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Eye nerve palsy

cara147m

Well-Known Member
Messages
47
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello all,

I am just wondering if any other T1's have experienced similar ……… about 3 months ago I developed lateral rectus nerve palsy (6th nerve palsy) to my right eye - the nerve to one of the muscles outside the eye that moves the eye outwards stopped working so I had double vision and the eye stopped moving! Luckily it is something that gets better with time is most cases and mine is - phew! It can have a link to diabetes but they said unusual in T1 and my diabetic consultant didn't think there was a link like with retinopathy.

Has anyone else has this? x
 
Hi Cara,
Yep I had exactly that 30 years ago or so, after having had T1 for about 14 years or so. (at that time, the bg was almost permanently too high even in what they called 'well controlled diabetics'). Read most of the scientific papers that existed at that time about that. And there is some link to diabetes though, as high blood sugar drives neuropathic complications such as this. The 'motor'-nerves controlling the eye ball movements can be affected (the nerve stops working), with the result as you describe. In about 80-90% of cases then full nerve functionality is restored within 3-9 months. So some do unfortunately never recover (fully) from such incidence. Mine was exactly the same nerve and muscle as your case! I could move the eye perfectly well up and down, and also from the mid-point and to the left. But I could not move my right eye at all from mid-point to the right. After approx. 3 months, then suddenly It came slowly back to me, and full control was restored after approx. 7 months (full nerve-muscle+ligament rehab => full eye ball movability). (Special eye-doctor exist to help you retrain full movements!)

There is absolutely no direct link between this disease and Diabetic Retinopathy!
Two very different things, though both can be caused by high boodsugar.
So not anything frequently seen in diabetics, though prevalence is higher in diabetic population vs 'normal'.
 
My son is suffering from double vision, bad headaches and uncontrolled eye movements at the moment. He is T1 he's had a CT Scan which has shown nothing sinister now waiting to see consultant on Tuesday. He's had it now for 4 weeks, was still waiting for an NHS appointment but has now got a private appointment. He's been off work 3 weeks as the first week he tried to work from home but found using the lap top made him feel ill. He's been prescribed paracetamol for headaches which didn't work, then cocodomol which made him feel ill, now on paracetamol and a lower dose of cocodomol together and headaches more bearable. He's not able to drive and even walking over the road to the doctors leaves him feeling drained. He's 49 years old and we're all worried about him. Hoping for a diagnosis on Tuesday.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Oh dear - has your son tried using an eye patch for the double vision? I had a little headache with my double vision. Not sure if your sons reason for the double vision is the same as mine but it might help his symptoms of double vision x it helped me a lot in the beginning x
 
Yeah, I was wearing an eye patch for approx. 4 months, as you would get bad headache and severe nausea without it. It didn't matter though which eye you patched up, as both were ok individualy. They simply did just not point towards the same target during the 6th nerve palsy incident.
The situation described above by pamofdoncaster does though appear to be something completely different.
Vision does change by age ('naturally') and also at times by bloodpressure changes or bloodglucose level changes. Sometimes by age your eye control muscles are getting a bit weaker and some people have difficulties focusing with both eyes for long on nearby subjects (e.g. a laptop screen). Glasses with a prism built into the lens is helping here. Seeing an ophthalmologist is the way forward as many potential causes have to be examined by a specialist before jumping to solutions.
 
Hi,
I just got diagnosed with this myself, same nerve, same eye. Woke up this morning with double vision and freaked out.
This is very upsetting, hope it will get back to normal soon. I was told that well controlled diabetes is the best way of avoiding, my Hb1 is decent, but it doesn't tell the whole picture as i have many peaks up and down, which might be the problem?
I am at least able to drive with a fresnel film on my glasses, which is totally magic.

BTW funny enough this happened right after I fooled around with "google cardboard" that app where you have to force your vision to see a 3d representation. The Orthoptics dept assured me it has prob nothing to do, just coincidence, but it seems too much coincidence to me.
 
Went through a lot of statistics etc when I had the palsy. Yes, frequency is higher for diabetics, but still extremely rare. None had observed the same patient experiencing it twice during their lifetime. Fingers crossed that you will have a fast recovery!
 
Thanks Celsus, that is reassuring!
 
On a positive note, now I see my wife double.
I'm not going to spell it out in case there are children reading but:
Lifelong fantasy off the bucket list!
: D
 
Good to know - luckily I had my appointment with orthoptics on Friday and they said that it has resolved well and I can now drive x
 
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