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maculopathy

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graceamy

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I went for retinal screening three weeks ago and have just had a letter telling me I have diabetic maculopathy. Last years screening just showed background changes that did not require treatment.

After reading the leaflets sent by the retinal screening people I feel very worried that I am going to lose some of my sight .. I know I may have to have laser treatment and the thought terrifies me.
My appointment with the eye specialist is not till the beginning of february and I know I am going to spend the next two months worrying about it.
Has anyone else been through this.
Grace
 
I am very interested in this too. But like yourself I am seeking experience and answers.

I have a patient who has had type one for over 20 years. This person has just been diagnosed with maculopathy. Blood sugar control has been pretty reasonable over this time eg 7-8.5% hbaics.

I understood a few things (which might be rubbish !) but this is what I have read.

1. maculopathy usually affects type twos rather than type ones.
2. You get it after you have been through the usual stages of:
normal retina
background retinopathy
pre-proliferative retinopathy
profilferative retinopathy
3. reduced carb diets can prevent maculopathy in the general population by 20% (not great!)

Like you I am puzzled and concerned that the maculopathy seems to have jumped a whole series of steps. I am also keen to know what treatments, diets, supplements of any kind could be of help in reversing it.

We are pursuing normal blood sugars with carb reduction in glycaemic type and amount and precison insulin techniques.

Has anyone any information on this?
 
Hi grace

The letter you have got from the screening can be a bit missleading as the screening can in fact pick up changes before they become a problem.... As they have taken photo's before at previous screening they do have imagine to compare any changes.. If the operator picks up a change then it is checked by a higer quailified person for a second opinion...

As to the lengh of time to your appointment, should mean that the changes in your eyes isn't quite as dramatic as it sounds, I know that at my local hospital they have a A&E eye clinci as the main eye clinic is run 5 days a week so if neccessary there is no hanging around to get a specialist appointment only by the patient sitting in the clinic...

But here a site that should tell you more http://medweb.bham.ac.uk/easdec/diabeti ... pathy.html
 
Yes, thanks. I was reading it from your other thread earlier this morning. We have a planned gradual carb/insulin reduction in process.

Why has the maculopathy come on with only moderate background retinopathy and no pre-proliferative phase? The person is not on glitazones. Anyone know?
 
Thank you for your replies Katherine, Jopar and Phoenix and the interesting links.

I am type 1 and have been for 40 years. My last 3 HbA1c results have been 7.9 7.7 and 7.4.and I started pumping in june this year.
I don't think there has been too rapid a reduction in my HbA1c which is something I was warned about before starting with the pump.

I went to see my Gp but she wasn't able to tell me anything except that I may need some laser treatment. I am very worried...
Grace
 
I started my pump back in June as well, and I also have changes in my eyes that might require lazering...

I was warned that this might happen with the improved when I started my pump therapy...

I know that this seems to have come on quick for you and is a worry... But keep in mind even though these changes have happened pretty quick that it is less likely that it has done enough damage that can't be sorted by lazering... As it has Less chance of scaring the important bits, if the photo's were showing that there was a high degree of pending damage they would have had you straight into clinic to reslove it..

My husband has had both major eye surgery and lazer treatment due to his diabetes 9 years ago starting from a bleed in one eye that did detach his retnia, the operation to clear the blood and and reattach the rentia was a success, with limited damage of his sight over the next 4 years he had a couple of lazering completed on his check-up appointments and a final op to stablize his eye (and gained improvments as a added bonus) which so far in the last 5 years he hasn't had any more problems or lazering but still has 6 monthly checks with the specialist... which normanly means that he gets a audience as it's rare that they see this sort of damage in a diabetic!

You need to see this as a glitch in your diabetes, it doesn't mean that you are going to go blind or heading towards blindness as even though with the better control that you are achieving has in a way accelerated your eye condition, they can do something about it and once you your body settle to the better control then any problems with the eyes will lessen once they've sorted everything...
 
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