Hello and help please?

[SineadC85]

Hi all, hope everyone is keeping as well as can be.

I'm struggling to make sense of something and hoping someone here can help. I tried booking in a routine eye test a couple of days ago and after being asked if I'm diabetic they asked if my blood sugar levels are stable. I said probably not (I didn't see the importance of question because it wasn't a diabetic eye screening I was booking), but then I'm told I cannot be tested until my blood sugar levels are stable. She tells me that the opticians won't test me, because apparently by the time I collect my new prescription lenses, the prescription will be wrong.
Wtf? I've never heard of that one before. My eyes are tested every 2 years and I've had diabetes for approximately 3 years. The only time diabetes has had any connection to an alternative in my vision is when they do the drops to dilate the pupils. Besides that, regardless where my blood sugar level are at, my vision has remained constant. There's never been a time that my prescription glasses have stopped correcting my vision. I tried asking the lady on the phone, why will a new pair of glasses suddenly be rendered useless when my exist glasses never are? I'm not wearing magical lenses that adapt with my blood sugars at the moment, the glasses I'm currently wearing have stayed the same strength for 2 years.

So can anyone shed some light on this? Because it makes no sense to me

Thanks in advance.
Sinead.

 

[Robin]

Hi all, hope everyone is keeping as well as can be.

I'm struggling to make sense of something and hoping someone here can help. I tried booking in a routine eye test a couple of days ago and after being asked if I'm diabetic they asked if my blood sugar levels are stable. I said probably not (I didn't see the importance of question because it wasn't a diabetic eye screening I was booking), but then I'm told I cannot be tested until my blood sugar levels are stable. She tells me that the opticians won't test me, because apparently by the time I collect my new prescription lenses, the prescription will be wrong.
Wtf? I've never heard of that one before. My eyes are tested every 2 years and I've had diabetes for approximately 3 years. The only time diabetes has had any connection to an alternative in my vision is when they do the drops to dilate the pupils. Besides that, regardless where my blood sugar level are at, my vision has remained constant. There's never been a time that my prescription glasses have stopped correcting my vision. I tried asking the lady on the phone, why will a new pair of glasses suddenly be rendered useless when my exist glasses never are? I'm not wearing magical lenses that adapt with my blood sugars at the moment, the glasses I'm currently wearing have stayed the same strength for 2 years.

So can anyone shed some light on this? Because it makes no sense to me

Thanks in advance.
Sinead.

When your blood sugars are raised, for example in people who are undiagnosed, your eyes adapt to the excess glucose in the blood, and then when you start bringing it under control, your vision can go blurry for a while, and the focal length can change. We get a lot of people on here who have found that they’ve got new glasses when newly diagnosed, and then found them useless within a few weeks, so I can see why your Optician is cautious. Maybe you need to discuss with them the fact that you aren’t newly diagnosed, and discuss the sort of 'stability' that you are meaning, which may be different from what they mean. If you mean the normal day to day fluctuations that you see, which are in fact normal for people without diabetes, then that wouldn’t be a problem.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Besides that, regardless where my blood sugar level are at, my vision has remained constant.

Most likely that would be sufficient for them?

It is the case that sufficient changes in blood glucose changes your vision, but if that hasn't happened to you and your diabetes is about the same then there's a good chance it's not happening now. (I think usually the worry would be for people shortly after diagnosis who might not understand the possible changes.)

 

[Ivostas66]

As Robin says, I think the optician is perhaps misunderstanding the 'stability' issue that you mention. My eyes went from -4 to -2 prior to diagnosis and when my eyes were tested they were initially keen to give me new glasses, but a second chap popped in and explained to me at length what high glucose levels for a prolonged period of time had done to my eyes. After a few weeks, my eyesight was back to -4 and I was able to have new glasses.

If my BG spikes and remains high for an hour or so then I can sometimes notice slight blurred vision, but nothing major and so it has no real impact. Perhaps what the optician thinks is that you have had high blood glucose for a matter of weeks rather than the odd spike.

 

[SineadC85]

I think what may be adding to the confusion is that, I don't do daily testing. My doctor hasn't felt it necessary for me to test frequently. I instead have to go for a full blood test, I think it's about every 3 month. But all the medications I'm on, Gabapentin being the prime suspect, is compromising my memory. But I'm sure the doctors have told me that it's something like the HB1 that they keep an eye on. I could be remembering wrong though.
Thank you for those who have responded. I guess the big issue is around how recent the diagnosis was and maybe my own ignorance on everything that comes with being diabetic. I'm sorry if that offends anyone and I would ask to know all there is to know about diabetes, but I struggle to retain information and so I try to keep it to a minimum.

Has anyone had any problems with a boil before? I've never had one before and always thought they were external, but I've been to the hospital today about an abscess I can feel inside the back of my thigh. It feels as though I'm sitting on a golf ball, which is obviously very uncomfortable and tender. I've been given a course of Flucloxacillin, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of any tips to help cure it? I don't know if it's connected, but the back of that leg keeps feeling as though it's seizing up. It feels like the tendons are turning to stone.

Thank you again everyone, I really appreciate the advice.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Swelling of the lens and blurry vision is often experienced around the time of diagnosis, but it can be experienced at other times too (which is probably why the opticians ask the question).

If BG has been high enough for long enough to distort the vision, it can take 2-3 months for it to settle down, once BGs are more in target.

Can you remember the results of any of your most recent HbA1cs?Or were they a while ago because of the pandemic.

Sorry to hear about the swelling in your leg. Hope the antibiotics do their magic on it for you 🙂