Newly Diagnosed and Blurry Vision

[ExiledJack]

Hi everyone!

I am a 31 year old male and a month ago I was driving to work and noticed my distant vision was blurred. After a few days I went to the opticians who recommended I check my blood glucose and it was 17mmol/l fasted. I was admitted into hospital for two nights until and came out with Novorapid and Lantus pens. I am still yet to be diagnosed as type 1 or 2 but I am being treated as type 1 until my blood results come back. My nurse told me that the urine sample had come back with presence of insulin so I could be type 2 but we'll see. There is a history of type 2 in my family so I'm betting on that.

I take a split dose of Lantus (rise and retire) and 1 unit of Novorapid per 10g of carbs at meal times. My fasting blood glucose is around 8mmol/l now and following my first meal (and until I go to bed) its anywhere between 5-8 so I'm relatively pleased with that. I am hoping to bring the fasting glucose down to 5-6 in the coming weeks. I'm keeping my carbs to below 150g at the moment. I'm guessing that with these numbers on insulin, it's unlikely (if I'm type 2) that I could ever get to tablets/diet?

My vision went back to normal a few days after I left hospital however over the last few days it's gone blurry again which is hugely frustrating. My nurse told me that this is normal and it will clear up as my body gets used to the lower blood glucose. How long can I expect this to last?

My second question regarding my cholesterol which is too high at 5.6. I am overweight but losing (6foot 1, 247lbs now, was 305lbs) and am very active - I run 5ks, cycle and lift weights. Is it fairly likely that my cholesterol will come down as my blood glucose is maintained at a lower level? I am stick to lowish carb, high fat and my one worry is if dietary fat will make my lipids worse.

My average blood pressure is 125/79 having tested it morning and night for two weeks - is it this ok?

Thank you guys.

 

[xfieldok]

Blurry vision is typical at diagnosis. It will eventually settle. Don't change your spec just yet. If you desperately need some, try some cheap ones you can buy off the shelf.

Going lchf won't hurt whilst awaiting diagnosis.

Don't worry about cholesterol for the moment.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Your eyes are used to glucose distorting your vision, and your brain corrects for that. When the glucose-levels change, so does your vision. It'll be a week or two after your blood sugars stabilise, then your eyesight should follow suit. If it gets really bad, just get some cheap reading specs to get you through this period. Don't get expensive ones, they'll be ready for the bin in a month's time.

Your cholesterol isn't THAT elevated, and you only mention total cholesterol. You want to know the break down, the total doesn't tell you anything. Still, you might want to steer clear from statins, they can raise blood sugars. Also, with Type 2 diabetes often comes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and as you're currently losing weight and controlling blood sugars, the cholesterol stored in your liver is coming off as the fat there dissolves. So it could well be it's showing up in your bloodwork because it's on its way out. For me, LCHF (eating lots of eggs and bacon, every day), worked miracles for my cholesterol, it's perfectly fine now. (And it fixed my fatty liver too).

As for whether, if you do turn out to be a T2, you could get blood sugar control.... Sure. Yeah. You could even do it without any medication, probably. But not with 150 grams of carbs a day. I'm at 20 grams a day or less (usually hovering around 9 grams total for some reason), that works for me. If you turn out not to be a T1, low carb is the way to go. Low-ish, with your numbers and help from insulin.... That's not going to cut it. Not saying you have to cut to my level, which is a ketogenic diet, but you want to eat to your meter at least, it'll tell you whether something agrees with you or not. But that's all for when you get answers. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html is a quick-start guide aimed at T2's, and there's the Diabetes Code by Dr. Jason Fung, dietdoctor and whatnot... In the end you decide though. And if you're a T1, well... Then I got nuttin', because usually if I open my mouth about that, I'm wrong.

Good luck! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you,
Jo

 

[Resurgam]

A type two would probably start off at 50gm of carbs a day - but might well need no medication, so if you are free to adjust your levels of insulin you could see if reducing carbs does reduce your blood glucose levels significantly, but I can only advise doing so carefully as insulin is a serious substance.

 

[ExiledJack]

Thank you for your responses so far.

Regarding my vision, it is a relief that it seems to be fairly common. When I google these things, a load of nasties come up in the search result.. the complications I'm desperate to avoid.

I am likely to bring my carb level down. I'm trying to do it over time rather than go cold turkey. The next target will be to bring it down to 100g a day in the next few weeks. A case of adjusting my habits over time hopefully. My average carb in take was 300g before diagnosis so 150g is a good first step.. I think

 

[mouseee]

Took about 6 weeks to get my eyes back to normal. I had no idea it was a symptom and it was so worrying at the time. I realised how important good sight was when I didnt have it for a bit!

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi, If you are overweight before being diagnosed and starting to take Insulin, then you are probably a T2 because typical T2's have high Insulin and Insulin pushes excess glucose into the fat cells.
Thus prescribed Insulin will tend to make a T2 fatter.
Assuming that this is the case and that you are T2, then Low Carb high(er) fat is the easiest way to go. Low carb High(er) Fat generally raises HDL Cholesterol (sometimes called 'good cholesterol'). It may also lower LDL or in a few cases it raises it.
But don't worry about that, since Cholesterol isn't the villain that we have been told it is. Older folk such as me, and Women in particular who live longer than average tend to have higher LDL than average, and those who die younger than average have lower LDL. There is some evidence that higher LDL also seems to help an infected person fight Covid-19.

 

[ExiledJack]

Yeah so I’m hoping to get a diagnosis sooner rather than later. I’m told that because of the virus, it may take longer for my blood test results to come back.

If I have to take insulin forever then so be it but I just want my blood glucose to be controlled. My plan at the moment is to keep carbs at 100g or less and see where that takes me.

I’m hoping my diet can overcome the weight gaining tendencies of taking insulin. I’m trying to keep doses low by eating less carbs. Thanks all.

 

[ExiledJack]

In the past few days I've read the Diabetes code by Dr Jason Fung and I feel confident that I can reduce my use of insulin and hopefully come off it altogether if I keep disciplined.

I have been high fat low carb for a few days - down to 50g of carbs now and my blood sugar has been between 4-6 all day apart from my first reading in the morning which is usually 7 - 7.5. I'm currently taking 14 units of lantus twice a day and in total I took 5 units of Novorapid yesterday because of the fewer carbs in my meals.

Does anyone have any idea why my morning readings are higher? I want to develop a plan to lower my Lantus but I'm not sure how to go about it.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

In the past few days I've read the Diabetes code by Dr Jason Fung and I feel confident that I can reduce my use of insulin and hopefully come off it altogether if I keep disciplined.

I have been high fat low carb for a few days - down to 50g of carbs now and my blood sugar has been between 4-6 all day apart from my first reading in the morning which is usually 7 - 7.5. I'm currently taking 14 units of lantus twice a day and in total I took 5 units of Novorapid yesterday because of the fewer carbs in my meals.

Does anyone have any idea why my morning readings are higher? I want to develop a plan to lower my Lantus but I'm not sure how to go about it.

Dawn phenomenon. Your liver dumps glucose in the morning to give you energy to start the day. Don't worry about it, it'll come down eventually.

 

[JamesD17]

Don't rule out ciliary muscle spasm in your eyes which can happen after prolong periods of close up, thus affecting distance vision. I notice particulary when watching football live in the stadium, if I look at my phone during the 15-20 half-time interval, the scored board text is a little blurry at the start of the second half. This clears up though after a few minutes.

James

 

[ExiledJack]

I just wanted to update this thread in case there are other newly diagnosed out there who need a bit of hope/guidance.

Since I originally posted, I have lost a further 20lbs so I’m down to 227 now and after being diagnosed as type 2 I took myself of insulin. I eat relatively low carb now, less than 100g a day and exercise daily.

My fasting blood sugars are between 5-5.9 and my vision has improved although it’s still a little hard to focus on text in darker lighting so I may need glasses. I’ll give it another month to see if it improves further.

I now take 2x Metformin twice a day and hardly ever get a post pandrial reading above 7. Usually my blood sugar is below 5.5 during the day.

My next appointment with my diabetes clinic is in August and I’m hoping to reduce my Metformin to 1x twice a day.

The longer term goal is to reduce my weight to 180 and I think my blood glucose may sort themselves out. Remission is the goal here.

 

[ziggy_w]

Wow, absolutely wonderful results, @ExiledJack. Definitely a tribute to all your hard work. Thanks for posting.

When will you get your next HbA1c test? Wouldn't be surprised if you were already in remission with numbers like this.

 

[ExiledJack]

Wow, absolutely wonderful results, @ExiledJack. Definitely a tribute to all your hard work. Thanks for posting.

When will you get your next HbA1c test? Wouldn't be surprised if you were already in remission with numbers like this.

Thanks Ziggy. It’s not meant to be a “please praise me” post but I felt really down after diagnosis and would like people to know if they are in the same boat that you can make a difference really quickly if you commit to it.

The next HbA1c will be in August and my diabetes dr said he will reduce my metformin if I’m below 58 mmol/mol (7.5%) - mySugr predicts a score of 37 mmol/mol (5.5%) right now based on all my data and 5.2% based on data from the last month.

Like most diabetics, I want to get to the point where I avoid high carb days 99% of the time but can have the odd pizza or ice cream when I go on holiday. Fingers crossed!

 

[ziggy_w]

Hi @ExiledJack,

I did take your post in the spirit it was meant. I agree with you -- it is important inspire newly diagnosed T2s by serving as an example that getting blood sugar levels back to normal levels is possible by changing the way we eat. If each one of us could just inspire a couple of newbies, this seriously would be great progress.

Nevertheless, we should never forget that we are a very small minority and it takes some guts and lots of willpower to set out on this path. So, you definitely also deserve lots of praise. So, go celebrate once you get your first non-diabetic HbA1c -- I remember this day myself, felt like dancing in the streets and couldn't stop smiling all day.

Btw, Oppo ice cream has relatively few carbs (around 10g of carbs or less per 100g -- depending on the flavor), so unless you have a huge portion, you don't need to wait until you go onto vacation.

 

[John mackenzie]

A type two would probably start off at 50gm of carbs a day - but might well need no medication, so if you are free to adjust your levels of insulin you could see if reducing carbs does reduce your blood glucose levels significantlyH, but I can only advise doing so carefully as insulin is a seriou

 

[John mackenzie]

How much is 50gm of carbs I haven’t a clue and no idea what to eat or what I am looking for when shopping so I’m just looking for anything that is low on carbs but ever things that are supposed to be good for you say like wholewheat crackers say 5gms per cracker even a slice of whole meal bread is 18gms ( one whole meal sandwhich a day is almost your whole carb intake. How do we do it. I need help. My blood glucose reading was up at 19.4 on Monday and today averaging around 12. I still have no idea what this means or how to manage it HELP!!

 

[Rustytypin]

I still have no idea what this means or how to

Have a look at the link in @JoKalsbeek post no 10, also try dietdoctor.com, both of those should help to get you started.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

How much is 50gm of carbs I haven’t a clue and no idea what to eat or what I am looking for when shopping so I’m just looking for anything that is low on carbs but ever things that are supposed to be good for you say like wholewheat crackers say 5gms per cracker even a slice of whole meal bread is 18gms ( one whole meal sandwhich a day is almost your whole carb intake. How do we do it. I need help. My blood glucose reading was up at 19.4 on Monday and today averaging around 12. I still have no idea what this means or how to manage it HELP!!

Hello @John mackenzie ,

https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html <-- that should help. Forget everything you think you know. You have a metabolic condition, meaning you can't process carbs... Crackers, bread, spuds, rice, corn, pasta etc, you can actually do without. Better yet, you'll trhive without them. The link'll tell you more, and I agree with @Rustytypin , dietdoctor.com's excellent too.

The bulk of us started out right where you are now. You don't have to get everything perfectly right overnight. Its a steep learning curve, but it is doable. Don't panic, and give yourself some time eh.

You obviously have a meter, so that's good. What you're aiming for are two things: Not having your blood sugars go above 8,5, and not seeing a rise of more than 2.0 mmol/l between before a meal and 2 hours after the first bite. Cut your carbs right down and you should see that rise lower right quick, and your over all bloodsugars'll head toward that 8,5, following suit. But again... It's not an overnight thing. Give yourself some time to figure it out.

Good luck,
Jo

 

[Resurgam]

How much is 50gm of carbs I haven’t a clue and no idea what to eat or what I am looking for when shopping so I’m just looking for anything that is low on carbs but ever things that are supposed to be good for you say like wholewheat crackers say 5gms per cracker even a slice of whole meal bread is 18gms ( one whole meal sandwhich a day is almost your whole carb intake. How do we do it. I need help. My blood glucose reading was up at 19.4 on Monday and today averaging around 12. I still have no idea what this means or how to manage it HELP!!

You got it right - 'supposed to be good' is just flim-flam - toss them in the bin or give them to someone who can cope with them.
I eat steak and mushrooms - when I was eating more I would have sweet pepper and courgette, a bit of onion, but I'm not so hungry now. I eat salads in the hot weather, large ones with tins of tuna or even salmon, a large stirfry with beansprouts etc - you can get them ready to cook on the supermarkets, is all low carb.
We do not need to eat grain, or potatoes or high carb veges and fruit.