Hi, new to the forum. I was diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes on 19 November and prescribed Metformin 3 per day. I have an appointment with my local practice nurse on 7 Dec. I constantly feel dizzy with blurred and sometimes tunnel vision and generally confused. When I’m in a car I struggle to know where I am even though I am in an area I know wel. I need to drive for my job and this is now A big issue for me. When I have had bloods taken they have shown high glucose levels. I wonder if this is familiar to others and how long I can expect this to continue?
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Symptoms of confusion and blurred vision
- Thread starter Paulheb
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Drummer
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- Type 2
Have you any way to test your blood glucose when you feel that way?
Metformin is not going to bring down your levels if you are still eating more carbohydrate than you can cope with - something many people don't seem to be told, so if you can give us an outline of your normal day's menus we might be able to suggest alterations to help.
Metformin is not going to bring down your levels if you are still eating more carbohydrate than you can cope with - something many people don't seem to be told, so if you can give us an outline of your normal day's menus we might be able to suggest alterations to help.
Leadinglights
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Hi Paulheb, welcome to the forum
With the symptoms you are describing I think you should contact your nurse without waiting until your appointment.
I would also say It doesn't sound as if you are safe to be driving if you are feeling dizzy and confused. The last thing you want is to be involved in an accident and for it to be diabetes related as that might then affect your licence. So perhaps better to try to be signed off sick until you sort out those issues.
Just a suggestion, but it may not be feasible for you.
Those symptoms can be from both high and low blood glucose levels, I would suggest you purchase a home blood glucose monitor so you can test when you have the symptoms. The GlucoNavil as an inexpensive monitor with the cheapest strips available on line.
With the symptoms you are describing I think you should contact your nurse without waiting until your appointment.
I would also say It doesn't sound as if you are safe to be driving if you are feeling dizzy and confused. The last thing you want is to be involved in an accident and for it to be diabetes related as that might then affect your licence. So perhaps better to try to be signed off sick until you sort out those issues.
Just a suggestion, but it may not be feasible for you.
Those symptoms can be from both high and low blood glucose levels, I would suggest you purchase a home blood glucose monitor so you can test when you have the symptoms. The GlucoNavil as an inexpensive monitor with the cheapest strips available on line.
Don’t have a way of testing levels at the moment, hoping to get one at my fist practice nurse appointment. Breakfast has been low fat Greek yoghurt with raspberries and blueberries, lunch scrambled eggs with avocado and mushrooms, dinner last night was salmon fillet with sprouts and broccoli. That would be pretty indicative of what I’ve been eating since diagnosis. I take a banana or an apple with me when walking the dog.
Leadinglights
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That would be something you should find out as it indicates where you are in the scheme of things.
Unless you are very lucky GP will not normally provide a blood glucose monitor for people who are Type 2 so they self fund as the best way to monitor how there blood glucose is affected by foods and also to check if they feel unwell.
Thanks for that, I order one now.
Inka
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- Type 1
@Paulheb The symptoms you’ve described sound unpleasant and quite extreme. Although high blood sugar can cause blurry vision, I’ve not known it to cause tunnel vision, nor to make someone unable to tell where they are when they’re driving. This sound worrying.
You shouldn’t be driving if your vision is so affected that you’re getting tunnel vision and if you’re unable to tell where you are on roads you know well.
Speak to your employer and explain. If it was me, I’d also want confirmation from my GP that there weren’t any additional issues apart from the diabetes. I hope you get answers and feel better soon.
rebrascora
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I agree that when these incidents occur you are not safe on the roads and until you know what is causing them, you should not be driving at all. If that means you need to go on the sick, then you should do that, but you need to see a GP about these episodes to fid the cause. Being confused and your vision impaired is clearly making you a danger on the roads both to yourself and others, even if it only occurs occasionally.
I agree that BG testing at these times would be a good idea to see if they are diabetes related and self testing in general will give you a much better insight into managing your diabetes.
The 2 meters most often recommended on the forum for reliability and economy of use, for those self funding, are the Gluco Navii or the Spirit Healthcare Tee2. You will need to purchase extra pots of test strips and a box of lancets as they only come with 10 in a kit. The kit is about £15 and the test strips, about £8 per pot of 50, so not an unreasonable price to pay to be able to see what is happening and take better control of your diabetes.
It may be that your very low carb diet has caused a sudden and dramatic drop in your levels which is having a shock effect on your body which may have been running high for some time and is going into a panic when your levels drop low, even if that low is actually normal, or it could be that your levels are dropping too low, although this is very rare unless you are using medication which can cause it or at the end of running a marathon.
Please update us with how you get on if you decide to self test, but do speak to your employed and your doctor about these episodes as they are very serious and potentially dangerous and need time off from driving and obviously medical investigation.
I agree that BG testing at these times would be a good idea to see if they are diabetes related and self testing in general will give you a much better insight into managing your diabetes.
The 2 meters most often recommended on the forum for reliability and economy of use, for those self funding, are the Gluco Navii or the Spirit Healthcare Tee2. You will need to purchase extra pots of test strips and a box of lancets as they only come with 10 in a kit. The kit is about £15 and the test strips, about £8 per pot of 50, so not an unreasonable price to pay to be able to see what is happening and take better control of your diabetes.
It may be that your very low carb diet has caused a sudden and dramatic drop in your levels which is having a shock effect on your body which may have been running high for some time and is going into a panic when your levels drop low, even if that low is actually normal, or it could be that your levels are dropping too low, although this is very rare unless you are using medication which can cause it or at the end of running a marathon.
Please update us with how you get on if you decide to self test, but do speak to your employed and your doctor about these episodes as they are very serious and potentially dangerous and need time off from driving and obviously medical investigation.
Leadinglights
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- Type 2
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- She/Her
Hi Paul
You seem to have two threads on the go so make sure you look at both. I will ask @everydayupsanddowns if they can be merged.
You seem to have two threads on the go so make sure you look at both. I will ask @everydayupsanddowns if they can be merged.
The foods you mention are all very low carb except for the banana ( and possibly the apple). No doubt you have already been advised o avoid tropical fruit and grapes.
When did the vision symptoms start? As has been mentioned, reducing a high blood glucose level very quickly can case some temporary vision disturbance. So that is a possibility if the symptoms only started after you started eating low carb .
Sounds like me before my diagnosis (hba1c 143) in my case it was suspected dehydration, it cleared up (mostly) in a week or so by drinking 3lts of water a day and when in hospital they had me on a fluid drip went through 2 bags in 6 hrs.
Do you get headaches with the dizzy/fuzzy spells? Either way get onto your doc ASAP.
Good luck.
Do you get headaches with the dizzy/fuzzy spells? Either way get onto your doc ASAP.
Good luck.
Pumper_Sue
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- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
With those symptoms you should not be driving.
You are a danger to every other road user and yourself.
Hi Paulheb, I need to use reading glasses but during periods of, what I now know retrospectively, of very high hyperglycaemia my eyesight actually improved whilst reading to the point I did not need my reading glasses. Once I was confirmed diabetic and put on medicine and changed my diet I managed to bring my blood glucose levels (via daily blood glucose testing). At this point my vision was significantly affected with my normally good long sight vision became blurred and I found I needed my reading glasses to drive. My reading glasses were no longer able to be used for reading. This lasted for about 5 to 6 weeks before I began to notice a return to normal vision for me. Though I did not have the confusion you seemed to be having or tunnel vision. I am going to make some assumptions based on on very little information but the confusion could be due to seeing everything blurred. The tunnel vision may be indicative of an underlying eye problem exacerbated by the slow change of glucose levels in your eyes. Normally I would advise against seeing an optician until after you eyes have got used to their new glucose levels. However, with the tunnel vison you may want to visit an optician sooner (and explain to the optician that you are newly diagnosed diabetic).
I would also advise to get a home blood test kit if the doctor will not prescribe one (they may do so if they put you Glyclazide). They are not that expensive and you can use to monitor how you are managing your diabetes between HbA1c tests. I test first thing in the morning before breakfast (fasting reading), before my evening meal and 2 hrs after my evening meal. I will probably keep this up until my next HbA1c test. My fasting readings whilst on Glyclazide were between 5.0 and 6.0 mmols/l. Since coming off Glyclazide it is now between 6.5 and 7.0.
I would also advise to get a home blood test kit if the doctor will not prescribe one (they may do so if they put you Glyclazide). They are not that expensive and you can use to monitor how you are managing your diabetes between HbA1c tests. I test first thing in the morning before breakfast (fasting reading), before my evening meal and 2 hrs after my evening meal. I will probably keep this up until my next HbA1c test. My fasting readings whilst on Glyclazide were between 5.0 and 6.0 mmols/l. Since coming off Glyclazide it is now between 6.5 and 7.0.
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