Sore eyes

I'm worried about Jess' eyes. Shortly after she was diagnosed with diabetes she complained of having sore eyes, rubbing them and saying she couldn't see properly. It seemed especially noticeable when she needed to do writing or reading. I spoke to her consultant back then and he said it could possibly be due to her blood sugars stabalizing and it should go away. Although on the whole it has seemed to get a little better there are still times when she rubs her eyes complaining that they're sore. I've taken her to the opticians twice in the past couple of years and she's due for her annual check again this month. So far everything has been healthy and clear. The opticians on both occasions in the past have said that there is nothing wrong with her eyesight and perhaps someone at school has glasses and that's why she's complaining of problems with her eyes. None of her friends wear glasses and she says that this is not the reason, her eyes are genuinely sore. Her blood sugars are mostly stable, we don't suffer huge swings from high to low and her last Hba1c was 7.7 (up slightly because during that period she had swine flu). The soreness is not there all the time, only occasionally, and we cannot seem to find any pattern for example it can happen when she's reading, writing, doing art, watching TV, this morning it happened just before breakfast when she'd just got out of bed from resting her eyes all night sleeping. I'm feeling quite helpless right now, my daughter is complaining that her eyes are not right and that they're hurting but the consultant and opticians are all saying that there's nothing wrong with her eyes. Should I be asking to see an eye specialist? Could there be a diabetes related problem affecting her eyes even although her Hba1c is showing as acceptable and the images from the eye tests are showing everything as normal?

Her eyes are not sore all the time, only on intermittent occasions and the soreness seems to last for a few minutes to about half an hour. If she's trying to draw or read we'll take a rest and then she'll come back to it later and be fine.

She's seen an optician. What is an Ophthalmologist? I asked our diabetes consultant a couple of years ago if Jess should see someone about her eyes, he said not until she'd had diabetes for about 5 years. I told him about the eye problems she was exerpiencing and that we'd been to the optician and should I see someone else. I got the impression from his response that the optician is who we would see when the 5 years comes. Are you saying there is another eye person a diabetic should be seen by? I'll be upset with him if this is the case because I specifically raised concerns about her eyes and believed that an optician is all who we would see anyway unless their photographs of her eyes showed problems.

Thanks Sue, I'll make an appointment with our GP to get a referral. I really think this needs to be looked into further, at the very least to give us both peace of mind.

Thanks, I'll mention that to the optician, we have an appointment next week for her annual check. I'm waiting to hear from the Doctor to see if a referral to an eye specialist is an option.