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I need some advice please....

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Flora Peach

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I had my first eye test on Wednesday of this week since being diagnosed as pre-diabetic Type 2 HbA1 46 seven months ago. It all went well:no problems BUT my eyes are not working in the same way as before.
I know this may sound daft but as I have a lazy left eye (nobody thought to patch it as a child) my right eye has worked along side with it and has been doing most of the work, all my life.
Now it is as if they are not in sync with each other. I have to look and move my eyes around to get absolute clarity at what I am looking at e.g the television or down the garden. I suppose it is like when you get up in the morning and you are not seeing quite clearly until you wash or rub your eyes.
I'm really worried that the drops have somehow slightly changed the muscles in my eyes and my vision has changed.
I would be really grateful if anyone could give me some advice or their experiences.
Will my eyes return to normal over time??? What was in those drops?? I had a horrible headache for two days.
Help please.
 
Not very likely I wouldn't think but surely the best person to consult would be your optician as he will know what drops they were - I've never had to have drops in my eyes for any normal sight test, so what was he testing your eyes for?Before they invented retinal photography, occasionally my optician would ask if he could look at the back of my eyes for me, if I hadn't recently had it done by my D consultant. Was it actually a retinopathy check?

However - and this is important! - if your blood glucose goes up too high, such as in undiagnosed or not properly controlled diabetes - it is very very likely that your eyes will be affected and they stay that way until your BG is down to a proper level and has stayed there for a month or two.

Do you have a blood glucose meter, do you use it, and if so what BGs are you getting?
 
I have not experienced the drops causing problems apart from they pupils are wide open for the hours that the drops work for, I have to have two different types of drops when I have mine done and the one stings a fair bit but only for a few seconds.

As ones glucose levels rise the eyes do change as the liquid in the eye thickens up, which with happens me when my levels have been running high for a while which then requires a different lens prescription.

What would be a good idea is go to a opticians and make an appointment explaining what's happening. Eyes tests are free for diabetics, not sure if they need to fill in another form these days to claim the free eye test as it's been years since I was diagnosed.

If by chance you were given a glucose meter and test strips it would be good to see what sort of levels you are getting, but as a type 2 at a guess your GP did not provide you with these.
 
Go to your optician for a good check up firstly. A thought I have is that possibly you have dry eyes and this will make your vision go a tad funny as you describe. So simple remedy would be to go and get some eye ointment from the chemist and see if things improve.
 
Thank you so much for answering so promptly Trophywench, Pumper-Sue and Pav, and for all the advice.
The eye test was the retinopathy test with the stinging eye drops.
I do have a BS testing kit and my usual reading is between 5.1 up to 6.5 at differing times of the day.
I usually test before eating our evening meal and it is in the 5 region.
I thought I might ask our doctor if I could talk to the visiting optician who
administered the test at the surgery. Perhaps she might have heard of this happening before.
The Optician told me that the region behind the eye was normal with no problems there, but as I still had six odd hours to wait for the drops to wear off, I didn't know that my eyes were going to react like this.
I'm really worried that they won't go back to how they were last week.
Many thanks.
 
Do you test around 2 hours after eating? as that will give you the results of which foods do what to you. Make a note of what you eat when you get high spikes and then you can slowly work out which foods you need to reduce or cut out of your diet, like some people can't eat bananas as they are heavy in carbs espec when very ripe.

It takes hours for my eyes to return to normal thankfully the boss took me to my appointment and it was at the end of the day before I was normal.
 
Pav, thanks! You've just explained something I suspected but didn't know for sure. Since I was diagnosed last month, there has been a deterioration in my sight, but as the Metformin began to work, it didn't seem as bad. Now, it seems the dosage isn't enough to keep it or even get it below 8.6 min, it's becoming harder and harder to focus. It may be age, natural degeneration etc guess I'll know for sure on Monday morning after my first retinal neuropathy test. The drops sound scary.
As my father had glaucoma, I'm used to drops and puffs of pressurised air on my eyes, but nothing that can last a few hours or so. My eyesight is, to me, the most precious of all. 56, coming from a whole family who all wore glasses from early teens, Im the only one to ever wear reading glasses only with a very small script of 0.25 on the right eye and for close work only. Or, I did......
 
Flora Peach said:
Thank you so much for answering so promptly Trophywench, Pumper-Sue and Pav, and for all the advice.
The eye test was the retinopathy test with the stinging eye drops.
I do have a BS testing kit and my usual reading is between 5.1 up to 6.5 at differing times of the day.
I usually test before eating our evening meal and it is in the 5 region.
I thought I might ask our doctor if I could talk to the visiting optician who
administered the test at the surgery. Perhaps she might have heard of this happening before.
The Optician told me that the region behind the eye was normal with no problems there, but as I still had six odd hours to wait for the drops to wear off, I didn't know that my eyes were going to react like this.
I'm really worried that they won't go back to how they were last week.
Many thanks.
Click to expand...

Flora Peach - When you had your retinopathy exam done, with the drops, were you given a leaflet to take away with you, explaining the test and what to do afterwards? The one I receive, as well as describing which drops have been used on my eyes also details what I should do, should I have lingering issues after the test. That includes a telephone number I can call and where my nearest eye casualy is.

If you were given a leaflet on the day, maybe read it again and see if there's any guidance for you on it.
 
AndBreathe - firstly let me say a huge congratulation for the achievement of coming off the register and all the work you must have put in to get there !! Well done.
Thank you for the suggestion of contacting the people that carried out the test. I had forgotten about the leaflet they gave me. I don't have all the info that you mentioned, it just says that if I have certain reactions to the drops then what to do about it - mainly go to A&E. I couldn't justify taking up A&E time with a rotten headache, so although I had a rotten headache and felt sick, it wasn't as they suggested on the form - a severe headache or vomiting. I just put up with it instead - but - tomorrow I am going to phone the number on the leaflet and talk to them about my sight.
Thank you all for your replies. I'll let you know what happens.
 
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