A diabetic who stopped taking insulin in a desperate bid to lose weight claims she was saved by becoming a mother.
Rianna Merie, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was six, spent her teenage years deliberately avoiding her injections in a bid to stay slim.
Known as diabulimia, her risky behaviour meant she could lose up to a stone in three months.
It was not until she gave birth to her daughter, Elle, now three, that the student’s priorities changed and she realised how dangerous it was.
She believes giving birth to her daughter is the only reason she’s still here today.
Rianna Merie, 25, spent her teenage years deliberately avoiding her injections in an attempt to stay skinny. But she has never been diagnosed with diabulimia
She said: ‘I was seriously ill. I was so small and fragile. I nearly died in my terrible quest to lose weight.’
Miss Merie, 25, from Windsor, Ontario, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes just before her sixth birthday.
Her mother Dawn Courtenay, 44, noticed she was losing weight and was constantly tired and thirsty.
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She took her to the GP who sent her to hospital where blood tests revealed her extremely high blood glucose levels.
Miss Merie began a life of finger pricks to measure her blood levels every few hours and injected insulin before meals.
Known as diabulimia, her risky behaviour meant she could lose up to a stone in three months as she spent her teenage years vomiting, lacking energy and wearing size zero jeansa
She said: ‘Because I was so young it became part of my routine, as normal as brushing my teeth.
‘At first, mum would do it for me, but after a few years I took over the responsibility.
‘I’d sit down for lunch at school and there’d be a lot of questions about why I’d have to ‘make my finger bleed.’
But when she was 10, things started changing in her life – her mother had another baby.
Her mother got a new job in sales and would be home late, meaning her father Ossama Merie, 56, would take care of her instead.
It was then that Miss Merie picked up her bad habit of not giving her body enough insulin.
She added: ‘I started to feel like I wasn’t in control of my life.
‘I decided I wouldn’t check my blood sugar levels to take back control and feel free.
‘I’d take enough insulin to keep my body functioning, but not enough to feel well.’
Miss Merie from Windsor, Ontario, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was six-years-old after her mother Dawn Courtenay, 44, noticed she was losing weight and was constantly tired and thirsty (pictured together when Miss Merie was eight-years-old)
The process made her lose weight, as her body was ‘going into survival mode’ and burning more energy.
After three months, having lost over a stone, her parents noticed and took her to see a doctor who did blood tests, who revealed her sugars were too high.
She said: ‘My parents realised what I was doing, and for a while would make me take my insulin in front of them.
‘But as time went on, they’d trust me again.’
But she realised she was putting the weight back on and didn’t like it.
From the age of 10 to 13, she was hospitalised twice because she’d let her blood sugar levels get too high, giving her stomach pains and making her vomit.
She added: ‘In hospital I’d be given nutrients through a drip and they’d get me back on track and lecture me about how I needed to take care of myself.’
When she was 12, her mother read about a teenager with diabulimia in a magazine article – but Miss Merie didn’t want to know.
At 13, she weighed seven stone and liked the way she looked, even though health-wise she felt ‘terrible’.
All through high school, she continued to limit her insulin injections.
She said she became ashamed of her diabetes and didn’t want to feel different.
At age 19, she fell into a depression and started binge eating. She would often eat a whole box of cereal, then cookies and snacks – as her weight went to nearly 11 stone
But after meeting boyfriend Shaun Synnott, 27, (right), her life began to feel ‘normal’. She was initially reluctant to tell him about her condition, but when she did he helped her buy healthy foods and made sure she went to her doctor’s appointments
However, she became better at hiding her diabulimia from her parents by making sure she ate enough and took just enough insulin so she didn’t look ‘sick’.
Then after high school she moved to Hailsham, east Sussex, to study political sciences.
There, she did a lot of partying and drinking, which as a diabetic, she wasn’t supposed to do.
WHAT IS DIABULIMIA?
Diabulimia is the common term for when someone with type 1 diabetes uses insulin omission as a process for weight control.
Eating disorders present in different forms and with more severe consequences.
Omitting insulin puts people at risk of Diabetic Ketoacidosis, which is fatal if left untreated.
Some people develop symptoms of anorexia nervosa and this also has an impact on diabetic control.
The nutritional consequences of starvation on the brain and body are more marked when insulin/glucose control is suboptimal.
It is estimated that 40 percent of type 1 females aged 15—30 regularly omit insulin for weight control.
Complications include blindness, limb loss, neuropathy blindness and fatality.
Source: NHS
When she returned to Canada she wasn’t happy with her health, and age 19, fell into a depression and started binge eating.
She would often eat a whole box of cereal, then cookies and snacks – as her weight went to nearly 11 stone.
But at the end of the year she met her boyfriend Shaun Synnott, 27, a warehouse worker, and started her university course.
Suddenly, her life started to feel ‘normal’.
At first she was reluctant to tell him about the diabulimia, but when she did he helped by buying healthy foods and taking her to doctor’s appointments.
Then two years into her relationship she found out she was pregnant, age 20.
She said: ‘At first I was terrified, but then I realised it was time to take care of my health and body because it wasn’t just me anymore.
‘I began to see a doctor three times a week, went to see a dietician and was on top of measuring my blood sugar levels and insulin intake.’
Now, the environmental student at The University of Windsor, with her daughter to care for, her priorities have changed.
‘I realised it was not just my health I was sacrificing.
‘Elle has changed my life as I need to be healthy physically and mentally for her.’