Retinal Screening & OPDR

[stephen72]

Hi all, My first time on here. I've had Diabetes Type 1 for 33 years and have just received a letter from the Diabetic Retinal Screening Clinic saying the photographs taken have shown some changes to the back of my eyes. I have to visit an eye specialist for OPDR screening in the next six months. It's the first time I've had a letter like this and not sure what could happen or what treatment is available. I just wondered if anyone here has been through this as I'm a bit worried.


Thanks for reading this.

Regards,

Stephen

 

[mrburden]

Hi all, My first time on here. I've had Diabetes Type 1 for 33 years and have just received a letter from the Diabetic Retinal Screening Clinic saying the photographs taken have shown some changes to the back of my eyes. I have to visit an eye specialist for OPDR screening in the next six months. It's the first time I've had a letter like this and not sure what could happen or what treatment is available. I just wondered if anyone here has been through this as I'm a bit worried.


Thanks for reading this.

Regards,

Stephen

Hi Stephen,
Changes to the retina are usually the first signs of retinopathy for diabetics. This is when the small blood vessels on the surface of the retina can start to deteriorate and eventually bleed. Catching this problem early can prevent it from progressing to become something that causes serious vision issues.
For a while it is likely that the doctors will simply keep an "eye" on the problem until they decide there is enough damage to require treatment.
The usual treatment to stop the vessels bleeding involves the use of a laser to burn the ends of the leaking vessels to cauterize them. It is painless and is done within a couple of minutes and you will be able to see straight away.
At the moment there is likely to be no reason to worry, many diabetics get this letter and then find that no treatment is needed for many years. Good BS control is quite important in preventing retinopathyfrom progressing
Regards,
Mark

 

[clairebear86]

Re: Retinal Screening & OPDR

Hey there! I got the same letter 4 Years ago and I totally ignored it and carried on bein a very irresponsible diabetic .. I have been a t1 for 20 years and until I got told the bad news from the opthalmist that because I have ignored all the warning signs I will now need laser eye treatment. That was the moment I realised that I can no longer ignore the diabetes ... Good thing for you is, you have the letter n have treated it as important, eye changes don't specifically mean you will need any treatment at all .. It's just a warning that tighter control may be needed or it's just reminding you that as a diabetic your eyes will change regardless of tight control or not ...... You may go for a fluoresine procedure where they cannulate you n inject fluoresine so it shows up your blood vessels in your eyes n they photograph them ...... They then look n see if you need further care! Try not to worry, I needed further treatment because I ignored the warning signs ... Hope this helps xxx


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[stephen72]

Hi Mark & Claire, Thanks for your messages, it's put my mind at rest. I do have a lot of low blood sugar readings as I do a lot of sport this might be a cause of the problems, Thank you both for the information you sent it explains a loy more than the letter did. Hope you are both ok.

Cheers

Stephen

 

[KerryA87]

Re: Retinal Screening & OPDR

My control was bad for a while after i had my son. I received the same letter but regained control and the next time i received a letter after a retinopathy screening it said there were no changes. So it may be nothing to worry about and tighter control of your glucose levels could be the answer


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[stephen72]

Yhank you Kerry. all the replies have helped ease my mind I'm going to see if I can change my insulin dosage to four a day from two to see if it will improve control.

Cheers,

Stephen

 

[clairebear86]

Re: Retinal Screening & OPDR

Word of advice tho, don't do what I did and go from poor control to perfect bs as it actually spurs the retinopathy on .. It's best to bring it down gradually .. I literally would hypo all the time coz I was over injecting coz I thought it would prevent the retinopathy x


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[noblehead]

Some great advice from Claire and Mark :thumbup:


The following is by far the best website that provides information about diabetic retinopathy and how it is treated:

http://medweb.bham.ac.uk/easdec/back_di ... pathy.html


All I can say is Stephen is not to worry as your in good hands at the Ophthalmology clinic, they will monitor you very closely from here on and will probably want to see you 3-6 monthly until things improve, try and keep your bg, bp and cholesterol under control (but do take on board what Claire says in the above post) and eat a diet rich in fruit and vegetables.

Good luck and hope it all works out fine!

 

[stephen72]

Hi Claire & noblehead (sorry not sure what your name is). That's great advice again. This forum is great to talk to people like yourself that are going through the same things I am. I'm the only type 1 diabetic in my family & friend circle so it's good to have advice from fellow type 1s. I'll check out that website and will keep to a diet full of fruit & veg and try to bring it under control slowly. My problem is I keep dropping very low in the morning with exercise the day before then getting ridiculous highs later in the afternoon.

Thanks again for your advice I really appreciate it.

Cheers

Stephen

 

[Yorksman]

Hi all, My first time on here. I've had Diabetes Type 1 for 33 years and have just received a letter from the Diabetic Retinal Screening Clinic saying the photographs taken have shown some changes to the back of my eyes. I have to visit an eye specialist for OPDR screening in the next six months. It's the first time I've had a letter like this and not sure what could happen or what treatment is available. I just wondered if anyone here has been through this as I'm a bit worried.

My ophthalmologist showed me the photos and went through what they showed. There were very two small spots where some new blood vessels had started to grow and he explained that these were due to the diabetes but said that they were nothing to worry about at all. He also added that I would get letter which stated that there were some background changes but it makes it sound worse than it is. "The spots" he explained, are what they are referring to. I won't get another appointment for 12 months so I'll take him at his word, it's nothing to worry about.

 

[stephen72]

Cheers Yorksman,

I'll see what happens in next six months. Hopefuly it's just as you've explained there. your right it's the wording or lack of information in the letters that makes people worry.

Thanks again for all the information and advice.

Regards

Stephen

 

[mrburden]

...your right it's the wording or lack of information in the letters that makes people worry.

Regards

Stephen

I have had a vast amount of treatment including 1,000's of shots of laser and 3 vitrectomy ops. I still visit the eye infirmary at least 2-3 times every year. When I went for my annual eye test I was told that it is standard procedure to take the retinal photos if you are diabetic, so I let them do so. I also had the same letter a few weeks later, stating that there were "changes".
It seems quite ridiculous that there should only be one standard letter which covers everything from the first minute changes which require only monitoring to something that, in my case, has become bad enough to be registered blind!
As you say, it's things like that which cause people to worry for no reason, but also cause people to do nothing when perhaps they should. It stems from the same old problem - the people who compose the letter templates do not understand what they are writing about in any way.

 

[Yorksman]

As you say, it's things like that which cause people to worry for no reason, but also cause people to do nothing when perhaps they should.

The ophthalmologist expained a lot to me. He explained which ones were arteries, which ones were veins and even showed me where some damage had occurred due to high blood pressure in the past. The artery, with the extra pressure, had squashed a vein running under it. That must be from about ten years ago.

I thought it was very kind of him to go to the trouble because all they do is get paid for taking the photos. The photos are then passed on to a private company who analyse them and report back to the NHS so there was nothing in it for the ophthalmologist other than his own professional pride. Most I guess, simply say, we'll send these off and you'll hear by post.

 

[noblehead]

I have had a vast amount of treatment including 1,000's of shots of laser and 3 vitrectomy ops.

Hope you don't mind me asking Mark, but why was it you've had 3 vitrectomy operations? I'm assuming 2 were for each eye but was the third due to the first operation being a failure or did the retinopathy progress and you suffered more eye bleeds after the original operation.

You make a good point about the standard letter that gets sent out!

 

[mrburden]

I have had a vast amount of treatment including 1,000's of shots of laser and 3 vitrectomy ops.

Hope you don't mind me asking Mark, but why was it you've had 3 vitrectomy operations? I'm assuming 2 were for each eye but was the third due to the first operation being a failure or did the retinopathy progress and you suffered more eye bleeds after the original operation.

You make a good point about the standard letter that gets sent out!

I'm Dorset born & bred, so it was one in each eye!

But seriously, in the first op I had some 2,000 shots of laser. This left scars on the the retina which, like a scar on the skin, pull the surrounding tissue. That in turn caused my retina to detach. They had to re-do the vitrctomy to re-attach the retina but it was pretty creased and left me with a view similar to a creased bit of cine film. Then a while after that, I had a cataract grow in the same eye which I have never bothered to have removed as it wouldn't really improve my sight by much. Although my sight is not great, the retinopathy is very stable in my surviving eye (which also had a similar number of laser shots) and has been for about 10 years or more now. I think that if the detachment had not occurred, I would probably have some sight in both eyes now, as the actual virtectomies were a success in themselves.

 

[noblehead]

Thanks Mark, sounds like you been through the mill with diabetic retinopathy, here's hoping your good eye remains stable.

 

[mrburden]

Thanks Mark, sounds like you been through the mill with diabetic retinopathy, here's hoping your good eye remains stable.

Thanks Noblehead, I hope so too. I want to enjoy the 50% off my TV licence for a while! :crazy:

 

[dave howard]

Word of advice tho, don't do what I did and go from poor control to perfect bs as it actually spurs the retinopathy on .. It's best to bring it down gradually .. I literally would hypo all the time coz I was over injecting coz I thought it would prevent the retinopathy x


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I did this too, and as a result now have virtually no sight in one eye. Definitely adjust gradually.