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Just diagnosed will my blurry vision improve

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sunshinesetter

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I googled blurry vision and diabetes came up and all the other symptoms for diabetes I am experiencing. Spoke to Dr on Monday had blood test Wednesday and call next day evening to confirm Type 2 diabetes.
My blood sugar is 19 and my HBA1C is 109 and cholesterol slightly high.I have been prescribed 500mg slow release Metformin for 10 days then to increase to 2 a day with further blood test in a month.
Trying to understand the changes I need to make and have some recipe books arriving today from Amazon .I am really struggling with the blurred vision at the moment.Can cope with toilet trips every 1 to 2 hours day and night which isn't helping the tiredness and the thrush but finding the change in sight hard.
If anyone has had experience of this and could reassure me that it will improve fairly quickly I will be happy.The Dr said the frequent weeing will get better but I forgot to ask about the eyes.I gave up alcohol a little while ago and was pleased with myself but now the soft drinks I like are not really allowed .Have just had water and green tea the last few days.Any suggestions for other drinks please?
Apologies for long post but newly diagnosed and worried .
Thank you
 
Good morning @sunshinesetter and welcome to the forum.

There is a pretty good chance that getting your blood glucose levels down will lead to all round improvements, including your vision. No guarantee but the odds are on it.

A HbA1c of 109 is high and most would be having diabetes symptoms at that level. What you need to do is to work out what strategy you are going to use to get it down to normal levels. This usually involves a combination of dietary changes, loosing weight if you need to, increasing exercise and medication. If you read around the forum and look at the learning zone you will find more detail about these approaches and work out the best combination that will suit you. Above all ask questions on here about things you do not understand. We have a lot of members who have got their levels down from three figures by one means or another and they will be happy to share their experiences from which you can sort out the approach that will suit you best.
 
Thank you for your help. I am losing weight slowly.It helped when I cut out alcohol and chocolate.Lost just over a stone since July.I joined a gym beginning of the year after struggling with long covid and trying to be fitter but I have found it hard as I have back problems that flare up at times.I am lucky that my husband loves cooking and is already looking at adapting recipes for me.
Early days for me but I will look at the Learning Zone for ideas .Thank you
 
Well done on your weight loss. 🙂
 
Congratulations on your weight loss from me as well. Whatever you are doing can I suggest you keep it up! And congratulations on cutting out the alcohol. I'm no teetotal evangelist but one thing I do know is that on balance alcohol does far more harm than good to a lot more than your blood glucose levels.

I would also suggest that you look at your diet, that is what you eat as well as how much. As you educate yourself you will find that a big problem for T2 diabetics is carbohydrate intake because it is the carbohydrate that is turned into the blood glucose that your system is having problems in dealing with. Many of us have found that a reduction in carbohydrate intake has led to a reduction in blood glucose levels and for lots of us (including me) it has been the key to getting back to normality both by helping with weight reduction and glucose production. No need to go to extremes, at least for most of us, just need to get the carb intake to a level which gives you the control you need.
 
sunshinesetter said:
I gave up alcohol a little while ago and was pleased with myself but now the soft drinks I like are not really allowed .Have just had water and green tea the last few days.Any suggestions for other drinks please?
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What kind of drinks did you like before? There’s loads of sugar free soft drinks available, just stay away from full sugar drinks, natural fruit juices and smoothies.
 
Thank you I've been researching this forum and have started my diabetes book.With foods to eat freely,foods to watch and foods to avoid.Starting a shopping list to help.I will miss jacket potatoes and the occasional biscuit.Have to read the labels on my cereal bars Grandson is trying to clear and keep what he thinks is bad for me .Confused over grapes and sweet potatoes not sure if they are OK or not?
 
Lucyr said:
What kind of drinks did you like before? There’s loads of sugar free soft drinks available, just stay away from full sugar drinks, natural fruit juices and smoothies.
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Diet cokes and tangos and grape sodas.Can I still have any of those do you think?
 
With really high blood sugar I’d stay away from grapes until your levels come down and try some berries instead. Fresh can be expensive but you can get frozen ones. I like frozen raspberries in yoghurt or in jelly.

Sorry I’ve no idea what grape soda is but Diet Coke doesn’t have any carbs, and tango just make sure you get the sugar free one.
 
I have very poor eyesight and my distance vision had gone a bit blurry, which is pretty normal for me as it was a few years since my last eye test. At that point the optician said I'd need varifocals the next time as my near vision was getting a bit difficult. Anyway, 2-3 years later my near vision was fine but distance vision had gone a bit blurry. I assumed it was just natural, and was planning to get another eye test.

However, the Big D was diagnosed so I didn't book an eyetest. After two weeks of low carb diet I walked to the end of our street where we have a view of the city centre and its skyline, and I noticed that I could see it all clearly without any blurring. In fact it was pin-sharp. Near vision has gone back to how it was for my last eye test, perhaps worse...

So the answer is that yes, it should improve when you get sugars down.
 
sunshinesetter said:
Thank you about the grapes and I'll check my diet drink label for carbs
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I have sparking flavoured water which is very refreshing and lots of flavours available.
You can have protein nut bars, Nature Valley, KIND or shop own are all less than 10g carb per bar.
Butternut squash is a good substitute for potatoes or sweet potatoes or celeriac, which can be roasted or mashed.
This link may also help you and your husband with some meal ideas and some do's and don'ts. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
 
harbottle said:
I have very poor eyesight and my distance vision had gone a bit blurry, which is pretty normal for me as it was a few years since my last eye test. At that point the optician said I'd need varifocals the next time as my near vision was getting a bit difficult. Anyway, 2-3 years later my near vision was fine but distance vision had gone a bit blurry. I assumed it was just natural, and was planning to get another eye test.

However, the Big D was diagnosed so I didn't book an eyetest. After two weeks of low carb diet I walked to the end of our street where we have a view of the city centre and its skyline, and I noticed that I could see it all clearly without any blurring. In fact it was pin-sharp. Near vision has gone back to how it was for my last eye test, perhaps worse...

So the answer is that yes, it should improve when you get sugars down.
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Thank you that is so reassuring It has been worrying me
 
Your vision will change.
You don't mention if you normally wear glasses or not, but hang on either way.
Don't rush to bring your BG down dramatically.
Your eyes have been affected by a slow increase to a higher BG level, they need a slow decrease, not a rapid crash.
 
travellor said:
Your vision will change.
You don't mention if you normally wear glasses or not, but hang on either way.
Don't rush to bring your BG down dramatically.
Your eyes have been affected by a slow increase to a higher BG level, they need a slow decrease, not a rapid crash.
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Yes I wear variofocal glasses and have done for many years .Interesting point about bringing sugar level down slowly.Thank you
 
sunshinesetter said:
Yes I wear variofocal glasses and have done for many years .Interesting point about bringing sugar level down slowly.Thank you
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That is something I didn't realise until I read on here, I had reduced my carb intake very dramatically and after a couple of months my near vision was awful, things out of focus and my eyes didn't seem to work together. Oddly my distance was fine. It took several months to improve. I also wear varifocals so was pleased they did settle down as I didn't fancy paying the cost of new ones only to have them change again so pleased I hung off visiting the optician.
It is because as the eye environment changes back to being normal which is salty having been 'sugary' due to high blood glucose, the shape changes so the focal length changes. It was probably less noticeable when your blood glucose started to increase which also would have altered the shape because it happened slowly.
An optician shouldn't change somebody's prescription in a newly diagnosed diabetic until their eyes have settled down so people must tell them.
People are often diagnosed following a visit to their optician.
 
That’s a great tip about not going to the optician too soon until your eyes settle down! I had been considering it as my eye sight was a bit “off” and my passion is photography so it has that added importance to me - I know, it is important anyway but it has that extra bit for me .

So pleased I’ve found this forum!
 
KJSkinner said:
That’s a great tip about not going to the optician too soon until your eyes settle down! I had been considering it as my eye sight was a bit “off” and my passion is photography so it has that added importance to me - I know, it is important anyway but it has that extra bit for me .

So pleased I’ve found this forum!
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I had the same as I do stained -glass work and I was really struggling to get my work neat.
 
Leadinglights said:
I had the same as I do stained -glass work and I was really struggling to get my work neat.
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It brings it home on how we take these things for granted, doesn’t it? Do you have examples of your Stained Glass work? I find that kind of inspiring
 
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