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Hello everyone,
I've read a lot about retinopathy online from various sources but was hoping for some people's actual experiences and advice.
I'm a type 1 diabetic and have been since the age of 7. I am now 27. My diabetes was extremely well controlled (long term bloods consistently around 5.5-7.5) up until around the age of 23. I also had regular retinopathy appointments every year and optician appointments with no issues.
For around 2 and a half years from 23 to 25. Between these years I got out of a lot of good habits (regular testing and appointments) due to severe depression from a relationship failure which was also emotionally abusive. During this time I would "go with my feeling", not test for very long periods and also often forget my long acting insulin glargine.
Since May 2019 things in my personal life got a lot better, and I slowly stated to get into good habits. Back on my regular glargine etc. (From the age of 23 to 25 I moved jobs a lot from Yorkshire to Manchester to London and wasn't referred to a diabetic nurse or for retinopathy).
In June 2019 I signed up at a local GP's to get the ball rolling on a diabetic review and a retinopathy. My appointment for my retinopathy took an age and was meant to be march this year but got cancelled due to Covid. In July 2019 I went to the opticians. I've always been short sighted but never enough for glasses and I had recently realised a slight blurriness to my vision. Only very slight. The optician looked at the back of my eye, said the images she could see said all looked fine but still to go to my retinopathy. She said I was however a bit short sighted and I got prescribed glasses for driving.
Since May 20 this year, I've been regularly checking my blood sugars 5 times a day, even during the night and have noticed huge improvement in my sugars over the last 4 months. My retinopatht appointment finally came around a week ago. Yesterday a letter came through referring me to opthalmology with no reason why in 10 days time.
I've chased this with my GP who just had a referral and told me to speak to the diabetic eye screening centre. They've access my letters and said I've been referred as there's been "significant change" since my last retinopathy (5 years ago) and it was grade 3 referral. They said grade, not stage, although I'm guessing these are the same things?
Of course I'm worrying. I've done well to get back on track and regret letting it slip for a couple of years. My diabetes is coming under tighter control and I'd imagine my next h1abc to be around 6-7.5mmol. My vision if anything since my opticians appointment last year seems to of improved slightly, still only use my glasses for driving, and I'm showing no other symptoms.
Would love to hear people's experiences and any opinions on my current situation and how serious it is...
Thankyou
I've read a lot about retinopathy online from various sources but was hoping for some people's actual experiences and advice.
I'm a type 1 diabetic and have been since the age of 7. I am now 27. My diabetes was extremely well controlled (long term bloods consistently around 5.5-7.5) up until around the age of 23. I also had regular retinopathy appointments every year and optician appointments with no issues.
For around 2 and a half years from 23 to 25. Between these years I got out of a lot of good habits (regular testing and appointments) due to severe depression from a relationship failure which was also emotionally abusive. During this time I would "go with my feeling", not test for very long periods and also often forget my long acting insulin glargine.
Since May 2019 things in my personal life got a lot better, and I slowly stated to get into good habits. Back on my regular glargine etc. (From the age of 23 to 25 I moved jobs a lot from Yorkshire to Manchester to London and wasn't referred to a diabetic nurse or for retinopathy).
In June 2019 I signed up at a local GP's to get the ball rolling on a diabetic review and a retinopathy. My appointment for my retinopathy took an age and was meant to be march this year but got cancelled due to Covid. In July 2019 I went to the opticians. I've always been short sighted but never enough for glasses and I had recently realised a slight blurriness to my vision. Only very slight. The optician looked at the back of my eye, said the images she could see said all looked fine but still to go to my retinopathy. She said I was however a bit short sighted and I got prescribed glasses for driving.
Since May 20 this year, I've been regularly checking my blood sugars 5 times a day, even during the night and have noticed huge improvement in my sugars over the last 4 months. My retinopatht appointment finally came around a week ago. Yesterday a letter came through referring me to opthalmology with no reason why in 10 days time.
I've chased this with my GP who just had a referral and told me to speak to the diabetic eye screening centre. They've access my letters and said I've been referred as there's been "significant change" since my last retinopathy (5 years ago) and it was grade 3 referral. They said grade, not stage, although I'm guessing these are the same things?
Of course I'm worrying. I've done well to get back on track and regret letting it slip for a couple of years. My diabetes is coming under tighter control and I'd imagine my next h1abc to be around 6-7.5mmol. My vision if anything since my opticians appointment last year seems to of improved slightly, still only use my glasses for driving, and I'm showing no other symptoms.
Would love to hear people's experiences and any opinions on my current situation and how serious it is...
Thankyou