worried about going blind!

I think your nurse probably meant that laser treatment does not always work first time. Don't know what she means about ot working on the elderly. Perhaps she should keep her opinions to herself .

If everyone with diabetes went blind eventually there would be far more blind persons around I can assure you.

First let me say that background retinopathy is very common . Almost all diabetics have it . Very few neeed treatment.

Close monitorin is not treatment but will ensure you get prompt reatment should you need it.

It is very scary at first but you must remenber that they would not bother to screen if there was no effective treatment.

I have had five years of treatment. My problems were brought on by rosiglitazone and then compounded by over-intensive laser treatment. Neither of these things are likely to happen ow as treatments have improved beyond all recognition in the past few years.

The usual treatment is laser treatment - which is not painful - just a bit strange! Sometimes it is necessary to have injections which agai are ot painful eacause the site is well anaesthesised. I have found the eye clinic people to be wonderful helpful and very knowledh=geable.

The single most impportant thing is to try to keep your levels under conrol. Someimes this causes a temporary problem but it usually corrects itself. many people may onlu require one laser session and then aare fine. i think maybe the nurse was confusing some other eye diseases of the elderly with diabetic eye disease but all of these hings are improving.

I have been very unfortunate with my experience with my diabetes treatment and the complication of macular oedema. i have ub=ndergone countless procedures now but I am not blind alhough I was old at one stage that nothing was working for me. this was very unusual. Now after a period of very good control things are looking up.
I no longer fear losing my sight . My case is quite inusual,because it is one of the few where the involvement of rosiglitazone is well documented .

Many , many people attend the eye clinics for monitoring. They are not all diabetics. It is a GOD thing. Please try ot to worry.
Many people are discharged after a few visits. There is nothing to fear.

I am not surprised you felt you needed counselling after the comments of your nurse! Maybe SHE needs counselling - or training! The best treatment for your fears will be your first visit to the eye clinic. We all fear the unknown. I would rather go to the eye clinic than visit my pracice for clinics and reviews any time. many clinics have diabetic link urses and work closely with the diabetes clinics which can be very useful.

II can understand your fears - I really can. I have a deep distrusrt of the medical profession but in the case of diabetic eye disease things are fairly straightforward in mos cases and treatments are improving all the time. I spend a great deal of time in the hospital's eye clinic and unlike some other depts all I hear is praise of the treatment available now.

My character tends towards pessin=mism ar as i like o call it "reality" so I could never be called a "****-eyed " optimist :lol:
I thik your urse's views are out of date . I hope the counselling helps but I am sure that your own experience will be your best counsellor.
Do come back and let us know how you get on. you have reinforced my view that many of these nurses are a health hazard.
best wishes.

I was only recently diagnosed with diabetes but a couple of years ago I got a small blood clot in my right retina, which caused some permanent blurry patches in my vision. At the time I was tested and found not to be diabetic, so they blamed my BP. Now I wonder if that was right...

Anyway, I'm scared too... But that doesn't help. In fact, it makes things worse. Looking after yourself, eating the right things, keeping fit and trying to relax are all useful strategies for getting the best outcome. And there again, plenty of blind people manage to live fun and productive lives - so the worst that can happen isn't the end of everything.

Keep your test appointments and then try not to dwell on negative future possibilities. None of us know what tomorrow will bring, so all we can do is to be as nice as possible to others, and ourselves.