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

L

Lee83

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
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

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.
 
Oops, I forgot to say, welcome to the forums @Lee83 and congratulations on your blood sugar reduction.
 
Thanks so much guys!

I really thought it was basically all downhill now. Really made me feel like I can do this. Cheers!

Wow! 3 replies over night! I’ve been on forums and waited over a week for a reply. lol. Thank you so much!
 
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
 
My ophthalmologist says definitely yes, but it takes time. Eg at least the same time to resolve as it took to develop.
Key is control of sugar levels
 
Hi I'm 72 T2 had retinopathy in my left eye a few years ago.
Changed my behaviour retinopathy gone.
 
Thanks so much all!

Found out my test results today - got…

R1M1 in both eyes.

So they are going to monitor my eyes more often now.

And I will continue to trying improve my blood sugar levels.

I will come back here one day and tell everyone if I managed to improve my results.
 
In answer to the question yes , but saying that good blood sugar can prevent/reduce risk of many associated complications
 
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