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Newly Diagnosed, worried about eyesight problems...

Katchoo

Katchoo

Member
Messages
20
Location
Wiltshire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi all,

I was diagnosed type 2, two weeks ago. I'm on 4x500mg metformin daily, and have started to lose weight but have a loooong way to go yet. My doctor didn't see the need for a meter, but I got one anyway as I find it motivates me to take care of myself a bit better.

For the last month or so (pre-diagnosis) I had been horribly thirsty and my vision seemed to have deteriorated quite badly. I've been short-sighted my whole life and wear glasses for both distance and near vision. I had my eyes tested and my prescription change was somewhat dramatic, however the optician didn't suggest that I could be diabetic, despite me telling him how rapid the sight problems had been. So I blithely ordered my new glasses (two pairs), which weren't very cheap! In between the test and the glasses turning up I had to go the doctors for a raging urine infection, which was when my diagnosis happened.

The nurse flagged the doctor in, as my urine was sugary and when tested my BS level came in at 24.8 ! He rushed me off to A&E as he was concerned I had type 1 and DKA. They told me I didn't have DKA, re-hydrated me, gave me drugs and sent me home (yay!).

But this is where my problems start with the optician / my eyes. When my glasses turned up my BS level was already starting to drop, so the reading glasses were completely off-kilter. I had put this down to them screwing up the prescription because I didn't know about the blurred vision aspect of diabetes. They booked me another eye test (which I haven't had yet) and told me to "try and get used to them". I've tried, it's hopeless. Next my distance glasses turned up and again, utterly useless. Far too strong. So I went through it all again, and they told me to "try and get used to them" until my eye test happens (in a week).

Then yesterday, I got up to go out, put on my old distance glasses and now I can't see through those either! Same for my old reading glasses.. it seems that the lower my BS level gets, the more my eyesight improves to the point where I can no longer wear any of my glasses as everything looks wrong. To add to the fun, close reading has actually got exponentially worse. I'm an artist, so I tend to work on my wacom cintiq tablet quite close, and my portable tablet even closer.. but now I can't read the text on them with my glasses on or off.

Sorry, this turned out longer than I expected. What I'm wondering is:

How can I be sure this current state of affairs will last, or how long is it normal for vision to normalise?
Will my eyesight go back to my pre-diabetes state? ( My glasses have been a massive part of my life for so long, I don't feel right without them. hard to explain but they're part of who I am)
Should I tell the optician that I was undiagnosed when I was tested?

The last point is because I'm afraid they will refuse to change the lenses if they know I have diabetes / had it at the time and was unaware. They were expensive, and I really can't afford to be forced into buying more glasses just because I had the misfortune to have an undiagnosed condition. To be honest, if it was a regular optician I wouldn't be too worried, but it was Tesco Opticians and I'm concerned they'll get jobsworthy about it.

I can't lie, this fluctuating eyesight problem really scares me. My eyesight is the one thing that terrifies me about this whole thing.

Thanks for listening, sorry for the ramble.
 
1. As your blood sugar returns to normal (more or less), your eyesight will improve - or it will 'normalise', if you prefer. This improvement should occur within days.

2. Yes, certainly. (But are you quite sure when your pre-diabetes state ended?)

3. Yes, I suppose so.

In the worst case, surely all you'd need to pay for is new lenses.

But after re-reading what you wrote, it certainly looks like the optician was at fault (considering the sudden marked change in your eyesight) for not suggesting that you take a blood test.

Incidentally, how are you managing to read this message?

One more thing: if I were you, I would think about delaying the further eye test until you are quite sure that (with blood sugar firmly normalised) your eyesight has duly returned to normal.
 
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Hi and welcome to the forum.

As you may already be aware, the lenses of our eyes are mostly made of fluid. As light rays pass through this fluid they bent so as to hit special receptors on our retinas at the back of our eyes. These receptors sent signals to our brain which interprets them as a visual image.

The amount that the fluid in our eye will bend light rays depends on the amount of sugar that is dissolved in it. That is why we get blurred vision as our sugar levels rise; the light rays are no longer focused on our retinas. By wearing eye glasses we can correct for this and restore focus.

As you are now at lower glucose levels than you were pre diagnosis, your eyes are adapting in the way they focus and you are finding that your old glasses no longer work.

Once your glucose settles to a new lower level your eyes will settle too. Whether you will need glasses then will depend on other factors and is impossible to predict.

So do not be concerned about this natural response of your eyes to dropping glucose levels. Just be a little patient.

In fact it is continuing to be at high glucose levels that you should be concerned about, as then damage to the eye retina could result.

Pavlos


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Incidentally, how are you managing to read this message?
Click to expand...

I can read my screen, which I guess you would call intermediate, but I can't read anything close such as on my tablet or a book/letter. I have to hold everything at least at arms length to read it at the moment.
 
Just a couple of things that come into mind.
Firstly it would seem that you need to find yourself a 'Good' optitian, someone who has the necessary understanding of the eye and the effect that diabetes can have to the diabetic's vision, as the one you currently have seems not to have much idea as to what they are doing, only intrested in selling you a new pair/pairs of glasses.
Secondly don't rush at this stage to get a new pair/pairs of glasses, as it might take some time) possibly several weeks) before your Blood Glucose levels get stabilised and under control, idealy brought down to a more manageable level. This is where a home test meter will benifit.
In the meantime, save yourself some money untill you reach this stage by possibly seeing if the cheep pound shops can supply glasses that suit you (if only for a few weeks). They are usually so cheep that you can aford to throw them away when your B/G and eyesight settle down.
I realise that these cheep glasses aren't the best solution but as a temporary, in-expensive solution, it might help you.
 
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Thanks for the replies. I guess I am a little impatient but I get really worried about my eyesight as my father has gone blind due to melanoma associated retinopathy.

So far I've only had a ten minute appointment with my doc about the diabetes and a big pile of metformin boxes. She has me booked on the DESMOND course but so far my main information go-to for diabetes has been the internet..

edit: Thanks for all the info. I think I'll go to the second test but I will tell them about my diagnosis. I'll just have to swallow it if I need to pay more.
 
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For the sake of your eyesight in both the near and the long term, it's your blood sugar you need to concentrate on.

And once it is well controlled, you might like to try some visually read testing strips: Betachek Visual or Glucoflex-R. (The latter is available on prescription.) http://www.betachek.com/uk/

They are simple and exceptionally good value. (I tend to use my meter only first thing in the morning and last thing at night.) Each strip can be cut with scissors, making them even better value.

Their optimum accuracy range, in my opinion, is anything below 8mmol/l. (So to make best use of them, your blood sugar needs to be somewhere near normal.) For low readings especially, I find them to be very accurate.
 
Oh, those look good. Thank you!

My doc doesn't seem to be too keen on me testing, she told me to only test once a week, and that was only after I told her I already bought a meter. I have a feeling that I won't get any help with prescriptions from them but I can ask.

My blood sugar has fallen very rapidly since I started on metformin from an average of 20.1 in the first week, and this week I seem to be hovering between 6 and 7, which feels like progress. currently I test in the morning every other day.
 
Congratulations! What you have desrcibed is excellent progress. I'm sure your eyesight will soon improve.

And that's just as well. For it has just occurred to me that you do need decent eyesight in order to be able to use the visually read strips.

If you order some Betachek Visual via the website I referred to above, you'll receive a delivery within a few days. Or alternatively, your chemist will get hold of some Glucoflex-R in a day or so.

If I were you, I would test as often as you like. (You don't need those nasty, clunky, spring-loaded gadgets to get the blood sample. Instead, just gently jab yourself with the bare lancet.) If the strips are first cut with scissors, each test costs around 1/20th of a test using a meter.
 
i had a similar problem last year. I started a steroid course and very quickly my eye sight changed. I have been short sighted for most of my life and suddenly this improved dramatically but i could no longeer see to read. I ended up with a blood sugar of 37!
After stopping the steroids and starting gliclazide my sugars dropped and my eye sight seemed to change daily. Both distance and reading. I waited 2 months to get new glasses but it was to soon ( at that stage my a1c was 7). So i also have some very expensive glasses that are too weak for distance. My reading is now back to normal and my distance is a little worst than before ( present a1 c 5.5) and i am using some 25 pound glasses from specsavers. So from my experience i would expect your eye sight to follow your blood sugars with a few months delay.
 
Yikes, sounds like I may have to rein in my enthusiasm for new glasses. :nailbiting:

Thanks for the info. I feel like I've been stumbling about in the dark a bit lately, most of it I can cope with but after dad's blindness (and then a descent into advanced dementia) my eyesight going wibbly has had me on the verge of tears for ages now, even before the diabetes diagnosis. In some ways it was a relief to know that there was actually something going on, and I wasn't imagining it.

@michaeldavid , yeh I'm pretty pleased with the drop so far. Just got to keep it down now.
 
You should only need the lenses changing... you may be able to get help toward costs if you are diabetic.
I've got lots of £1 pairs of spectacles all over the house... and I use a lot of magnifying glasses for instantly variable needs.
 
When I was diagnosed as T1 I was practically blind. Within a couple of hours in the hospital, with some magic insulin, and restored sugar levels, my sight was back to normal. Felt like a miracle!!
 
When I was in the Territorial Army, aged 25, I remember - very suddenly - I was unable to focus on the end of the drill hall.

That's when I went to my GP, thinking I needed glasses.

Now, thirty years on, I would change nothing.

And the word 'miracle' is entirely appropriate. (Where the genuinely miraculous is concerned, feeling is everything.) Indeed it's surely no accident that 'miracle' has the same Indo-European root as the likes of 'marvel', 'mirror', 'admire' and 'smile'.
 
Thanks so much for all your replies, it really has eased my mind somewhat. I bought myself a pair of cheapo ready readers today, as I can't function as an illustrator at all if I can't see what I'm drawing! At the moment my eyesight has done a complete 360 - For the first time since I was a little girl I can see clearly without my distance glasses, but I have to have the ready readers perched on my head so I can see my phone/screen/tablet.

I really do hope it goes back again, I feel naked without my distance specs. It might sound strange, but they're a part of me and I miss them. :(
 
Hi, Katchoo, Hopefully, if your situation is like mine was, there is no need to worry. I could hardly see at all when insulin was first given, and any improvement was very slow, despite v.good blood glucose control - it was 18 months before my sight returned to normal!! I was assured, after months, that things were unlikely to improve and that i would need permanent glasses. However, after 18 months the glasses went in a drawer . It was years before i thought of any glasses again.
 
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