Actually the bulimia was invented by the ambulance chasing lawyers to blame the Doctor for malpractice for not seeing it and the fact that it would cause a potassium deficiency.
Yes, a slip-and-fall shyster named Gary Fox. He and another lawyer of that sort had been hired by Schiavo to sue some of Terri's doctors for malpractice. But they couldn't find any grounds for malpractice until Fox dreamed up the bulimia yarn. He is still pitching it, I believe, and Michael Schiavo claims still to believe it. He has to, of course. It remains his only alibi.
Dr. Thogmartin, the M.E., scoffed at the whole idea, albeit in polite language. Earlier, several of Terri's doctors dismissed the bulimia tale as extremely unlikely. It is so rare as to be nonexistent in Terri's known circumstances. I don't believe a case has ever been documented.
Other possible explanations for her so-called collapse are, unfortunately, not rare at all. The obvious candidate is domestic violence.