Complementary therapy of traditional Chinese medicine for blood sugar control in a patient with type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE

Using a case study to discuss the effects of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments on Type 1 diabetes mellitus.

CLINICAL FEATURES: A 4-year-old girl with sudden polyuria and nocturia (fasting plasma glucose level: 270mg/dL) was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Although multiple daily insulin injections were applied, her plasma glucose levels were still unstable. Therefore, she received a complementary TCM therapy by taking modified Liu-Wei-Di-Huang-Wan (3.0g/day; three times daily) for 3 months. After the treatments, her plasma glucose levels appeared to be more stable. HbA1c 6.5% and insulin injections were reduced to only once a day.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that complementary TCM therapy has the ability to assist some patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus in controlling their plasma glucose levels.