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New to site but not to T2
- Thread starter Jen1
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Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
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- She/Her
Hi Jen1
I assume you have had all the normal eye checks which you should expect, a retinal scan is the usual. Is your eye issue a new thing or are you having treatment for something already diagnosed.
A bit more information would help, what is your HbA1C and are you on any medication, what dietary regime are you following.
Almost certainly keeping your blood glucose levels under good control will help with any eye issues but it does depend on what specifically they are.
I assume you have had all the normal eye checks which you should expect, a retinal scan is the usual. Is your eye issue a new thing or are you having treatment for something already diagnosed.
A bit more information would help, what is your HbA1C and are you on any medication, what dietary regime are you following.
Almost certainly keeping your blood glucose levels under good control will help with any eye issues but it does depend on what specifically they are.
Oh Jen, sorry your having problems with your eyes… has this been diagnosed? If so what have you been told. Some vision problems can certainly improve with better control and are a result of temporary highs or a period of much reduced sugars. Any permanent damage I believe can be prevented from decline with tight control. However I’m not an expert on retinopathy I have had vision problems with incline and decline of sugars xx
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hi and welcome
So sorry to hear you are having problems with your sight as a result of your diabetes. Without knowing what the eye complications are, no one here can give any input, but hopefully you are getting treatment for the problem and your medical professionals at the eye clinic should be able to give you a prognosis, but getting your diabetes under better control will improve the chances of a better outcome for your sight and your health in general and we can help you with that.
Can you tell us a bit more about your diabetes. How long ago you were diagnosed and what your HbA1c results have been over the years? This is the blood test result which is used to diagnose and monitor your diabetes and will usually be a number of 48 or more but can be into 3 figures if things have gone particularly awry.
How did your diagnosis come about.... ie A routine blood test or were you symptomatic and if so, what were your symptoms?... or perhaps an opticians referral?
Are you on any medication and if so what?
What if any changes to your diet have you made? Unfortunately medication alone will rarely treat/control Type 2 and you need to make changes, ideally both to diet and activity levels. Unfortunately NHS advice has historically not been ideal when it comes to advice on diet for Type 2 diabetes and sadly still mostly lags behind modern thinking.
There are two main approaches which seem to help many people push Type 2 diabetes into remission....
!. A very low CALORIE diet to reduce visceral fat (the fat which develops around your organs and particularly the liver and pancreas in the case of diabetes) If you can lose 15kg via this method then there is a good chance you can push your diabetes into remission BUT you need to maintain the weight loss and if you have dieted before and then put the weight back on, this may not be a good approach for you.
2. A low CARBOHYDRATE way of eating. This will usually involve a big change in how you approach food and takes a bit of getting your head around it at first because it involves not only cutting out the sweet stuff but also significantly reducing the bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, couscous, breakfast cereals and basically anything made with grain flours and wholegrains as well as being very careful about portion size and type of fruits. This sounds really tough and it is in the beginning, but once you reduce the carbs significantly and learn how and what to eat without them, it stops the cravings, so it is actually easy to maintain long term and actually quite enjoyable.
I absolutely loved bread and potatoes as well as being a sugar addict and chocoholic pre-diagnosis, but I don't miss these things now or feel tempted and I really enjoy the food that I do eat and it keeps me from feeling hungry and wanting to snack all the time. I actually feel quite decadent following this way of eating because it allows me to have double cream in my morning coffee and steak and salad for breakfast if I fancy it or bacon and eggs or an omelette. Usually I just have creamy Greek natural yoghurt with a few berries and seeds but if I want the other things and can be bothered to cook them, I can have them. I often end the day with a nice chunk of cheese and a glass of red wine or port, so it's rather hard to feel deprived when I can eat and enjoy such foods. Those things might not appeal to you but there are lots of other low carb meal ideas here on the forum, so I am sure you could find some things that you would enjoy. What I love is that I am now much more in control of my disordered eating, I am slimmer than I have been for years and I feel fitter and healthier. I have even started running whereas I always found that really hard and not enjoyable at all. Anyway, all I wanted to say is that changing my way of eating to manage my diabetes better has improved my general health enormously and I wouldn't choose to go back to eating "normally" now even though I could.
Edited to replace the word "foods" with "fruits"
So sorry to hear you are having problems with your sight as a result of your diabetes. Without knowing what the eye complications are, no one here can give any input, but hopefully you are getting treatment for the problem and your medical professionals at the eye clinic should be able to give you a prognosis, but getting your diabetes under better control will improve the chances of a better outcome for your sight and your health in general and we can help you with that.
Can you tell us a bit more about your diabetes. How long ago you were diagnosed and what your HbA1c results have been over the years? This is the blood test result which is used to diagnose and monitor your diabetes and will usually be a number of 48 or more but can be into 3 figures if things have gone particularly awry.
How did your diagnosis come about.... ie A routine blood test or were you symptomatic and if so, what were your symptoms?... or perhaps an opticians referral?
Are you on any medication and if so what?
What if any changes to your diet have you made? Unfortunately medication alone will rarely treat/control Type 2 and you need to make changes, ideally both to diet and activity levels. Unfortunately NHS advice has historically not been ideal when it comes to advice on diet for Type 2 diabetes and sadly still mostly lags behind modern thinking.
There are two main approaches which seem to help many people push Type 2 diabetes into remission....
!. A very low CALORIE diet to reduce visceral fat (the fat which develops around your organs and particularly the liver and pancreas in the case of diabetes) If you can lose 15kg via this method then there is a good chance you can push your diabetes into remission BUT you need to maintain the weight loss and if you have dieted before and then put the weight back on, this may not be a good approach for you.
2. A low CARBOHYDRATE way of eating. This will usually involve a big change in how you approach food and takes a bit of getting your head around it at first because it involves not only cutting out the sweet stuff but also significantly reducing the bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, couscous, breakfast cereals and basically anything made with grain flours and wholegrains as well as being very careful about portion size and type of fruits. This sounds really tough and it is in the beginning, but once you reduce the carbs significantly and learn how and what to eat without them, it stops the cravings, so it is actually easy to maintain long term and actually quite enjoyable.
I absolutely loved bread and potatoes as well as being a sugar addict and chocoholic pre-diagnosis, but I don't miss these things now or feel tempted and I really enjoy the food that I do eat and it keeps me from feeling hungry and wanting to snack all the time. I actually feel quite decadent following this way of eating because it allows me to have double cream in my morning coffee and steak and salad for breakfast if I fancy it or bacon and eggs or an omelette. Usually I just have creamy Greek natural yoghurt with a few berries and seeds but if I want the other things and can be bothered to cook them, I can have them. I often end the day with a nice chunk of cheese and a glass of red wine or port, so it's rather hard to feel deprived when I can eat and enjoy such foods. Those things might not appeal to you but there are lots of other low carb meal ideas here on the forum, so I am sure you could find some things that you would enjoy. What I love is that I am now much more in control of my disordered eating, I am slimmer than I have been for years and I feel fitter and healthier. I have even started running whereas I always found that really hard and not enjoyable at all. Anyway, all I wanted to say is that changing my way of eating to manage my diabetes better has improved my general health enormously and I wouldn't choose to go back to eating "normally" now even though I could.
Edited to replace the word "foods" with "fruits"
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- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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- He/Him
Welcome to the forum @Jen1
First of all, a big (((hug))). Being told you have changes in your eyes can be very frightening.
Some of the letters to let you know that there are ‘background changes’ in your eyes are very badly written, and a bit doom-laden. So it’s important to know what ‘stage’ you have been notified of.
Retinopathy proceeds through a number of recognised phases, and there are effective treatments at each stage which can help, plus improving your blood glucose management and keeping your blood pressure on target can help slow any progression, and for some people, even see the initial signs of retinopathy disappear.
Can you remember exactly what the letter said, or what you were told by the opthalmologist?
First of all, a big (((hug))). Being told you have changes in your eyes can be very frightening.
Some of the letters to let you know that there are ‘background changes’ in your eyes are very badly written, and a bit doom-laden. So it’s important to know what ‘stage’ you have been notified of.
Retinopathy proceeds through a number of recognised phases, and there are effective treatments at each stage which can help, plus improving your blood glucose management and keeping your blood pressure on target can help slow any progression, and for some people, even see the initial signs of retinopathy disappear.
Can you remember exactly what the letter said, or what you were told by the opthalmologist?
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