Eyesight worries

[MaxRebo001]

HI, this a new forum account however i'm not new to the forums (I cant' reconfirm my account for some reason) I have been type 2 for around 8 years and from time to time I have struggled with control. Approximately 18 months ago during my routine eye screening the optician referred me to the eye clinic as he suspected a bleed was present.

Within 2 weeks I had my hospital appointment but I was told there was nothing there apart from some thickening and I would need to go back in 9 months, the second visit I was told there was no change. I went for my 3rd eye exam last October and was then told the leakage I had was still present (until this point I was never told I had any leakage) and that I would need laser surgery to treat it, needless to say I was more than a little shocked by this, I was advised to make sure that I keep my level, so as close to normal at this point my hba1c was 69.

I have been working on my control and had my laser surgery on the 12th December and although I have not been for a bloodiest my average reading now is between 5 and 6 at all times and my forecasted hba1c is looking to be around 35.

Now to my concern, the last week I have been experiencing some issues with blurred vision, i'm aware than my vision may get worse as my levels drop after being fairly high for a while, but my vision can be really poor where reading is a struggle to the point where my vision is greatly improved by the end of the day. Today however by eyesight has been relatively poor all day with only minor improvements

I'm not sure if my recent good control has happened too quickly and the result is causing the retinopathy to accelerate in which case would a slight increase in levels allow my eyes to adapt with less issues or persevere with my good control and see if things improve.

I'm guessing that the end result in the short term will be more laser surgery if the retinopathy has indeed got worse, i'm not due to go back until March for a scan, should I be going to my GPS in the meantime. I do not have much faith in him unfortunately.

Diet wise I am currently LCHF on around 30g of carbs per day, and taking 80mg gliclazide twice daily and bydureon weekly.

You thought and suggestions are greatly appreciated, things are a little bit scary atm.

 

[BrianTheElder]

HI, this a new forum account however i'm not new to the forums (I cant' reconfirm my account for some reason) I have been type 2 for around 8 years and from time to time I have struggled with control. Approximately 18 months ago during my routine eye screening the optician referred me to the eye clinic as he suspected a bleed was present.

Within 2 weeks I had my hospital appointment but I was told there was nothing there apart from some thickening and I would need to go back in 9 months, the second visit I was told there was no change. I went for my 3rd eye exam last October and was then told the leakage I had was still present (until this point I was never told I had any leakage) and that I would need laser surgery to treat it, needless to say I was more than a little shocked by this, I was advised to make sure that I keep my level, so as close to normal at this point my hba1c was 69.

I have been working on my control and had my laser surgery on the 12th December and although I have not been for a bloodiest my average reading now is between 5 and 6 at all times and my forecasted hba1c is looking to be around 35.

Now to my concern, the last week I have been experiencing some issues with blurred vision, i'm aware than my vision may get worse as my levels drop after being fairly high for a while, but my vision can be really poor where reading is a struggle to the point where my vision is greatly improved by the end of the day. Today however by eyesight has been relatively poor all day with only minor improvements

I'm not sure if my recent good control has happened too quickly and the result is causing the retinopathy to accelerate in which case would a slight increase in levels allow my eyes to adapt with less issues or persevere with my good control and see if things improve.

I'm guessing that the end result in the short term will be more laser surgery if the retinopathy has indeed got worse, i'm not due to go back until March for a scan, should I be going to my GPS in the meantime. I do not have much faith in him unfortunately.

Diet wise I am currently LCHF on around 30g of carbs per day, and taking 80mg gliclazide twice daily and bydureon weekly.

You thought and suggestions are greatly appreciated, things are a little bit scary atm.

Firstly, get your eyes looked at! If you can't get your doc involved, go to an opticians and have a check up. They should be able to tell if anything is seriously wrong.
Secondly, I had laser treatment on my eyes to correct presbyopia (caused by old age) a week ago. I was told that there would be swelling that could affect by vision (blurring) for an average of 4 months, so that may be all it is.

 

[sally and james]

My husband's experience is that sudden good control of sugar levels does indeed accelerate retinopathy in the short term, but keeping going with the low carb and keeping blood sugars at normal levels pays off in the longer term. James' experience is that the retinopathy gradually heals as long as sugars and blood pressure are kept down.
Sally

 

[Dark Horse]

Macular oedema (sometimes also described as macular swelling, thickening or leakage) can cause blurred vision. However so can changes in glucose levels in the lens especially when blood glucose control improves (or worsens) markedly.

If blurred vision is due to changes in the lens, you would expect both eyes to be affected equally so it's worth closing each eye while testing the other eye. You would also expect that the blurriness would be correctable by using different glasses. Some people find they need stronger reading glasses than usual, others find they need weaker glasses. Another test is find some brightly lit text that appears blurred then re-view it through a pin-hole in a piece of paper. If the text appears less blurred through the pin-hole, this suggests the problem is in the front of the eye not in the macula. Blurred vision due to lens changes usually improves over a matter of weeks.

If blurred eyesight doesn't improve with any glasses or with the use of pin-hole, this suggests the problem is in the macula. Were you given a leaflet or letter after your laser with a number to contact if there were any problems? If not, you could try phoning the hospital and ask to speak to the on-call ophthalmologist and discuss it with them.

Macular laser can take several weeks to work and sometimes further treatments are required.

 

[covknit]

In my AHA I think the diabetes people have their own department which we should go to to seek medical advice. At least I seem to recall a comment around that concept on my Desmond course.

I know nothing about eyesight problems relating to diabetes but everyone in my family has glaucoma. Dad has been completely blind for years. ANY blurred vision, black spots, psychedelic light shows go straight to hospital. From the tests you have already undergone you must have a consultant and hospital that can access your medical records. Get there asap for a risk assessment. The eye department at our hospital operates it's own A&E but we have a very good stable eye clinic at the walk in centre which I suggest would be the first call to get eye tests done if someone did not already have access to specialist help.

Unless you have a good GP I would suggest you keep away from the optician. In my experience they wet themselves if they do not get the GP intervening and making referrals. This can result in delays running into months.

 

[MaxRebo001]

Spoke with the hospital referrals this morning recommended i go to see my local optician so I have an eye test booked for wednesday, eyesight has improved a little from Saturday, which is a relief and I now have access to my medical records and theres a fair bit of information in there which i was never made aware of, i'm quite shocked tbh, my consultant wrote to my doctor in jan 2016 stating i had been diagnosed with bilateral non-proliferative retinopahy but it would have been nice if either the consultant or my doctor had informed me of it.

I'd like to thank those who replied, we only have one pair of eyes and the thought of potentially loosing some degree of vision is quite scary.