about my experience with Diabulimia. I’d been contemplating contact Diabetes UK for a while now to ask if they would do an article on Diabulimia but I hadn’t quite got round to it yet. I’m excited at the prospect of being interviewed and hopefully raising some more awareness about the realities and difficulties of Diabulimia. I was talking to Ben last week on our way back from Edinburgh about support for people with Diabulimia and how there is so much available to people with Diabetes and so much available to people with Eating Disorders but when you combine the two together you get a very complex problem for which there is very little support and advice available. That got me thinking…could I set up something? Perhaps initially an informal get together of people in recovery and people currently struggling. It would have to start out small as I don’t have the resources available for a large event but if I can get an initial group together we could then work together to set up a larger event with the aim of raising awareness, sharing information and providing some kind of support to those who currently have none. It’s just an idea at the moment but my brain is whirrling with the possibilities.
Erin the creator of the Diabulimia Awareness group on Facebook has got a new website online. It’s called Diabulimia Helpline and can be found here . There are more websites, online groups, blogs and references to Diabulimia appearing on the web all the time. I get an increasing number of emails each week from people currently suffering with Diabulimia. So many people are looking for help and support but are not finding it from their diabetes team or their eating disorder team. Often these health care professionals are doing their best to help but it is very rare to come across an eating disorders specialist who also specialises in diabetes, and it is so important that the treatment offered is comprehensive and targeted towards overcoming the specific problems and complications of overcoming an eating disorder whilst regaining control over diabetes. One day I hope to be a health care professional with expertise in both these fields, I have a lot to do in order to be able to achieve that but in the meantime I can continue as I am supporting those people who email me, writing about my experiences and responding to the various students and journalists who contact me from time to time wanting to conduct interviews, in the hope that at least some of what I am doing contributes to helping others in their own struggle and recovery from Diabulimia
Lee Ann Said:
on 24/06/2009 at 9:45 pm
That’s awesome that you were contacted to do an interview! I hope you’ll post updates about it, and when it’s available, a link to the finished piece
Tayler Said:
on 24/06/2009 at 9:48 pm
I’d be happy to help you in any way Clare, you know that. I watched a very interesting lecture online today which can be found here http://behavioraldiabetes.org/resources-diabetes-information-videos-BDI-lectures.html by Dr Goebel-Fabbri, a doctor that specialises in diabulimia though she doesn’t like that term! What were you thinking of in terms of what you can do?