Eyesight!

[Grogg1]

Today, 4 weeks after diagnosis, I had an eye test. Prior to diagnosis for 30 years I wore glasses for driving, TV, theatre etc as short sighted (not bad enough to warrant needing glasses 24 hrs) and was just starting to need reading glasses first thing in morning and in bad light.

In last 3 weeks I can't wear my driving glasses as it's clearer without but I can't read a book, newspaper etc.

So eyetest today but Optician said she wouldn't make a new prescription for at least another 4 weeks as she said until I have 2 months of good control eyesight could change. She told me to carry on with my cheap ready readers and that my distance eyesight was perfect so I can drive without glasses!

She does think how I am now is my new normal as too high Blood sugar can make you short sighted so it's hidden the age related improvement in my sight.

 

[Northerner]

This is a very common experience after diagnosis 🙂 Good for your optician for not passing you off with a prescription which may change again in a few weeks 🙂 The high glucose prior to diagnosis distorts the lens of the eye, altering vision, but as your levels improve this distortion fades and eyesight improves. It's not unusual to have better vision after things have settled down than you had prior to diagnosis for a while - particularly in Type 2 where symptoms can be present, but overlooked, for months or even years before becoming serious enough for a diagnosis (with Type 1 the onset of pronounced symptoms is usually much swifter). 🙂

Hopefully, things will settle soon and you will retain better sight! 🙂

 

[Grogg1]

Good job I didn't bin my glasses! I noticed that I could read again without needing specs so tested my distance viewing and I need my glasses for driving again! I have an appt. at my hospital early January for retinopathy screening. I've been told I will have drops and pictures taken. Will these picture be different to the ones taken by my optician last week. I didn't have drops put in then. Optician said my eyes looked healthy but now I'm concerned the screening at hospital will tell a different story

 

[Northerner]

Good job I didn't bin my glasses! I noticed that I could read again without needing specs so tested my distance viewing and I need my glasses for driving again! I have an appt. at my hospital early January for retinopathy screening. I've been told I will have drops and pictures taken. Will these picture be different to the ones taken by my optician last week. I didn't have drops put in then. Optician said my eyes looked healthy but now I'm concerned the screening at hospital will tell a different story

Try not to worry. It's fairly standard practice at retinopathy checks to get the drops - they dilate the pupils so that they can get a better picture of the retina, but they aren't always needed as sometimes a person's pupils are responsive enough to widen without them. It usually depends on age, and possibly also an element of the clinic 'making sure' they get the conditions for a good picture (a bit like when a nurse does a blood test from a fingerprick - they're rarely over-careful about it, just making sure they get some blood, and it's not their finger! 😱) - I've always needed the drops. They sting a little, but only for a second or two. It's possible that if the optician didn't use drops then they didn't show the same levels of detail. There's often evidence of 'background retinopathy' when recently diagnosed, but this isn't sight-affecting and often disappears if you are able to achieve and maintain good control, so if they do find this, please don't be alarmed - it's more than often transient or stable.

 

[grovesy]

Good job I didn't bin my glasses! I noticed that I could read again without needing specs so tested my distance viewing and I need my glasses for driving again! I have an appt. at my hospital early January for retinopathy screening. I've been told I will have drops and pictures taken. Will these picture be different to the ones taken by my optician last week. I didn't have drops put in then. Optician said my eyes looked healthy but now I'm concerned the screening at hospital will tell a different story

Earlier in the year I had the one without at the opticians and he could not get a good picture on the first few attempts. Where at the retinal screening service ones where they use the drops they only ever need one attempt.

 

[Robin]

The difference for me when the screening service do mine, (apart from the drops which they insist on) is that they take one of you looking straight on, then ones with you looking to the side. The optician just does one looking straight on.