Brittle diabetes revisited: a description of erratic and difficult-to-control diabetes in an elderly woman with Type 1 diabetes.

Individuals of advanced age can benefit from insulin pump therapy. The original definition of 'brittle diabetes' referred to patients whose lives were 'constantly disrupted by episodes of hypo- or hyperglycaemia'. Our case reminds us that this clinical entity can result from altered biology and is not always related to psychological stressors.