[anduze.alexander]

Need help, losing my eyesight
I have turned into a vegetarian to try to see if I can reverse diabetic retinopathy, anyone have any additional information to help me?


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[mbuster]

Although there is no guarantee that all damage done can be repaired by getting your blood glucose in control, there is little to no chance if you don't. Your best shot at doing that is to eliminate as many carbohydrates as you can from your diet, they are the major contributor to high blood glucose. To better understand diabetes and its management you should spend some time reading Bloodsugar101, well worth the time spent there.

 

[itissteve]

My father was a long-time diabetic and suffered from retinopathy. What we know now about diabetes management and valid forms of treatment for retinopathy is far greater now than back in my father's day (20-30 years ago). He underwent a series of vitrectomies, which worked to combat the damaged vision for a while. But, eventually, it was not possible to compensate for the continuing damage with those treatments.

I don't say that to be a "downer". As mbuster stated, it may not be possible to reverse the damage but it may be possible to prevent more damage from occurring, by getting your blood glucose under tighter control.

Please check out the Bloodsugar101 Web site and consider how a vegetarian diet could fit into that approach to managing blood glucose. And feel free to ask questions here. There are members of this forum who limit their meat or dairy or egg consumption and might be able to provide some support for your goals.

 

[VeeJay]

I'd like to suggest that it's not meat that causes high blood sugars. It's carbohydrates. And a vegetarian diet is usually high in carbs. A diet that works for many of us here is to limit carbs, eat only moderate protein, and and make up the calories in fats. Fats don't cause blood sugar to rise.

Are you testing your blood sugar more than just morning fasting? Testing before a meal and 1 hour after will tell you if what you eat has more carbohydrates in it than your body can process. Any level over 140/7.8 is causing damage. If you can keep your levels at and below 120/6.7 you will be giving your eyes the best chance for stopping the damage.

Here's a discussion on the "Eat to your Meter" testing method. https://www.diabetesforum.com/diabetes-treatment/78730-eat-your-meter-testing-method.html

 

[anduze.alexander]

Thanks for the information, but I could not get into the link for diabetes 101?


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[VeeJay]

Here's another one
https://www.bloodsugar101.com

Or, search for bloodsugar101 and that should bring it up.

 

[Silinde]

I also wanted to point out that many tp2 diabetics become insuline dependent after some time. Usually, tp2 are not asked to test their blood sugar values during the day, so it might go undetected and you might have reached that point. If you haven't discussed this yet with your db caregiver, you might want to bring this up.

 

[anduze.alexander]

Thank U all for the information, I have read all your suggestions and I will take them And use them wisely


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[BadhabitsOz]

Bloody Desease

Need help, losing my eyesight
I have turned into a vegetarian to try to see if I can reverse diabetic retinopathy, anyone have any additional information to help me?


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" Sorry to tell you this but I suffer from it too and I was lucky enough to have my GP recommend a good eye specialist who further specializes in retinopathy for diabetes. I had Lazar surgery 3 in each eye, then because he wasn't all that impressed with the results he then gave me 3 needles straight into my eyes and filled it with some chemical which also kinda sucked out all the junk "don't quote my procedure" but it seems to have done the job, the bleeding has stopped and things look ok. Crossed fingers. Sorry but thats the BEST way I have experienced. Good luck and of cause keep your Blood Sugar number low..

 

[VeeJay]

BH Oz

That sounds more like surgery for a detached retina.

Edit: I did a search for this surgery, called vitrectomy, and it is, indeed, for retinopathy. Learn something new every day!

 

[itissteve]

Edit: I did a search for this surgery, called vitrectomy, and it is, indeed, for retinopathy

My father had numerous laser treatments; their purpose is to coagulate the proliferating blood vessels in the eye and stop them from bursting and releasing blood into the vitreous humor (the jelly-like substance in our eyeballs). The vitreous humor can slowly reabsorb small amounts of blood.

But my dad's eyes produced blood faster than it could be reabsorbed, so they did the vitrectomy. In that procedure, they replace the blood-contaminated vitreous humor with new vitreous humor. In essence, you go back to Square One. It worked but they could not stop the bleeding. You can do repeated vitrectomies but, in my father's case, it proved to be fairly unproductive.

Again, though, that was 20-30 years ago when BG control was far looser than what it is now. My father had already been a 30-year diabetic at that point.