Hi, I have recently been diagnosed with type 2, and am 6 weeks into the process, on Metformin. I had the eye test, and a letter came back saying I had some damage to my eyes, which didn't require medication at this stage. A further test will be in one year, as normal. I am concerned that without any treatment this could get worse, or is it that I am still in the early stages of treatment, and they are waiting for things to settle down? I have had red, irritated eyes for some time now, and a couple of weeks of vision problems that quickly settled down after my treatment for diabetes began. How rapidly do your eyes deteriorate?
Retinopathy/Glaucoma
- Thread starter Lemmonrose
- Start Date
Hi, the letter you have is standard for a yearly recall. It as many of them is badly worded. Hopefully once you have good control and keep to the good control your scans will be clear. It's possible that you have been undiagnosed for a couple of years hence the early warning signs of damage.
If there was a problem you would have had a letter to say you needed treatment.
If there was a problem you would have had a letter to say you needed treatment.
daddys1
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Hi @Lemmonrose hi & welcome, it appears you are a new member here.
With diabetes there is always the worry with regard to the eyes but providing you take control of your sugars levels by eating the right foods then there should be no need to worry.
You have come to the right place for help and usually we ask @daisy1 to come along and give you a long list of information which will help you get started in controlling your diabetes. It seems daunting to start but things will fall into place.
Have a good look round this forum and ask as many questions as you wish.
Neil
With diabetes there is always the worry with regard to the eyes but providing you take control of your sugars levels by eating the right foods then there should be no need to worry.
You have come to the right place for help and usually we ask @daisy1 to come along and give you a long list of information which will help you get started in controlling your diabetes. It seems daunting to start but things will fall into place.
Have a good look round this forum and ask as many questions as you wish.
Neil
daisy1
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- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
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- Tablets (oral)
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- Cruelty towards animals.
Hello @Lemmonrose and welcome to the forum 
Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. I hope you get more answers to your question and to any others you need to ask.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS
Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.
A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 130,000 people who are demonstrating this.
On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.
The role of carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.
If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.
The bad news
Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.
The good news
People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.
Controlling your carbs
The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.
The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.
Choosing better carbohydrates
Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html
The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.
Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes
Eating what works for you
Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.
The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:
Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.
You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic
Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. I hope you get more answers to your question and to any others you need to ask.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS
Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.
A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 130,000 people who are demonstrating this.
On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.
The role of carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.
If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.
The bad news
Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.
The good news
People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.
Controlling your carbs
The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
- Reduce your carbohydrate intake
- Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.
The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.
Choosing better carbohydrates
Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html
The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.
Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes
Eating what works for you
Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.
The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:
Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
- structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
- self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education
Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.
You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic
Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Lazybones
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Firstly welcome to the diabetes forum.
As with anything that concerns the eyes, it should be checked out A.S.A.P. by someone suitably qualified to do so, either a qualified optometrist or ideally by going to your local hospital's eye clinic for a thorough eye examination.
The yearly eye checks that we diabetics undertake will only check for a number of the more common diabetic eye complications and many other things such as Glaucoma are often missed.
Something such as Red Eye, pain in the eye, flashing lights should be treated as an emergency condition until proven otherwise by the eye hospital, so make you way there as a matter of priority. Don't put things off, as time is often a critical factor.
I suffer with various eye problems myself, am now registered as being blind, and also suffer with Glaucoma so please take what I say as being the truth and act upon it.
As with anything that concerns the eyes, it should be checked out A.S.A.P. by someone suitably qualified to do so, either a qualified optometrist or ideally by going to your local hospital's eye clinic for a thorough eye examination.
The yearly eye checks that we diabetics undertake will only check for a number of the more common diabetic eye complications and many other things such as Glaucoma are often missed.
Something such as Red Eye, pain in the eye, flashing lights should be treated as an emergency condition until proven otherwise by the eye hospital, so make you way there as a matter of priority. Don't put things off, as time is often a critical factor.
I suffer with various eye problems myself, am now registered as being blind, and also suffer with Glaucoma so please take what I say as being the truth and act upon it.
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Have a good read around the following website that has some good information and advice on retinopathy and glaucoma:
http://www.diabeticretinopathy.org.uk/Information_for_patients.html
http://www.diabeticretinopathy.org.uk/Information_for_patients.html
Many thanks - I now believe I have had it for a while, but my eyes are better now than for a long time, so hoping the "damage" is under control.
Many thanks. I think I may have had type 2 for some time, but my sugars are vastly better than they were, much more controllable. Weirdly, my eyes are far better now than they have been for some time.
Thank you. Hoping I have levels under control enough now to stop any further damage, weirdly, my eyes feel better now than for a long time. I'll keep plodding on.
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High bg levels make the lens of the eyes swell which in turn lead to blurry vision, now that your bg is under control your eyesight should be much improved. Well done.
