I’ll be 30 in a couple of months and you may have seen my thread with the same title as yours...I’m going through almost the same thing. It does hurt me to see that someone as young as you is going through this, but you need to understand it’s not the end. I will apologize in advance because I know our healthcare systems are rather different as I’m in the U.S., but at the end of the day we’re all fighting the same battle with this.
Again, excuse my ignorance since I’m not 100% familiar with the healthcare system there. Do you have the option to see another Dr? One that may not constantly use the fear tactic on you? That’s what I felt I needed to do and it’s going to ultimately save my vision. My original Dr did not like me asking questions, would not inform me of anything going on except for the bare minimum. Once my retinopathy advanced to proliferative I realized I needed to find someone I truly felt comfortable with. My new Dr. does not sugarcoat my situation and has explained how severe and dangerous it is but also has an amazing outlook on my future as long as I stick to treatment.
Have they informed you that your rapid decrease in A1C will make the retinopathy worse? You’re doing the right thing by dropping your A1C, but in the case of such severe PDR (same as myself) it needs to be dropped very slowly over the course of many months. The sudden drop will in the short term make the condition worse.
When I still only had NPDR I also had macular edema and was treated with micropulse laser which did very little for me and I progressed to PDR. Is there any way at all to be considered for anti-VEGF injections? As I said in my thread I was trying to find a way to avoid them at all costs and go the laser route, but after seeing the photos of my eyes and the Dr explaining to me what my future could possibly look like with laser I immediately sucked it up and went for the Lucentis injection. I presented with such bad symptoms he would not allow me to leave the office without treatment as he said it could get to the point of no return if I let it go. I know here the FDA has approved these drugs for PDR and that’s an issue there, but do you also have macular edema that they can use that as the reasoning? My Dr is confident the injections are going to make my PDR settle and clear my macular edema. I only had the injection a few days ago and I have not seen this clear in over a year and the blood in my eye is clearing.
Lastly, please see a Dr. as soon as possible. The flash you saw is very concerning and could be a sign of retinal detachment especially with the bleeding that came with it. I have partial retinal detachments in both eyes because I waited a few days too long. Mine won’t require surgery, and will heal but I probably could have avoided it entirely.
Please don’t give up. I had been going through a really bad bout of depression after my first big bleed popped up when I woke up one morning a couple weeks ago. I neglected my 2 kids and my wife because I was convinced it was the end. It’s not though. It took 1 amazing Dr for me to realize I can fight this thing especially with the advancements we have now. I have many more rounds of treatment ahead of me, but right now I’m driving and more importantly can see my kids faces clearer than I ever have in the past year! Just keep fighting and do anything within your means to get the best treatment possible! I was very close to getting a flight to the UK to check out the Noctura mask. The stress and anxiety is going to make the condition worse also, so as hard as it sounds try to stay as calm as possible and focus on fighting this!
Keep pushing, don’t give up! My thoughts are with you!