Longsightedness suddenly much worse...?

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colmac

Member
Messages
8
Type of diabetes
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Diet only
Hi,

My first post on this forum - I was diagnosed with Type 2 last Tuesday. I'm not hugely overweight (need to lose about 7Kg) and fairly young for this (44) but there is a history of it in the family so I guess I'm just wading in the shallow end of the gene pool! In the last week and a bit I have tried to do the right things - on a strict diet to lose weight (2Kg lost so far!) and exercising every day. I am also on 500mg Metformin per day. My glucose has one from the diagnostic reading of 16 down to 5.9 this morning and has been fairly consistently at 'normal' levels since I started taking care.

So it's looking pretty positive really, if I can keep up the diet & exercise. The only thing that is really bothering me is that my eyesight seems to have suddenly got much worse in the last couple of weeks. I have had reading glasses for the last year or so but I didn't really need them - only for very close-up stuff...wiring a plug, that kind of thing. But now I pretty much can't see without them. I can't read at all without them.

I was going to go to the opticians for new glasses but I read that high sugar levels can cause the lens to swell and I wondered if this is what has happened. Apparently it can take 6 weeks for the lens to go back to normal, once sugar levels are normal again. So if that is what is causing my problem it should get better over the next couple of months I guess.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Is it likely my suddenly worsening eyesight is due to my diabetes?

Thanks!

Col
 
C

colmac

Member
Messages
8
Type of diabetes
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Diet only
Sorry, not sure I understand...when did you have vision problems? When you reduced your sugar levels?
 
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this is too difficult two

Well-Known Member
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852
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Don't have diabetes
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Sorry. When I found out I was diabetic I slashed my carb intake. About two weeks later my eyesight became blurred to the point I could not drive or even get about for a couple of days. Since then my sight is like it was 30 years ago. better than 20 20 according to optician.
 
jack412

jack412

Expert
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5,618
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Type 2
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yes, you have it worked out and the same thing happened to me and more severe to this is too difficult two, by the sound of it
it settles down, the Dr should organise you to go for an eye, teeth and foot check
 
julie56

julie56

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I had this too, lasted for several weeks. Found the best way to deal with it was to buy cheap reading glasses from Tescos in varying strengths. I used my usual reading glasses for driving, but found they were no longer strong enough for reading. It was really weird but did resolve itself after about 4-5 weeks.
 
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C

colmac

Member
Messages
8
Type of diabetes
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Diet only
Jeez, thanks guys...I was really freaked out. Couldn't figure out what was going on!
 
Spiker

Spiker

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Yes eye changes are normal with rapid blood sugar changes. Wait for it to settle down before buying any new glasses etc.
 
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brettsza

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1,205
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Hi all

Sorry to hijack this thread but I am sort of having same problem, diagnosed a month and a half ago and really struggling to look at computer for long time, its ok otherwise but I have not had an eye checkup in last 3 years and not changed my glasses in last 5 or 6 years, I will soon have an appointment for my eye, will they also give me new prescriptions for glasses, i know i have to pay for them on my own.
 
jack412

jack412

Expert
Messages
5,618
Type of diabetes
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if you have changed your diet or taken meds to reduce your BG, then don't buy new glasses for a while, it's a good idea to go to the appointment to have a look in your eye and take advice from the ophthalmologist
 
manicarrie

manicarrie

Well-Known Member
Messages
67
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I'm with jack, leave it a while before going for new glasses. I had blurred eyesight before my diagnosis and went for eye test, got glasses, then a few weeks later went to gp with other symptoms, got my diagnosis, and after about a week didn't need my glasses. Now I know how naughty I have been by my eyesight, and each time I cheat enough to make to blurry it takes longer to come back. In between times, while I am waiting for it to level back out, my glasses are almost useless, but I am not legal to drive without them.
Therefore, an eye test now may in all likeliness be different from an eye test in a few weeks
 
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Julie702

Member
Messages
22
Type of diabetes
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Other
Hi @colmac

Your story is like mine. I was diagnosed 5 weeks ago. Went straight on low carb diet and cut out all carbs. Sugar level came down from 19 at diagnosis to 6 or 7 within a week, and then my eyes went blurry. I waited another week or so and went to the optician. I explained what was going on with my blood sugar levels (armed with info from here) and he asked how long my blood sugar had been 'stable'. I told him about 10 days and he said that was fine and issued me with a new (expensive!) prescription. By the time the lenses arrived my long sight must have changed again as I can't read road signs until I am on top of them and last week thought a bin bag on the side of the road was a cat!

I went back to the opticians a couple of days ago and had my eyes retested and (as many here might predict) was given a new long sight prescription (free thankfully!) Who knows if my eyes will have changed again by the time the new lenses arrive? I can only hope not :0)
 
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colmac

Member
Messages
8
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Diet only
If you just need glasses for long sightedness I'd be tempted to go with the previous advice and just buy cheap reading glasses from the supermarket until the vision settles down, which I'm told can take 4-6 weeks.

My vision went back to normal while I was waking in Dorset at the weekend...only for periods but it was encouraging that it should at some point return to normal permanently. It's all blurry again now.
 
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colmac

Member
Messages
8
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Also, this seems like a really common side effect of reducing sugar levels so I'm pretty disappointed that the diabetes specialist nurse at my GP practice seemed completely clueless when I said I was concerned about my blurry vision. In fact she completely put the wind up me by raising the whole spectre of retinopathy.
 
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