Newbie - eyes and prescription changed

S

SuperCat

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Previously posted as a newbie - Hba1c was 96, possible borderline BP (doing a week of measurements now) Diagnosed 2.5 weeks ago, made instant change in diet by cutting back massively on carbs and eating small amounts of 'good carbs '. Started on Metformin and Forxiga last week. BMI 26.6, already 2kg down.

I had a routine eye check in December and, as usual after a couple of years, I needed a stronger prescription. However in the last two weeks my glasses haven't been doing the job so I had an appointment with the optician who said my prescription has actually improved and my current glasses are 'too strong ' and that possibly at Christmas my eyes were being affected by the diabetes. He suggested waiting a while for everything to settle down and then rechecking. I was fine with that as I have quite a high prescription and lenses are super expensive. But I'm really struggling. I have read that decreasing blood glucose can cause a change in sight. Does this settle and how long does it take ?

I had an retinal eye map which showed the floaters I have but nothing else and I'm due to have my first retinal screening at the hospital in a month.

Sorry for the long post!!
 
Dropping BG levels too quickly can affect the eyes, which is why we advise people to not cut the carbs by too much and too quickly. Opticians do tend to advise against a new prescription until things have settled down. At one point I needed to put my reading glasses on just to watch tv. Now I don't need reading glasses at all, and I sometimes get in the car and I'm halfway down the road before I realise that I'm not wearing my glasses, such is the change in my eyesight. It was a while ago but I seem to recall my optician saying I should have a new eye test after 3 months.
 
I'd wait. My eyesight had gone really bad, I couldn't even read menus in takeaways or number plates. I was going to get an eye test, but got diagnosed with diabetes first. It happened a few months before I was diagnosed.

It went back to normal after a few weeks and my last eye test only showed a slight change from the one six years ago (3 years before diabetes).
 
Mine took several months to settle down but hung off considering new glasses as mine are also mega bucks. In the end I did have a slight change but not enough to warrant changing but a year later it was more significant so I did get new glasses and was £700 lighter.
 
It is a good idea to wait whilst you are making changes to diet etc. It takes a bit of time to settle, and I used reading glasses as necessary whilst I waited.

It sounds like you have a good optician. When I was diagnosed my optician had just replaced the lenses. He later replaced the lenses for free once things had settled, as they felt that they should have picked up the big change at the previous test.
 
SuperCat said:
He suggested waiting a while for everything to settle down and then rechecking. I was fine with that as I have quite a high prescription and lenses are super expensive. But I'm really struggling. I have read that decreasing blood glucose can cause a change in sight. Does this settle and how long does it take ?
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Sorry to hear about the changes in your vision. It can be a bit of a pain after a new diagnosis. As I understand it the pressure in your eyes if different at high glucose levels and the shape of the eyeball changes slightly, but this usually happens over a long period of time and the brain adapts, keeping things in focus.

Then when people get a diagnosis and start reducing their glucose levels, the eyes return to their proper shape again, bit often more quickly - and it takes a while for the brain to adjust and adapt.

As others have said, it can take 2-3 months for things to settle.

Hope it’s not too difficult for you in the meantime! And well done for your weight loss too 🙂
 
Leadinglights said:
Mine took several months to settle down but hung off considering new glasses as mine are also mega bucks. In the end I did have a slight change but not enough to warrant changing but a year later it was more significant so I did get new glasses and was £700 lighter.
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Exactly - mine are that expensive!! Looks like will just have to be patient......
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Sorry to hear about the changes in your vision. It can be a bit of a pain after a new diagnosis. As I understand it the pressure in your eyes if different at high glucose levels and the shape of the eyeball changes slightly, but this usually happens over a long period of time and the brain adapts, keeping things in focus.

Then when people get a diagnosis and start reducing their glucose levels, the eyes return to their proper shape again, bit often more quickly - and it takes a while for the brain to adjust and adapt.

As others have said, it can take 2-3 months for things to settle.

Hope it’s not too difficult for you in the meantime! And well done for your weight loss too 🙂
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Thank you. I think I have been in denial about what diabetes actually means and it's things like this that make you realise that high blood sugar really does have so many effects on the body!
 
This post has been very informative. I knew about the diabetic retinopathy and thankfully the eye test a few months ago was fine. I didn't realise it also affects your daily vision. I am due a normal eye test later this month. Currently wearing varifocals and last test 3 years ago. Vision has got worse but wandering now whether to defer until bs levels down to a better level.
 
silver minion said:
This post has been very informative. I knew about the diabetic retinopathy and thankfully the eye test a few months ago was fine. I didn't realise it also affects your daily vision. I am due a normal eye test later this month. Currently wearing varifocals and last test 3 years ago. Vision has got worse but wandering now whether to defer until bs levels down to a better level.
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The delay sounds like it would be good money saving plan.
 
As I have a new optician I will get get the test done so I have a comparative baseline but maybe just get a budget pair of reading glasses until my bs range is close to 50 (HbA1c). Then retest and get new glasses then. Thanks for the advice
 
Martin.A said:
Dropping BG levels too quickly can affect the eyes, which is why we advise people to not cut the carbs by too much and too quickly. Opticians do tend to advise against a new prescription until things have settled down. At one point I needed to put my reading glasses on just to watch tv. Now I don't need reading glasses at all, and I sometimes get in the car and I'm halfway down the road before I realise that I'm not wearing my glasses, such is the change in my eyesight. It was a while ago but I seem to recall my optician saying I should have a new eye test after 3 months.
Click to expand...
This is going to sound like a silly question. If your BG drops quickly why does it effect your eyes? I always thought your eyes were effected if your BG is high. Also can your eyes recover from low BG? I ask because I have just been put on Mounjaro and my fasting BG has dropped overnight from 6.00-6.8 to 4.00- 5.5.
 
User name taken said:
This is going to sound like a silly question. If your BG drops quickly why does it effect your eyes? I always thought your eyes were effected if your BG is high. Also can your eyes recover from low BG? I ask because I have just been put on Mounjaro and my fasting BG has dropped overnight from 6.00-6.8 to 4.00- 5.5.
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It is because when blood glucose increases it is generally over a long period of time so the brain adjusts to the fact that the environment in the eye has changed and the shape of the eye alters changing the focal length, but when blood glucose drops quickly as a result of taking medication and dietary changes, the eye environment goes back to the normal 'salty' and the brain needs to adjust.
It does not happen in everyone and if it does it lasts for different lengths of time.
 
Thank you so much.. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen to me... It's my biggest fear damaging my eyes.. I'm finding I have to eat more carbs under the new meds to keep my sugars above 4.
Do you know if 4 is OK for a BG finger prick check?
 
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