Don’t panic if your letter says “significant changes” !

Synonym

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,384
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Having no energy as this is so limiting.
Before diagnosis one of the main symptoms I really suffered from was blurry eyesight so I visited my husband’s optician who pointed me in the right direction to get the medical help I needed.
After diagnosis of diabetes in September 2009 I was fortunate to find this site in October and followed the advice given to me on here. The first photographs of my eyes taken in February 2010 showed lots of dark patches on my retinas and I received a letter to say that there were “significant changes”.
I had worked at getting my BG levels down to 5.5 by the time I had the first set of tests in February 2010 and I maintained that through to my latest tests in February 2011. Following the tests you can imagine how disappointed I felt when I again received a letter telling me of “significant changes” after my latest eye examination. When I phoned to ask for more information I was told not to worry about it – this did not help me to understand what the problem was!
I decided to return to the optician I had seen previously, before diagnosis, to get another eye examination and to ask him if there was anything seriously wrong. My optician took the photographs as had been done at the surgery examination so I asked him to compare them with all the photographs he had taken at this examination with the earlier photographs and explain to me what these “significant changes” were. This he did and to my relief I was shown photographs which showed that the dark patches had now almost completely gone.
When I queried why I should have received the letter from the clinic he said that it was probably because there is still one very tiny dark mark and it is possible that I was probably “a victim of the tick boxes” as they may not have any other box to tick other than one which shows “significant changes”.
I asked him if that damage would also heal and he said that he was sure that it would if I kept my BG levels as low as I have been doing. I left his premises feeling relieved and very encouraged and thinking that sometimes “significant changes” might actually mean something positive! It certainly is worth doing your own research and homework for peace of mind and following the advice on here! :D
 

ailz

Well-Known Member
Messages
165
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Dislikes
people that make me panic. Racism - in fact most 'isms'
I'd have been terrified if that had been me. They need to think more about the wording of tick boxes.