Hi Anna,

What bothers me is the loose definition of "very intense glucose therapy reduces the risk of complications."  

Testing 5 or 6 times a day was not sufficient to safely reduce my A1C from mid 6's to 5.1.  It was the conjunction of testing 12-15 times a day and every small doses of insulin as many times a day as needed (10, 12, 15 times a day - depending on what I eat, when I eat and other non-food glucose affecting factors).

It was actually the injections they were referencing as fairly new.  The person in the article actually uses a pump (new intensive MDI) which obviously is NOT new.  They originally put regular insulin in them and I have a vague recollection of that being at least 20 years old.  I have never researched the original pump however so please correct me on that.

I love this comment " For diabetics, a normal blood sugar is between 90 and 130 mg/dl before meals, and less than 180 mg/dl after meals. " - Meaning- "FOR DIABETICS" blood sugar is always high!  Nice touch.

I even heard something more stupid on one of the 24 hour news channels Monday I think.  It was about Nick Jonas.  They said he uses a pump to measure his blood sugar!  Idiots.

I do find this amusing info:  "In those who did not practice intensive control, the rates of eye, kidney, and heart problems were 50 percent, 25 percent, and 14 percent, respectively, compared with 21 percent, 9 percent, and 9 percent in those who practiced tight control."  Again - their definition of tight control is very loose.  So, even when I practiced what I believed to be crappy control (testing 4-6 times a day, A1C low to mid 6's and target of 110-140) I was in the tight control group. 

One number they neglected to mention ... studies show those who have no kidney disease after 30 years (including me) aren't likely to.  Also, since kidney disease and retinopathy tend to go hand in hand ... one could formulate a conclusion that we won't get that either.

Ha - since when is this the case??? "When the DCCT study began, conventional treatment for type 1 diabetes involved one or two insulin injections a day with daily urine or blood glucose testing. Intensive therapy includes keeping glucose levels as close to normal as possible by targeting hemoglobin A1C readings of 6 percent or less with at least three insulin injections a day (or an insulin pump). "  I thought the DCCT was a target of 7 or under????  No.

Doris