Question:
I have been a diabetic for 4 years and have always had a very hard time controlling my sugars. I had very wide blood glucose fluctuations, such as from 50-300+. Now that I am using the insulin pump, my blood sugars range from 80 to 500. Would I be considered a brittle diabetic and if not what is a brittle diabetic?
Answer:
Brittle diabetes is no longer a term that is used much because there has
been such a debate over what it means. In essence, someone who has lots of
admissions to hospital with hypos and/or ketoacidosis would be labelled
brittle. However, in itself, this is a useless label because it tells us
nothing about the cause. There are many potential problems that can lead to
blood sugar instability including poor injection sites, missing insulin,
poor diet, etc.
KJR
Original posting 4 Mar 1998
Posted to Daily Care