Blurred Vision

[robertmiskin]

Hi everyone, I have just been diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes, 3 weeks ago. My Sugars were 15 however I am in control on 3 metformin a day and they are now averaging 6.7. I am 39. I have completely changed my diet and cut out all high carbs and am exercising every day. I found that after my sugars came down my eyes became blurred short vision and then grew all the way to my long vision leaving me needing glasses all the time. Will this go away if so how long does it take ? I have had an eye test and all is ok with the capillaries and pressure. I understand that my lens's have absorbed water, which is normal. Can anyone help me as I am a bit of a worrier....will i get my sight back ?

Robert

Thank you for your help !!!!

 

[tubolard]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Blurred vision is a sign that you are gaining better control so, in all probability normal vision will be restored shortly It took a coupla weeks for my vision to return to normal after I started getting better control. If you'll excuse the pun, keep an eye on things and it should get better.

Regards, Tubs.

 

[totsy]

hya and welcome,
this is totally normal so please try not to worry, once blood sugars are normal it will go back to normal,it can take a few weeks but will be fine

 

[robertmiskin]

Thank you very much for kind replys both of you. .......Going from no glasses to +6 and +5 each lens and reading glasses had been very difficult for me, wonder if its normally that extreme.... However it seems like I have managed to get my sugars under control quite quickly.., I lost 18 lbs over 2.5 months earlier in the year which was a shock......

 

[totsy]

my eyes were awfully bad for a few weeks

 

[hanadr]

6 years ago, when I was learning, my eyes would change with my BG clear when low and blurred when higher. that's before I learned how low the target I should set myself.( I have hit a couple of 6s whilst t1 has been ill. He's still off work, not allowed to go back until the medics let him and he's driving me nuts)

 

[samcogle]

Hi Rob and welcome, I was diagnosed in January and saw an endo in March. I complained to him about my blurred vision and he told me this was normal and not to get an eye test until about 3 months time once my BS levels are more stable. I, like you was well scared and thought I was going to go blind. I did need reading glasses when I was 40, but was well happy as I have always wanted glasses -weird I know
Well done on controlling it so quickly and the weight loss

 

[robertmiskin]

Hi everyone thanks for your kind replies. You are all so sweet and at a time when so much of my life has changed. My blood today was 5.9 before dinner and 6.6 fasting this morning. I have had an eye test and have bought prescription glasses ( 3 pairs!) as I need to drive and see my screen to work.....it is amazing how I have gone from no glasses to looking like bloody Joe 90 !!! :lol: you can have mine when im done samcogla !!

 

[humph]

6 years ago, when I was learning, my eyes would change with my BG clear when low and blurred when higher.

My eyes have always been the opposite, blurred when BS low and clear when high, which has always confused me.

 

[samcogle]

Hi everyone thanks for your kind replies. You are all so sweet and at a time when so much of my life has changed. My blood today was 5.9 before dinner and 6.6 fasting this morning. I have had an eye test and have bought prescription glasses ( 3 pairs!) as I need to drive and see my screen to work.....it is amazing how I have gone from no glasses to looking like bloody Joe 90 !!! :lol: you can have mine when im done samcogla !!

Cheers, feel free to chuck them my way

 

[Grumpy]

Can anyone explain why my eyesight is so blurred when I'm on steroids, please? What do steroids do to blood sugar?
Please use little easy words; I don't do science! :mrgreen:

 

[cugila]

Can anyone explain why my eyesight is so blurred when I'm on steroids, please? What do steroids do to blood sugar?
Please use little easy words; I don't do science! :mrgreen:

Hi Grumps.
Simplest explanation I could find. Even I understand it. :?

Steroids
The commonest group of medications that may cause a big increase in your blood glucose levels are steroids.

Steroids are generally prescribed to dampen down inflammation. They are an extremely useful group of drugs and they are very effective in what they do. For some situations steroid medication is exactly what you may require. They are often used for people with arthritic conditions, for people with asthma or chest problems and for people with tissue swelling that's causing major problems for them.

Unfortunately, these very useful drugs will also make your blood glucose levels go high. In fact, many people first find out they have diabetes when they have been started on steroids for another reason and their blood glucose levels suddenly become high.


Why do steroids put my blood glucose up?
The way steroids put your blood glucose up is exactly the way stress hormones do. In fact one of the natural stress hormones we all produce is called 'glucocorticosteroid'. This hormone is a steroid.

Steroids cause your blood glucose to go high because they do two things:


They block the action of your insulin where it moves glucose out of your blood stream and into your body cells

They cause your liver to start manufacturing extra glucose to release into your blood. Both these actions cause your blood glucose to rise
Because you are unable to release extra insulin to start moving this extra glucose into your cells and muscles, your blood glucose goes high.

Hope this helps.
Ken. 8)

 

[robertmiskin]

hi everyone !!!

Just noticed after this morning that I may be getting a bit of my long sight back as I believe that my len's are releasing or disipating some of the water they have in them. Hopefully this is a sign that I will loose by blurred vision. Just read on an american sight that it took some guys 2 years to loose his blurred vision !!!! hope thats not me.......!!! Just got mu new blood machine its the accu check compact the black one with the barrels....great machine !!!!

cheers all.....

 

[Chanah]

This is oddly reassuring. I was always normal weight to a little thin, until two months before I was diagnosed T2 in 2002. Then I put on 18 kilos - almost overnight, and all of it around my midriff. Ugh, ugh, and again, I say - UGH!

What we didn't know then was that I had a very rare endocrine tumour brewing - that didn't get diagnosed until 2006 - me and 17 other people in the medical literature. Wow, I feel so honoured - NOT. And that apparently was why I couldn't lose any weight.

But I got the blood sugar under good control quickly by diet - the initial A1c was 9.8, the next was 6.5, and since then it's been in the low 5s, until the last one - that was 6.1, but my childhood TB reactivated and I got a horrible sinus infection. Antibiotics are getting those under control again, and i know infection drives up blood sugar, so I'm not too worried, and we caught the TB way early in the game - I'm not even coughing. The blood sugar readings at home have levelled out to 5s most of the time, sometimes 6 to 6.3 post-prandial, so I'm getting back on track.

After my unfree trip to the USA last year for the unfree surgery to get the tumour removed, I lost 8 kilos pretty painlessly on a low-carb diet. Then I stopped losing weight. I seem to have the metabolism from hell.

Last month I started losing weight again, and have lost two kilos in about two months - and my vision's gone blurry again.

Do I understand it to be that whenever you make a significant improvement, your vision is likely to go blurry? I worry because I've always had eye problems, and being diabetic, too, well, we all know what can happen to your eyes.

 

[Grumpy]

Thanks Cugila/Ken; even I managed to understand that explanation!

 

[robertmiskin]

Today , my eyes are much better. Seem to have most of my long sight back. But my near sight is still ****. Glasses are now useless and need new lens's. At least its coming back !! I did infact drive today with no glasses which was a first Going to have a special blood test tomorrow where it will be sent to Denver US to test to see if my type 2 cells are going to turn into type 1. I am going to have to wait about 3 weeks for these. My consultant suggested the test. He said that the only place this is done is in the US. Averaging 6.8 BG at the moment..............

Cheers all

Rob

 

[tubolard]

That's great news. Much relief then?

Regards, Tubs.

 

[totsy]

thats brilliant that you are getting some improvement

 

[bc3141]

Robert!
I have been looking for a discussion board or information like this for a long time.
I think my doctor and eye doctor don’t really believe me about my eyeglass
prescription changing – sometimes overnight – and then going back just as quickly – or to another prescription altogether.
I’ve read here different people attributing it to high or low glucose levels.
My problem is it doesn’t seem to correlate to my blood sugar level.
I haven’t been able to figure it out.
I have 5 different prescriptions in eyeglasses, the one I leave on my nightstand at night sometimes seems like someone else’s prescription in the morning then sometimes I can stay on one prescription for months.
Like “humph” my vision actually seems to have been improving in the 5 years I’ve known I’ve had diabetes – eye doctors doing the exam always tell me the last one must have been done wrong. They don’t believe me.
If this reassures you - my doctor tell me this is not the retinopathy or macular edema that causes blindness in diabetics. But “just’ the pressure on the eye changing with sugar levels changing the focus like squinting or pressing on your eyeball.
I can’t figure out my situation. Maybe I can figure it out looking at your discussion board here.
What I do is order my eyeglasses from zennioptical.com. They are so cheap you can have many different prescriptions.
I’m ordering another one right now.
Robert

Email address removed for member's security.

Sugarless Sue Senior Moderator.

 

[robertmiskin]

Hey Sue !!

Thanks for your message. I have been talking to my consultant and to my glasses specialists recently as i couldnt get any joy from anyone at the start ( I was only diagnosed in early March this year). My understanding is that because there is a discrepancy of sugar between the from and the back of the eye, the lens fills up with water like a balloon leaving it with no flexibility to focus. The eye changes shape and you end up focusing in front of your retina not on it. This causes the blurred vision. I have seen on this forum and by talking to people it can take anywhere from 5 weeks to 5 years to clear !! 3 days ago I started to get my vision back and gone from +6 +4 len's back to +4 +3 len's and therefore my eyes are reparing themselves. If I get my full sight back is the question - we will see. I am averaging 6.2 sugar levels at the mo on 3 metformin a day , good diet and exercise. I am hoping to get 90% vision back within the next few weeks. I have spent £250 so far on lens's as my blurriness yo yo's. Up until March this year I never wore glasses. So i went from to :shock: then to 8) . My conclusion so far is that to much information can confuse. Try and research the very best glasses spercialist or consultant and stick to them. I having a full eye examination this Friday with drops at a very good optomologist.

Hops this helps ??