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Eyesight issue

S

shifty1964

Member
Messages
9
Location
Leicestershire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi.
I'm new to type2 and found my blood sugars to be around 18-20 with one high at 26.
I lost my vision by not being able to focus for three weeks.
My readings are now between 6-7 .
My eyesight returned to normal but has now gone out of focus again.
Before I was diagnosed I had my eyes tested in January and was prescribed glasses.
I have had my eyes tested again and had to pay for new glasses as the optician said my prescription had changed.
Could this be because I had my original glasses before I was diagnosed with type2 ?
Paul.
 
Hi and welcome Paul

High bg levels can make the lens of the eyes swell which in turn leads to blurry vision, once bg levels are stabilised vision is often returned to normal. So if your glasses were given when your bg levels were raised then that will explain why your prescription has now changed.
 
What tends to happen is distance vision becomes blurred with a very high blood sugar level. When it is brought down after a diagnosis quite quickly back down towards normal levels eyesight briefly seems to be back to normal but then near sight blurs. Give it 6-8 weeks at more normal sugar levels and eyesight returns more or less to the previous state, although some find it shifts a bit permanently.

Opticians know this and in general won't do an eyesight test for some time after a diagnosis - although they might not pick up on it being a cause of someone's eyesight change. As in general near sight is effected in the recovery phase, cover this by buying cheap reading glasses as it changes. Someone who is naturally a bit short sighted can even find distance sight is better for a while.
 
Have you had your diabetic retinopathy screening test yet? Most problems with blurred eyesight that occur soon after diagnosis are due the effects of high blood glucose on the lens, as @noblehead has already explained, and it's not that unusual for someone to end up with a useless pair of glasses because they were tested when their sugars were running high. However, it's important to attend the retinal screening as maculopathy can also cause blurred vision (although this would not be correctable by glasses).
 
Thank you for making me feel welcome.
All the comments are welcome.
Jay-Marc.
My optician also got a second opinion and they both agreed that my prescription needed changing so I took there advice.
Dark horse.
This was mentioned by the optician a week ago who was going to write to my doctor but I spoke to my doctor by phone yesterday but she didn't mention if the opticians had wrote to her.
The only problem is I can't see long distanced or close up and have got another week to wait for my new glasses.
£1 ready readers help 100% with distance but I have to wear those and my original glasses to view close up i,e my mobile.
Paul.
 
The change in glasses back in January might be a complete red herring in that it may have been before any escalation of blood sugar.

Any money you spend on glasses before your vision finally settles back down will be wasted in the long run, which is expensive with prescription as your eyesight could easily change again between test and picking them up. Any decent optician really should be aware of this issue. Of course it may be highly inconvenient for you in the short run.

I can remember what it was like as my eyesight changed considerably over a matter of days. If I try on the glasses I needed to use during that phase now I can't see anything through them at all. I stopped driving completely for a fortnight.
 
Everyone should be offered an eye screening appointment within 3 months of diagnosis of diabetes. If you haven't had a screening within 3 months, I would go back to your GP and chase it up.
 
Hi I have been type two for over forty years and now have a collection of I've twenty pair of glasses I now try them on in the morning and usualy find a pair that are suitable at the time as my eyesight can vary throughout the day as my blood level changes. The only way I get a reasonable eye test is booking it in the early mornings when my blood sugar is lowest but as time marches on it become much more difficult to find a pair that are useful to me.
I have developed cataracts recently to add to the problems a I guess that unless I change prescriptions every few months I am unable to even read a book consistently and find that most of the time I do without glasses and use a magnifying lens to see small details or print.
 
There is a good chance that back in January my blood sugars were hi as I've been overweight for some years (23st) and my diet was very poor so in that respect my eye test result could have been based on that as before January the last time my eyes were tested was 2004.
I am always optimistic.
 
Yes the key thing is to have the sight test when you know your sight has stabilised and the sugar is under a reasonably narrow control.
 
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