Hi Happy New Year to you all. I was diagnosed in May 2022 via the optician - it turns out I have had diabetes for years without knowing and there is damage. I have had bleeds and floaters cloud my vision, plus blurry background. All very scary. I am having injections and have had laser - more of both to come. I am trying to be patient because I know it takes time for anything to settle, but find myself very anxious about the possibility of losing my sight and very reluctant to go anywhere after it gets dark (after 4.30!) in case I fall over. Any advice - especially success stories - or just a kind word would be appreciated.
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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Newly diagnosed - retinopathy and other eye complications.
- Thread starter Dexy1
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Leadinglights
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- Type 2
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One important think is to keep your blood glucose level well managed which is going to help long term, I hope your have been given advise on dietary changes. Are you on any medication and what is your HbA1C as that will help people give you suggestions.
There are a few people here who have had or are currently having eye treatments so hopefully they will be able to reassure you.
This link may help you with some dietary suggestions for reducing your carb intake though this may depend on what medications you are on. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
There are a few people here who have had or are currently having eye treatments so hopefully they will be able to reassure you.
This link may help you with some dietary suggestions for reducing your carb intake though this may depend on what medications you are on. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
rebrascora
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Hi and welcome and sending virtual (((HUGS)))
I don't have any personal experience of eye issues, so can't give you any reassurance from my own experience but I believe @Eddy Edson and @Lucyr have had work done on their eyes and will hopefully be able to give you some positive feedback. Apologies to either of those members if I have got that wrong.
One of the most important things to give your sight the best chance of recovery or at least reduce the risk of further deterioration is to manage your Blood Glucose (BG) levels well, now that you have been diagnosed.
How do you manage your diabetes? Are you just diet and exercise or do you also have medication to help and if so, which? The important thing to note is that lifestyle changes are as important as medication, when it comes to diabetes management, so don't rely on medication alone to deal with it. Changing your diet can benefit your health in lots of other ways too, so well worth putting some effort into it, if you haven't already. We can give you advice or suggestions on that if you would like.
Do you have a means of testing your BG levels at home and if so what sort of readings are you getting? If you don't home test, it is something that we are very keen to advocate here on the forum, because it allows you to see which foods cause you problems and which you can get away with and it can be quite variable from one diabetic to another, due to differences in metabolism and gut biome.
Hopefully you will get some reassurance from others who have been through eye injections/laser treatment.
I don't have any personal experience of eye issues, so can't give you any reassurance from my own experience but I believe @Eddy Edson and @Lucyr have had work done on their eyes and will hopefully be able to give you some positive feedback. Apologies to either of those members if I have got that wrong.
One of the most important things to give your sight the best chance of recovery or at least reduce the risk of further deterioration is to manage your Blood Glucose (BG) levels well, now that you have been diagnosed.
How do you manage your diabetes? Are you just diet and exercise or do you also have medication to help and if so, which? The important thing to note is that lifestyle changes are as important as medication, when it comes to diabetes management, so don't rely on medication alone to deal with it. Changing your diet can benefit your health in lots of other ways too, so well worth putting some effort into it, if you haven't already. We can give you advice or suggestions on that if you would like.
Do you have a means of testing your BG levels at home and if so what sort of readings are you getting? If you don't home test, it is something that we are very keen to advocate here on the forum, because it allows you to see which foods cause you problems and which you can get away with and it can be quite variable from one diabetic to another, due to differences in metabolism and gut biome.
Hopefully you will get some reassurance from others who have been through eye injections/laser treatment.
Eddy Edson
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- In remission from Type 2
Hi!
I,m guessing you have both diabetic macular oedema (injections) and proliferative retinopathy (laser)? Or no?
Anyway, I'm coming to the end (hopefully) of a course of Eylea injections for the first of these (don't have the second). They work really well but you need to have several injections over the course of a few months, as I'm sure you know. I've had 5 so far and the oedema is almost gone now - hooray!
Retinopathy can cause oedema at any stage - so for me it happened with just non-proliferative background retinopathy which I don't need any treatment for. So can't comment on lasers, sorry. But from all accounts they work well for halting progression.
As I'm sure you would have been told, controlling your BG, blood pressure and cholesterol levels are all important for management.
I found www.eyewiki.org to be a really good resource for eye stuff.
Good luck! Stick with the treatments and follow the medical advice, and you should be fine.
I,m guessing you have both diabetic macular oedema (injections) and proliferative retinopathy (laser)? Or no?
Anyway, I'm coming to the end (hopefully) of a course of Eylea injections for the first of these (don't have the second). They work really well but you need to have several injections over the course of a few months, as I'm sure you know. I've had 5 so far and the oedema is almost gone now - hooray!
Retinopathy can cause oedema at any stage - so for me it happened with just non-proliferative background retinopathy which I don't need any treatment for. So can't comment on lasers, sorry. But from all accounts they work well for halting progression.
As I'm sure you would have been told, controlling your BG, blood pressure and cholesterol levels are all important for management.
I found www.eyewiki.org to be a really good resource for eye stuff.
Good luck! Stick with the treatments and follow the medical advice, and you should be fine.
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Thank you all so much. It has really helped me tonight to find these replies. I had my second injection on Tuesday and the doctor really emphasised sugar control - which I know - but I really felt he was worried. I don't know him - I have had a different doctor each time and I think the fact I must have had undiagnosed diabetes for years is confusing if they haven't had time to read all the notes, so it may look like I have been having medication for years and it's not working. I have been on metformin for 6 months, 3 tablets a day and I am having my first blood test next week to see how it goes. I have lost almost a stone during the six months and have changed my diet a great deal, but hid my head in the sand a bit about really understanding what I should avoid. I have started to change that - joining the group and doing the education. I wasn't told to test myself - and the thought of it makes me feel ill - but I will ask the doctor when I get my results.
Really pleased that eye injections have gone well for Eddy.
Thanks again for your support - really appreciate it.
Really pleased that eye injections have gone well for Eddy.
Thanks again for your support - really appreciate it.
Leadinglights
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You would benefit from testing your blood glucose with a home monitor as it is important to get your blood glucose well managed as soon as possible.
If you can tolerate the eye injection then doing a finger prick is many times less bad. It really does not hurt at all, a paper cut hurts far more, as long as you get your technique right and you only need a drop of blood the size of a pin head not an arm full.
Well done on the weight loss, I'm sure that will help.
Eddy Edson
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- In remission from Type 2
On self testing: apart from anything else, it can give you some confidence that you have a measure of control over things, if you approach it sensibly: look at the trend over time, not so much day to day variations; use it to see what particular meals and exercise do to yr BG and adjust things accordingly; etc.
It's really just a little prick, but I can understand how you might not like the idea. If you start a separate thread called eg "Thought of self-testing makes me feel sick" you'll probably get some useful replies from people who have had the same kind of feelings about it.
Ayway, god luck with your blood test. I'm sure you'll see some improvements.
Drummer
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- Type 2
When first diagnosed I was told that there was some background retinopathy detected at the first check, but at the second and all subsequent checks all has been normal.
I did check my blood glucose levels during the first weeks fairly consistently so I was absolutely certain about the choices I was making, but once I knew that a certain meal was OK I stopped testing it, and gradually tapered off the tests, only checking if I ate something different. These days I check maybe a couple of times a year.
Achieving normal glucose levels after having elevated ones made me feel so much better, and I have lost weight and changed shape too.
I did check my blood glucose levels during the first weeks fairly consistently so I was absolutely certain about the choices I was making, but once I knew that a certain meal was OK I stopped testing it, and gradually tapered off the tests, only checking if I ate something different. These days I check maybe a couple of times a year.
Achieving normal glucose levels after having elevated ones made me feel so much better, and I have lost weight and changed shape too.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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- He/Him
Sorry you’ve had such a rough start to your diabetes career @Dexy1
It’s not all that uncommon to go for quite some time with diabetes before realising something is wrong though. Diabetes can come on quite slowly, and some people have few if any symptoms, apart from feeling a bit worn down and lethargic. Some research by Diabetes UK suggests there might be hundreds of thousands of people in the UK who are living with diabetes but don’t yet know it. It’s one of the things that those general health checkups can be good for as people get older.
Congratulations on the weight loss - that’s sure to help in all sorts of ways. 🙂
One thing it might be worth bearing in mind given the changes to your eyes, is that it is much kinder on the fine blood vessels in the retina to reduce elevated BG levels gradually over an period of months, rather than trying to get back down to ‘normal’ levels too quickly. Metformin can help with that as it works in the background to gently improve insulin resistance and reduce glucose output from the liver, but don’t fret if your HbA1c comes down towards the recommended range in a series of gradual steps rather than in big jumps, because that’s likely to be better for your eyes.
I think @Flower and @Northerner may also have had experience of eye laser surgery and may be able to share experiences.
It’s not all that uncommon to go for quite some time with diabetes before realising something is wrong though. Diabetes can come on quite slowly, and some people have few if any symptoms, apart from feeling a bit worn down and lethargic. Some research by Diabetes UK suggests there might be hundreds of thousands of people in the UK who are living with diabetes but don’t yet know it. It’s one of the things that those general health checkups can be good for as people get older.
Congratulations on the weight loss - that’s sure to help in all sorts of ways. 🙂
One thing it might be worth bearing in mind given the changes to your eyes, is that it is much kinder on the fine blood vessels in the retina to reduce elevated BG levels gradually over an period of months, rather than trying to get back down to ‘normal’ levels too quickly. Metformin can help with that as it works in the background to gently improve insulin resistance and reduce glucose output from the liver, but don’t fret if your HbA1c comes down towards the recommended range in a series of gradual steps rather than in big jumps, because that’s likely to be better for your eyes.
I think @Flower and @Northerner may also have had experience of eye laser surgery and may be able to share experiences.
Pumper_Sue
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
@Dexy1 welcome to the forum I'm sure you must be very worried as a lot to take in and anything to do with your sight is very scary.
Please do be very careful when lowering your blood sugar as doing it rapidly can cause more problems, so slow but surely is the best way to go.
If you are a driver you must inform the DVLA that you have had treatment in both eyes.
Please do be very careful when lowering your blood sugar as doing it rapidly can cause more problems, so slow but surely is the best way to go.
If you are a driver you must inform the DVLA that you have had treatment in both eyes.
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