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Background retinopathy after only 18 months and high glucose

J

jsan1972

Newbie
Hi,

Wonder if anyone can help me.

I have been type 2 for just over 18 months and things are not going well.

It seems everyone knows more about diabetes than me except my nurse.

I had a background eye exam 12 months ago and all was fine, my latest one showed Background retinopathy.Also I am on 2000mg of Metformin a day and still have glucose showing in my urine. I have constant bad diarrhea and I am not sure if this is due to my metformin and if also this is rendering my metformin useless as it cannot be staying in my blood stream. Finally I have a massive pain in my right hand side and do not know if this is my kidneys.

Can somebody help please.

Jay.
 
Hi Jay and welcome to the forum.
You say you were diagnosed 18 months ago, but your blood sugar and insulin levels were very probably at harmful levels for some time before, possibly for years. Quite a lot of damage can result from this. That's the bad news. The good news is that things like early stage retinopathy can be reversed if your blood sugar levels are brought under control. I happened to me.
If there's glucose in your urine, then your blood glucose is certainly still too high.
Do you know how to reduce this via your diet? Let us know what sorts of food you eat and we'll see if we can help.
The pain in your side is something your GP should take a look at.


Best wishes,

fergus
 
Hi Jay

It sounds like your Metformin is the regular tablet - ask your GP for the Slow Release Metformin - that should help with the diarrhea and as they release into your system over 24 hours they will be in your system longer.
Pain on your right side - you donot say where - if it is around your middle could be gall bladder.

Jude
 
hya and welcome,
you really should get a blood testing monitor so u can see just how high your bloods are, as fergus says list us what kind of diet you are on and plz go to the drs with the pain in your side let us know how u get on
 
Hi Jay

Just a word of warning - a rapid improvement in blood glucose levels can make retinopathy worse.

I have retinopathy, present on diagnosis, and no-one told me about this risk. i don't know what, if anything, i would have done differently if I had known and I don't know if it did make the condition worse in my case, but I would have liked to have been told!

Possibly the benefit of improved BG levels as soon as possible out-weighs the risk of worsening retinopathy. :?

You might want to ask your health care team about it.

Best wishes

MaryChristine
 
Jay

I definitely agree with what's been said here. My dad was a GP for many years and told me that quite often a diagnosis of T2 diabetes is only made when a patient presents with complications, so blood glucose could have been high for a long time prior to that.

Rapidly improving blood glucose levels can definitely make retinopathy worse in the short term, but this is not a permanent state of affairs, and certainly not a reason to maintain high levels! You have an opportunity to change things for the better with "only" background retinopathy at the moment. Keep an eye on your blood pressure too, this is a major factor in maintaining microvascular condition.
 
Testing urine only isn't going to help much with control. it will only tell you that your BG has been above your renal threshold since the last time you emptied your bladder. It doesn't tell you if it was a lot above for a short time or slightly above for a long time. That difference matters. Your renal threshold, is that blood glucose level at which your kidneys cannot "reclaim" the glucose from your urine.. This is individual to you and can quite easily be double what your blood glucose should be.
Urine testing isn't much use really. Ideally you need a Blood glucose meter, which your PCT may well not allow. If you are working, it's not too expensive to fund this and the test strips yourself. You can often get the meter free, by calling one of the manufacturers. The non-diabetic blood glucose range is around 5 most of the time, with only short term and short distance "excursions" If you can get there and stay there, you can improve even quite severe retinopathy. Background retinopathy con be eliminated completely sometimes, but only by TIGHT control.
 
I HAVE HAD A SIMULAR EXPERIENCE TWICE NOW MY EYESIGHT AS DROPPED AND I THOUGHT I WAS GOING BLIND IT WAS MY SUGAR LEVELS THAT HAD GONE SKY HIGH AND BOTH TIMES WENT BACK TO NORMAL AND THE DIOREHA [EXCUSE SPELLING] THIS WAS SORTED BY MY CONSULTANT WHO ASKED ME IF I SUFFERED WITH DIAREHA [WRONG AGAIN] IT HAD SHOWN UP ON MY BLOOD TESTS
I HAD TO GIVE A STOOL SAMPLE[ HAD TO ASK NURSE WHATS A STOOL] BUT HE HAS NOW PUT ME ON [CREON 10000 CAPSULES & OMEPRAZOLE CAPSULES] ]WHICH I HAVE TO TAKE FOR LIFE THEY HAVE SORTED ME OUT GOOD STYLE . ASK YOUR NURSE OR SECIALIST IT CURED ME

GOOD LUCK WILLY WILSON
TYPE 1 DIABETIC JUST JOINED THIS FORUM TODAY
 
HI JAY COULD THIS PAIN BE ANYTHING TO DO WITH PANCRICITOUS[WATCH MY SPELLING AGAIN]
I SUFFERED FROM THIS YEARS AGO AND WAS TOLD IT WOULD TURN INTO DIABETES I DONT KNOW IF EVERY DIABETIC STARTS OUT WITH THIS AND MINE DISAPPEARED AFTER DIABETES SET IN IF IT IS I WOULD NOT WISH THIS ON MY WORST ENEMY BUT ALL THE SYMPTOMS ARE THERE DO ME A FAVOUR AND GET THIS CHECKED OUT AND DONT FORGET TO MENTION THE CREON AS WELL

WISH YOU ALL THE BEST
WILLY WILSON
TYPE 1 5 YEARS +
 
Hi everyone,

thanks for your help, I do have one and the reading varies between 7.2 in the morning and 9.6 in the evening. I was under the under standing that all metformin was slow release and did not realise there were other types.

My diet consists usually of fruit, not much fibre, all meats(large portions) no sugar no chocholate, too much pasta I believe but this is really hard to give up as I am half Italian, I eat all veg plenty of it, however due to stomach problems I cannot eat fruit at the moment.I also like potatoes and sometimes eat rice. Pizza is another bad habit and the odd take away meal. I still feel my metformin may not be working due to the upset stomach, which again may be caused by the metformin, however I do not feel this is the case as I have always had loose stools. My main concern is that this diabetes is a secondary illness to something more serious, and I have onsidered both pancreatitis and gallstones as I was diagnosed as jaundice 3 years ago with abnormal liver function test too. I had an ultra sound but that did not show anything.

As a worrier all the serious conditions have entered my head including the big C.

thanks

Jay
 
reading varies between 7.2 in the morning and 9.6 Although not dramatic, these levels are high. a non-diabetic is around 5 at all times. They are even too high for current medical advice, which is 4 - 7 before meals and up to 8 after. I hope I'm remembering it right, but you can look that up
I was under the under standing that all metformin was slow release and did not realise there were other types.Most people are prescribed a Metformin, which isn't slow release, because it's much cheaper.

My diet consists usually of fruit,( sugar in fruit) not much fibre, all meats(large portions) no sugar no chocholate, too much pasta I believe but this is really hard to give up as I am half Italian, I eat all veg plenty of it, however due to stomach problems I cannot eat fruit at the moment.I also like potatoes and sometimes eat rice. Pizza is another bad habit and the odd take away meal. Pasa, rice, potatoes and pizza are all high carb As ARE most take aways
Metformin can cause digestive upset. Most people adapt to it fairly quickly.

As a worrier all the serious conditions have entered my head including the big C.
 
I suspect Hana is right (as usual!) you are eating far too many carbs which is keeping your BG up. It's possible that the high lipids this produces may be causing gallstones, or you may have NAFLD - Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease - which should be reversible with tight BG control. Either way I'd definitely get a second opinion on the pain and diarrhoea which may be something entirely unconnected, or which may be something controllable, which only further investigations can determine.
 
Hi

thanks again for your replies,

I have booked myself in for a full medical next Wednesday 17 June, I am very nervous but it has to be done, my back is now aching foe England too.

I will have my results by 24 June.

I will let you all know as soon as.

Jay
 
Hi again everyone,

Well myfirst stool samples are back and no parasites etc, not sure if I am pleased as still awaiting F.O.B, would rather those be clear. Still managed to get Glucomose, whic I believe are the slow release metformin, only strange thing is now down to 500mg for at least 2 weeks from 2000mg standard metformin, does this sound right???

Also got myself some probio to see if this helps with the upset stomach too, my urine test came back O.K just slightly high bile or something from liver but told nothing to be concerned about.

Still going forfull medical screening next week, scared to death that have pancreatic cancer all symptoms point to this, however I know they can get crossed with other illnesses.

thanks

Jay
 
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