Diabetics Skipping Insulin to Lose Weight
GUPTA: We're back with HOUSECALL. I get to give some good news this morning. You know, there's been some concern about a link between a compound found in many popular foods and breast cancer. The links originally came from animal studies of a compound called acrylimide. Now this compound is released from foods, especially starchy ones are cooked. We're talking about things like French fries, some cereal products. But now there's a large study in women, shows no link between eating normal amounts acrylimide and breast cancer, specifically in women. Some good news there. And coming up this fall, the Institute of Medicine is expected to begin gathering scientific evidence, examining an important question. How much weight should women gain during pregnancy? Now this is on the heels of research suggesting many women are gaining too much weight. Current guidelines say a normal weight woman should put on 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy, but some experts say even that amount can lead to overweight toddlers. We'll keep you posted on that one. And now to a fixation on losing weight that could cost women their lives. CNN's Dan Lothian reports on the dangerous and potentially deadly practice by some diabetes of skipping their insulin shots.</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jackie Lyons knew her daughter J.J., who suffered from Type 1 diabetes, was very ill, but the real truth about what took her life only came to light after her death in these disturbing diaries.</s>JACKIE LYONS: Why won't someone explain to me why I do not take my insulin? I often think it's because I want to eat and stay thin. It has just become an awful habit for me.</s>LOTHIAN: Jacqueline Walsh or J.J., had a dark secret, often called diabulimia, staying thin by skipping insulin shots to purge calories. Risky behavior because the life-saving injections are needed to regulate blood sugar levels.</s>LYONS: I've lived through five years of comatose death from not taking my insulin properly.</s>LOTHIAN: Do you think J.J. understood what was really happening and what was causing this, what was driving this?</s>LYONS: Now that I'm reading her journals, I see that she consciously was taking her insulin improperly to lose weight.</s>LOTHIAN: J.J., an attractive young woman engaged to be married, began to fade away.</s>LYONS: Her hair fell out. Her skin was very dry. Her face was sallow. She didn't look like the same person.</s>LOTHIAN: After several emergency room visits, J.J. died just one week shy of her 28th birthday.</s>ANN GOEBEL-FABBRI, DR., JOSLIN DIABETES CENTER: The research we've done here at Joslin shows that 30 percent of women with Type 1 diabetes engage in this behavior at some point in their lifetime for weight management.</s>LOTHIAN: 36-year-old Christel Marshand say she skipped shots and gambled with her life for three years before therapy set her straight.</s>CHRISTEL MARCHAND, TYPE 1 DIABETIC: I thought about the fact that I was doing damage to my body. But at the time, it was more important for me to be a certain weight and to look a certain way.</s>LOTHIAN (on camera): As in J.J.'s case, eventually diabulimia can become fatal when toxic acids build up in the body and can't be flushed out. (voice-over): But all the warnings don't seem to rattle 30 year old Christa, a wife and mother of a 3-year-old who compares her self- destructive habits to an alcoholic.</s>CHRISTA PIOSZAK, TYPE 1 DIABETIC: I'm not going to take my medication because I want to lose an extra pound. It's always what isn't good for your body, but what you do want. So...</s>LOTHIAN: Pioszak's husband tried to get her help. She refused. Why wouldn't you do something for your husband, who wants you to be healthy and be around for your child to grow up?</s>PIOSZAK: I don't really have a good reason except for the fact that I just didn't feel that maybe I was sick enough to do that.</s>GOEBBELL-FABBRI: People can rationalize and say, hey, you know, my body's used to this. I'm doing OK. And it's just not the case.</s>LOTHIAN: In fact, Pioszak has already suffered the side effects of skipping insulin shots, damaged blood vessels in her eyes and numbness in her feet.</s>GUPTA: So just part of the foot is numb.</s>PIOSZAK: Yes, my toes for the most part.</s>GUPTA: Pioszak says her decision to go public is part therapy, part cautionary tale.</s>PIOSZAK: I would like just to let other people know that there are others going through this.</s>GUPTA: Still, she's not willing to do the right thing. Her body image for now more important than her health, and frankly, her life. Dan Lothian, CNN, Redford, Michigan.</s>GUPTA: Wow, Dan, thank you so much for that. A dangerous game she's playing for sure. Hopefully, Christa will get some help. Millions of Americans are living with diabetes, about 20 million of them. And if you're one of them, click on my blog at CNN.com/health. Find some strategies there for managing this disease. Also, stay where you are. Coming up, why what you say or don't say, as it turns out, during an argument with your spouse could impact your health. Then, we're checking up on schools, keeping them honest. Have those lunches become any healthier? Are there more Phys Ed classes? Find out if we're moving as a country in the right direction when HOUSECALL continues.