‘I risked going blind by stopping my insulin to stay skinny'

Like Corrie’s Summer Spellman, as a teen Lynsey Choules developed a dangerous eating disorder linked to her diabetes medication

- LARA KILNER

A current storyline on Coronation Street has raised awareness of a little-known eating disorder called diabulimia. In the ITV soap, Summer Spellman, played by Harriet Bibby, has type 1 diabetes, but has been cutting back on her insulin medication to lose weight. As a teenager, Lynsey Choules, now 29, went through a similar experience, and it had devastating consequences for her health.

I can’t remember life without diabetes. I was diagnosed aged six. I was thirsty all the time and Mum recognised the symptoms. But it wasn’t until I was 13 that I really started to struggle with it. As a teenager, you compare yourself to others and diabetes makes you different. It’s a condition that can be overwhelming – you never get a break from it. At boarding school, I didn’t want to stick out, so I went into avoidance mode.

People with type 1 diabetes need insulin before every meal, as well as daily (your ‘background insulin’). I started to take smaller doses until eventually I stopped taking any before food. All I’d have was my background insulin, which I’ve since been told was probably just enough to keep me alive.

By 14, I realised not taking my insulin meant I lost weight, so I thought, “Well, I can’t do insulin because I’ll put on weight.”