Vision

My close vision was very blurry for a couple of weeks as my blood sugars came down to normal.

I always behave well dietwise for a couple of weeks before my opticians appointment to avoid buying glasses for maladjusted eyes.

Yes I bought some cheap dollar store reading glasses and had to use them for reading for a couple of weeks and then my eyes went back to normal. Quite a few others on the forum have reported the same thing. Seems when your sugar is high it can coat the lens of your eye. As you get it under control and that glucose coating goes away there are vision disturbances until it stabilizes. Freaked me out too but I am back to normal now. I am going to tag @daisy1 to send you some welcoming information that I highly recommend you read. Follow the links as well. It will answer a lot of your questions. Any other questions please ask and someone will be glad to answer. Welcome to the forum

It will get better. It sounds like you are doing all the right things. 550 is extremely high so you have done very well getting it down. Most folks on this forum use mmol/l as this is a UK forum. I am from Canada and we also use mmol/l. 550 is just over 30, I am surprised you were not hospitalized. To convert, divide by 18. And yes it certainly does stink

@Sperduti

Hello and welcome to the forum Here, as mentioned above, is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find this useful to help to stabilise your levels. This could help your eyesight. Ask more questions when you need to and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 147,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Sperduti said:

My head felt like it was going to explode. Eyes felt weird too. The main thing that made me get my glucose checked was mainly the vision change. Otherwise no clue. Super scary. Are you from Western Canada? Late here on US East Coast.

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Yes, I am in British Columbia.

I also have blurred vision when my bg is high. My meter measures in mmol/l even though I'm in UK. My blood on diagnosis 5weeks ago was 183 and my vision was very blurred I have now got bit down to between 114 and 131 and my vision is back to normal. It's weird.

My vision is slowly changing.

I have needed progressively less correction over the last 3 years (which is expensive when it means new glasses each time) and my optometrist thinks it is related to BG control, although my HbA1c hasn't changed much.

She suggested I kept a check on my vision, and if I found that my vision had changed so that an earlier set of glasses were better that could be a sign that my BG control was slipping.

Some of it could, of course, be due to advancing age.

I was quite relieved because I noticed I wasn't comfortable with my latest set of specs and I thought my eyes were getting worse, not better.

LittleGreyCat said:

My vision is slowly changing.

I have needed progressively less correction over the last 3 years (which is expensive when it means new glasses each time) and my optometrist thinks it is related to BG control, although my HbA1c hasn't changed much.

She suggested I kept a check on my vision, and if I found that my vision had changed so that an earlier set of glasses were better that could be a sign that my BG control was slipping.

Some of it could, of course, be due to advancing age.

I was quite relieved because I noticed I wasn't comfortable with my latest set of specs and I thought my eyes were getting worse, not better.

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There is a phenomenon known as "second sight" which describes a temporary improvement in vision due to cataract developing:-
" An early sign of cataract formation is what appears to be improvement in near vision. As the crystalline lens ages, it becomes more dense and changes refractive index and effective power. An increase in power in the crystalline lens means more myopia (nearsighted, shortsighted) or less hyperopia (farsighted, longsighted)."
Source: http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/subjects/second_sight.htm

Dark Horse said:

There is a phenomenon known as "second sight" which describes a temporary improvement in vision due to cataract developing:-
" An early sign of cataract formation is what appears to be improvement in near vision. As the crystalline lens ages, it becomes more dense and changes refractive index and effective power. An increase in power in the crystalline lens means more myopia (nearsighted, shortsighted) or less hyperopia (farsighted, longsighted)."
Source: http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/subjects/second_sight.htm

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However I have my eyes checked for cataracts and glaucoma each year, so this hopefully doesn't apply to me.

LittleGreyCat said:

However I have my eyes checked for cataracts and glaucoma each year, so this hopefully doesn't apply to me.

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Yes, a slit-lamp examination with dilated pupils should be able to detect early cataract.