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Type 2 Can Retinopathy be stopped with proper blood sugar control?

L

Lee83

Member
Hi all,

I’ve been bad with my diabetics for years.

My last eye test showed start of Diabetic retinopathy.

I’m 42, and had an mmol of 20 to 35 :hungover:

I started mounjaro, I’ve lost 2 stone, and take my metformin regularly now.

My daily checks keep my mmol at 5.5 to 7.2

If I keep my levels at that from now on, could I keep my retinopathy from getting worse? Or is the damage now done?

Thanks for the help.
 
I appreciate I'm T1 and not T2 but I've had diabetes since 1970 and on again off again retinopathy for decades.... Generally it's got worse during my periods of bad/mediocre control and improved during good control. (And as I'm insulin dependent my definition of good control (hba1c 50mmol/L or less) is far less controlled than yours.) I've probably been lucky but my N=1 sample says that (background) retinopathy can improve with improved blood sugar control.
 
@Lee83 At my first eye check I had background retinopathy. By the following year it had gone.
No medication after the first month or so as it made me really ill, but I eat low carb and all is well.
 
Lee83 said:
Hi all,

I’ve been bad with my diabetics for years.

My last eye test showed start of Diabetic retinopathy.

I’m 42, and had an mmol of 20 to 35 :hungover:

I started mounjaro, I’ve lost 2 stone, and take my metformin regularly now.

My daily checks keep my mmol at 5.5 to 7.2

If I keep my levels at that from now on, could I keep my retinopathy from getting worse? Or is the damage now done?

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Hi and welcome. I had a number of diabetic symptoms (retinopathy wasn't one) but everything either cleared up or reduced almost completely very quickly after getting my BG into normal levels. I do have what is probably permanent damage that leaves me with a bit of a tingle in my feet, but it's nothing compared to how it was.

So on my experience, it should be possible to stop damage from high blood glucose getting any worse, and possibly get better.

Best of luck.
 
I was diagnosed eight years ago and eye screening has been done every year. I have had two tests which showed background retinopathy but it had disappeared by the next test.
 
Like EllieM I am also Type 1 but I went from really poor control to really good control which upset my eyes. I was told I had Maculopathy in June 2022 (I think?) which resolved fully in August 2024 after keeping my control good
 
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