Type 1 and eye problems

[michael_n]

Hello everybody ! My name is Michael, I've been reading the forum for quite a while, but this is the first time I felt the need to ask something.
I'm almost 20 and I've been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 12. Except for the first 2 or 3 months, the next three years were awesome and I only took a daily shot of Lantus, very low amount of it (2-6 units). Well, at the age of 15 I started to increase the dosage because my bg was getting too high, I took 26 units daily for a while, and then disaster struck - I had to take 4 shots of insulin daily. I was shocked at first, but I got used to it and now I have no problems with that, although I'll try the pump in the next few months.

The problem is that at the same time I switched to 4 shots a day I began having vision problems - I found I had a small myopia (-0.50 and -0.25). My eyes problems got worse in the next 4 years and I now have myopia and astigmatis (-1.00 spherical and -0.50 cylindrical for both eyes). My doctor said it could also be related to the growth (which has spectacular in these years - I grew 20 cm in height), not only to diabetes. I'm worried it could be solely related to the diabetes and it could get worse in a small period of time.

What do you think is the main cause of my vision problems ? BTW, my last HbA1C was 6.0, so I think I shouldn't experience complications atm.
Thanks for your patience and for the answers to come.

 

[Snodger]

What do you mean by 'eye problems'? Myopia and astigmatism are not diabetic complications, and IMO very likely to be related to growth spurts, nothing to do with diabetes at all. but maybe you mean retinopathy? Is your optician doing a full eye check, dilating the pupil and looking at the back of the eye? If you are worried, get him/her to do this check and look for retinopathy (which IS a complication of diabetes). Although your hba1c makes me think that your risk of it is pretty low.
The only thing I would say is, if your hba1c used to be very high, you had retinopathy as a result, and you dropped down to 6 quite suddenly, that can make retinopathy worse. What were your previous hba1cs?

 

[xMenace]

I've never heard of Myopia and astigmatism being considered diabetic complications. Most of our troubles are in the retina though glaucoma and a few other more rare problems in the front of the eye can occur.

Generally there are no symptoms of our complications, so annual checkups are important.

 

[janabelle]

Hi Michael
I'm surprised you managed so long on just 1 injection of long-acting analogue insulin for so long, how was your BG control during this time? When I was diagnosed my eyesight was really clear and as soon as my sugars were controlled I noticed my sight get worse; what I mean is that it wasn't that my eyes got worse when I became diabetic, quite the opposite-the high BGs made my eyes sharper for a time due to being undiagnosed. I wonder if this is what you were experiencing.
I've never set much store by the ever popular Hba1c blood test, people can have BG levels swinging high to low regularly and still show a good Hba1c result. In such instances the result is meaningless, as it's not giving a true picture of daily BG control.
As has been said previously, I have no knowledge of astigmatism or myopia being diabetes related, however with analogue insulins being so new to the market, who knows what else they have in store for us
Short-sightedness tends to get worse as we get older,it's just part of aging, and not everything is diabetes related so try not to worry. I'd be more worried about being on Lantus, as it's not insulin and causes many people a host of problems.
Jus

 

[moonstone]

you're shortsighted - get some glasses

 

[Curleous]

Hi there
i remember after i was diagnosed at hb1ac 0f 12.0ish as soon as i started lantus and my blood sugars started coming down my vision was terrible for about 6 weeks. I could not read newspaper text meesages etc. I was so worried at foirst until they explained that my eye had changed shape cos of high sugar and would return to normal after a few weeks....they were correct and it did but bloofdy scary as it happens quickly as sugar levels come down but not so noticeable on the way up..

Cheers

Curleous

 

[michael_n]

In the first 3 yers, my bg levels were absolutely normal, I remember I was worrying when i had a bg level higher than 140-150. The problems began when I turned 15 and in that same year I began experiencing vision problems (myopia that is). My doctor was pretty sure it wasn't related to the diabetes and said it's probably because of the growth and it will stabilize in 3 or 4 years max.
Oh, well, I'll have my eyes checked once a year anyway, although complications shouldn't occur having in mind my HbA1c (and that 6.0 was after an Exam Session, which is a real threat to my bg levels; I'll have it checked after the holiday and post it up).