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diabetic eye disease

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fendertele

Well-Known Member
Messages
221
Went for my yearly check up was told it had progressed since last visit but nothing to be concerned about and will see me again next year... as you can imagine I was a bit concerned and will need to wait now but was wondering can it be reversed if diet is tightened even more ? my eye sight is fairly decent no need for glasses as of yet.
 
Hi @fendertele Good blood sugar control is key, but don't be alarmed by the inevitable occasional spikes caused by viruses, stress etc. I had my first experience of lasering in 1979, but still only use reading glasses. When you say 'tightened even more' don't beat yourself up excessively, just keep an eye on daily highs and lows as far as blood glucose is concerned. I hope you fare even better than I have! Good luck
 


Thanks Grant for the quick reply.

Yeah I had been told my levels was back to a normal persons range due to going low carb but as they were concerned about my rising cholesterol levels and wanted me on statin or to adjust my diet a bit.

So I began to have a slice of brown bread with my meat and egg meals to try and combat it whilst keeping my diabetes in check.

ipid profile

cholesterol - 8.4 mmol/l
triglycerides - 1.3 ......
HDL cholesterol - 1.0
LDL cholesterol calc'd - 6.8
VLDL chol calc'd - 0.6
chol/hdl ratio - 8.4

Liver function

total bilirubin - 10 umol
alt - 42 u/l
ast - 25 u/l
alkaline phosphate 88 u/l
albumin 42 g/l

Diabetes

HBA1C (IFCC) 35 mmol/mol

Details : elevated liver enzyme.

So i'm guessing this slight change has began to cause problems and will cut it out but worry my cholesterol will then continue to rise.

Yeah it's scary and as you mentioned i'm fortunate enough that it's not progressed to scarier stages. I hope your journey continues to see improvements also .
 

How is your blood pressure. Maintaining good blood pressure levels is very important for eye health (and a whole raft of other stuff), so if that hasn't been checked for a while, might be time to get it done.

If you are borderline, might be an idea to see if you can have a 24 hour monitor to look at it more closely. They're not the most comfortable things, but they do give a better insight than the spot checks.
 

Not sureto be honest will ask them to check this next visit but funny you should say that since changing my diet I've started to develop spider veins on my face and ankles which i'm assuming could be caused by elevated blood pressure ?
 
I'm no expert on Cholesterol, but I'd be interested to know how @bulkbiker would react to there assessment.
 
Grant_Vicat said:
I'm no expert on Cholesterol, but I'd be interested to know how @bulkbiker would react to there assessment.
Click to expand...

Yeah I had posted my previous results and since then they have again increased. Got some new results in the next week to check and see if the cholesterol has reduced since upping carb intake a little bit.
 
fendertele said:
Not sureto be honest will ask them to check this next visit but funny you should say that since changing my diet I've started to develop spider veins on my face and ankles which i'm assuming could be caused by elevated blood pressure ?
Click to expand...

I believe there are several reasons spider veins can occur, so better not to speculate.

A few years ago I had very minor changes - R1 if I recall, in one eye.

Fortunately, I have a friend who is married to an opthalmic surgeon, so needless to say I called him.

His comments were not to panic, but to ensure my diabetes was in a good place and to ensure my blood pressure was equally good, as those things, along with other factors can contribute to eye disease. Not all eye conditions in those living with diabetes are diabetes related, but whatever the cause, it's good to keep close tabs on it.

(My eye tests did return to normal and have remained so.)
 
Hi @fendertele

As a T1 for 52 years, and the first dozen pre glucometer, I've had some spectacularly mediocre blood sugar levels at various times in the past. I remember being told in my twenties that I'd need laser treatment before I was forty but I still remain monitored but unlasered. (Though I have a non diabetic eye condition that has needed 3 trips to an eye hospital to have the surface of my eye scraped - heavy duty painkillers post scraping were required.)

Anyway, over the last twenty or so years (probably with improved control) I've had on again off again background retinopathy (probably permanently on now) but it's still stable and they still don't want to interven. So improvement of mild retinopathy is possible, and reduction of progression is also possible.

If they are still only monitoring you once a year then they probably don't think there is anything too serious going on (Disclaimer, I am not a doctor and that is not a diagnosis).

And I second @AndBreathe 's suggestion that you check your blood pressure out. You can probably get a spot one done at a pharmacy but if that seems off it may be worth buying your own, as "white coat effect" means they tend to be notoriously high when taken by a doctor. (I've been on bp medication for 30 years, but did have a 24 hour test before starting.)

Good luck.
 
fendertele said:
ipid profile

cholesterol - 8.4 mmol/l
triglycerides - 1.3 ......
HDL cholesterol - 1.0
Click to expand...
How long had you fasted before the bloods were taken?
If you hadn't then result will have been impacted by what you ate before the blood draw and will completely nullify the results.
 
bulkbiker said:
How long had you fasted before the bloods were taken?
If you hadn't then result will have been impacted by what you ate before the blood draw and will completely nullify the results.
Click to expand...

Usually 10-12 hours before the appointment in the morning. So from 10pm the night before right through until i get back from the appointment.
 
fendertele said:
Usually 10-12 hours before the appointment in the morning. So from 10pm the night before right through until i get back from the appointment.
Click to expand...

OK that should be ok.. depends if you are worried about cholesterol..

My last set of results were
Total 8.20
HDL 1.75
Trigs 0.9

That made me very happy..
Your trigs could do with going down and HDL going up but eating brown bread won't help with that I'm afraid.
 
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