Eyesight. It’s a miracle! T2. Newly diagnosed.

Nick8718

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Ten days after my diagnosis and life was pretty miserable as I started to come to terms with what diabetes means to me. BUT... something really strange has happened and I wonder how common it is.

I’ve been shortsighted since my early teens. I’ve never driven without glasses. I woke up one morning and my eyesight had shifted. I could see number plates on cars parked on my road. Everything looked like it had black lines round it.

I went to my GP and my opticians. Had a full check for retinopathy and it’s clear but my eyesight has completely corrected itself! The drop in blood sugar levels from LC altered my eyes (I did, initially, worry I’d been T2 since 1980 but have been told that’s not the case - phew!).

The bad news is that because it’s a focal shift I now need reading glasses but in every sky there’s a little cloud.

Two weeks on and it’s stayed constant. My new party trick is reading signs a long way off. Admittedly it hasn’t resulted in a flood of party invitations!
 

Prem51

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Welcome to the forum @Nick8718. That's good to hear, and interesting! I don't recall reading about anyone having a similar improvement in eyesight. Some who had retinopathy have found their eyes improved as they lowered their blood glucose levels.
 
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pavlosn

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Don't mean to rain on your parade but I wonder whether just like the blurring of vision that many experience when they first reduce their levels of glucose, your eyesight shift may also be temporary.
 
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Bluetit1802

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Nothing to do with diabetes, but as we get a bit older our eye sight does change - from long to short sighted and the other way round. This is according to my optician because several years ago this happened to me. I only ever needed glasses for long distance and middle distance, never for reading. That all changed and I now need glasses to read and eat, but not for any longer distances, including watching TV, driving, walking about, etc. It just happened.
 
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Nick8718

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Don't mean to rain on your parade but I wonder whether just like the blurring of vision that many experience when they first reduce their levels of glucose, your eyesight shift may also be temporary.

I fear the same thing. But for now... I’ll go and see as many films as I can and sit at the back of the cinema!
 
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CondorX

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I have to say I have had a virtually IDENTICAL experience. Diagnosed end April 2019. BS now pretty stable on a LCHF diet.
I have been shortsighted since my teens -some 40 years! A few weeks ago my sight shifted-I could no longer read up close but could see clearly way into the distance. Left it a while as I knew blood sugar levels could cause blurred sight as they stabilised. Had optometry test this weekend and am now pretty far sighted....., retinal photos look fine but still awaiting official retinopathy screening.
So yes, identical situation here ........

Happy days albeit varifocals are expensive!

The cause is of course uncertain -sight certainly changes with age as others have said. Maybe it would have happened anyway!
 
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Circuspony

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I fear the same thing. But for now... I’ll go and see as many films as I can and sit at the back of the cinema!
Don't get new glasses! I've been short sighted since I was 8yo. Diagnosed with T1 at 43 and for a few weeks after starting treatment I had perfect vision!

It was lovely to drive without glasses, not worry about contact lenses and I secretly hoped it was permanent. It wasn't sadly.

I then ended up ordering lots of contact lenses in different prescriptions because I slowly became short sighted again.

Annoyingly over 6 months my prescription did change so I also had to pay for new glasses.

It's very common with T1
 
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Jay-Marc

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The medical term is transient hyperopia. It usually lasts 4-8 weeks (but can be longer) and with a change of sight of about 1.5 dioptres at the peak not being untypical although it can be much higher depending on rapidity of regaining blood sugar control and how high the sugar levels were before diagnosis and subsequent treatment.

A permanent significant change is much rarer, although it isn't unusual for it to settle out a little different from the starting point. In my case I finished slightly less short sighted but slightly more astigmatic.
 
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Circuspony

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The medical term is transient hyperopia. It usually lasts 4-8 weeks (but can be longer) and with a change of sight of about 1.5 dioptres at the peak not being untypical although it can be much higher depending on rapidity of regaining blood sugar control and how high the sugar levels were before diagnosis and subsequent treatment.

A permanent significant change is much rarer, although it isn't unusual for it to settle out a little different from the starting point. In my case I finished slightly less short sighted but slightly more astigmatic.
I also ended up with my astigmatism worse. My left eye went back to its pre-diabetic short sighted prescription but my right eye improved by 1.25

Opticians have done a great job supporting me as my eyes changed - i think I'm a bit of a curiosity...
 
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Nick8718

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Thanks for all your insight (no pun intended). I’ll savour every day but will be aware it’s temporary and I won’t get rid of my specs!
 
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