Anorexia and Diabetes: Insights from Karen Carpenter's Life #26

Deborah

00:01:55

Hello there and welcome everybody to another episode of DiabeticReal. And I am Deborah E. Your host. This week I've been doing a lot of work in the studio.You might be able to hear I'm a little bit hoarse here because I have been singing and enjoying the studio. I've also been going live on TikTok LIVE under my handle, @SocialWebCafe, even though for the most part I've been going LIVE as Deborah E, the singer.A lot of people have said that I sing in a style that's very similar to Karen Carpenter, may she rest in peace. I enjoyed listening to Karen's music and still enjoy listening to her music. Very, very gifted lady. And the world lost her too soon back in 1983.You know, so many people have asked for me to re record them and I may actually do some of the covers, but I felt like we shouldn't disturb that because it. Those are, you know, Karen's songs, even though they're written by other people. So it's not like it's Karen's songs.But I mean, she made those songs so popular, she and her brother, Richard. And I haven't wanted to disturb that.And then I noticed that there's a tribute band in Great Britain that's doing something similar and I thought maybe it is time. It's been, what, over 40 years? Anyway, I digress.But as a part of doing some research on the tribute band and what's going on, and I've had some people ask me to sing some of the songs, I noticed in the search history some questions that popped up and I didn't realize that at the time of her passing, Karen's blood sugar was 1100. Now we're talking about some areas that I understand being a type 1 diabetic. And also I will include the links.So if you're going to DiabeticReal.show and looking at the show notes and you can find them at a lot of different sites in your favorite place to listen to this podcast. You'll see the links and I will include them.There's also some interesting dialogue going on as far as Cora and some other sites, but I'll include those links. It is true that Ms. Carpenter died of anorexia nervosa. That is very true.But it's also true that her heart stopped and as a result of all the dieting because of anorexia nervosa, there's also the aspect that was caused by the ketoacidosis. Now there's a lot of confusion around that. And I'm not saying I'm an expert, I'm not, not the coroner. I'm not even an expert on Ms. Carpenter herself.So I am just simply speaking as far as an opinion, if you will, or theory or however you want to state this, based on my own knowledge of diabetic ketoacidosis and having almost died from it myself. Now, one of the misconceptions is that diabetic ketoacidosis only affects type 1 diabetics, and that's not true.Diabetic ketoacidosis, even though it's called diabetic ketoacidosis and it's called DKA for short, does not only affect type 1 diabetics, it can also affect type 2 diabetics and it actually can also affect non diabetics, because diabetic ketoacidosis is about how it affects people and not about who it affects as far as whether or not you've been diagnosed it. Also, if you think about it, the fact that it could affect somebody and actually kill somebody before they are properly diagnosed with diabetes.So right there, it's not a case of, hey, you know, like the DKA knocks on your door and says, are you diagnosed with type 1 diabetes? So it's not about the diagnosis, it's about how it affects you.So I'm going to read you a quote and again, the link will be in the show notes, but I'll read you a quote. It's on Cora. And let me give him credit, his name is, or at least the name that he is posted here in Quora is Wayne Botlick.And his bio line here is type 1 diabetic, May of 1966. So biochem student in college. And since. So he's actually had type 1 diabetes longer than I have, I'll give him credit for that.Very excellent answer here on all of the causes of DKA.And one of the questions, in fact, the question that he's answering on Kora, for anyone who does not know what Quora is, it's a place for questions and answers. So if you have a question, you can post it there and if you have an answer, you can answer questions that are there.The question that was asked to which Mr. Botlick is answering is what is ketoacidosis? And can someone go into ketoacidosis without diabetes?And that's kind of what we're talking about here because As I understand, Ms. Carpenter was not diabetic. There's no reason to think that she was whether type one or type two, because there's no evidence that that was the case.And that was as far as the coroner's findings that have been noted publicly, she did not die of anything related to diabetes or even DKA, for that matter. It was noted that her heart stopped after having anorexia nervosa for such a long period of time. So the he listed.Let's see, his answer here is he listed. Let's see, at least 11 other causes of ketoacidosis besides diabetes mellitus. And I'm quoting Mr. Botlick there. And there's a whole list.Again, you'll have the link so you can read it. And number 10 on his list is starvation. So for those of you who understand anorexia nervosa, which Ms.Carpenter suffered from, that includes starvation, as I understand. Everything here is as I understand, so disclaimer there. But the list of starvation. And this is what I understood as a kid.I remember talking to my mother, who is an rn. I don't know if you say was. She's retired, but her career was being a registered nurse. And we used to talk about this.As far as I wanted to diet, I remember that. And she's like, you can't do that because you'll actually go into. And I said, but, Mommy.But, Mommy, you know, I want to lose weight and I want to do this. And she goes, your body will eat itself. I remember her saying that. It's like, wait a minute. That doesn't make sense.And this is actually what she was describing. Of course, I had type 1 diabetes, and she was describing this part. But this is what Mr. Botlik writes, starvation.This is where the body, in an effort to fuel itself, burns its own fat and muscle tissue to excess, including the same condition that often kills untreated type 1 diabetics. And as I said, I learned that when I was a kid. I thought, well, that sounds good to me.That's a great way to lose weight because you starve yourself and then your body will start eating the fat. Now, this is one of the concerns that I have as far as the keto diet, and it actually is a part of the keto diet.Now, I don't want to say bad things about the keto diet. It's very effective. But that's part of what's happening, is that when you start spilling ketones, your body is actually eating itself.And that is true. It starts to fuel itself with the fat. So you are burning fat, but you're doing that because basically you're sending your body into DKA.And I've been really tempted to go on a keto diet because it's a great way to lose weight. Or is it? And that's the challenge. My husband is like, "Don't you dare go on a keto diet!" And it is very tempting because it's an effective diet.But I can't honestly say it's a good idea for a type 1 diabetic. Because the thing is, as a type 1 diabetic going on a keto diet, you are opening that door to burning fat because you're not eating.You're eating specific things that are low carb. So your body doesn't have any carb to fuel itself, so the body starts burning the fat, which, again, is an effective way to burn fat. Yeah, sure.But then it's actually spilling ketones. And that's why you have, like, I purchased a ketone checker, so you can see if you're spilling ketones.And if you're on a keto diet, like, great, I'm spilling ketones. That's terrific. But As a type 1 diabetic, you gotta watch that.And if you're spilling too many ketones, that's straight to the hospital because you've gone into DKA. And, you know, I've talked to different people running keto diet programs and so forth.You know, they've even said that threshold between healthy keto diet and an unhealthy. For example, for a type 1 diabetic.When I've talked to the people running some of these programs, they've even said to me, we don't really want you on our program because the health risk to you As a type 1 diabetic, that tiny little threshold between the healthy keto diet and the unhealthy, where you end up in the hospital as a type 1 diabetic, is such a small threshold that it's very unsafe. And that is the vulnerability of a type 1.I'm not really sure that I could honestly personally recommend a keto diet, knowing what I know about ketones, but not here to talk about keto diet. And it's true, it's effective because it is burning fat. But that's basically what Ms. Carpenter was doing to a point where the organs started to shut down. And true, her heart stopped, and that is what ended her life.I know firsthand that that worked because when I went into DKA and I had cut down on the insulin because I had someone say, oh, you're healed. You don't have Diabetes anymore. I know I was foolish enough. I was young. I was foolish. I listened.It was a minister that said, you know, you've been healed and you no longer have to take insulin. And I started to take insulin again, but my body hadn't caught up. My body was already in DKA.My body was already quote, unquote, eating itself, and it couldn't turn itself around and start utilizing the insulin and taking advantage of the carbs. Plus, you know, I was trying to eat and actually utilize the carbs, and my body could not take advantage of that. And I was actually throwing up.Anything I ate, I was throwing it back up. So, of course, the body didn't have any carbs to take advantage of, so it continued to eat itself.And I continued to go downhill in the DKA, and I ended up unconscious. And that's... Are you. Are you savable, if you will, in DKA? Well, it depends on several factors. Age is one of them.I was very young, and I know I've shared this as far as in other episodes about that DKA episode. I was what, like 23, 24? I was young, 25, whatever it was, early 20s. And fortunately, a friend of mine called.She knew I was in trouble, and she got the first responders over there ambulance. They flew in an endocrinologist, and they started working on me right away. I was an icu. Icu. They were able to turn that around.So a lot of it does depend on age and if the body can handle it. But, yeah, my body had already started consuming itself and they were able to get IV sugar into me, so my body had something, the sugar.It was sugar water. They went put straight into the bloodstream, was able to consume that instead of consuming myself.And of course, they put the insulin in there so it was able to deliver the carbohydrate, the sugar water so that my body could start actually functioning. But my organs had already started to shut down even before they got me in the ambulance.So I had shut down in the ambulance and they had to resuscitate me. So that was a very close call. It's all about timing.I was very fortunate, very thankful to those firefighters that got there and resuscitated me before my organs completely shut down. They were surprised. I lived through it. I was thankful. I lived through it. I wish that Miss Carpenter had lived through it.We all could have been blessed by her continued singing. And I hope that she is singing in heaven with the angels. So I hope none of you are trying to starve yourself.And if any of you are on the keto diet, just please be careful. Because any of you going through the decay, it is not a pleasant experience. I don't know. I do not wish it on anyone.Instead, I wish the beauty of the musical experience. And with that, I'll let you listen to Perfectly Wonderful World. And this is Deborah E signing off on DiabeticReal.