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Background Retinopathy

J

jameshallam

Well-Known Member
Messages
109
Hi all,

Just had my regular DECS test (my second test). I got a letter saying:

The report showed that you do have some background retinopathy. This means that there are changes to your retina as a result of diabetes. Background retinopathy does not need treatment and does not affect your sight, but you should make sure you go for screening each year to highlight further changes that may require treatment in the future.
Click to expand...

I was only diagnosed 18 months ago and have had a hba1c at around 6.5 (see signature). I was under the impression this sort of thing happened 10-15 years down the line, if you were not well controlled?

I'm a little worreid to be honest and just wanted to know if anyone else is in a similar position, or if anyone has been through this and how long before 'background' turns into 'the next stage' (whatever that might be..)

Thanks,
James
 
James,

Take a look at the following site for advice and information on diabetic retinopathy:

http://medweb.bham.ac.uk/easdec/

My advice is to keep good bg control, keep a eye on your blood pressure and eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, the darker the veg/fruit the better it is for the eyes.

Nigel
 
Hi James,

20 years ago, my consultant told me that "All diabetics have background retinopathy".

Now, I am not sure whther this is
1 true, ....he could well have meant "all badly controlled diabetics"
2 whether he meant type 1 s or not.(I am Type 1, and he didn't specify whther this was generic or not
3 is very old advice, that is now no longer true

Whatever the situation is, I took it to mean that it is quite hard to avoid getting background retinoptahy, (although many do).. The important thing is though, if you do have it, is to keep you control as good as you can, to avoid it progressingL Lke anything else, there is a certain amount of luck in these things...and the background condition you describe could have happened before you were diagnosed...the important thing is to keep up the good control, to stop it progressing.
 
Also had similar letter to you , only with my right eye effected
As a result told I need to have retinopathy eye test every 6 months
I have had three more tests since then with no change , if the next one still has no change
told i will go back to one test every 12 months

Bob
 
I go with what Sugar has said. Good control does help it clear up and also eating plenty of green type veg and black fruits is great.

I have to say though that Thiamine is great for background retinopathy. I think there is a msg on the forum somewhere from Katherine who mentioned about retinopathy and thiamine. Benfothiamine might accumulate but thiamine is fairly safe as the human body excretes what is not needed in urine.

Just to make people chuckle, I mentioned background retinopathy to a young consultant a while ago and he told me not to worry about it too much as 'many elderly people' have it. I came away a bit insulted and thought thanks - I'm not old yet :? :lol:
 
I had the same letter January 2010. I worried myself sick about it. In March I went for my annual eye test and the optician said she couldn't see anything. I was relieved but confused. Due now for my next eye screening so we'll see what comes up. Like others said live healthy and keep blood sugars under tight control.
 
Glad someone has mentioned this as I had this letter this month [only diagnosed T2 in Dec 10 and test result was 6.9 diet only] and so I was concerned and was going to post same query! Will keep working at diet.
 
Well I'm glad there are some other people in the same boat!

I have decided to try and eat as much fruit and veg as possible. (I read somewhere that men should get 9 portions a day!!)
I used to average about 3-4 portions a day, currently I am doing more like 7-8.
(this will probably slip a bit, but will hopefully keep it above 6)

Cheers all
 
James just one more thought - I was diagnosed many years ago with background retinopathy. I spent a year worrying until I saw the consultant for 3 minutes. He took one look at me (I wear glasses) and asked
"are you short-sighted?"
"yes"
"do you have astigmatism?"
"yes in the left eye"

It seems the highly skilled technicians had misread my astigmatism as retinopathy.

I have been diagnosed with it again more recently. This time my consultant claimed it was because they'd bought a better camera and therefore the improvement in viewing led to them considering that my eyes had changed. I think this was because my control had been so tight he didn't want to admit that there could have been any other cause!

Good luck.
 
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