• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

What was your fasting blood glucose? (full on chat)

gennepher said:
Sorry I didn't come back on yesterday, but I was shell shocked , I think (in a good way, before you panic).

When I got there, Specsavers were very good. They wore the shields. I did have all 3 of my deaf/need to lipread badges on my frontage.

I had an extra test, for eye health, which the lady said would cost me £10. I had read about it the night before and I decided to say yes. But when it came to paying the bill at the end they didn't charge me for the test It was deducted from my bill.

My eyes are better than they were last year. There is absolutely no diabetic retinopathy there anymore. And I've had that for the past few years, since 2017. And also nearly all the macular degeneration has gone that was there last year on the optician's computer, and I saw it on his screen last year and it was several black spots that were getting bigger and bigger each year, and he showed me (in 2019) the black spots from the previous years, and he had said, last year, that it was getting worse. So I was very surprised to see only one tiny shadow yesterday.

Consequently, I have been worried about my eyes all year and was worried about losing my eyesight, and I was even more worried when we did not have the retinopathy scan, the diabetic retinopathy scan by the NHS this year because of covid 19. There are there no plans to reintroduce it anytime soon by the NHS, in my area in Wales. So that is why I agreed to pay for that extra test which was only £10 and it was an intensive investigation by a computer into my eyes, and the health of my eyes, and apparently it can predict problems several years in advance before they actually become a big problem.

My eyes are both in absolute perfect health. The optician showed me his screens. No Diabetic retinopathy at all. Nothing. Also the previously increasing (over the years) several black areas of macular degeneration have completely gone, apart from that one small spot. The optician did say he could tell I had kept my diabetes very much in control because it was reflected in my eye health.

And my eyesight has improved. I can now drive without my glasses. The next section down in the test was 100% too. The last section I had trouble with the second letter (which turned out to be an 'r'), and so he told me that I wouldn't be able to get my pilot's licence...

Because I have not yet been recalled by St Paul's (because of Covid-19) the optometrist checked that too. He explained with the equipment he now has, he can do pretty much the checks the NHS do.
And they (Specsavers some of them) are taking on NHS work.

I need a new prescription (not so strong)! So new glasses. Money to pay out! Varifocals again because they help with tired eyesight, eyes do lose elasticity with age, and the varifocals help with the comfort of that.

I don't know if some of you remember, but I mentioned (probably just before Christmas) that I was taking an eye supplement. I had researched, and bought some around July 2019, and I had been taking them for 6 months in December 2019. And that December I had noticed that:
1) my dry eyes with Sjogrens Syndrome, had improved a lot.
2) I wasn't blinded by that low in the sky bright winter sun when driving anymore.
3) Night time vision had improved and I wasn't blinded by headlights coming at me any more.
4) I could see better driving through tunnels, they didn't seem so dim any more.

And I might have said I was hoping that my eyes would be no worse at my next optometrist visit in 6 months time.

I was very anxious about yesterday's appointment. I have been anxious all year because last year he was telling me macular degeneration was progressive. I wasn't expecting this kind of improvement. I had felt my eyesight was better.

I am assuming that this eye supplement played some big part in all this. But obviously I cannot prove anything. Except I am shell shocked at this improvement in one whole year.

When I got back home the cat was upset, I had been gone awhile because I got to the optician's early so I could park outside. And I had done a bit of shopping while I was there in that town, and I found a shop toilet I could use! The first public toilet I have found open since lockdown began in March!

Poor Popeye, he was very vocal with me, not happy at all, quite disturbed I had left him. So the both of us went to bed. He calmed down immediately. And I fell asleep. So I didn't look in yesterday. I will play catch up this morning after I have done a ZenBrush2 painting....
Click to expand...
Excellent - may I ask what the eye supplement is - some eye check ups I have have no retinopathy then the next one does and then doesn't??? and like yourself I do worry about it
 
Mrs T 123 said:
Excellent - may I ask what the eye supplement is - some eye check ups I have have no retinopathy then the next one does and then doesn't??? and like yourself I do worry about it
Click to expand...

I will enclose a photo of the packet @Mrs T 123 it is easier than explaining. It is not readable in thumbnail, so I apologise for doing a big pic.
4A97AA03-1EB6-49DC-983A-06C273199238.jpeg
There are no fillers or bulking agents in this one, which other tablets have.

It was around 6 months in, as I said, before I noticed some definite improvements that I mentioned. Then now, after a year of taking them (last Wednesday), my optometrist gave me the good news I mentioned in my post. It will be interesting to see what my eye health is when I have my next eye check in one year's time. And I will continue to take these tablets. They benefit me.

It is easy to worry because we have a long wait between one appointment and the next (often a whole long year), although I can walk into my optometrist anytime and ask for a check. However, this Covid-19 thing messed up accessibility and availability of many things, that could have put our minds at ease.

I got these tablets off Amazon.

I hope this helps.
 
Fbg 5.9

My digital daily painting for today.
I was trying to use layers like @Alien Aspie but no way can I achieve his standard of work (I think it would drive me insane that many layers...) And I can't work out how to do @dunelm 's layers, not so much that I cannot work it out (he explained step by step as did Alien Aspie), I can, but it doesn't feel intuitive. It feels like I am going back to the 'bad' old days of screen printing which was a long torturous process of massive silk screens (one for each colour) and masks that had to be fixed on, and the different colours with the squeegee and aligning...all having to be worked out beforehand. I used to make these large posters for the printing firm (I was only supposed to be a gopher then, tea/errand girl, women were not allowed to do that work and neither was I allowed to belong to a union, but the men discovered I was a quick and very capable learner, so I learnt one heck of a lot and got to do many things and operate machinery...I never got to make the tea, they made it for me).

So, doing these layers took me back to those days (I must be in my dotage reminiscing...).

Here is my layer digital painting offering. 7 layers. I made it up as I went along. No reference material, just what my hand drew...The dragon popped in from nowhere, and I used a zombie skin brush to get his scales...

I vowed while I was doing this painting that I was NOT going to do another painting with layers, but Brain has come up with some new potential ideas....

F9AE57BC-8D68-4947-BF66-A567F63216E7.jpeg

Take care....
Have fun...
 
Good Morning and 5.4 for me today.

Clear, sunny morning so I may get to go on a Muddy Cycle ride although it is Saturday and there will be more bikes out there.

Let your day take you where it will. Keep Safe.
 
gennepher said:
Fbg 5.9

My digital daily painting for today.
I was trying to use layers like @Alien Aspie but no way can I achieve his standard of work (I think it would drive me insane that many layers...) And I can't work out how to do @dunelm 's layers, not so much that I cannot work it out (he explained step by step as did Alien Aspie), I can, but it doesn't feel intuitive. It feels like I am going back to the 'bad' old days of screen printing which was a long torturous process of massive silk screens (one for each colour) and masks that had to be fixed on, and the different colours with the squeegee and aligning...all having to be worked out beforehand. I used to make these large posters for the printing firm (I was only supposed to be a gopher then, tea/errand girl, women were not allowed to do that work and neither was I allowed to belong to a union, but the men discovered I was a quick and very capable learner, so I learnt one heck of a lot and got to do many things and operate machinery...I never got to make the tea, they made it for me).

So, doing these layers took me back to those days (I must be in my dotage reminiscing...).

Here is my layer digital painting offering. 7 layers. I made it up as I went along. No reference material, just what my hand drew...The dragon popped in from nowhere, and I used a zombie skin brush to get his scales...

I vowed while I was doing this painting that I was NOT going to do another painting with layers, but Brain has come up with some new potential ideas....

View attachment 43480

Take care....
Have fun...
Click to expand...
Wow needed my sun glasses on, that was bright first thing in the morning. Well done for having ago, I remember layers from early PhotoShop days, they drove me crazy,I assume they have much improved in Procreate.
 
Muddy Cyclist said:
Finish my wild flower meadow watercolur, it got a bit too dark in the foreground but useing Mrs MCs toothbrush for the flowers worked a treat even though I also managed to paint my desk, T shirt, hands, arms and unbelievably even the ceiling, yes I did get carried away. A4 in total about 90 minutes....
View attachment 43470
Click to expand...
Excellent - a good wildlife meadow and decorating the art room to boot. Buckets of paint and bicycles next.
 
4.7 this morning. Looks lovely and sunny outside.

Daughter and family visiting us tomorrow. The first time we have seen them since the lockdown.

House is almost ready for them. Mr K has done the lions share of the work while I have been doing stuff on the computer.
 
gennepher said:
Fbg 5.9

My digital daily painting for today.
I was trying to use layers like @Alien Aspie but no way can I achieve his standard of work (I think it would drive me insane that many layers...) And I can't work out how to do @dunelm 's layers, not so much that I cannot work it out (he explained step by step as did Alien Aspie), I can, but it doesn't feel intuitive. It feels like I am going back to the 'bad' old days of screen printing which was a long torturous process of massive silk screens (one for each colour) and masks that had to be fixed on, and the different colours with the squeegee and aligning...all having to be worked out beforehand. I used to make these large posters for the printing firm (I was only supposed to be a gopher then, tea/errand girl, women were not allowed to do that work and neither was I allowed to belong to a union, but the men discovered I was a quick and very capable learner, so I learnt one heck of a lot and got to do many things and operate machinery...I never got to make the tea, they made it for me).

So, doing these layers took me back to those days (I must be in my dotage reminiscing...).

Here is my layer digital painting offering. 7 layers. I made it up as I went along. No reference material, just what my hand drew...The dragon popped in from nowhere, and I used a zombie skin brush to get his scales...

I vowed while I was doing this painting that I was NOT going to do another painting with layers, but Brain has come up with some new potential ideas....

View attachment 43480

Take care....
Have fun...
Click to expand...
Boom - welcome to the inner workings of Timothy Leary and the sounds of Electric Music For The Mind And Body.
 
Good morning everyone from a blind tasting of the three bears’ porridge sort of start in the dark and dangerous north.

The wonder wheel of “now go and sit on the naughty step” came in at 6.2 this am -was it worth it - of course!

Two miniature humans yesterday; granddaughter and sister in law’s foster child while she acted as interpreter for a social services visit to her mother. She got the keys to MIL’s new apartment so there will be decorating, carpets, curtains, vans, pushing, shoving, do you know the pianos on my foot sort of activity going on for several day. I made bread and commented upon the blustery weather.

Back to good day’s out. This is Rhinog Fach, summit in the Rhinogydd region, South Snodonia. There is a lengthy route that takes about 12 hours and a pick up at the end but other, circular routes, are available. A great walk as long as it’s not raining.

Hope that everyone has a wonderful day, koffy calls all the way.
upload_2020-8-22_7-27-3.jpeg
 
Good morning all from a much calmer Suffolk border crossing. Fbg of 4.7 @ 5.11 am - entirely sub-optimal which seems to be a theme for me just now. Hopefully, in his wisdom The Lord has seen that previously I have been a bad little boy (James 3:5) when dressed head to toe in sub-optimal so I must needs learn to be a nicer, kinder little chap. Seeing things largely from a cricket perspective I take it to mean follow my drills, don't waft outside the off stump, play in The V , put away the bad ball and, most importantly, take any singles on offer. Just how disciplined can I be? Marginal gains Ian, marginal gains. Great fbg @Muddy Cyclist and @karen8967. The rest of you have good days. I'm off to drink tea, walk about and work on my trigger movement.
 
Last edited:
dunelm said:
Back to good day’s out. This is Rhinog Fach, summit in the Rhinogydd region, South Snodonia. There is a lengthy route that takes about 12 hours and a pick up at the end but other, circular routes, are available. A great walk as long as it’s not raining.
Click to expand...
A very good day out, used to be one of the less explored areas of Wales a great place to escape. A nicely drawn piece of art thank you for reminding me of that walk.

Thank you for your comments on my Meadow Painting, art room now clean, bikes and pots of paint have got me thinking, what fun. :joyful:
 
Alien Aspie said:
Slept well last night and have a 5.9 in the bank this morning. Another chill out day, so I am happy :)

@gennepher I had completely forgotten about the trials and tribulations of silk screen printing. I have found a starter video on Procreate layers you might find useful, it does have a subtitle option.

Click to expand...

Ta @Alien Aspie
I have just had a nap (!) and iPad nearly recharged, so will make a cuppa and watch that.

You have a good chill out day!
 
Muddy Cyclist said:
Wow needed my sun glasses on, that was bright first thing in the morning. Well done for having ago, I remember layers from early PhotoShop days, they drove me crazy,I assume they have much improved in Procreate.
Click to expand...
Ah, I didn't realise it was that bright @Muddy Cyclist
Sorry:(
I wear dark tinted glasses all the time anyway (to prevent visual migraines), and have no idea what my colour selection is like. However, for the first time in decades I am getting some clear varifocals (this optician thinks I will be okay with these particular ones that are being made, but I am having a 2nd pair done , supposedly for free,with different tinted lenses), so I might be able to paint in true colours (or I might end up putting sunglasses over them!)
 
Back
Top