# “Brittle” Diabetes.... Real? Or just an excuse to explain uncontrolled blood sugar?
**URL:** https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/brittle-diabetes-real-or-just-an-excuse-to-explain-uncontrolled-blood-sugar/4190
**Category:** Type 1 & LADA
**Created:** [June 9, 2018, 12:47am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/brittle-diabetes-real-or-just-an-excuse-to-explain-uncontrolled-blood-sugar/4190 "2018-06-09T00:47:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@TravelingOn](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/TravelingOn)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/brittle-diabetes-real-or-just-an-excuse-to-explain-uncontrolled-blood-sugar/4190/21 "2018-07-20T16:01:23Z")
> [@T1Allison](#):
>
> I had a friend in the last two months of his cancer battle tell me not to minimize my own struggles and challenges just bc of what he was dealing with. It was the most generous thing I’ll probably ever hear in my life from another human being.
That is excellent advice. It’s good to have empathy for others, but also for yourself.
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### Author:  [@Nickyghaleb](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Nickyghaleb)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/brittle-diabetes-real-or-just-an-excuse-to-explain-uncontrolled-blood-sugar/4190/22 "2018-07-21T02:03:30Z")
> [@MM2](#):
>
> My reliance on doctors has greatly declined since I found online resources such as this.
This is a personal goal of mine… to steer clear of the doctors’ offices. Those are tricky places, and I’m not so sure I’m always getting good stuff inside. I have navigated some major medical problems over the last 15 years, and some of what I have seen with overall medical care is concerning to say the least. I’d like to see my endo, update her on what I’m doing, and see her again in 6 months. I’m really sick of doctors.[quote=“MM2, post:18, topic:4190”]
One of mine showed an increased A1C, with handwritten comment by endo saying “Need more exercise!!”.
[/quote]
My husband just got his postcard showing high cholesterol, pretty significantly high, and a handwritten note from his doc saying, “close!”… so they still send out cards with personal notes. 😃
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### Author:  [@Eric](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Eric)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/brittle-diabetes-real-or-just-an-excuse-to-explain-uncontrolled-blood-sugar/4190/23 "2018-07-22T17:27:25Z")
Not sure I have much to add to this, other than to share something interesting I learned about the term from my personal experience.
Many years ago (I dunno, maybe over 20 years ago or something like that), a very smart and sharp endo put the “brittle” tag on me.
And then he told me that I was very well controlled, but that he always used the “brittle” term for all his patients because it made it much easier to get some things approved with insurance.
Things like more test strips for example, which was still relatively new at the time. Or the new recombinant DNA insulin (Humalog), compared to the old stuff which was the standard treatment at the time.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool that he did what he needed just to help with insurance like that.
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