After spending a few days lurking around the forum and not being able to find an answer anywhere I thought I'd introduce myself.
I've was diagnosed with Type II on Christmas eve. "All I got for Christmas was diabetes." sounds like a great title for a song. 🙂
After a few months of feeling very tired I began having spells of minor blurred vision which generally occurred after eating but then gradually went away a few hours later. My son (type I) suggested perhaps I could be diabetic, I immediately dismissed this because I didn't have any of the usual symptoms associated with diabetes, in-fact rather than an excessive thirst I actually noticed I was drinking far less than usual. My son encouraged me to take a BM reading using his meter, it turned out to be 15.8 so I decided to take a fasting BM the next morning which turned out to be 12.8. After a visit to see my GP, for more blood tests and a glucose tolerance test it was confirmed I was a type II diabetic (Hba1c 58/7.5) My GP advised the blurred vision would improve once I had my levels under control and suggested an appointment with the practice nurse, weight loss and some sensible eating to reduce my sugar levels, being slightly overweight my GP hoped that weight loss would be all that was needed - which did make sense.
My practice nurse mentioned I really should be given medication so went for a chat with the GP. On returning she advised the Dr didn't agree with her and promptly gave me a collection of 14 diabetes leaflets and advised I was to return in 3 months for another Hba1c - then the GP would decide if I needed medication. Six weeks later and 1 stone lighter my vision seemed to be getting worse especially first thing in the morning. I haven't been driving as I don't feel it's safe to do so, fortunately I work from home so it's not that much of a problem although if I had to travel to work I really wouldn't be able to drive.
I reluctantly returned to see my GP after seven weeks to discuss my worsening vision knowing that he assumed that 3 months of change in lifestyle would improve the situation, he mentioned the vision problem was only temporary and would improve once the sugar levels were under control. After reading many posts on here stating the same I remain optimistic, he prescribed 500mg of Metformin once a day and advised to book an eye test with an optician.
Following the GP visit I immediately booked an eye test for next week, however today I attended a diabetic education course at hospital, after discussing my issues with the Senior Specialist Diabetic Nurse running the course she took my BM, at 11.00am it was 11.4 and I hadn't eaten since around 9.00pm last night, she feels that 500mg of Metformin is insufficient and to contact the practice nurse to see if she can arrange for it to be increased to three times a day.
I have decided to wait until the appointment with the optician next week and decide what to do then. Whilst I understand the GP's request to firstly try and improve my sugar levels with diet alone I can't help thinking that I'm wasting 3 months until my next Hba1c. Given that my drastic six week change to a sensible balanced diet and weight loss of one stone hasn't had a positive effect on my base BM and my vision is more blurred than ever I'm assuming the specialist diabetic nurse and my practice nurse have a better understanding of diabetes than my GP.
Anyway after a fairly long introduction, I understand that running a higher than normal BM can cause blurred vision, although everything I seem to read says that the vision remains constantly blurred until it becomes under control, even the nurse at the hospital indicated that once it was under control it would return to normal and seemed surprised that it worsened and improved within a matter of minutes. My experience is that it only worsens for the short time after eating, presumably as the BM increases then a couple of hours later it returns to near normal. This doesn’t seem to fit in with the many comments I’ve read on the forum and information I’ve found on various websites in that only when having a low blood sugar and a hypo, can vision change so quickly.
Has anyone else encountered this problem or able to advise?
Thank you
I've was diagnosed with Type II on Christmas eve. "All I got for Christmas was diabetes." sounds like a great title for a song. 🙂
After a few months of feeling very tired I began having spells of minor blurred vision which generally occurred after eating but then gradually went away a few hours later. My son (type I) suggested perhaps I could be diabetic, I immediately dismissed this because I didn't have any of the usual symptoms associated with diabetes, in-fact rather than an excessive thirst I actually noticed I was drinking far less than usual. My son encouraged me to take a BM reading using his meter, it turned out to be 15.8 so I decided to take a fasting BM the next morning which turned out to be 12.8. After a visit to see my GP, for more blood tests and a glucose tolerance test it was confirmed I was a type II diabetic (Hba1c 58/7.5) My GP advised the blurred vision would improve once I had my levels under control and suggested an appointment with the practice nurse, weight loss and some sensible eating to reduce my sugar levels, being slightly overweight my GP hoped that weight loss would be all that was needed - which did make sense.
My practice nurse mentioned I really should be given medication so went for a chat with the GP. On returning she advised the Dr didn't agree with her and promptly gave me a collection of 14 diabetes leaflets and advised I was to return in 3 months for another Hba1c - then the GP would decide if I needed medication. Six weeks later and 1 stone lighter my vision seemed to be getting worse especially first thing in the morning. I haven't been driving as I don't feel it's safe to do so, fortunately I work from home so it's not that much of a problem although if I had to travel to work I really wouldn't be able to drive.
I reluctantly returned to see my GP after seven weeks to discuss my worsening vision knowing that he assumed that 3 months of change in lifestyle would improve the situation, he mentioned the vision problem was only temporary and would improve once the sugar levels were under control. After reading many posts on here stating the same I remain optimistic, he prescribed 500mg of Metformin once a day and advised to book an eye test with an optician.
Following the GP visit I immediately booked an eye test for next week, however today I attended a diabetic education course at hospital, after discussing my issues with the Senior Specialist Diabetic Nurse running the course she took my BM, at 11.00am it was 11.4 and I hadn't eaten since around 9.00pm last night, she feels that 500mg of Metformin is insufficient and to contact the practice nurse to see if she can arrange for it to be increased to three times a day.
I have decided to wait until the appointment with the optician next week and decide what to do then. Whilst I understand the GP's request to firstly try and improve my sugar levels with diet alone I can't help thinking that I'm wasting 3 months until my next Hba1c. Given that my drastic six week change to a sensible balanced diet and weight loss of one stone hasn't had a positive effect on my base BM and my vision is more blurred than ever I'm assuming the specialist diabetic nurse and my practice nurse have a better understanding of diabetes than my GP.
Anyway after a fairly long introduction, I understand that running a higher than normal BM can cause blurred vision, although everything I seem to read says that the vision remains constantly blurred until it becomes under control, even the nurse at the hospital indicated that once it was under control it would return to normal and seemed surprised that it worsened and improved within a matter of minutes. My experience is that it only worsens for the short time after eating, presumably as the BM increases then a couple of hours later it returns to near normal. This doesn’t seem to fit in with the many comments I’ve read on the forum and information I’ve found on various websites in that only when having a low blood sugar and a hypo, can vision change so quickly.
Has anyone else encountered this problem or able to advise?
Thank you
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