Blurred vision

When we have prolonged high BG, our bodies try to get rid of the excess glucose. It tries all routes out. This is why excess peeing is one common symptom. So is tooth decay as sugar comes out in our saliva.
Another route is through our tears. Sugary water has a different focal length to salty water.
As your BG comes down, your eyesight should improve.
So, to answer your question, your vision will clear up when you reduce your BG. How long this takes is ... it depends.

Hi Andrew and welcome to the Forum!
First I’ll tag in @daisy1 for the welcome info for newbies.
Next are you relying on just the tablets to correct your blood sugars or have you been advised to make any other lifestyle changes, diet, exercise, weight loss etc...
I’m sorry I can’t answer the vision question as I didn’t suffer with it.

Typically 6-8 weeks after blood sugar is controlled eyesight returns back to what is was before or close to it. In the interim you may need cheap ready-reader type glasses to correct temporary long-sightedness. Some people do have more of a permanent shift though. Don't have an eye test until it has stabilised.

@Andrewjmahoney

Hello Andrew and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

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 well over 235,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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 blood glucose 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.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
  
  
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
  

Jay-Marc said:

Typically 6-8 weeks after blood sugar is controlled eyesight returns back to what is was before or close to it. In the interim you may need cheap ready-reader type glasses to correct temporary long-sightedness. Some people do have more of a permanent shift though. Don't have an eye test until it has stabilised.

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Excellent advice. Do you happen to know the mechanism by which eyesight is affected? Is it a change in refractive index in the fluid as @helensaramay has suggested or some change in the shape of the eyeball affecting the lens?

Lens shape is the main issue as I understand.

I don't have blurred vision as such it's more looking at my mobile it looks way small and feels weird. I was diagnosed a week past Tuesday where my bloods was 36.4 now with healthy eating and tablets,this morning my test was 9. It's the eyes that worry me and as I said it's not blurry it's hard to describe what it feels like but it's not normal looking at my phone. But anything else it appears normal. Good luck

DUFC1 said:

I don't have blurred vision as such it's more looking at my mobile it looks way small and feels weird. I was diagnosed a week past Tuesday where my bloods was 36.4 now with healthy eating and tablets,this morning my test was 9. It's the eyes that worry me and as I said it's not blurry it's hard to describe what it feels like but it's not normal looking at my phone. But anything else it appears normal. Good luck

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For me, I had difficulty focusing - not quite blurred but took longer to adjust to different distances.

Jay-Marc said:

Lens shape is the main issue as I understand.

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I thought the lens changes shape to adapt to different focal lengths - it's how we focus at different distances.
The lens needs to be a different shape due to the affect of the sugary tear water and our eyes/lens struggle with this.
In other words, it is BOTH lens shape AND refractive index.

Mr_Pot said:

Excellent advice. Do you happen to know the mechanism by which eyesight is affected? Is it a change in refractive index in the fluid as @helensaramay has suggested or some change in the shape of the eyeball affecting the lens?

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The temporary change in eyesight is thought to be due to a change in the refractive index of the lens due to changes in its structure which are related to glucose levels - the lens doesn't actually change shape. Although changes in glucose levels could alter the refractive index of tears, the tear film doesn't contribute greatly to refraction so I would be surprised if it had a significant effect on eyesight.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3340779/
http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/6185/3/Refractive_Error_Changes_in_DM_FINAL.pdf

Dark Horse said:

The temporary change in eyesight is thought to be due to a change in the refractive index of the lens due to changes in its structure which are related to glucose levels - the lens doesn't actually change shape. Although changes in glucose levels could alter the refractive index of tears, the tear film doesn't contribute greatly to refraction so I would be surprised if it had a significant effect on eyesight.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3340779/
http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/6185/3/Refractive_Error_Changes_in_DM_FINAL.pdf

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Thanks, good articles. As far as the OPs original question is concerned, it seems that it takes about 4 weeks once BG has reduced for eyesight to stabilize. So the suggested wait for 6-8 weeks seems sensible.

Last year, Before diagnosis, I bought a couple of X1 reading glasses as my eyesight seemed a little blurry/fuzzy when looking at print. I put it down to age and longsightedness. Since last August I have been dropping the carbs steadily and now down to 40g or less a day. I don't need the glasses at all now.... Best ever waste of £2 at Poundland!

Andrewjmahoney said:

Tablets and lifestyle.

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The reason I asked is that diet is very important for control. I embarked on low carb eating when I was diagnosed and it has been very successful for me. However I’m only on Metformin so it’s very safe to do so. On Gliclazide aswell I’m sure it’s possible to use low carb but with caution as there is a danger of going hypo.

Since my last reply my eyesight has got bad. I mean u can hardly read this on my phone and now can't read small print on food packages and starting to freak out with it. My bloods are coming right down from diagnoses 2 weeks ago. From 36.6 to 7 today. Do i need to worry. Cheers

Hi Andrew. Am exactly the same as you. I can't read small writing as it's blurry and letters through the post are a no no. I can see good normally as well.

Andrewjmahoney said:

Hi, I was recently (a few days ago!) diagnosed with type 2. One of my symptoms was blurred vision. I have started on gliclazide and metformin and was told my vision should clear. Can anyone say how long it can take for vision to clear up?

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I was diagnosed in December and had the same problem. My vision got much better 4 weeks ago