Type 1 Better Eyesight After High Sugars?

[SmartiesPants]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post on this forum and I hope to post many more.

I was diagnosed with Type 1, just over 4 years ago. I had the usual symptoms for a couple of weeks e.g weight loss, thirsty, tired etc.. I thought I had the flu so I went to my GP who kind of fobbed me by off saying I had a virus. Later that night I started to hallucinate by saying that someone was coming to shoot me, and I need to be put to sleep. My whole body felt like it was on fire.

Luckily my parents took me to A&E where I don't remember much but my sugars reached the mid 40s. I was in intensive care for a few days and had x-rays on my kidneys.

I should also mention I am short sighted and wear glasses to see distant objects. But as I was getting better and my sugars reached normal levels my eyesight was perfect. I could see everything in the distance and even read the tiny writing on presentations at the back of the lecture theatres at university. I imagine that is what having laser eye surgery is like!

However after a few weeks my eyesight returned to normal whereby I was again short sighted :c

My question is has anyone else experienced this? I am just genuinely curious to know other peoples experiences on it and if getting high levels does help your sight.

My optician told me it is due to the lens absorbing more sugars and becoming more flexible. If anyone knows more about it, again I would be interested.

Thanks!

 

[Lamont D]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post on this forum and I hope to post many more.

I was diagnosed with Type 1, just over 4 years ago. I had the usual symptoms for a couple of weeks e.g weight loss, thirsty, tired etc.. I thought I had the flu so I went to my GP who kind of fobbed me by off saying I had a virus. Later that night I started to hallucinate by saying that someone was coming to shoot me, and I need to be put to sleep. My whole body felt like it was on fire.

Luckily my parents took me to A&E where I don't remember much but my sugars reached the mid 40s. I was in intensive care for a few days and had x-rays on my kidneys.

I should also mention I am short sighted and wear glasses to see distant objects. But as I was getting better and my sugars reached normal levels my eyesight was perfect. I could see everything in the distance and even read the tiny writing on presentations at the back of the lecture theatres at university. I imagine that is what having laser eye surgery is like!

However after a few weeks my eyesight returned to normal whereby I was again short sighted :c

My question is has anyone else experienced this? I am just genuinely curious to know other peoples experiences on it and if getting high levels does help your sight.

My optician told me it is due to the lens absorbing more sugars and becoming more flexible. If anyone knows more about it, again I would be interested.

Thanks!

Hi @Smartiespants

Yes most diabetics go through a similar experience with their eyesight.
It is common symptom of high blood glucose levels and getting them to go down.
It is to do with your blood vessels in your eyes.
There have been plenty of threads on this.

I've tagged @daisy1 to give you the newcomers welcome information.

 

[phoenix]

The lens in your eye is a membrane and is semi permeable, this means that glucose can pass through it . The 'glucose' concentration builds up and becomes higher than it should be. In order to equalise the concentration on either sides of the membrane water is drawn in. As the amount of water in the eye changes so does the pressure on the lens.This changes it's shape and thus changing your vision. As your glucose levels lower then the process is reversed and it can temporarily distort the lens in the other direction. (and this may indeed be because the process has made the lens more flexible)
When I was first diagnosed and started on insulin my vision became extremely acute at a distance, I could see for miles ,it was quite fantastic, I can remember being able to look out of the window and see small birds at an incredible distance. ( I would have made a good sniper!) However, I couldn't focus on the small tv in my room, it was far too close.
Eventually everything normalised and I was back to needing glasses for driving and being able to see the television and reading without them.

 

[daisy1]

@SmartiesPants

Hello and welcome to the forum

As you have seen from the above, good sugar levels can help your eyesight. This information which we give to new members mentioned by nosher8355 will help you with these levels.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.