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Background Retinopathy

B

Bunnyinlove

Member
Messages
20
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Other
Hi all

I have a type 2 (or possibly even MODY- they still don’t know) diabetes, I’m 32. My latest eye screening has revealed background retinopathy. Just wanted to know if this is reversible? I’ve read a lot about it and I understand what it is and what causes it, however nowhere it is mentioned whether it can be reveresed (by improving the bg levels and cholesterol and blood pressure and lifestyle etc etc). In fact I’ve never had high cholesterol or high blood pressure and have never been overweight. Possibly my bg control could be better and I’m going to work on it regardless obviously but just really wanted to know whether it can get back to normal or not. Many thanks.
 
As I understand it, background retinopathy can be improved with better bg management. Members sometimes report that one year it will show up and a year later it can have disappeared. Hope this helps.
 
I had it, a year later I didn't, another year later I had it again, fingers crossed for this year. The technician told me that the resolution of the images is now so high that slight background retinopathy can be down to the opinion of the examiner.
 
Thanks so much for replying. It made me feel a lot better as I’ve been crying since morning when I got the letter through the post. I’ll try and improve my bg as much as I can and just pray it’ll be reversed. Thank you.
 
Retinopathy far worse than "background" can be reversed, I've watched my husband's progress in this respect. The body is amazing at healing itself, as long as you stop aggravating the condition. It's low carb that sorted things for us.
Sally
 
Mr_Pot said:
I had it, a year later I didn't, another year later I had it again, fingers crossed for this year. The technician told me that the resolution of the images is now so high that slight background retinopathy can be down to the opinion of the examiner.
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Mr_Pot thank you for your reply. This really gives me hope. I hope this year you’ll get a good result again.
 
sally and james said:
Retinopathy far worse than "background" can be reversed, I've watched my husband's progress in this respect. The body is amazing at healing itself, as long as you stop aggravating the condition. It's low carb that sorted things for us.
Sally
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Thank you. I really thought it wasn’t reversible. I’ll try to go low carb, thing is every time I do I go low (I’m not on insulin anymore but take strong meds). Maybe I should decrease the dose, I’ll talk to my nurse and ask her.
 
Guzzler said:
As I understand it, background retinopathy can be improved with better bg management. Members sometimes report that one year it will show up and a year later it can have disappeared. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for replying. It made me feel a lot better as I’ve been crying since morning when I got the letter through the post. I’ll try and improve my bg as much as I can and just pray it’ll be reversed. Thank you.
 
No problem at all. I did read somewhere (sorry, can't find a reference) that non Diabetic people develope background retinopathy, too, though for different reasons. Do the best that you can with your blood glucose levels, no one could ask any more of you.
 
I had background retinopathy diagnosed two years ago, last December's test showed Clear, so for me it is at least in remission if not gone altogether, I've also dropped Metformin from 3 per day to zero, HBA1c from 66 to 44 in just over two years, I eat approx 50 gms carbs per day. (With occasional lapses to 100 approx per day, say once/week). It still seems tough at times especially when I fancy a steak & kidney pie with mash and peas. But knowing that my eyes and blood sugars have improved just about make missing out on somethings worthwhile.
 

Thank you for your reply. 50 g/day seems very little to me! Well done for sticking with it, I admire that. I see a dietician regularly who actually says that I would be eating 40-50g of carbs per meal! How come?? Could she be wrong? As it clearly doesn’t work... Also it’s worth mentioning that my HBa1c has always come back normal. Really this latest result is something I struggle to get my head around..
 
I got a clear result on diagnosis yet got background retinopathy recently despite getting my HbA1c down rapidly. I was in tears too but the lovely people here reassured me. I’ll just tag @Dark Horse who may be able to add more to help you as they did me.
 
Some people are down to 20 gms carbs/day, and you are right I find 50/day plenty low enough for me, but I have found that this is a level at which my BG numbers range between 5.2 min and 8.0 max when I increase carbs then BG levels increase, so it's been self discovery for me and lots of testing initially, these days I test about twice/week, as I think I now have a handle on this stuff. .
 

I totally see where you are coming from. I’ve done a lot of research on this subject and from what I gathered apparently our bodies need at least 140g in order to function properly. If a body isn’t able to cope with that amount (as ours are), then we need meds in order to allow us to get the required amount. Am I right or wrong? Please correct me if I’m wrong. I’m just very interested to understand for myself.
 

Oh and just to add my dietician was the first to explain it to me in simple terms which is what led me to read up on it
 
I had background retinopathy at my first check, but I was already eating low carb - about 50 gm a day as that is what kept my BG in normal bounds, and this year it had gone.
I have reduced my carbs to try to lower my weight, it is not really difficult once you know why you are doing it.
 
Oh that old 'fact' - If my brain relied on me eating 140 gm of carbs a day then it would have stopped functioning somewhere in the early 70s. I did low carb at 50 gm per day whenever I could get away with it, for decades
If we can't eat that amount then we deed meds - throw that one out the window too.
Our brains actually seem to function better when running on fats, but if we do require some glucose then the liver provides it - unless it is restricted by medication of course - on Metformin I was wandering around totally out of it. I was taking Atorvastatin as well - it frightened my husband so much to see the state I was in he stopped taking statins.
 
Bunnyinlove said:
Oh and just to add my dietician was the first to explain it to me in simple terms which is what led me to read up on it
Click to expand...
I really don't know, right or wrong. A nutritionist told me that we don't need carbs at all and that we can live quite happily on fats and protein. I get my carbs pretty much solely from veggies. My energy levels are fine, I run an aerobics class which includes HIIT sessions, tone with weights and walk miles. BMI 23, Weight 63 kgs., blood sugars controlled, so consider low carbs good for me, just my experience of things.
 

That’s very interesting. I wonder if I should try that too. In fact I’m going to cut my carb intake literally from today. Thank you and all the best to you!
 

Thank you! I really appreciate. Glad you feel more reassured now!
 
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