Not sure what's happening

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kathy s

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi all any advice appreciated. Bare with me its long! Diagnosed type 2 late May this year. From prediabetic last year with hba1c of 45 to 12 months later test showed 87. It was optician who suggested blood test as I'd gone back after 10 months with vision problems. Now on empagliflozin as I had a reaction to metformin.
Changed and continuing to modify diet.
So I teach 1-1 in a school for children who need additional support, on Tuesday I was focusing on spelling and handwriting just before lunch, suddenly I couldn't see the lines in the book and I felt quite dizzy. I ate some luch( salad) but was still experiencing vision difficulties, especially anything to do with laptop, phone screen or reading. Felt very foggy headed. Long story short I was driven home and I got docs appointment. They did my finger pick blood which was just over 7 but this was 4 hours after onset of problem. She suggested an emergency trip to optician who could then refer to eye hospital if needed. So saw optician 1st thing yesterday, all OK but she did seem to think it was linked to the diabetes, my eyesight has changed again since the time 8 or so weeks ago which suggests unstable blood sugars. I have my 1st diabetic blood test next week( going to be fun as I have a phobia of eyedrops!) My vision has gone the polar opposite of what it was 10 months ago which prompted the optician to tell me to get a blood test .the Dr won't give me a blood sugar monitor as I'm not on insulin and they don't think I'm at risk of hypos. I do wonder about hypers though with my hba1c being high. I've ordered a monitor online as I want to know what's going on! But when do I use it and what numbers are in range!? Sorry for the really long post but wanted to give context.
Oh by the way when nurse repeated hba1c 2 weeks after initial reading it was 79.
 
It is good that you have ordered yourself a BG meter as that will help you to understand how your body responds to different foods and exercise and will enable you to test when you feel funny like on Tuesday, to assess if it is related to your diabetes or something else..... It occurred to me that it might perhaps be blood pressure related if you are now following a low carb diet as that can lower your BP and if you are already on meds for high BP it can mean that you need to discuss reducing them with your GP. That may not be applicable in your case if you are not on medication for high blood pressure, but thought it worth mentioning.

As regards Blood Glucose range, you are aiming for 4-7mmols/litre before meals and less than 8.5 two hours after your meals, but initially, if your premeal readings are above range, then you are looking to keep the meal rise below 3mmols. So if your levels are 8.2 immediately before you start eating, then you want them to be below 11.2 two hours post meal. If the meal caused your levels to rise by 3mmols or more then you would look to reduce the carbs in that meal for next time you have it and test again. So, if you had a meal with meat and veg and 3 small new potatoes, try just 2 small new potatoes next time, but more veg and meat to bulk your meal out. That sort of thing. There is no need to go hungry on low carb, it is all about eating less of the high carb foods and more of the lower ones.
 
Yes, high blood glucose can distort your vision & unstable blood glucose can make this variable. Hence you should avoid any new prescriptions for glasses unless your levels are controlled & stable. A decent optician will be aware of this.

It's unlikely that what you experienced was a hypo, but at least now you have he means to test. A hypo is usually defined as a level below 4.0 & should be treated with 15g of fast acting carbs with a high sugar content. Jelly babies are a favourite but also a small full fat Coke or orange juice. Then test again after 15 mins.

What meter have you ordered? The ongoing cost of the test strips can vary considerably & a consideration when self funding.
 
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RBZ5416 said:
Yes, high blood glucose can distort your vision & unstable blood glucose can make this variable. Hence you should avoid any new prescriptions for glasses unless your levels are controlled & stable. A decent optician will be aware of this.

It's unlikely that what you experienced was a hypo, but at least now you have he means to test. A hypo is usually defined as a level below 4.0 & should be treated with 15g of fast acting carbs with a high sugar content. Jelly babies are a favourite but also a small full fat Coke or orange juice. Then test again after 15 mins.

What meter have you ordered? The ongoing cost of the test strips can vary considerably & a consideration when self funding.
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Thanks, yes my optician said no new prescription yet, so I blaming that on all my typing errors, though seriously I can't read a thing without my glasses now. I'm now sure which monitor off hand but Mr/ Mrs amazon are delivering it today, I went for one with 50 strips to start with!
My BP is OK and not on any medication for that!
 
RBZ5416 said:
Yes, high blood glucose can distort your vision & unstable blood glucose can make this variable. Hence you should avoid any new prescriptions for glasses unless your levels are controlled & stable. A decent optician will be aware of this.

It's unlikely that what you experienced was a hypo, but at least now you have he means to test. A hypo is usually defined as a level below 4.0 & should be treated with 15g of fast acting carbs with a high sugar content. Jelly babies are a favourite but also a small full fat Coke or orange juice. Then test again after 15 mins.

What meter have you ordered? The ongoing cost of the test strips can vary considerably & a consideration when self funding.
Click to expand...
Unless you are on insulin or glucose lowering medication like Gliclazide, there is no need to treat a BG below 4 with fast acting carbs (unless you suffer from Reactive Hypoglycaemia) as your liver is quite capable of bringing your levels back up again itself. And a hypo is technically below 3.5 but those of us on insulin/Gliclazide will treat anything below 4 as a hypo because we need to preserve our hypo awareness, so you may get Type 2 or even non-diabetic person who gets a reading below 4 and doesn't need to treat it and may not even feel unwell with it and that is OK. If they get below 3.5 and don't feel it, that might be more of a concern.

I know it is tempting to recommend people eat fast acting carbs if they have a false hypo, but that just pushes their levels back up again and their body doesn't get a chance to get used to those normal levels.
 
How will I know if it is a hper rather than a hypo as I wonder with my hba1c being high that is a possibility, also is there a chart for converting the meter readings into a rough hba1c reading as the diabetic nurse referenced a chart when she did my finger prick test before repeating hba1c bloods.
 
kathy s said:
How will I know if it is a hper rather than a hypo as I wonder with my hba1c being high that is a possibility, also is there a chart for converting the meter readings into a rough hba1c reading as the diabetic nurse referenced a chart when she did my finger prick test before repeating hba1c bloods.
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That’s why it’s a good idea to get a meter. If you feel strange again, make sure your hands are clean and do a test. Below 4 = hypo. 4-8 = ideal range. Anything above about 10 = hyper, although you’d probably have to hit at least 14 before you started to feel strange from it. Especially if your sugars have been running high for a while.
 
Thank you! This place is so great for info! So was the helpline yesterday!
The meter I've ordered is called sincerely and came with 50 needles and lancets. Not sure if its a good buy or not but I'll give it a go!
 
I am guessing you mean Sinocare and "sincerely" is a predictive text correction. Hope you get on with it OK. It is one of the meters that I would not recommend as some people have reported problems with it here on the forum but hopefully it will work OK for you. It is important to make sure you get enough blood on the test strip as otherwise it can give erroneous low readings I believe.
 
With regard to your eyesight, when you have had high blood glucose levels for some time which probably gradually crept up you eyes will change shape as the eye environment becomes more sugary but if can happen only slowly so your brain adjusts but once your blood glucose starts to drop often quite quickly as a result of diet and medication the eye environment can change back to the more normal salty and the eye changes shape so things become out of focus.
It can take a while for it to settle down, some people weeks, some longer.
I had exactly the same and my near vision was awful and it felt as if my eyes were in different heads. Far vision was fine. It took several months to settle down.
 
Thank you for explaining what's happening, makes me a little less worried. So much uncertainty with everything, why I had such a rapid development of the condition, why this happened so suddenly on Tuesday etc
 
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