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Diabetes Eye Check

P

peterb999

Well-Known Member
Messages
49
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi All,

I had my 8 week follow up to my two rounds of laser treatment today.

Sadly, it looks like I will have to have a third lasering as my left eye has more blood vessels in a different area. I just don't understand what more I can do? My HbA1c is down to 38 which I thought would really help with my eyes but evidently not. Just seems to be blow after blow at the moment.

I'm desperately trying to find out why this is still happening. The doctor kept saying am I sure my blood pressure and cholestrol are ok. I had them done less than two weeks ago and the blood pressure and cholestrol were both fine. She seemed a bit stumped and just said I could leave it a couple of months and have another scan before I decide on laser - but I don't want to delay it if it is necessasry so I've said to go ahead and book it.

My right eye has now go white dots showing on the scan which she says is fat. You couldn't see any white dots last time (two months ago) but you can now. She has said that the liquid levels have gone down though so she isn't recommending laser treatment for that eye yet.

She had no suggestions as to what I can do as she says I am doing everything I can but she just could not explain why it is still happening.

Has anyone got any idea? I was reading that even though my HbA1c is way down, I could still be having spikes during a day and this could be causing the damage, has anyone else found this? I've been reading about the Libre 2 device and I'm going to get myself that as the NHS won't fund it for me . Does anyone have recommendations of where to get it at the best price - I won't be able to afford it for long (I understand it is £100 a month?). I'm hoping within the month I can work out what makes it spike and what is ok.

I'm starting to get really down, to be honest it's just one thing after another in my life and has been for the last 2 years. I can see why people get depressed and it seems like a really easy thing to do. I care for my mum and dad after I got divorced last year and I spend about 2-3 hours a day doing things for them. The rest of the time I don't see anyone at all and don't have any friends here (I moved after the divorce to be closer to them). I'm finding it quite hard to get out of bed every day as things just seem to go from bad to worse. I just need a bit of a break - it would be great if I could have a scan and they would tell me that it's all settled down and fine but that nevers seems to happen.
 
Sorry you are having this worry, @peterb999

There are some CGM offers of free trials. Maybe these will be of use to you?

www.freestyle.abbott

Sampling | Diabetes Care | Abbott

Claim your 15 day free sensor if you have diabetes and have not tried the FreeStyle Libre 2 plus sensor before
www.freestyle.abbott www.freestyle.abbott

www.dexcom.com

The New Dexcom ONE+ | Dexcom

The Dexcom ONE+ is our newest Continuous Glucose Monitoring system that is smaller, faster and even easier to use.
www.dexcom.com www.dexcom.com
 
Both Libre and Dexcom usually have a free trial offer so you (might) be able to get almost a month free as long as you have a compatible smart phone
 
Hi @peterb999,
I feel your distress. I've also been diagnosed with deteriorating eye condition long after I'd worked to improve my A1c. I have a Libre CGM - find it very helpful to see what raises my glucose unduly - not only food, but at times stress, poor sleep. So do take advantage of free trials, as suggested.

I don't know if there's any truth to this, or if it applies to your condition, but I was told that rapid improvement in BG can itself cause damage. Hopefully, though, it can be treated. Courage!
 
Thanks for your recommendations. I have now got the Libre 2 plus on a 15 day trial.
I installed it at 15:15 and it takes an hour to give a reading. It's currently showing as 6.2 mmol and I ate at 2pm so 2 hours 20 minutes ago. Looking online this is an ok reading.

I'll be eating at 5pm and then I'll see what it goes to.
 
Just wanted to say thank you to @Pipp

I took your advice and got the trials for both the Libre2 and the Dexcom. I've been testing different foods over the last few days on it and it's been mostly fine - I am not really affected by crisps at all which is good as I'll have a packet every now and then.

However, I had a meal deal today. Brown bread with prawns, packet of grab bag drinks and a diet drink. I put the figures that Libre came up with into an AI. The AI says that the up levels took too long to come down and that is an issue with me being diabetic. I asked it want problems this could cause and it mentioned Diabetes Retiopathy, I asked for a full explanation and it went on to describe my eye symptoms exactly (new blood vessels being created that are weak and are leaking). It literally said exactly what I suffer from - I asked why my H1bac is 38 if this is happening. It reckoned that the score of 38 is masking when I do spike and it is something to speak to my doctor about. It recommended me taking dapagliflozin as this should help.

I've spoken to the diabetic nurse and discussed all this and asked what she thought - she is happy for me to go on dapagliflozin so has added it to my repeat perscription.

I'm starting to feel a bit more positive and I really hope this is going to work - AI also said to go for a brisk walk after eating things like the meal deal and to try and mix it with food that has fat in it. To be honest I will literally try anything to save my sight so I am really going to give this my best shot and hope for the best.

I didn't realise that this constant monitoring device was as easy to apply and use - it really is a bit of a revelation to me. I can't really afford to buy it (it's over £100 a month) but I've decided to go for it and just cut back on other things. Thanks again @Pipp
 
@peterb999 If your body is coping with the food you eat then your blood sugars should come down to within 2 mmol/s of your pre meal figure. What the cgm is useful for is looking at what your blood sugars are doing in that 2 hour pre and post meal time frame and throughout the 24 hours. It can pick up trends and patterns. Of course, your blood sugars are going rise after a meal, but you don't want them going too high and coming down quickly right at the end. You want to aim for a smoothish graph. As I'm sure you are aware fats will prolong your raised blood sugars as well. They just will not go so high and may stay raised past the 2 hr mark, or even fall and rise again several hours later.

Your body reacts to foods in different ways. Crisps raise my blood sugars, but new potatoes not so much, go figure. So we are all different. It's very personal. AI is a blunt instrument and it cannot know how foods effect you. It has no way of knowing what particular foods raise blood sugars for you, too many variables for it to give accurate assessments. Yes AI can tell you if your blood sugars are too high and stay high for too long, but that is something you can see for yourself. :) Only you can learn what foods affect you. Wearing a cgm you will learn a lot about your own body and the foods you eat and what to avoid.
 
I learned which foods are best for me using just an ordinary finger- prick blood glucose meter. Initially I was jabbing myself 8 times per day, but soon just 6, then just 4 and by 3 months in only once per day (mornings for the trend) unless I ate something unusual.

It's no good trying to rely on the GI of foods, or how they affect other people, because all we Type 2 diabetics are unique - combination of genes, microbiome, cultural diet, level of insulin resistance, amount of insulin produced etc.
For example, I find even raw carrot raises my BG too much, and I can't even think about eating even a small apple But some others are OK with those and only need avoid potato, grains and tropical fruit.
 
@peterb999 ,
I am glad you have found CGM useful.
I wasn’t able to cope due to the skin irritation, and the tiny probe causing allergic reactions.
I also would find continuous use cost prohibitive. So have used the finger stabbing and meter method to monitor responses to what I have eaten. Not as much detail, but over time (I have had T2 for 20+ years) have been able to determine which foods are a problem for me, so able to avoid them.

I would see the use of CGM as a good way to gain full insight, but although some people use CGMs constantly, a meter and test strips, can also give accurate info, and are much cheaper. Also, some people have reported inaccuracies with the CGMs giving false lows, if for example, there is pressure on them when sleeping.
So need to use meter in addition to CGM.

As for AI, be very wary of relying on info from there. It can be very misleading. It is the reason the DCUK rules are so strict on any member posting info from AI.
 
Hi @Pipp,
Maybe the finger pricking is a thing for me to do as it seems a lot cheaper. I'll look into that. I know it sounds daft, but does your finger end up looking like a pin cushion? Do you vary between fingers? I don't really fancy it and this is why the CGM to me was great as I didn't realise it just stuck on and thats it (it's a shame that you are allergic to it, fortunately I just forget it is there).

The AI is literally just a dumb tool to be honest. It's only like a sat nav - you wouldn't blindly follow it's guidance but it is useful to see the information it picks up from all the different places of information (it isn't really AI yet). It is frequently wrong (about 30% of the time I use it) as I ask it about stuff that I have a really good knowledge in. The dapaflozin it recommended was interesting and obviously I then searched on this forum to see what that actually is - and realised that my mother is already taking it and it does really help her (diabetes and heart failure) and she doesn't suffer any of the (pretty horrific sounding) side effects. Funnily, I have a review next week and they were going to recommend that medicine as apparently it has a lot of benefits specifically for my current test results (cholesterol and a load of other stuff). The only thing is that this review is with an employee of a pharmacy company so they just sound like a salesman. However, like everything, if the aggregate of people agree it's a good thing and not a bad thing then I tend to make a decision using that as I always did in my working career. Obviously if it gives me urine infections etc. then I would stop taking it as they sound horrible.

One thing I have realised is that crisps do absolutely nothing to me at all - my readings just went from 5.2 mmol to 6.1 mmol - but that seems to happen all the time anyway. It seems to hover around 5.2 for a lot of the time, then goes up a bit and then back down. It's usually when I am actually doing something
 
@peterb999

The finger pricking doesn’t cause me any discomfort. Unless I let the lancet get too blunt. So I tend to not reuse them. I use the ACCU-CHEC FastClix lancing device.
www.accu-chek.co.uk

Accu-Chek FastClix

Accu-Chek FastClix is a one-click lancing device, with an integrated drum containing six lancets, for gentle and hygienic finger pricking.
www.accu-chek.co.uk www.accu-chek.co.uk
It has the option to adjust the depth of the integrated small needle. I alternate fingers , using the same finger for no more than a day, before moving to the next finger. Always wash hands in warm water, first, and use side of tip of finger.

The meter I use is Glucco navii. Order supplies online from HomeHealth. There is an option to get VAT exemption for anyone with diabetes, too.


Member @Rachox prepared info on various meters that is useful
Copied here:
HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews.

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/



Links to the strips for future orders:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/glucose-navii-blood-glucose-test-strips-50-strip-pack/



Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/





SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793



The strips are to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.



Don’t forget to check the box if you have diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)



If you’d like to try a free 15 day trial of the Freestyle LIBRE 2 plus follow this link:

Sampling | Diabetes Care | Abbott



Dexcom also offer a free trial of their Dexcom one + here

The Dexcom ONE+ CGM (Continuous Glucose Montoring) system | Dexcom
 
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