Eye bleeds again!!!!!

[Leeds Lass]

Hi

My partner has had retinopathy for about 5 years now and has had maximum laser, he has gone through a period of being stable. One of his eyes bleeds probably twice a year and takes a while to clear but his other eye has been stable throughout, but he has just had a bleed in his good eye :-(

I really don't understand it, how can he still be bleeding if all his eye is lasered? Does this mean he'll go blind as it just seems there is no why of stopping it. It's totally thrown by this and is so annoyed, it wasn't a bad bleed and is starting to clear already but 4 years after laser and no bleeds wny would it happen again.

We are at the hospital again soon for a check up so we'll have to see what they say.

Retinopathy is horrible and just when you think it's going it rears it's ugly head again, it's awful.

Leeds Lass

 

[noblehead]

It is indeed horrible Leeds Lass and your partner has my every sympathy.

I don't know why it would bleed again after 4 years but that is the nature of diabetic retinopathy, sometimes things can be stable for years and out of the blue a bleed will occur, I know we have chatted before and I've posted the link to you previously but I suggest you and your partner have a look again as it contains some excellent advice on control and diabetic retinopathy:

http://medweb.bham.ac.uk/easdec/index.html


Tell your partner to ask the Ophthalmogist if a vitrectomy operation might halt the bleeds in his eyes, it can be a long and delicate operation but is quite successful when all other avenues have been explored.

 

[Leeds Lass]

Hi Noblehead

Thanks for your reply, and yes we have had conversations before about this dreaded subject and I appreciate any help you can give.

It is just so annoying as his bloods are 7 his cholesterol is 3.1 and his blood pressure is fine! They did say on the last appointment that he had some new vessels but I don't understand where they have come from has he's been lasered to the max I didn't think there would be anywhere for them to grow :-(

 

[noblehead]

It is frustrating, all I can say is to ask the Ophthalmogist what the treatment options are from here, if you both can't wait until his appointment date then I suggest you ring the Ophthalmology clinic up and speak with the consultants secretary and ask if they can bring his appointment forward.

As I say I feel for you both and wish I could help more

 

[czj]

Hi. I'm sorry to hear about your partner having bleeds, and now in his good eye. I've had trouble in one eye and know what a blow it would be if I thought my good eye wasn't so good anymore.

Has anyone suggested a diet high in Lutein? I had a major bleed about 10 years ago, and (long story deleted) found that lutein helped. Not theoretically helped, but overnight, if I had had a few eggs the day before then the 95% loss of vision would have cleared to about 5%.

If you google it then you'll find research supporting the use of lutein in diabetics to help protect against retinopathy. You can get supplements (eg Boots Vitality eye vitamins, which I take every day) but eggs are the best source in our diet I believe.

 

[the_anticarb]

Hi Leeds Lass

Sorry to hear about this.

Has he had a vitrectomy? That can stabilise things.

I've heard that the hormones that make the vessels grow can get stuck in the eyeball jelly, so lasering is only partly effective as the hormones that make the vessels grow remain. This happened to me, I had lots of laser and still had a bleed.

I had a vitretomy last year and so far it's been stable.

I don't know whether his consultant would suggest this for him?

I think the anti VEGF injections (avastin/lucentis) can act against these hormones but again only lasts a limited amount of time

 

[Leeds Lass]

Thanks for your replys. The last consultant did mention the injections and the surgery but as there not aggressive bleeds that fill the eye or anything, we thought it might be a bit too hasty as there are risks with the surgery and at the moment they tend to dissappear quite quickly.

One of our main conerns is wondering if the bleeds are harmful in the long run, if he just has a couple a year is it really worth having the surgery or leaving them as they are?

Did you have alot of laser Anticarb? My partner has had most of his lasered don't think there's much room for anymore.

 

[czj]

Well, bleeds do encourage further bleeding.

The way my optician explained it to me when I had my major bleed is that when the eye has a lot of blood in it, it thinks to itself “Hmm, best grow some new vessels to reabsorbs that blood…”. The new vessels are themselves leaky. So more bleeding, more new vessels and you have a vicious circle going.

I credit my optician with saving my sight. Because of that explanation I I did all I could to stop further bleeding, Just common sense. If I looked up it leaked, so I learnt to move my whole head rather than moving my eyes. If I jumped out of bed in the morning, I’d get more bleeding, but if I got out slowly and then no leakage. I was aiming to minimise the amount of blood leaking into my eye, not just so I could see better, but so that vicious circle didn’t start.

Since the major bleed 9 years ago I have had two tiny bleed and one episode of leakage so small I can tell it’s there but it’s not visible to the Doctors. Overall I am pleased I didn’t rush into the vitrectomy.

It sounds like your partner hasn’t got much bleeding into his eye. If I were in his position I’d probably avoid anything that I spotted was causing new bleeding just to encourage healing in the eye.

Good luck

 

[Leeds Lass]

Thanks for that czj, I'm always telling him to be careful lifting etc, i'll tell him your explanation of things and all we can do is try it and see if it works.

His bleeds aren't that bad your right they tend to be small and not interfer with his vision really.