mollymc - Thank you for taking the initiative to write in and make the attempt to educate yourself more on your current condition.  My husband is a juvenile diabetic diagnosed over 18 years ago.  I am glad to hear that you have been able to maintain your levels recently.  He is just now beginning to do better with his levels and you give me the faith that it is not too late for him to take control of his diabetes.  Unfortunately this is an area outside my expertise, but I am attempting to gather additional information to help you answer your questions.  I should have this information this evening and will pass on to you at that time.  Thanks again for your question.

Dear MollyMc,
Thank you so much for reaching out to this forum. It can be very hard to deal with a negative report on a possible complication, especially, when you have maintained good control. LRS had such a great comment. While I am a mom with a son with diabetes, who has a different complication, I know we have come along way with research. I do understand your frustration, but as LRS said, there is a big difference between kidney failure and possible damage. The website she suggested was very helpful to me. I have learned, through my son's comlications,that nothing is impossible. Knowledge is power and it seems you already know this. Please know that you are not alone and while I can't speak with more specific information on this particular issue, others will. Try to keep your chin up and please keep in contact.
Best of Luck,
dm

Sorry, for my delay in getting a response to you, but I needed to do some research on this question as I said earlier that this was not an area of expertise for me.  I put out some feelers to several people in the medical world and though they can't speak directly to your question about changing your dosages, they did offer this:

"Unfortunately, the reality re: Type 1 is that tight control does not protect everyone from complications -- it is, simply, the option we have to reduce risk.  Other things we know/believe reduce risk include taking a baby aspirin per day, lowering cholesterol (including taking statin drugs), taking ACE
inhibitors, and possibly taking supplements of thiamine (benfothiamine), Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil), anti-oxidants (Vit E, beta carotene, etc). However, in those people most at risk -- because of genetic predisposition or other factors
-- bad outcomes still happen, and they, tragically, happen young."

It is our hope that others will come to the forum and offer additional insight into this all too real problem facing ALL type 1's.  Thank you for coming to the forum . . . we hope you'll return often to learn more as well as to share with
all how you are doing.  All the best!

MollyMc
I'm sure you'll get more answers soon, but I wanted to let you know that someone's read your words and hears your fears.  The good news is that you've been free from this for 20 years and that you've maintained good control.  We do sometimes get complications "anyway" and that's a devastating feeling when it happens.  OTOH, I know that there's a BIG difference between some potential kidney damage/disease from DM and kidney failure.

I've heard an analogy offered.  Sometimes we fall and scrape our knees ... we have damaged our knees.  And yet our knees pretty much continue to function for mobility purposes -- that is, we don't have "knee failure" just because we have "knee damage."

I'm not a medical doctor, but a long time DMer, too.  Here's a helpful website that might help you get more information & insights.  http://www.niddk.nih.gov/  I mean to be helpful with this pointer, and yet I know there's some pretty scary info out there.

Revisit this site again soon & I'm sure folks'll offer their wisdom & experiences, too.

Thank you very much for your quick response.  Your analogy made me feel a lot better.  Sincerely, Molly Mc