Type 2 Diabetes eye problem

[bubbabackwood]

Hello,

I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 5 years ago. I weigh about 160lbs but diabetes runs in my family. My fasting bg was 220-250 at that time and was prescribed Metformin and Onglyza. However, I didn't care much about changing my diet and lifestyle. Just continued to do what I was doing before (eat anything/everything as much as I want) without realizing the damage I was inflicting on my body. I rarely measured my bg to know where I was, thinking the pills will keep me safe. Fast-forward to 10 months ago, I started to get muscle crams after eating any high carb meals. I was asked to inject 10 units of Basaglar (long acting insulin) daily to help with my bg levels. Since then I become very conscious about what I eat and how much. My A1C went from 9 to 6.4 and fasting level to 150 mg/dl.

However, about three months after I started the long acting insulin, one day I woke up with a gray area in my left eye which was later diagnosed as a cotton wool spot due to diabetic condition. I was really scared for my vision and has completely changed my lifestyle in the past four months with the help of DexCom G6 - continuous glucose monitor. My last a1c was 5.3, fasting bg is 85-95 and never goes above 150 after meal. Yet, my vision continues to deteriorate, more spots and blurred vision in my left eye. I've been told by the retina eye specialist to keep doing what I'm doing to manage my blood sugar. He claims he can't do much for me. I'm just scared for my vision and don't understand how the fasting bg level of 85-95 and after meal < 140 not help with improving my eye situation. I'm thinking the insulin (now 20 units a day), fast lifestyle change, the quick drop in fasting and after meal bg levels were the root cause of the eye problem. Has anyone experienced this situation? I thought about switching to Lantus from Basaglar, thinking Basaglar was responsible for my eye issues. Thanks

 

[EllieM]

My ophthalmologist told me that the eye is damaged by fast changes in blood sugar, so hopefully now your levels have stabilised things won't get any worse, and improve. (I have had on again off again background retinopathy in my eyes for decades which has not yet needed treatment).

I've never heard anyone say that insulin is an issue, just fast changes in blood sugar. What's your diet like carbwise? If you want to reduce the insulin you'll need to reduce your carb intake.....

Good luck. Remember, many people's eyes improve if they keep their levels stable.

 

[Roggg]

I don't think it's the same thing you are going through, but I have experienced a couple times in the last year temporary vision problems related to glucose control. Mostly I get these problems when, after allowing my BG control to slip over an extended period of time, I make a drastic change to improve it. Once I got it when after having good control for a while, I had a period of bad binging (holidays). The problems I get are blurry vision...basically it looks like rapid onset of just plain old bad eyesight.

This is supposedly explained as rapid changes in the glucose level in your lenses and surrounding tissues actually change the optical properties of your eye, resulting in a prescription being needed to correct. After a few weeks of good control, the effects start to fade and my eyes go back to normal. The first time this ever happened to me, I was VERY freaked out because I knew retinopathy was a possible complication of poorly controlled diabetes. My optometrist reassured me that my retinas looked good, and that the effects would be temporary. At the worst of it I needed +2.5 reading glasses to read and even to drive (my eyes are usually 20/20).

Anyway, since you are seeing a retina specialist, I would assume this may not be relevant to you. The symptoms don't quite match what I went through.

I wish the best for you though and I hope it quickly stabilizes.