Newly diagnosed, blurry vision since rapid bg drop.

[Eurobuff]

I can't answer your question about senna, but I would suggest you first consider upping your fluids. Many, many people find digestion gets a little bit "off" and slow when they start on lower carbing. Of course there could be a number of reasons for this, but one extremely common explanation is mild dehydration, and the solution is to up the fluids. Even if you think you're drinking plenty, try increasing it. You might be surprised.

Also, have you tried eating more fibre? I have a handful of nuts with most meals.

 

[AndBreathe]

Also, have you tried eating more fibre? I have a handful of nuts with most meals.

Did you mean that for the OP, @Buffdaddy123 ?

 

[Eurobuff]

Did you mean that for the OP, @Buffdaddy123 ?

Sorry, @Buffdaddy123

 

[Dizz]

This was my greatest worry.

I had a full eye examine about six weeks after re-diagnoses of type 2 diabetes with a blood glucose of 282 mg/dL (15.7 mmol/L). I was quite the sight, pacing back and forth in the waiting room as I waited for the results. No retinopathy. Hearing this really brought my stress levels down. While my blood glucose levels settled into the 105 - 145 mg/dL (5.8 - 8.1 mmol/L) range after about a month - (with LCHF diet only, no medication) - my blurry vision took another month or two to clear up.

Buffdaddy123, keep doing what you're doing. It's good that you've added cycling. Diet got my blood glucose levels down, walking 1 or more miles daily, an hour or more after dinner, got my BG levels down further.

Had my screening today, all good!

 

[Winnie53]

[Big sigh of relief]...That's excellent news!

 

[Winnie53]

Thx for replies guys, i have continued to do what i was doing with my low carbs, a bit of cycling when possible and being quite strict with my food and have lost about 10lb since diagnosis two and a half weeks ago.

I also after talking with my nurse about my levels stopped the Insulin on the 30th of June and continued with my 500mg Metformin twice a day and have held my levels quite nicely averaging 5.0-6.0 after sleeping (i rise a little through the night) and then i gradually lower a little as the day passes, i even find myself dropping to the 4.0 late evenings so not struggling with too many spikes ...most likely the low carbs doing the job.

With regards to the blurring...mine has cleared up very well within a day or two of stopping the insulin it came back gradually and i found i could focus closer each day that passed, now it is perfect, this was also a few days after i started keeping reasonable levels..so i cant say if the insulin or my erratic glucose levels were doing it, but it is back to normal now, so be positive guys and thanks for all the help here.

You people are great!!!

I just re-read your post. Perhaps the insulin's effect of dropping you too low increased the range in your blood glucose just enough to cause the ongoing vision problems.

Given a choice between type 1 or type 2, I prefer the latter. So happy for you!

 

[Dizz]

[Big sigh of relief]...That's excellent news!

Thank you!

 

[Shane72]

I was put back on to insulin in March after I experienced focus problems, I went to hospital to have eyes tested, he said he couldnt see any problems, renal dr recommend i go back on to insulin low doses, within 1 day of being back on my vision returned back to normal

 

[Dizz]

Pleased to report that the blurred vision is slowly clearing!

 

[Buffdaddy123]

Thats good to hear Dizz

 

[Nick..]

My vision has improved as well, more or less back to normal now.

I've since heard two other T2 diabetics say they had blurred vision for a few weeks after diagnosis and a fall in blood sugars

I am still quite concerned about my first eye scan whenever that will be, I've always had eye floaters (the ones that you can't see unless looking at a light background), but these are apparently quite normal for a lot of people

I think the floaters that are associated with retinopathy tend to come on quickly and dramatically?

 

[pharmaceutics]

Thank you all above especially buffdaddy for starting the post. The same thing is happening to me now. Loss of vision and vision blurred two weeks after being diagnosed with diabetes and lowering steeply blood glucose from 13 to 8. Mine has not gone away yet but it only has been a week so it is good to hear folks here saying they got their vision back. Apparently, this issue of complications of osmolarity in the eye with lowering of levels of glucose has been researched for example in Mechanism of worsening diabetic retinopathy with rapid lowering of blood glucose: the synergistic hypothesis. Jingi et al. BMC Endocr Disord. 2017; 17: 63. In this article with insuline not meformin as it just happened to me and others in this thread on metformin but the point being vision in this research overview got worse in many cases with rapid decline in blood glucose levels. Plus, I also found that some national EU labels of products with metformin do warn that once you take the medication and reduce your glucose blood levels you may get blurry vision. Despite this, the advice keeps on being the same by clinical professionals on this area: you were seeing fine we lowered your blood glucose levels to protect your vision when you are older, as an unbelievable negative trade off right away now your vision in less than a week in medication deteriorated immensely but that is a good sign, what was abnormal was before the good vision (??) with high blood sugar, and so reduce the blood glucose levels even further even though the concomitant steep loss in eye sight paralelled the steep drop in blood glucose. I really appreciate the fact that the above 3 people "came to the rescue" here with advice about deteriorating - blurred vision after blood glucose levels drop fast after diabetes diagnosis due to meds-life style changes (this when lowering BG was supposed to prevent vision loss). If you and more people can elaborate on this issue would be great. Frankly, I am scarred and dont know what to do. I talked with my GP and diabetologist and they are puzzled. The diabetologist did mention osmolarity changes but says it doesnt see this happening frequently. Well it happened to me and I shared this and other threads or even general advice that recognizes this as an issue in labels of medications for oral antidiabetics. As of now the diabetologist agreed with stopping the metformin and stick to the strict life style changes measures I have undertaken in the last two weeks since being diagnosed with diabetes, diet and walking twice a day for 30-60 minutes which already resulted in weight loss from 86 to 80 Kg, of course watching that BG (now at 8.1 mmol/L) doesnt go up too much now that the metformin is not there to help it lower. I really dont know what to do I took the metformin religiously for the past two weeks (500 mg every AM) plus did all the exercize to protect myself from injury from diabetes although I was feeling otherwise fine until then (except for being thirsty which is what prompted me to the BG test) and now in less than 2 weeks of doing the right thing according to guidelines of lowering BG I am actually very injured in my eyesight and suddenly. I hope as some of you say above that eyesight will indeed stabilize within a week to 6 weeks (not sure if that means going back to at least closer to normal before blood levels dropped or just stop from getting worse every day as of now two weeks into lowering BG)....

 

[Dark Horse]

Thank you all above especially buffdaddy for starting the post. The same thing is happening to me now. Loss of vision and vision blurred two weeks after being diagnosed with diabetes and lowering steeply blood glucose from 13 to 8. Mine has not gone away yet but it only has been a week so it is good to hear folks here saying they got their vision back. Apparently, this issue of complications of osmolarity in the eye with lowering of levels of glucose has been researched for example in Mechanism of worsening diabetic retinopathy with rapid lowering of blood glucose: the synergistic hypothesis. Jingi et al. BMC Endocr Disord. 2017; 17: 63. In this article with insuline not meformin as it just happened to me and others in this thread on metformin but the point being vision in this research overview got worse in many cases with rapid decline in blood glucose levels. Plus, I also found that some national EU labels of products with metformin do warn that once you take the medication and reduce your glucose blood levels you may get blurry vision. Despite this, the advice keeps on being the same by clinical professionals on this area: you were seeing fine we lowered your blood glucose levels to protect your vision when you are older, as an unbelievable negative trade off right away now your vision in less than a week in medication deteriorated immensely but that is a good sign, what was abnormal was before the good vision (??) with high blood sugar, and so reduce the blood glucose levels even further even though the concomitant steep loss in eye sight paralelled the steep drop in blood glucose. I really appreciate the fact that the above 3 people "came to the rescue" here with advice about deteriorating - blurred vision after blood glucose levels drop fast after diabetes diagnosis due to meds-life style changes (this when lowering BG was supposed to prevent vision loss). If you and more people can elaborate on this issue would be great. Frankly, I am scarred and dont know what to do. I talked with my GP and diabetologist and they are puzzled. The diabetologist did mention osmolarity changes but says it doesnt see this happening frequently. Well it happened to me and I shared this and other threads or even general advice that recognizes this as an issue in labels of medications for oral antidiabetics. As of now the diabetologist agreed with stopping the metformin and stick to the strict life style changes measures I have undertaken in the last two weeks since being diagnosed with diabetes, diet and walking twice a day for 30-60 minutes which already resulted in weight loss from 86 to 80 Kg, of course watching that BG (now at 8.1 mmol/L) doesnt go up too much now that the metformin is not there to help it lower. I really dont know what to do I took the metformin religiously for the past two weeks (500 mg every AM) plus did all the exercize to protect myself from injury from diabetes although I was feeling otherwise fine until then (except for being thirsty which is what prompted me to the BG test) and now in less than 2 weeks of doing the right thing according to guidelines of lowering BG I am actually very injured in my eyesight and suddenly. I hope as some of you say above that eyesight will indeed stabilize within a week to 6 weeks (not sure if that means going back to at least closer to normal before blood levels dropped or just stop from getting worse every day as of now two weeks into lowering BG)....

It's not unusual for people with type 2 diabetes to develop temporary blurred vision soon after diagnosis when they start to bring their blood sugar levels down. High blood glucose levels are thought to cause high glucose in the lens of the eye which changes its refractive index. As this generally occurs over months or years in type 2 diabetes, the person gradually gets used to it and doesn't realise. Once treatment is commenced, the blood glucose comes down fairly rapidly but the glucose levels in the lens take a lot longer. As the glucose levels in the lens fall,the vision changes. The general advice is not to buy any glasses until the vision has stabilised, which can take a few weeks. In the mean time, depending on whether it's near or distant vision that is affected, some people can get by with buying ready-readers of varying strengths from the pound shop or similar. (If it's distance vision, it might be worth asking around your friends if they have any old glasses for distance that you can borrow.)

The above process is completely unrelated to diabetic retinopathy which takes years to develop and does not affect vision in the early stages . However, because type 2 diabetes can remain undiagnosed for years, it is possible that someone's vision could be affected by diabetic retinopathy by the time they are diagnosed. In the UK, as soon as someone is diagnosed with diabetes, the GP refers them to the screening programme so they can be seen within 3 months of referral - it is important to attend this screening.

 

[pharmaceutics]

It's not unusual for people with type 2 diabetes to develop temporary blurred vision soon after diagnosis when they start to bring their blood sugar levels down. High blood glucose levels are thought to cause high glucose in the lens of the eye which changes its refractive index. As this generally occurs over months or years in type 2 diabetes, the person gradually gets used to it and doesn't realise. Once treatment is commenced, the blood glucose comes down fairly rapidly but the glucose levels in the lens take a lot longer. As the glucose levels in the lens fall,the vision changes. The general advice is not to buy any glasses until the vision has stabilised, which can take a few weeks. In the mean time, depending on whether it's near or distant vision that is affected, some people can get by with buying ready-readers of varying strengths from the pound shop or similar. (If it's distance vision, it might be worth asking around your friends if they have any old glasses for distance that you can borrow.)

The above process is completely unrelated to diabetic retinopathy which takes years to develop and does not affect vision in the early stages . However, because type 2 diabetes can remain undiagnosed for years, it is possible that someone's vision could be affected by diabetic retinopathy by the time they are diagnosed. In the UK, as soon as someone is diagnosed with diabetes, the GP refers them to the screening programme so they can be seen within 3 months of referral - it is important to attend this screening.

Thank you Dark Horse very clear post and exactly what was stated by my Opthalmologist today in the eye casualty unit of the hospital, after visial checking and several essays to confirm that all was fine with my retina. My excellent vision pre starting to drop blood glucose was temporarily affected because of the lens readjustement and it should come back to normal in weeks. In fact it is still there "hiden behind the blur" because when they force the eye to focus with pin holes then the blurriness disapears and this according to the opthalmologist means that it is the lens not the retina who is affected. What I dont understand for the life of me is this fact is known why guidelines say to immediately and abruptely drop BG and in the process a risk of at least in people like me and others in this thread with the same problem affecting severily the vision (hence livelihood, profession, etc) and terrifying the hell out of people who are stil healthy, young and had no impact whatsoever yet from high BG so could have dropped moderately and being spared this agony. It is all fine and I do appreciate being reassured but for the moment I cannot even read large print books with glasses let alone work word documents and so forth. Again thank you for an excellent post which should be taken seriously and the information there and that I am witnessing should be used to spare patients from this. I´ve seen people in a US forum in Alabama 2007 complaining of this sudden drop in quality of vision with lowering BG post diagnosis, I´ve seen it here in this UK forum in 2009, 2011 and 2015 and yet in 2018 I have to go through the same nightmare of for the moment having a dramatic loss in vision, blurry and the advice as soon as AC1 is above 7.5% is always drop asap with meds like metformin as soon as you are diagnosed without even an opportunity to first make life style changes to start to drop BG slowly.

 

[kitedoc]

Guy in Oz, 51 years on insulin. My understanding is that high blood sugars affected the lenses in the eyes. Sometimes diabetes is picked up by the optician or eye specialist because someone's new glasses prescription has changed more than would be expected. If someone's BSLs have been high for long enough the eyes and brain adjust to the situation. A fairly dramatic change in blood sugar over say days will upset the the long term adjustment that has taken place. Given enough time at the new blood sugar levels the person's eyes and brain readjust and the vision improves. Just do not go out and get new glasses now etc because they will be pretty useless after the new adjustment your eyes and brain makes. It took me about 2 weeks for my vision to improve after starting insulin but I reckon about one to two months for my vision to finally stabilise.

 

[CornishKate]

Hi Catinahat, when you say you experienced the same do you mean with the close up vision blurring from dropping quick...did it subside after time?

And thanks for reply, been overwelming this first week, and i have got upset a couple of times, thats why i was just hoping someone else lost there close vision temporary to make me a little at ease,

I am now going to cut my carbs down a good deal and hope i can get the numbers down into the 6ish area.
And adding my second Metformin to my intake from today..

Nice to have found a great forum like this.

Hi Owen

My blurry vision terrified me after diagnosis as it got worse but within about 3 weeks it was completely back to normal.

Julie

 

[pharmaceutics]

I was terrified some time ago as shown above and I just want to give the good news to people who find this post so that they too have hope when they are terrified that their vision. For some very strange reason no one warns newly diagnosed people with high blood sugar that if their BG drops suddenly that affects the osmolarity of the lens of the eye significantly. As such there is a 100% chance of blurred vision to the point of 6 diopetries worsening of the vision, The degree of temporary loss of vision is correlated to how aprubtly your BG drops (there is many studies published about this especially in Japan and rest of Asia) Idiots and irresponsible (there is no other term) diabetologists endocrinology as soon as you are diagnosed put you into in medication and drop your BG significantly and within a week by pilling on medication without even giving you time for lifestyle changes which would gradually lower BG, they dont tell you nothing of what you will happen to your vision. One day 1-2 weeks after starting to drop BG suddenly you arrive at work and you cannot see nothing. It then takes 4-10 weeks for you to get to normal. In my case I went as low as 6/36 meaning only at 6 meters could I see what a normal eye can see at 36 meters until I got back to my usual 20/20 (6/6 meaning I see at 6 meters at a normal eye sees at 6 meters) after 4-8 weeks. So for 6 weeks I felt like an invalid that couldnt even drive with no warning at all and I see in this foruns many people complaining of the same. Good news is that it indeed almost got close to normal but presbyopia which was very mild before the sudden drop still got a bit worse and it did not came back to fully normal.

 

[BibaBee]

I was terrified some time ago as shown above and I just want to give the good news to people who find this post so that they too have hope when they are terrified that their vision. For some very strange reason no one warns newly diagnosed people with high blood sugar that if their BG drops suddenly that affects the osmolarity of the lens of the eye significantly. As such there is a 100% chance of blurred vision to the point of 6 diopetries worsening of the vision, The degree of temporary loss of vision is correlated to how aprubtly your BG drops (there is many studies published about this especially in Japan and rest of Asia) Idiots and irresponsible (there is no other term) diabetologists endocrinology as soon as you are diagnosed put you into in medication and drop your BG significantly and within a week by pilling on medication without even giving you time for lifestyle changes which would gradually lower BG, they dont tell you nothing of what you will happen to your vision. One day 1-2 weeks after starting to drop BG suddenly you arrive at work and you cannot see nothing. It then takes 4-10 weeks for you to get to normal. In my case I went as low as 6/36 meaning only at 6 meters could I see what a normal eye can see at 36 meters until I got back to my usual 20/20 (6/6 meaning I see at 6 meters at a normal eye sees at 6 meters) after 4-8 weeks. So for 6 weeks I felt like an invalid that couldnt even drive with no warning at all and I see in this foruns many people complaining of the same. Good news is that it indeed almost got close to normal but presbyopia which was very mild before the sudden drop still got a bit worse and it did not came back to fully normal.

Thank you so much for this. We are going through this with my husband at the moment. He has anxiety and depression, so you can imagine how scary it is. Unfortunately, we suspect he has had diabetes for some time, so it is possible he already has retinopathy and it has worsened. He has other visual stuff going on, rather than just the focus problems. We are now over 3 weeks since his diagnosis and no improvement. We see an optician this afternoon, not for a prescription for lenses, but for a diabetes eye health check. He is terrified.

 

[pharmaceutics]

Thank you so much for this. We are going through this with my husband at the moment. He has anxiety and depression, so you can imagine how scary it is. Unfortunately, we suspect he has had diabetes for some time, so it is possible he already has retinopathy and it has worsened. He has other visual stuff going on, rather than just the focus problems. We are now over 3 weeks since his diagnosis and no improvement. We see an optician this afternoon, not for a prescription for lenses, but for a diabetes eye health check. He is terrified.

Hi BibaBee I have indeed been there in that scary place (and also like you my wife with me suffering as well from seeing me depressed) not too long ago in early May . May 2018 was indeed the most terrifying and depressed month of my life has my vision suddenly become so poor after on April 19 I was diagnosed and put on metformin with no warning whatsoever that my vision would temporarily disapear. Yes do check for retinopathy. They will do many tests but one interesting one is that they will put pinholes in front of the eyes and if your husband can see through the pinholes well then that means it is primarily the lens that is temporarily affected by the sudden drop in BG. Please be aware that studies say peak of blurred vision caused by lens osmolarity pressure due to change in BG is 1-2 weeks after medication and/or diet to drop BG. Recovery dates range from 4-10 weeks so hopefully next week your husband will like me start to see gradual improvements (for me they first come in daylight outside with natural sun light) and like me he wont be as depressed 2 months or so from now. In fact even the best selling book Homo Sapiens by Harari says people newly diagnosed with diabetes are depressed for a while but then if the condition doesnt deteriorate them further they will be less depressed and start to feel positive about controlling their fate by diet, exercize, etc.

 

[briped]

its great that there are people around like you kind folks on here to help people like us x

Please don't forget that we're all people like us. Welcome to the forum. I know it'll be a great help to you.