In a word, “yes.”
I pose the question because someone I know who’s diabetes-savvy posted this on Facebook today:
Melissa Lee, amazing fellow T1D, then posted an article I’d written about this topic in response:
It made me go back and re-read my own post that I had written a while back (originally for HuffPost, reprinted on a sweetlife.com). It’s exactly about my personal experience of working hard at my diabetes management yet complications still come.
Excerpt from the post:
“Now you see me, now you don’t, diabetes. You are there and not there. I can forget you, but never as long as for a day. And while I know I’m better off working to keep my diabetes well managed to have my best chance to keep complications at bay – and I am very positive most of the time, even seeing gifts I’ve gained from having diabetes – I also know I cannot control anything.”
As Stacey asks above, it points out that we who live with diabetes need to know complications are not necessarily a reflection of our efforts. And people who don’t have diabetes need to understand that you can manage diabetes tightly and still get complications. There is no blame to be placed, it’s the nature of diabetes, and the spin of the dice.
That said, this is not to discourage you, but to say the best you can do is your best, and doing so, take some comfort in that.
Diabetes Stories 
Riva, thanks for the reality check! Sometimes (many times) people automatically categorize diabetics into having the disease ‘under control’ or ‘not under control’ – when they don’t realize the reality of it. Great post, and original post from 2016.
Indeed Wil, you may like this, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/exiting-the-diabetes-union_us_5772e898e4b0d24f8fb50465?
Riva, thanks for linking me to that post. It is honestly one of the most truthful and inspiring articles i’ve read as a diabetic.
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As long as the blood sugar levels are maintained by proper diabetic diet, exercises like walking, yoga etc drinking a lot of water per day plug good mental attitude, it is unlikely for one to get complications with that kind of diabetes management.However, management of diabetes by injections and other medications are likely to weaken the human body organs responsible for the good running order of the body and possibly trigger complication as the human body becomes weak by age. I am 66 years old diagnosed with type 2 diabetes more than 25 years ago and managed to come out of 46 units of insulin per day and thus reversing my status to date.