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Hello

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Teen2

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Type 2
Hi all, I am 61 yrs old type 2 for about the last 20 years.I have stage 4 CKD and I have retinopathy too I'm waiting for laser treatment and possibly eye injections ( I don't know if I am brave enough for them it freaks me out ) My last OFF was 18% I have an appointment at how next week and I'm hoping my appointment doesn't get cancelled.I have no idea what will happen so if anyone has a similar % I'd love to hear your experience.Thank you for reading
 
Sorry I can't help about the laser or eye injections, but I would hope they will do their best not to cancel, as this to maintain your sight.
 
Hi and Welcome @Teen2 - I dont know much about your conditions but i did find an older thread on here where people were talking about such things.....
Advice/experiences please? Re retinotherapy operations

.....Within that thread, are other links which may be useful. Also if you look above at the top of this page under the orange 'Learning Zone' tab (which you also may find useful to log into for more information) there is a 'search' button. Open that and type in your key words there, it should bring up relevant sections/threads for you to read through. Saves whizzing up and down threads trying to find information suitable to your circumstances. Hope this helps. Forewarned is forearmed, so they say! - Good luck & nice to have you here.
 
Welcome to the forum @Teen2

Sorry to hear about your CKD.

@Northerner and @Flower may be able to offer some reassurance about eye injections or laser treatment
 
Hi @Teen2, welcome 🙂 I've only had a tiny bit of laser done, but it was all very straightforward. I would say it's a little uncomfortable, and obviously you will feel tense, but no more than that. It didn't take long for me and I felt fine afterwards. Should I need it again I will know what to expect, so will worry lees 🙂 I've also had a laser iridotomy for glaucoma, which is where they use a laser to burn little hoes into your iris to allow fluid to escape. I was very scared about that, but once again, it was nothing to worry about. Thousands of these treatments are done every day, so you can take comfort in the fact that they are well-practised and straightforward 🙂

I also have DMO (Diabetic Macluar Oedema) in my left eye and they have been proposing injections to fix that - but I have never reached the threshold yet in 7 years. I receive 4-monthly checks, so anything would be caught well within time 🙂 After having the iridotomy I am less concerned about the injections, which again are performed thousands of times. @Kaylz may be able to offer more assurance about the injections 🙂

Let us know how things go 🙂
 
Hello @Teen2 and welcome 🙂

Sorry to hear you're having problems with CKD and retinopathy, is OFF the same as a GFR percent for CKD? I've not heard that term before. The ophthamologist will discuss the best treatment and way forward for you.

I can hopefully help on the laser front. You have dilation drops put in the eye/s that are to be lasered and wait until you're called into the laser room, numbing anaesthetic drops are then put in the eye/s. You sit at a table like a slit lamp table and a contact lens is put on to your eye, due to the anaesthetic drops you just feel slight pressure. Your head is usually held in position so that the laser can be aimed very specifically at the affected areas and you'll then see a rapid sucession of usually red flashes coming at you. It shouldn't be painful it can feel prickly and slightly uncomfortable but not too much. You can only have a certain number of laser burns put on your retina at any one time as it can cause inflammation and the eye needs time to settle between treatments. Don't be surprised if you have to have more than one laser session.

Your eye/s will be blurry from the drops and also very light sensitive after the laser- take sunglases whatever the weather forecast!

This site is very useful for explaining all things retinopathy/maculopathy, injections http://www.diabeticretinopathy.org.uk/laserdiabetic_retinopathy.html

Best Wishes I hope all goes well for you.
 
Flower said:
Hello @Teen2 and welcome 🙂

Sorry to hear you're having problems with CKD and retinopathy, is OFF the same as a GFR percent for CKD? I've not heard that term before. The ophthamologist will discuss the best treatment and way forward for you.

I can hopefully help on the laser front. You have dilation drops put in the eye/s that are to be lasered and wait until you're called into the laser room, numbing anaesthetic drops are then put in the eye/s. You sit at a table like a slit lamp table and a contact lens is put on to your eye, due to the anaesthetic drops you just feel slight pressure. Your head is usually held in position so that the laser can be aimed very specifically at the affected areas and you'll then see a rapid sucession of usually red flashes coming at you. It shouldn't be painful it can feel prickly and slightly uncomfortable but not too much. You can only have a certain number of laser burns put on your retina at any one time as it can cause inflammation and the eye needs time to settle between treatments. Don't be surprised if you have to have more than one laser session.

Your eye/s will be blurry from the drops and also very light sensitive after the laser- take sunglases whatever the weather forecast!

This site is very useful for explaining all things retinopathy/maculopathy, injections http://www.diabeticretinopathy.org.uk/laserdiabetic_retinopathy.html

Best Wishes I hope all goes well for you.
Click to expand...
The joys of predictive text it should say GFR ,thanks for the information I think I'll be ok with the laser but I'm freaked out with the thought of seeing a needle coming towards my eye .I know the injections are for my benefit and I'm going to concentrate on being able to see my 2 grandchildren as the end result.
 
I wonder if you do actually get to see it? You can't actually see out of either eye well enough to see what's being done to your eye in eg a cataract op, though you are still fully awake, simply because your eyes are so awash with eye drops at the time.
 
Overdue update.It's hard to believe so much time has passed since I. first asked for help.I would like to say a big thank you for all the replies.I'm now at the other side of the experience and while I can't say I'm in love with the laser and eye injections I do now know I can get through it.The laser was fine the Dr was very reassuring and I didn't feel any pain.I have to be honest the eye injections were very traumatic but THERE WAS NO PAIN but I found it hard to cope with the thought of needles in my eyes.I had trouble keeping my eyes still.I've had the procedure again and have more to face but I know I will manage better each time.Being able to hear.first hand accounts was an invaluable source of onformation.Many thanks to you all .
 
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