hello one and all have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in total shock,never had to take medication in my life except for antibiotics ect just dont understand how this has all come about. been on medication for 2 and half weeks fed up .had to come off them as my vision is going weird.
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newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes
- Thread starter beachy6
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Leadinglights
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Welcome to the forum
Your vision going weird is something that can happen when your blood glucose drops quickly as a result of doing what you need to do in taking the medication and reducing carbohydrates in your diet. Your eyes had most likely changed when you blood glucose level went up but because it happened slowly you may not have noticed but is is because the shape of the eye changes as the eye environment is sugary but then as your blood glucose reduces the eye environment changes back to the usual salty so the shape changes again so the focal length is different. Your vision usually will return to normal but can take a few weeks if you are lucky to a few months for some people.
Bringing your blood glucose down more slowly can help to prevent that happening.
It is probably not the medication per say but it's effect on your blood glucose level.
What was your HbA1C which has given you your diagnosis , and have you made any dietary changes, I assume the medication was metformin.
Do have a read of the Learning Zone and also this link might help you find a way forward to making dietary changes.
lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk
Your vision going weird is something that can happen when your blood glucose drops quickly as a result of doing what you need to do in taking the medication and reducing carbohydrates in your diet. Your eyes had most likely changed when you blood glucose level went up but because it happened slowly you may not have noticed but is is because the shape of the eye changes as the eye environment is sugary but then as your blood glucose reduces the eye environment changes back to the usual salty so the shape changes again so the focal length is different. Your vision usually will return to normal but can take a few weeks if you are lucky to a few months for some people.
Bringing your blood glucose down more slowly can help to prevent that happening.
It is probably not the medication per say but it's effect on your blood glucose level.
What was your HbA1C which has given you your diagnosis , and have you made any dietary changes, I assume the medication was metformin.
Do have a read of the Learning Zone and also this link might help you find a way forward to making dietary changes.
Freshwell Low Carb Project - Home
lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk
Windy
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Hi Beachy6, sorry to hear about your diagnosis and the shock it's given you. Sadly, we've all been through it and know it isn't easy, but that doesn't make it any easier for you.
I appreciate that you don't want to be taking medication, but, as Leadinglights says, the eye issues are the glucose levels dropping in your body as a result of the medication, but you need to know that reducing the high glucose levels is beneficial.
Please can you talk to your GP/nurse about dropping the medication, as they will be able to discuss the benefits/downsides to taking them. If you have persistently high BG levels, it can cause other problems and complications in your body. Complications aren't good, google diabetes complications if you want to find out what they might be.
Blurry eyes is usually temporary and resolves itself within a few weeks/months. You need to weigh up what you think's best, but if it were me, I'd favour short term blurry eyes over potential long term damage to my body. I've been taking metformin for 6 months, and got my BG levels down with diet changes, weight loss and metformin.
Please be cautious and look after yourself. You have it in your power to put the brakes on with your diabetes, and medication is part of that.
Sarah
I appreciate that you don't want to be taking medication, but, as Leadinglights says, the eye issues are the glucose levels dropping in your body as a result of the medication, but you need to know that reducing the high glucose levels is beneficial.
Please can you talk to your GP/nurse about dropping the medication, as they will be able to discuss the benefits/downsides to taking them. If you have persistently high BG levels, it can cause other problems and complications in your body. Complications aren't good, google diabetes complications if you want to find out what they might be.
Blurry eyes is usually temporary and resolves itself within a few weeks/months. You need to weigh up what you think's best, but if it were me, I'd favour short term blurry eyes over potential long term damage to my body. I've been taking metformin for 6 months, and got my BG levels down with diet changes, weight loss and metformin.
Please be cautious and look after yourself. You have it in your power to put the brakes on with your diabetes, and medication is part of that.
Sarah
rebrascora
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Hi and welcome from me too.
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but you are in good company here on the forum and we will do our best to support and advise you as we have been there and got the T-shirt.
As @Leadinglights has said, the vision distortion is almost certainly an indication that the medication is helping to do it's job and bringing your Blood Glucose (BG) levels down and is something that will slowly rectify as your body gets used to normal BG levels. Many of us invested in ready reader specs from the Pound shop or similar to tide us over. Unless you have money to burn, it is pointless getting prescription glasses as they will only last a few months until your eyes readjust. It is frustrating though so can sympathize.
If your HbA1c result was very high then it would be important to continue the medication as those high levels are putting your sight at risk of more serious long term damage. Do you know what your result was? It is the blood test result which is used to diagnose diabetes and will usually be a number in excess of 47 but can be up into 3 figures if things are particularly awry. The higher the number, the more at risk your fine blood vessels (particularly those in your eyes and feet) are of damage.
What if any dietary advice have you been given and what is the medication you were prescribed?
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but you are in good company here on the forum and we will do our best to support and advise you as we have been there and got the T-shirt.
As @Leadinglights has said, the vision distortion is almost certainly an indication that the medication is helping to do it's job and bringing your Blood Glucose (BG) levels down and is something that will slowly rectify as your body gets used to normal BG levels. Many of us invested in ready reader specs from the Pound shop or similar to tide us over. Unless you have money to burn, it is pointless getting prescription glasses as they will only last a few months until your eyes readjust. It is frustrating though so can sympathize.
If your HbA1c result was very high then it would be important to continue the medication as those high levels are putting your sight at risk of more serious long term damage. Do you know what your result was? It is the blood test result which is used to diagnose diabetes and will usually be a number in excess of 47 but can be up into 3 figures if things are particularly awry. The higher the number, the more at risk your fine blood vessels (particularly those in your eyes and feet) are of damage.
What if any dietary advice have you been given and what is the medication you were prescribed?
harbottle
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Persist - my vision improved around 3 weeks after diagnosis, dieting and taking Metformin. (I have poor eyesight anyway, and hadn't even noticed it had gone bad - I just assumed I needed an eye test as it had been 3 years since my last one!)
hi thankyou very much for your replys much appreciated. i really was frightened that i was going blind,
i did not stop the medication myself,the doctors surgery said although they had never heard of metformin causing eye problems i had to stop taking them monday just gone, and they would ring me friday to see if anything had improved.
if it hadnt then they would know it wasnt the metformin. if they had told me what you have told me about the vision changing as blood sugar levels come down i would not have been so alarmed.
how i was diagnosed was we have just changed doctors,and they rang me to go and have a bllod test as apparently in 2019 i had a blood test for something and it showed pre diabetes(all news to me )i can only sumise that i must have been under the impression as i have always have been that no news is good news, so if the docs didnt ring i was ok, in hindsight i now know i should have rang for the results.
i think the doctor said my sugar was 153 and should have been between 70 and 90 i am 67 so dont know if that has anything to do with it, i asked last week for a sugar testing kit as i have read about doing daily checks online but was told only people with type one diabetes has to have them . but yeaterday i went for another blood test and the nurse told me that was wrong.
i did not take myself off the medication the surgery rang monday and told me to stop taking the medication till this friday to see if vision had improved. if it had not then they would know it was not the metformin causing it . i will let you know what they say when they ring friday. once again thanks for all your advise i feel a bit calmer now i know it is part of the process of getting diabetes correct regards to all
i did not stop the medication myself,the doctors surgery said although they had never heard of metformin causing eye problems i had to stop taking them monday just gone, and they would ring me friday to see if anything had improved.
if it hadnt then they would know it wasnt the metformin. if they had told me what you have told me about the vision changing as blood sugar levels come down i would not have been so alarmed.
how i was diagnosed was we have just changed doctors,and they rang me to go and have a bllod test as apparently in 2019 i had a blood test for something and it showed pre diabetes(all news to me )i can only sumise that i must have been under the impression as i have always have been that no news is good news, so if the docs didnt ring i was ok, in hindsight i now know i should have rang for the results.
i think the doctor said my sugar was 153 and should have been between 70 and 90 i am 67 so dont know if that has anything to do with it, i asked last week for a sugar testing kit as i have read about doing daily checks online but was told only people with type one diabetes has to have them . but yeaterday i went for another blood test and the nurse told me that was wrong.
i did not take myself off the medication the surgery rang monday and told me to stop taking the medication till this friday to see if vision had improved. if it had not then they would know it was not the metformin causing it . i will let you know what they say when they ring friday. once again thanks for all your advise i feel a bit calmer now i know it is part of the process of getting diabetes correct regards to all
Windy
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I'm glad that you changed doctors, otherwise it wouldn't have been picked up at all by the sound of it. Sorry to hear your previous doctors didn't tell you you were prediabetic, I know that the NHS is busy, but it's still poor that no one told you.
I bought my own blood glucose monitor (a gluco navii, from Amazon), and got the nurse at my surgery to do the first test with me as I was nervous. She told me that they could have supplied one, so it seems very variable if they do or don't.
Let us know how you get on. Best wishes, Sarah
I bought my own blood glucose monitor (a gluco navii, from Amazon), and got the nurse at my surgery to do the first test with me as I was nervous. She told me that they could have supplied one, so it seems very variable if they do or don't.
Let us know how you get on. Best wishes, Sarah
Leadinglights
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I think you may have misheard as your HbA1C blood test should be below 42mmol/mol to be normal, between 42 ad 47mmol/mol would give you a prediabetic diagnosis and over 48mmol/mol a diabetes diagnosis, nothing to do with how old you are. So if you were told it was 153 then I am surprised that you were not experiencing some unpleasant symptoms. And also being but on metformin and potentially other medication would be expected. A level as high as 153 is not good to have for any length of time and even if you go back on the metformin you will need to make some dietary changes.
There are some GP that will prescribe a monitor but unless you are on certain medication that could cause low blood glucose (hypos) many people do self fund.
rebrascora
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I was wondering if @beachy6 was perhaps in the USA rather than the UK and they were using their alternative units of mg/dl or whatever it is with those readings mentioned.
Leadinglights
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Good thought.
hello no i am in the uk
hello i have had no symptoms at all that is why it was such a shock,i will ask again on friday for the reading as i may have misheard, i dont think i took everything in that day i was told to go on a low sugar diet and excersise more .
rebrascora
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We all know what it is like at those early appointments when you know nothing and half of what you are told just doesn't make any sense because yu don't understand it. That is one of the great functions of the forum, to fill in some of the blanks as those appointments are so short and lots to fit into them.
You might want to be aware that it is not just sugar which we as diabetics have issues with. The body breaks down all carbohydrates into glucose in the digestive process and that glucose is absorbed into the blood stream to provide energy. Unfortunately, with diabetes the cells of our bodies which need it are unable to access that glucose as efficiently as they should and so too much of it gets left in our blood stream where it can, over time cause problems, particularly in the very fine/fragile blood vessels in our eyes and the ones in our feet where the blood flow is perhaps not as strong as other parts of the body..... one of the reasons why getting out and walking regularly can be so helpful if you are able as it stimulates the blood flow and keeps the tissue in the feet healthier.
Anyway, reducing the portion size of all the carbs you eat as well as cutting the sugar down to an absolute minimum will make a big difference. So just having one slice of bread instead of 2 and/or swapping to a lower carb bread. Having less tatties and pasta and rice and filling up with more veg and protein and perhaps surprisingly, fat. The good thing about fat is that it slows down your digestive system, so not only is it slow to digest itself but it slows down any carbs you eat with it and because it slows down the digestion, it keeps you feeling full for longer, so you are less tempted to snack between meals and it really can help prevent food cravings. The low fat foods that we have been eating for years may actually have done the opposite of what was intended and led people to become overweight/obese and perhaps diabetic too. When foods are stripped of their natural fat (yoghurt is a very good example) the manufacturers add starches (carbs) and sugars (carbs) to make them thicker and more appetizing so the low fat yoghurt becomes higher in carbs and they lost the fat which slows the digestion. As a result, we started wanting foods sweeter than they naturally should be because we were getting used to that sweet taste and we didn't have the fat to keep us full so we were hungry more quickly and were looking for snacks..... and of course snacks are more carbs, so we end up in a vicious cycle of eat carbs, feel hungry 2 hours later so eat more carbs, hungry again so those low fat foods have caused us to eat far more food in general and carbs in particular than we would have with the full fat version. It amazes me since I started eating full fat produce, how I just don't feel hungry anymore and sometimes just 2 meals a day are enough. What I love is that I now have control over my food intake and comfort eating in a way that I haven't had for decades, because I just don't get those knuckle chewing cravings anymore.
I cook my veg in a knob of real butter and I have cream in my morning coffee and I have whole (blue top) milk in my tea creamy natural Greek yoghurt for my breakfast and I eat full fat tasty cheeses like mature cheddar and blue stilton sometimes on veggies and sometimes just on their own or perhaps with a glass of red wine. Of course you might prefer a milder cheese, but do be aware that the sweet ones with fruit will contain carbs and need to be restricted, whereas a good mature cheddar has pretty well no carbs at all.
Anyway, hopefully that gives you a little insight into cutting down on carbs and perhaps switching to full fat produce to reduce your Blood Glucose levels and reduce the amount you need to eat in general. Many of us found that we lost weight by cutting the carbs for our diabetes without even thinking about trying to lose weight.... it just happened! To stabilize my weight now that I am at a normal BMI I just eat a bit more fat.
You might want to be aware that it is not just sugar which we as diabetics have issues with. The body breaks down all carbohydrates into glucose in the digestive process and that glucose is absorbed into the blood stream to provide energy. Unfortunately, with diabetes the cells of our bodies which need it are unable to access that glucose as efficiently as they should and so too much of it gets left in our blood stream where it can, over time cause problems, particularly in the very fine/fragile blood vessels in our eyes and the ones in our feet where the blood flow is perhaps not as strong as other parts of the body..... one of the reasons why getting out and walking regularly can be so helpful if you are able as it stimulates the blood flow and keeps the tissue in the feet healthier.
Anyway, reducing the portion size of all the carbs you eat as well as cutting the sugar down to an absolute minimum will make a big difference. So just having one slice of bread instead of 2 and/or swapping to a lower carb bread. Having less tatties and pasta and rice and filling up with more veg and protein and perhaps surprisingly, fat. The good thing about fat is that it slows down your digestive system, so not only is it slow to digest itself but it slows down any carbs you eat with it and because it slows down the digestion, it keeps you feeling full for longer, so you are less tempted to snack between meals and it really can help prevent food cravings. The low fat foods that we have been eating for years may actually have done the opposite of what was intended and led people to become overweight/obese and perhaps diabetic too. When foods are stripped of their natural fat (yoghurt is a very good example) the manufacturers add starches (carbs) and sugars (carbs) to make them thicker and more appetizing so the low fat yoghurt becomes higher in carbs and they lost the fat which slows the digestion. As a result, we started wanting foods sweeter than they naturally should be because we were getting used to that sweet taste and we didn't have the fat to keep us full so we were hungry more quickly and were looking for snacks..... and of course snacks are more carbs, so we end up in a vicious cycle of eat carbs, feel hungry 2 hours later so eat more carbs, hungry again so those low fat foods have caused us to eat far more food in general and carbs in particular than we would have with the full fat version. It amazes me since I started eating full fat produce, how I just don't feel hungry anymore and sometimes just 2 meals a day are enough. What I love is that I now have control over my food intake and comfort eating in a way that I haven't had for decades, because I just don't get those knuckle chewing cravings anymore.
I cook my veg in a knob of real butter and I have cream in my morning coffee and I have whole (blue top) milk in my tea creamy natural Greek yoghurt for my breakfast and I eat full fat tasty cheeses like mature cheddar and blue stilton sometimes on veggies and sometimes just on their own or perhaps with a glass of red wine. Of course you might prefer a milder cheese, but do be aware that the sweet ones with fruit will contain carbs and need to be restricted, whereas a good mature cheddar has pretty well no carbs at all.
Anyway, hopefully that gives you a little insight into cutting down on carbs and perhaps switching to full fat produce to reduce your Blood Glucose levels and reduce the amount you need to eat in general. Many of us found that we lost weight by cutting the carbs for our diabetes without even thinking about trying to lose weight.... it just happened! To stabilize my weight now that I am at a normal BMI I just eat a bit more fat.
hello everyone well it seems i did mishear my sugar levels they are still high at 105 but not as bad as 153 like i thought .i am to go back on the medication to lower sugar levels , and the other blood test i had which was to test liver ,thyroid kidneys ect have come back normalso it seems it is my sight that has been effected.so now i try to lose weight and get another blood test in may.
Leadinglights
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That is better news but still high enough to take seriously and as well as the medication you will need to make some dietary changes.
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Glad you have cleared up some of the confusion @beachy6
Still must have come as a real shock - especially as you weren’t aware of any symptoms. Not very helpful of your previous surgery to just leave you in the dark without telling you about your risk of developing diabetes
Welcome to the forum!
hello again thanks for all your replys i wonder if you can help a bit more my doctor said my sugar level was 105 he gave me a monitor and i did the first test and it said 13.2 i have looked online to see if i can tell the difference but dont understand it .i was hoping it would go down a bit as i have been out walking every day as excersise and cutting down on things no biscuits cakes ect having salad with all meals except for cooked dinners i only drink 2 cups of coffee a day and drink about 2 to 3 litres water daily have stopped eating after tea time dont know what else to do .
Drummer
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When diagnosed with Hba1c of 91, my blood glucose was 17.1, so if your 13.2 was an after meal test you are heading in the right direction.
I control my levels by eating a low carb diet, eat two meals a day. I find that it is no difficulty at all to avoid high carb foods such as bread, potato, breakfast cereals, and keep to fewer than 40 gm of carbs a day.
I control my levels by eating a low carb diet, eat two meals a day. I find that it is no difficulty at all to avoid high carb foods such as bread, potato, breakfast cereals, and keep to fewer than 40 gm of carbs a day.
Windy
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Hi Beachy6, there's two different sort of blood tests to look at glucose; the first one you give of 105mmol/mol is HbA1c, which is glycated haemoglobin. It's a measure of how sugary your red blood cells were over a three month period, so a measure of long term blood glucose. It's the figure that the doctor would have used to diagnose you.
The other figure of 13.2 mmol/L is a spot check to see how much glucose is in your blood at the time you test, it's directly affected by what you've just eaten, or how much glucose your liver is putting out. So if you ate a bag of sweets, it would go up pretty soon once the sweets hit your stomach.
For a non-diabetic person, the HbA1c would be below 48 mmol/mol, and a finger prick blood glucose would be between 4 and 7 mmol/L. You can get yours down by eating a better diet and reducing carbohydrates, as you're currently doing. Like @Drummer says, it looks like yours is going in the right direction.
Keep at it, it sounds like you're doing well, though I appreciate it's a bit of a slog having to change your meals and be careful all the time. Sarah
Leadinglights
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You have had some good explanation of the various glucose tests results and some good suggestions for way to change your diet with the ideas from some of the others but if you need a more structured approach to start with those changes then the Freshwell low carb project which I gave you the link for in an earlier post might help you make a plan.
It is important to have a testing regime which gives you useful information on which to modify your diet so testing before you eat and after 2 hours will indicate if you have tolerated your meal, you should aim at no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase and as your level starts to come down a post meal reading of no more than 8.5mmol/l, so make good use of your monitor since you have been lucky enough to be prescribed one.
It is important to have a testing regime which gives you useful information on which to modify your diet so testing before you eat and after 2 hours will indicate if you have tolerated your meal, you should aim at no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase and as your level starts to come down a post meal reading of no more than 8.5mmol/l, so make good use of your monitor since you have been lucky enough to be prescribed one.
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