Retinopathy check up post-poned...

[Twitchy]

...YIPPPEEEE!!!!

Ok, totally the wrong attitude I know, but honestly I am quite relieved as I'm one of those rare freaks who gets a reaction to the Fluorescein Angiography dye they stick into your vein (like nauseous & up all night vomiting - yeuk!!)...not what I will need the night before "P-Day" - I think starting on the pump will be challenging enough he he!! 😛 (It also means they won't be zapping me with lasers, which the last couple of times left me mole-like & blurry for a few days...😱)

Utterly mad & mildly annoying but the only things I have ever been even remotely allergic to have been to do with my diabetes - one of the old insulins (humulin I or something?? Wasp like stings on injection, blotches & itchy - not pretty!) & this dye (vomit monster!). Definitely starting to conclude I crept out of the wrong end of the gene pool lol!

Anyway, phew....

 

[Northerner]

Hi Twitchy, it sounds like it is a good thing that the retinopathy scan isn't going to clash with the start of your pumping - it would have been a lot to deal with if you were feeling ill from the dye.

Not sure if it's the same thing, but I had an angiogram when in hospital and that involved injecting me with a dye. It was one of the strangest experiences I have ever had! I instantly got a perfect sense of the blood moving throughout my entire body as the dye flushed through me from the injection point in my femoral artery. It was like being flooded in warmth, from the inside - a little scary, but not unpleasant, thankfully.

Hopefully, the dye won't affect you as badly the next time to have to go. Is there any alternative, or anything they can give you beforehand to lessen the nausea?

 

[Twitchy]

Hi!

Sounds similar... the Fluorescein Angiography is where they inject a fluorescent dye into a cannula on the back of your hand...or in my case when they've tried both hands they go for the crook of your elbow - bummer, especially when your simultaneously toddler wrangling D'oh! I think the idea is that the dye "highlights" the blood vessels in the eyes so that they can take really clear photos, esp with regard to proliferative diabetic retinopathy & being able to see exactly where to laser... like your experience, I could "feel" the dye, but it was kind of a rising feeling from my chest surging upwards with a strong wave of nausea, to the point where I felt like someone was kneeling on my adams apple! 😱 Not nice.

I've had it done a couple of times now...the team at the LRI are great, they put a fan on you & will stop for a few seconds (kidney dish at the ready!) in case you throw up then & there! 😱 The first time I got all the funny feelings...they wore off a bit, then I woke up in the middle of that night to be violently sick! The second time round I told them about what had happened & I think they were a bit sceptical but they did reduce the dose, so in fairness I only felt very sick, no middle of the night adventures thankfully! I've done some digging on 'net, apparently such reactions are very rare (bloody typical, I have to be "special"!! 🙄)

On the plus side, there is the hilarious effect of a fake (cirrhosis stylee) tan & peeing fluorescent yellow for 2 or 3 days!! (It's a tenuous plus, I'll admit!) My hubby reckons he can see the colour rising as the dye circulates, so I guess it's a good spectator sport as well!

Have to admit, makes the actual lasering much less of an event!