• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Retinopathy

J

Jabra1871

Newbie
Messages
1
Hi. I'm 19 years old, male and a type 1 diabetic. I was diagnosed with the condition 2 and a half years ago. In this time, the doctors have been relatively happy with my control and have not expressed any particular concerns. Being 19 and a student, I do consume my fair share of alcohol, but this never seemed to be an overriding concern. Last month I went for my 2nd, yearly eye scan. Expecting the all the clear, I didn't worry too much about the results.

However, last week I received my results and it appears I have some background retinopathy.

First of all, what is retinopathy? Secondly, how common is it to have background retinopathy after just 2 years? Thirdly, what are the chances of me losing total vision and should I seriously consider cutting alcohol out all together?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as this issue has been playing on my mind massively.
 
Hi Jabra1871 and welcome. :)

You say that your doctors seemed ‘relatively’ happy with your past results but the key question is really how do you feel that your results have been?

My personal view is that you know yourself best so will know when things are not right and more importantly you will know if your self-care is the best or you are just ignoring your condition. It is your body, your diabetes and your future so ideally you are the one who should be making the decisions as you are the ‘majority’ of your care team. This could be a wake-up call so be re-assured that it is not too late to attempt to rectify the situation and go for it.

There are many threads on here which will give you information about alcohol consumption so do a search and have a read. This forum is full of very helpful information and there are always people around happy to chat or help so do explore and ask any questions you need to. 8)
 
Hi,
Here is retinopathy from my point of view.

I've been T1 for 33 years, since I was 11. About 13 years ago I started suffering the effects of retinopathy. This is where the blood vessels that supply the retina get damaged and new, weak vessels grow to replace the blood supply. As they cannot take the pressure of the blood, they weep or burst causing cloudy or black streaks of blood to leak into the gel of the eye. To stop the leaks and new growth, lasers are used to burn them which stops them from growing. This treatment also causes damage to the retina and small blind spots occur as a result.

Retinopathy does not seem to be linked directly with the time that you have been diabetic. I know of some people who have been unaffected by it over many years and others, like you who suffer within a few years of diagnosis.

In my case the laser treatment started with just a few shots at a time but over a couple of years more and more treatment was needed and eventually the laser shots could not keep up with the amount of bleeding. This led to me having 2 vitrectomies. This is a surgical operation where they cut small holes in the eye, remove the blood and gel, apply many shots of laserto the retina, refill the eye with saline and oil and put tiny stitches in the eye. It sounds bad but there no real pain involved. The result was good and my eyesight has remained stable since the op.

The thing to remember when deciding whether to cut your alcohol intake is that alcohol has a negative effect on the eyesight of heavy drinkers who are not diabetic, so will almost definitely add to the problems of retinopathy (as it thins the blood, allowing it to seep more easily through any damaged blood vessels). I, like you, was diabetic through my teens and I believe that the amount of alcohol I drank on a regular basis, although not hugely excessive, probably had an impact on my current condition, due to poor blood sugar control whilst drinking. So although I've not completely lost my sight (and total blindness is unusual), retinopathy has had a lasting effect on my abilities. I am blind in my left eye now with restricted visual fields and lowered vision in my right eye and I had my driving license revoked about 10 years ago.
I hope that this gives you an idea of how things can possably develop, and helps you decide how to play it.
Regards,
 
Back
Top