Newspaper Page Text
8A
June 14, 2007
HEALTH ISSUES
Some diabetic girls skip insulin in dangerous effort to diet
By JIM ELLIS
Associated Press Writer
Like many teenage girls, Lee
Ann Thill was obsessed with
her appearance. A diabetic, she
was already suffering from
bulimia - forcing herself to
throw up to lose weight. But it
wasnt enough, and shed
recently put on twenty pounds.
Then one day at a camp for
diabetic teens, she heard coun
sclors chew out wo girls for
practicing “diabulimia™ - not
taking :tcir insulin so they
uml(r lose weight, one of the
consequences of uncontrolled
diabetes.
Don't you realize you could
dic if you skip your insulin? the
counselor scolded. Dont you
know you could fall into a
coma or damage your kidneys
or your cyes?
But thar's not what registered
with Thill, who has Type 1, or
juvenile diabetes. Instead, she
focused on this: Skipping
insulin equals weight loss. For
the next seventeen years, diabu
limia was her compulsion.
“I wok just enough insulin 0
function,” said Thill, now 34,
Tutt : Preparation and potential for the huge impact
Continued from page 1A
k. Carter, Mr. Harvey Felds,
Mt Leamon Grier, Mrs.
Classic West and this colum
nist.
A common thread that ran
(hmu.?h the testimonials about
Mr. Tuet was that he always
motivated people to achieve at
a higher level tl]mn they would
otherwise have achieved. This
encouragement came in the
form o?'a challenging motiva
ton, under girded by “tough
love.”
Afeer such a rich educational
experience at the prestigious
Lincoln University of Pennsyl
vania and Columbia University
Missing : Who cres about a mising black i, ll abou Pars Hilkon
Continued from page 2A
tells me she will be on NBC
Today Show at 7:30 a.m.
tomorrow with reporter Kerry
Sanders. Part ()frie story will
focus on TV media coverage of
this missing black woman.
The Saturday “Today” show
did indeed do a segment on
Henry. But as with other miss
ing women of color, Henry's
case has received relatively lietle
national attention, especially
compared to the soap opera of
the arrest and release of Hilton.
Bank : ‘Let’s change the world’
Continued from page 7A
city’s South and West sides is
unquestioned. It has financed
the rehabilitation and pur
chase of about 50,000 rental
housing units by helping
small developers, about half of
them black, who promise to
fix up abandoned or run
down properties.
“I’s for sure that we have
improved the quality of the
housing stock,” said the 66-
year-old Houghton, Shore-
Bank's president, at the com
pany’s South Side offices.
Shoreßank expanded its
focus to the environment in
the mid-"9os, starting Shore-
Bank Pacific to lend to proj
ects and companies that are
environmentally responsible,
a mission it has since expand
of Magnolia, N.J.
Today, she worries about the
long-term damage that may
have come from her weight
obsession. At 25, a blood vessel
hemorrhage in her eye required
surgery. At 28, doctors t(jd her
she had damaged kidneys.
“I'm fearful for the fuwre,”
Thill said. “T feel very strongly
that had I taken care of myself,
I could have lived as long as
anyone without diabetes. |
dont think thar’s going to hap-
Diabulimia is usually prac
ticed by teenage girls and
young women, and it may be
growing more common as the
secret is exchanged on Internet
bulletin boards for diabetics
and those with eating disorders.
One expert who has studied
the phenomenon estimates
that 450,000 Type 1 diabetic
women in the United States -
one-thind of the total - have
skipiui or shortchanged their
insulin to lose weight and are
risking a coma and an carly
death.
“People who do this behavior
wind up with severe diabetic
complications much carlier,”
in the city of New York, he
headed home to Augusta to
give back in a big way. His
tenure here produced bountiful
dividends. The mere mention
of his name conjures up tons of
highly positive emotions and
appreciation.
Mr. Tutts preparation and
potential for the huge impact
that he had on people came
from a liberal blessing of gray
matter, coupled with an unbri
dled determination to be all
that he could be. What result
ed was a powerfully resourcetul
man whose natural tendency
was to share with others, and he
did just that. Many, many
Haines and Lucy Laney stu
Jeremy Gaines, a spokesman
for MSNBC, said June 12 of
the Henry disappearance, “We
covered the story extensively
over the weekend and on Mon
day. On Friday we changed our
coverage plan due to breaking
news.”
As Yamiche Alcindor
explained in the Herald on
Thursday, Henry, 22, was last
seen partying at Peppers Case in
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at 1 am.
May 29.
“Henry, a recent graduate of
John Jay College of Criminal
ed from Washington and
Oregon states to its operations
in the Midwest. Such loans
promote efficient energy use,
alternative energy, sustainabil
ity and the protection and
revitalization of land and
water.
Through its far-flung busi
ness, it can even claim a sup
porting role in the work hon
ored by last year's Nobel Peace
Prize. Grzywinski and
Houghton, on 18 trips to
Bangladesh over 10 years,
advised winner Muhammad
Yunus on how to start and
manage his Grameen Bank
for the poor specializing in
very small loans called micro
credits.
“They have shown that you
can both promote economic
opportunity in low-income
communities and be a prof
AUGUSTA FOCUS
said Ann Goebel-Fabbn, a din
ical psychologist at the Joslin
Diabetes Center in Boston.
The American Diabetes
Association has long known
about insulin omission as a tac
tic to lose weight. But “diabu
limia” is a term that has only
cropped up in recent years and
is not a recognized medical
condition, said Barbara Ander
son, a pediatrics professor at
Baylor College of Medicine in
Houston.
Type 1 diabetes is a disorder
in which the bodys own
immune system attacks insulin
producing cells in the pancreas.
People with this disease pro
duce litdde or no insulin, so they
take shots of the hormone daily.
It differs from Type 2, the
form associated wir obesity
and which accounts for about
90 to 95 percent of all diabetes.
Insulin is vital for delivering
glucose from the bloodstream
to the bodys cells. Without
insulin, cells starve even while
the bloodstream becomes bur
dened with too much glucose.
When Type 1 diabetics ski
or reduce their insulin, they risfi
falling into a coma or even
dents were the beneficiaries of
this man who was so dedicated
to the welfare of others. Name
the profession and you will find
that he helped to shape so
many who attained it: teachers,
preachers, lawyers, doctors,
dentists, engineers, ambassa
dors and many others.
Nearly forty years separate
Mr. Tutts influence with the
experience that young people
are exposed to today. Unfortu
nately, the John M. Tutt kind of
“direction” seems to be a thing
of the past. What is even sad
der is today’s youth seem o be
challenged by a society fraught
with so many pitfalls- bom
barded from an unrelenting
Justice, flew down from New
York for Memorial Day week
end to celebrate her sisters 16th
birthday. The Henry sisters had
been staying with their aunt
and cousin in Miami Gardens
for the weekend and planned
to fly home May 29.
“The night before she disap
peared, Henry told her family
she was getting a ride to Pep
pers from a friend. Her sister
stayed home.
“A videotape taken by a pro
motional group at Peppers
shows Henry at the club.
itable, financially sustainable
institution,” said Andrea
Levere, president of Corporate
for Enterprise Development, a
Washington D.C. nonprofit
that promotes economic
development.
But despite all the plaudits
for what former President Bill
Clinton once called “the most
important bank in America’
for pioneering the way for
community development
banks, it has spawned fewer
imitators than Shoreßank
would prefer. Just 61 other
such U.S. banks have sprung
up in the three and a half
decades since its founding,
While he has no problems
with Shoreßank remaining
“really tiny minnows” in the
banking world, Grzywinski,
71, expressed disappointment
that its experience had not
dying, Blindness, amputations
andniidney failure are some of
the long-term complications
that can develop.
Warning signs for diabulimia
include a s:fi;rs\ge in eating
habits - typically someone who
eats momLut still loses weight -
low energy and hiEZ blood
sugar levels, Goebel-Fabbri
said. Frequent urination is
another signal. When sugars are
high, the kidneys work over
time to filter the excess glucose
from the blood.
This purging of sugar from
the body through the kidneys is
similar to someone with bulim
ia, who binges and then purges,
or vomits, Anderson saig.
Studies show that women
with Type 1 diabetes are twice
as likely to develop an eating
disorder. Ironically, good dia
betes management, which
requires a preoccupation with
food, counting carbohydrates
and following a diet, may lead
some to form an unhealthy
association with food, Goebel-
Fabbri said.
Jacq Allan, 206, of London is
a diabulimic. When recendy
interviewed, she said she had
dose of media exposure and
other pathologjes that are poi
sonous. [t scems that this would
not be so, especially when we
see so many social agencies that,
on the surface at least, are in
place to shunt the young from
what are all 1o often seems to
be their ultimate dwelling
places, jails and other kinds of
incarceration. The abject lack
of parental support and the lack
of John M. Tutt-like motiva
tion seem to consign our
youth, males in particular, to
poor performing and low
expecting schools that amount
to little more than holding cells
— mere foyers that lead to their
ultimate dwelling place, prison.
“But she never made it
home.
“Calls placed to Henry's cell
phone went straight to her
voice mail. The petite woman
was last seen wearing a black
dress with a white tank wp
underncath and brown heels.
She was carrying a brown
clutch purse. Henry, who has
long bronze hair, is 52" and
110 pounds.”
Richard Prince is publish
er of Journal-isms, an online
column at www.maynardi
je.org. :
sparked a “broad revolution”
in community development
banking,
“It does seem as though a
bank company holding model
is a very good model to deal
with things like neighborhood
development, environmental
conservation, etcetera,” he
said in an interview. “So we
would like to see a lot of other
people do it.”
Shoreßank's current ambi
tious goal is to nearly quadru
ple its annual lending to $2
billion by 2013. That likely
entails going public at some
point in order to provide lig
uidity for its 75 shareholders,
who include foundations,
national church bodies, large
banks and insurance compa
nies.
While Grzywinski admits
to concern that the core mis
not taken her insulin shots for
two weeks and rarely takes
them regularly. She weighs
forty-two pounds less than she
did a year ago.
Allan is stuck between two
fears: taking insulin, which may
lead to weight gain, and the
damage her destructive com
pulsion is doing to her body.
“I'm terrified of insulin,”
Allan said. “Every moming |
wake up and think maybe |
should go to the hospital.”
Diagnosed with Type 1 dia
betes nearly three vears ago,
Allan said she can feel the con
stant, sky-high sugar in her
blood. Her fist of ailments -
chest pain, heart palpitations,
muscle cramps, bacterial infec
dons and lower back pain - are
not the usual health problems
of a twenty-something.
“I'm constantly worried that
my eyes are going to go, but
they seem relatively OK for the
moment,” she said. “I always
wonder if this will be the day
that some major organ fails. |
kind of want something to
happen because then maybe I'll
S[()p.
Gwen Malnassy, 21, of Santa
We are all hoping and prayerful
that the recognition Mr. Tutt is
now receiving will become a
beacon to inspire youth every
where to be better and to do
better. Indeed, we need this
revival,
Our hopes for the future rest
with the stellar leadership of
people like Dr. Hawthorne
Welcher. His presence at Lucy
Craft Laney High School has
done so much to give positve
direction and leadership tor the
youth of the school and the
community. He is the con
summate role model. It should
come as no surprise to learn
that Dr. Welchers dad and
uncle were students of Mr.
Felony
Continued from page 2A
The denial was illegal
because Alabama law only
disqualifies people whose
felony convictions involve
“moral wrpitude,” which the
statute did not define, states
the LDE “The Secretary of
State, however, had effective
ly expanded the reach of the
law by instructing voter reg
istrars to refuse registration
to all people with felony con-
sion could be jeopardized by
pressure for short-term results,
it’s necessary, he said, if Shore-
Bank is to keep growing and
expanding.
As to having gotten this far,
both surviving co-founders
say they always felt they had
no choice but to succeed in
order to show that there was
merit to the idea of using a
bank to do things like fight
poverty and racism.
“It was ourselves and our
careers and our reputations
and some money that we had
invested,” Grzywinski said of
bucking the odds. “But it was
also that if we ever failed ...
everybody without looking at
the details would say, “Well,
this goes to show _ we told
you it wouldn't work.”
Monica, Calif., detailed her
struggle with diabulimia for
three years in a diary she posted
on the Internet.
“If you dont think it will
happen to you, dont fool your
self,” writes Malnassy, diag
nosed with diabetes at nine, in
her final entry 11 months ago.
“I believed the same.”
Doctors diagnosed Malnassy
with both anorexia and bulim
ia at 13, she said.
“I would look at magazines
and think that if I looked like
the models, I would have more
friends and be more popular,”
Malnassy said in a recent inter-
VIEW.
She began withholding
insulin at 17 after learning of
the practice during a doctor’s
visit and continued withhold
ing insulin off and on until last
year.
Malnassy continues in her
online diary: “I will say it again.
Reach out; get help. Do not
fall; do not let the disorder con
sume you. Its a miserable way
o exist.”
Tute.
Finally, the Lucy Craft Laney
Muscum of Black History,
under the productive and
visionary leadership of Mrs.
Betts, serves as a beacon of hope
as it reposes a wealth of art, his
tory and other holdings that
represent the rich historical
experiences of the Laney-Walk
er district. Mrs. Betts and her
staff work tirelessly to say to
everyone, regardless of their
community, that Laney-Walk
er makes us all proud. Thanks
to the seeds planted by Mr. Tute
and other dedicated pioneers.
victions.
The LDF states that specif
ically, in addition to felony
DUI, the other felony
offenses that do not result in
a loss of voting rights in
Alabama include “felony
possession of drugs, violation
of liquor laws, assault and bat
tery, speeding, trespass to land,
attempted burglary and doing
business without a license.
Continued from page 2A
contract “so that there will be
funds to pay creditors of LBA,
including the Goldmans.”
Rich said there have been
expressions of interest in buying
the rights, but would not say
who they were from.
Amelle Simpson testified in a
deposition Wednesday that the
book was her idea, Battista said
at Friday's hearing,
“LBA was to baby-sit — her
words — baby-sit the book to
make sure everything would go
smoothly,” Bartista said.
Amelle Simpson had sought
to reorganize her company,
which would have allowed her
to maintain temporary control
over the book's rights.