Hello from a new member

[Waves]

I am female and live in Liverpool with my husband and two black cats; I am a Christian and enjoy walking, playing the piano, swimming, if I get the chance , reading, writing novels and listening to interesting podcasts.

I was diagnosed diabetic a month ago, after being referred to my doctor by my optician, This was due to the fact that my eyesight had changed dramatically, My blood sugar was really high, 135. I was put on metformin and gliclazide and my readings have come right down , if anything they can now be on the low side. I.ve had blurred vision when I try to read for about two weeks and the glasses I was given are now usless, strangley, my distance vision has improved. Feeling a bit depressed about it all.

 

[EllieM]

Hi @Waves and welcome. Unfortunately it's very normal for undiagnosed diabetes to affect the eyesight. We normally advise newly diagnosed members to hold up on spending large sums on new glasses for a few weeks after their sugars have stabilised. It's a pity that your optician didn't warn you of this. (Though to be fair they didn't know for sure you were diabetic).

It's a bit quiet now because most of our members are in the UK so I'll give you a warm welcome from New Zealand.

Do you know what type of diabetes you have?

 

[Geordie_P]

Yes, welcome to the forum: it's always hard when you're first diagnosed, but when you follow the lifestyle tips and learn how to handle your condition, it's really quite possible you will end up feeling better than you have for years. You've already improved your blood sugar levels a lot, so that's an impressive and positive start, and I think you will enjoy the results of your overall health improving.

I also want to follow on from Ellie's good point above: my eyesight was getting bad in my mid-thirties, and it turned out to be a symptom of undiagnosed diabetes. Once I got my sugars under control, my eyesight improved markedly. I also lost the weight I'd never been able to shift, wasn't tired all the time, and lost the pain and numbness I'd had in my hands and feet. I was very sorry about being diagnosed, but it turned out to have a pretty substantial silver lining.

 

[Hertfordshiremum]

I am female and live in Liverpool with my husband and two black cats; I am a Christian and enjoy walking, playing the piano, swimming, if I get the chance , reading, writing novels and listening to interesting podcasts.

I was diagnosed diabetic a month ago, after being referred to my doctor by my optician, This was due to the fact that my eyesight had changed dramatically, My blood sugar was really high, 135. I was put on metformin and gliclazide and my readings have come right down , if anything they can now be on the low side. I.ve had blurred vision when I try to read for about two weeks and the glasses I was given are now usless, strangley, my distance vision has improved. Feeling a bit depressed about it all.

Hello I was diagnosed the same way 4 years ago, your vision will right itself but it does take some time. Have you changed your diet? I find avoiding spikes helps in avoiding blurry vision. Are you type 1 or type 2?

 

[Mrs HJG]

Hi there @Waves. Although I am Type 1, my vision was a bit off before diagnosis with an HbA1c of 129.5, but when I was put on insulin, my eyesight got increasingly worse over the first week or so, as my blood sugars dropped. I had to use the reading part of my varifocals to see anything at distance.

I could not work for 6 weeks as I could not read my laptop, or drive, see the TV, or anything to be fair! So be forewarned but not too alarmed if this happens to you, it will improve with time, the 'professionals' in my case did not warn me or offer any help or assistance even though this made the whole diagnosis way more stressful than it would have been anyway

Good luck - you will get lots of helpful tips and advice on this forum, it was the only place I got any useful information and got me through those dark first months.

 

[iwilltouchyourcat]

Hello from a fellow Liverpudlian! although moved here from London so adopted Liverpudlian I guess… I was diagnosed with diabetes t2 5 years ago then a few months ago my blood sugars went haywire and got dka. Now waiting test results for adult onset type 1… all very depressing and scary so I understand a little of how you must be feeling. I’m also currently on metformin and gliclazide but anticipate that may change soon. I’ve found this group to be very supportive and I am a novice with all of the diabetes stuff ( kind of ignored it for the past few years as wasnt causing me any issues and bloods were okish). When my blood sugar was really high I did get blurred vision which cleared up as it went down to a high/normal. Good luck and welcome!

 

[Outlier]

Hello and good to have you on board. When I started with Metformin, my eyesight went haywire, but it settled down after about 3 weeks, so there is every chance that yours will as well. Your timescale may be different, though, so don't worry if so.

 

[Waves]

Hi @Waves and welcome. Unfortunately it's very normal for undiagnosed diabetes to affect the eyesight. We normally advise newly diagnosed members to hold up on spending large sums on new glasses for a few weeks after their sugars have stabilised. It's a pity that your optician didn't warn you of this. (Though to be fair they didn't know for sure you were diabetic).

It's a bit quiet now because most of our members are in the UK so I'll give you a warm welcome from New Zealand.

Do you know what type of diabetes you have?

Yes I'm sorry I should have stated that. I have type 2.

 

[Waves]

Hi there @Waves. Although I am Type 1, my vision was a bit off before diagnosis with an HbA1c of 129.5, but when I was put on insulin, my eyesight got increasingly worse over the first week or so, as my blood sugars dropped. I had to use the reading part of my varifocals to see anything at distance.

I could not work for 6 weeks as I could not read my laptop, or drive, see the TV, or anything to be fair! So be forewarned but not too alarmed if this happens to you, it will improve with time, the 'professionals' in my case did not warn me or offer any help or assistance even though this made the whole diagnosis way more stressful than it would have been anyway

Good luck - you will get lots of helpful tips and advice on this forum, it was the only place I got any useful information and got me through those dark first months.

It must have been frightening for you with no help or knowledge as to what was happening. I mentioned it to my nurse who asked my doctor who told be it was quite a common problem. My distance vision has improved but when I look at my computer screen or phone it's still very blurred. I've bought cheap glasses to tide me over.

 

[Waves]

Hello from a fellow Liverpudlian! although moved here from London so adopted Liverpudlian I guess… I was diagnosed with diabetes t2 5 years ago then a few months ago my blood sugars went haywire and got dka. Now waiting test results for adult onset type 1… all very depressing and scary so I understand a little of how you must be feeling. I’m also currently on metformin and gliclazide but anticipate that may change soon. I’ve found this group to be very supportive and I am a novice with all of the diabetes stuff ( kind of ignored it for the past few years as wasnt causing me any issues and bloods were okish). When my blood sugar was really high I did get blurred vision which cleared up as it went down to a high/normal. Good luck and welcome!

Thank you for this. Nice to have someone else based in Liverpool. My blood sugers have really gone down now. If anything they are too low 4.4 on my last reading and I have had to cut out one of the metformin tablets for fear of going into a hypo. I am due to see the nurse again in just over a week so will see what she says. Thank you for your support. It's scary for all of us.

 

[Waves]

Hello from a fellow Liverpudlian!

although moved here from London so adopted Liverpudlian I guess… I was diagnosed with diabetes t2 5 years ago then a few months ago my blood sugars went haywire and got dka. Now waiting test results for adult onset type 1… all very depressing and scary so I understand a little of how you must be feeling. I’m also currently on metformin and gliclazide but anticipate that may change soon. I’ve found this group to be very supportive and I am a novice with all of the diabetes stuff ( kind of ignored it for the past few years as wasnt causing me any issues and bloods were okish). When my blood sugar was really high I did get blurred vision which cleared up as it went down to a high/normal. Good luck and welcome!

Hello from a fellow Liverpudlian! although moved here from London so adopted Liverpudlian I guess… I was diagnosed with diabetes t2 5 years ago then a few months ago my blood sugars went haywire and got dka. Now waiting test results for adult onset type 1… all very depressing and scary so I understand a little of how you must be feeling. I’m also currently on metformin and gliclazide but anticipate that may change soon. I’ve found this group to be very supportive and I am a novice with all of the diabetes stuff ( kind of ignored it for the past few years as wasnt causing me any issues and bloods were okish). When my blood sugar was really high I did get blurred vision which cleared up as it went down to a high/normal. Good luck and welcome!

Yes, welcome to the forum: it's always hard when you're first diagnosed, but when you follow the lifestyle tips and learn how to handle your condition, it's really quite possible you will end up feeling better than you have for years. You've already improved your blood sugar levels a lot, so that's an impressive and positive start, and I think you will enjoy the results of your overall health improving.

I also want to follow on from Ellie's good point above: my eyesight was getting bad in my mid-thirties, and it turned out to be a symptom of undiagnosed diabetes. Once I got my sugars under control, my eyesight improved markedly. I also lost the weight I'd never been able to shift, wasn't tired all the time, and lost the pain and numbness I'd had in my hands and feet. I was very sorry about being diagnosed, but it turned out to have a pretty substantial silver lining.

 

[Waves]

Hello and good to have you on board. When I started with Metformin, my eyesight went haywire, but it settled down after about 3 weeks, so there is every chance that yours will as well. Your timescale may be different, though, so don't worry if so.

Thank you. It's all a bit scary at the moment.

 

[Waves]

Hello from a fellow Liverpudlian! although moved here from London so adopted Liverpudlian I guess… I was diagnosed with diabetes t2 5 years ago then a few months ago my blood sugars went haywire and got dka. Now waiting test results for adult onset type 1… all very depressing and scary so I understand a little of how you must be feeling. I’m also currently on metformin and gliclazide but anticipate that may change soon. I’ve found this group to be very supportive and I am a novice with all of the diabetes stuff ( kind of ignored it for the past few years as wasnt causing me any issues and bloods were okish). When my blood sugar was really high I did get blurred vision which cleared up as it went down to a high/normal. Good luck and welcome!

Nice to have someone living in the same city. My blood sugar is a bit low now. 4.4 on my last reading so I've had to reduce my metformin by one tablet. No change in eyesight. I will be seeing the nurse again soon and will go over it with her. Thanks for sharing your experience with me.

 

[finzi1966]

Metformin won’t give you hypos so don’t worry about that - 4.4 isn’t really a hypo, it’s more that people on hypo inducing drugs like insulin or gliclazide need to be cautious about readings in the 4’s because they could *continue* to drop in an uncontrolled manner (eg if they’ve already got too much insulin on board). Your body will produce its own sugar to prevent your blood sugar dropping too low (4.4 isn’t actually low, it’s a completely normal blood sugar for a non-diabetic so congratulations, you’re already doing really well!)