[onaughmae]

Well...stupid me really...I have no one to blame but myself here. When I was so out of control and happily living in denial I was really damaging my eyes it seems. Now that I am in good control....the symptoms of the damage have started showing. Funny thing...its been explained to me that this is not uncommon. Once you get in control, your eye disease will get worse if you have it. I am sitting here now only half way being able to see what I am doing since my eyes are *still* diated from my exam...so please excuse any glaring typos I am fortunate in that I dont have much proliferative retinopathy. What I do have is macular edema from "leaky vessels". She said it isnt severe....but its enough that it is causing me that horrible light sensitivity and distortion when I first wake up in the mornings. She thinks its worse then because I have been lying down for hours and fluid shifts in my eyes. Once I am awake for a little while and fluid shifts around again it goes away. First order of business...I have to go on the 17th and they will give me an IV contrast agent and take pictures of both eyes to see what vessels are still leaking. Once that is done, I will need laser on both eyes to stop it. She told me at least I caught it early before too much damage is done, but somehow that doesnt make me feel any better about super heated lasers burning my eyes

So...word of warning kiddoes.....denial might be a happy place for awhile....but you have no idea what damage you are doing long term. If only I had taken care of things like I *should* have been doing I wouldnt be in this mess now. Somehow the twinkies and pasta and milkshakes dont really seem worth it anymore

 

[breezeonby]

Pam, I can feel your pain. When I wasn't testing or treating for about 3 years, I now know that my eyes were being damaged. I have cataracts that are getting worse and I will be having surgery on my left eye next week. After that eye heals, then they will operate on my right eye. This is something that will change my eyesight forever. I am really upset that this has come about, but there is nothing that I can do about it. I can no longer keep up with the monthly prescription changes, the double vision and the ghost images and the blinding glare. I just trust that this is the right decision for my vision health. The cataracts are from the diabetes and are not age related since I just turned 50 last December. Keep us posted on your progress and try not to be so hard on yourself! Take care!

 

[onaughmae]

Keep us posted on yours too. We can be miserable together! I hope yours comes out good and your eyesight is changed for the better!

 

[Richard157]

I was Type 1 for more than 40 years and did not have any complications even though I did not follow a low carb diet. I totally avoided sugar but I ate hundreds of no-sugar carbs every day. The pork insulin I was using contained C-peptide, which helps prevent comlications. Then I started using modern day insulins, that do not contain C-peptide. Not long after starting the Humulin insulins I began having mild complications.

I was following a low carb diet starting in 1988, I read I should be doing that in a magazine. That helped, but I still had the complications. My A1c's were below 6.0 but the complications were still there (mild neuropathy and retinopathy). Then I read online that a good BG average is not enough to avoid complications. A roller coaster control with many highs and lows can give a good average, but it is punishing to the body and comlications can result. I am convinced that was the cause of my problems. I started pumping and cut my carb intake even more to 130g per day. I stopped having so many highs and lows. My BG stays in the 70-130 range about 90% of the time. My complications have totally disappeared.

Sometimes I wish I could go back to the old pork insulin with the C-peptide, but there was no basal/bolus control with carb counting back then. I will stick with what I have now. No complaints! It is great to be complication-free after 64 years of Type 1.

 

[Shanny]

love & prayers for both of you & your vision!

 

[jsntay]

Yes, Good Luck to the both of you! Shanny, how are your eyes after your surgeries? I worry about my eyes and kidneys.

I don't know why I didn't put 2 and 2 together with all my symptons pre-diagnosis. Besides going to the bathroom all the time, I got to where I couldn't see up close and got some reading glasses. I have worn glasses and contacts since I was a kid but never had problems seeing up close. I was 38 at the time and always heard your eyesight sometimes changes around 40. My up close vision was normal again after about a month on metformin and watching my carbs.

I had one eye exam since and they didn't see any damage from the diabetes, but for the past couple of months I am having to hold things out about a foot to read again. My prescription has expired and I am about to make another appointment so we will see if any damage is showing up or its because I will turn 40 in a month, LOL.

 

[Shanny]

My most recently operated eye was seeing 20/30 today at its one-week checkup. I expect the other one is prob'ly seeing 20/20 or better by now. I couldn't be happier with my results - the intraocular implants have restored to me the vision I haven't had since I was a pre-schooler. When I started to school is when it was discovered that I couldn't see distance (like the chalkboard! )

Now I just hope keeping BG stable will be what it takes to keep my vision stable too, and it's what I'm hoping for all the rest of you too!

Thanks for asking, Jason.

 

[onaughmae]

Yes, Good Luck to the both of you! Shanny, how are your eyes after your surgeries? I worry about my eyes and kidneys.

I don't know why I didn't put 2 and 2 together with all my symptons pre-diagnosis. Besides going to the bathroom all the time, I got to where I couldn't see up close and got some reading glasses. I have worn glasses and contacts since I was a kid but never had problems seeing up close. I was 38 at the time and always heard your eyesight sometimes changes around 40. My up close vision was normal again after about a month on metformin and watching my carbs.

I had one eye exam since and they didn't see any damage from the diabetes, but for the past couple of months I am having to hold things out about a foot to read again. My prescription has expired and I am about to make another appointment so we will see if any damage is showing up or its because I will turn 40 in a month, LOL.

Good luck to you too! I hate my eyes dilated because it leaves me so sensitive to light for awhile but it is *so* important!

 

[onaughmae]

My most recently operated eye was seeing 20/30 today at its one-week checkup. I expect the other one is prob'ly seeing 20/20 or better by now. I couldn't be happier with my results - the intraocular implants have restored to me the vision I haven't had since I was a pre-schooler. When I started to school is when it was discovered that I couldn't see distance (like the chalkboard! )

Now I just hope keeping BG stable will be what it takes to keep my vision stable too, and it's what I'm hoping for all the rest of you too!

Thanks for asking, Jason.

That is awesome! My eye doctor told me yesterday my vision has actually improved to nearly 20/20. Hopefully after laser stops the "leakers" I have, if I maintain an A1C below 7 I might prevent any further leaking and eventually the extra fluid I have now *should* reabsorb over time.

 

[stripes]

That is awesome! My eye doctor told me yesterday my vision has actually improved to nearly 20/20. Hopefully after laser stops the "leakers" I have, if I maintain an A1C below 7 I might prevent any further leaking and eventually the extra fluid I have now *should* reabsorb over time.

That's excellent news!! Congrats! You should be happy about that, hey!

I went to the optometrist the other day and they did a test to see if there was any damage in my eyes - none yet, and I was kind of surprised!! My levels aren't good, but they're getting better. So far, I've been pretty lucky!!

 

[breezeonby]

Well...stupid me really...I have no one to blame but myself here. When I was so out of control and happily living in denial I was really damaging my eyes it seems. Now that I am in good control....the symptoms of the damage have started showing. Funny thing...its been explained to me that this is not uncommon. Once you get in control, your eye disease will get worse if you have it. I am sitting here now only half way being able to see what I am doing since my eyes are *still* diated from my exam...so please excuse any glaring typos I am fortunate in that I dont have much proliferative retinopathy. What I do have is macular edema from "leaky vessels". She said it isnt severe....but its enough that it is causing me that horrible light sensitivity and distortion when I first wake up in the mornings. She thinks its worse then because I have been lying down for hours and fluid shifts in my eyes. Once I am awake for a little while and fluid shifts around again it goes away. First order of business...I have to go on the 17th and they will give me an IV contrast agent and take pictures of both eyes to see what vessels are still leaking. Once that is done, I will need laser on both eyes to stop it. She told me at least I caught it early before too much damage is done, but somehow that doesnt make me feel any better about super heated lasers burning my eyes

So...word of warning kiddoes.....denial might be a happy place for awhile....but you have no idea what damage you are doing long term. If only I had taken care of things like I *should* have been doing I wouldnt be in this mess now. Somehow the twinkies and pasta and milkshakes dont really seem worth it anymore

Pam-did you have your test done on your eyes?

 

[onaughmae]

Yeah I did. That was pretty ....trippy

They dilated my eyes, then put me in this chair and shined a super bright light in eyes to take some pictures of my retinas. *So* much fun....

Then he injected me with some dye, shine the light again and take more pictures. Here's the weird part....he told me when he was done that the color distortion I was having would go away in a little while. I am like, what color distortion? He tells me that most people complain of everything looking purple afterwards. I was like...OMG...I thought you had a purple light turned on in this room for some reason! It was sooo weird. I walked out and everyone and everthing looked...purple....magenta really. heheh I walked out with Hendrix singing Purple Haze in my head

I should hear something back this week sometime about my results. Keeping my fingers crossed that it isnt as bad as I am imagining it to be

 

[breezeonby]

Having your eyes dilated is no fun! That would be really strange to see purple! Hope everything turns out ok.

 

[Shanny]

Crossing my fingers for you, Pam.

And the bright lights were the worst part of my cataract surgery too - I wasn't quite asleep yet and it's downright painful it's so bright.

 

[onaughmae]

Crossing my fingers for you, Pam.

And the bright lights were the worst part of my cataract surgery too - I wasn't quite asleep yet and it's downright painful it's so bright.

Yes...my hubby couldnt understand when I told him it was so bright that it actually hurt