I had perfect vision until yesterday. I was diagnosed on 08/14/07 and when I got up yesterday my vision was blurry, today it is blurry again. My blood sugars have been between 82 and 175 for the past 3 days. Has anyone experienced anything similar or have any idea what mightbe causing it? The way my vision is now there is no way I can even drive to work.
Sudden vision changes are a good reason to call the doctor immediately.
I was diagnosed in January of this year and also experienced blurry vision shortly after I started taking insulin. Things went back to normal after about a week. My diabetes educator explained to me that things like that can happen as blood sugars are brought under control.
I didn’t realize you were so recently diagnosed. It’s most likely a temporary diabetes-related thing in that case. But a call to chat with the doctor still wouldn’t hurt.
I called my Primary Dr. and he said a small percentage of diabetics experience blurred vision a short time after starting insulin rather than before diagnosis. He said the body is not used to having normal blood sugars and it takes a while to adjust, one of the side effects is blurred vision.
But now I have a headache due to the vision being blurry, I have to look away from the computer screen ever 10 - 15 second so I can read it.
the only thing I can tell you about that is it maybe from just starting to use insulin. I saw where you had more or less just been diagnosed so that maybe thats the problem. I’ve had it alot longer and when I get blurry vision it is usually from being to low. But then again I’ve had it for 35 years. Call your DR and see what he thinks.
When your blood sugar is very high, sugar gets into the fluid in your eye and changes the refraction properties.
When you lower your blood sugar, your vision will change because the concentration of glucose in the eye changes. If you’ve brought your blood sugar down dramatically this may be the explanation. How high were you at diagnosis?
Some of us have learned the hard way to check our blood sugar when we go for an eye exam because if we are high we’ll get a prescription that isn’t right the rest of the time.
To True Jenny! They won’t give you an exam at my eye dr’s office if your to high to low or your bp is off.
My BG was 686 at diagnosis. But my vision was fine when I was hospitalized and it did not change until 3 days later and it is not getting better.
Well, why don’t you call a doctor tomorrow and have him check it out? Then you won’t have to worry. If you have an eye doctor he’d be best, but family doctors can also do an exam in a pinch and will refer you if there is a retinal problem.
The symptom that would have you calling the eye doctor immediately or going to the ER are: flashes of light with a rippling curtain effect or seeing what looks like “clouds of gnats.” Those are symptoms of retinal detachment and they must be treated within a few hours. The flashes can also be something else that happens to middle aged people and isn’t an emergency, but it should always be checked out.
The other biggies are, sudden loss of part of your field of vision in one eye which can be caused by a blocked blood vessel in the eye or big black spots or a fog floating around in your field of vision which can be a bleed.
I learned all this when I had episodes of lightning bolt flashes of light, but fortunately mine was the middle aged person thing and eventually resolved. The doctor told me I should only worry if I saw something that looked like a cloud of gnats. Needless to say, every time I see a real cloud of gnats, I panic until I’m sure they are really there. I live out in the country and we have a lot of gnats!
Here are two articles my Endo to be sent me. But I am still going to try and get in to see an eye doc tomorrow.
9076-Lensopacitieswithrapidcontrol2.pdf (204 KB)
9077-LenschangesinT1DM.pdf (250 KB)
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My vision was blurry when I was first diagnosed & my sugars were way OOC. But it went away, as soon as I got them under control. I did see an opthmologist - who gave me new glasses - my first pair of bi-focals (I’m an old lady - 50) but he reassured me it was the high sugars & that it would go away.
DeeVa
These were the things I was worried about. Along with a stroke. I’m glad you’re taking care of this, and I hope you see better soon.
I am nearsighted so I normally see blurry 
A few days after being diagnosed I woke up & could see very well without glasses. Very wierd! I woke my wife up repeatedly saying “I CAN SEE, I CAN SEE!” she was very confused & went back to sleep.
I went 2 days carrying my glasses with me but didn’t need to wear them. My vision is normally 20/400 so I didn’t want to get caught without them & not be able to drive back home. After the 2 days things were back to normal. One thing for sure got me thinking about LASIK It was nice to be able to see without glasses … unhealthy or not.
You did the best thing you do: try to see the eye doctor. We can guess here & tell you things we’ve learned & been through, but the eye doctor is best person for you to “see”.
One side effect I’ve experienced from type 1diabetes is that sometimes it gets pretty scary. The medical professionals are the people I rely on.
I have an ophthalmologist appointment tomorrow at 2:30.The 1st time I called they told me they could not see me until October, I called back and threw a fit and amazingly they had a 2:30 available. I will let you all know what they say.
Mark,
Here’s hoping you get good news! And do let us know how it turns out.
You must be reeling with shock to have to deal with so much all at once, but things will calm down, and you are extremely fortunate to have found a community with so many people who can share their experience with you. Diabetes really is a condition that is optimized for the web. Just in the 9 years since I’ve been diagnosed I’ve seen web communications revolutionize treatment with patients networking, sharing information and often being way ahead of doctors because of the value of that pooled experience.
Yeah. What everybody said here was right. You probably didn’t notice thd blurriness as you developed high bg because it was gradual. But, when your bg was brough down quickly, then it became evident.
I actually always thought that it was a very common occurance for people when newly diagnosed (not just a “small percentage”)
I was dx’d 33 years ago and could not read some paperbacks my mother had brought me in the hospital. Having seen several of my Tl relatives with major vision problems, I was terrified. It took about 2 weeks for the vision to normalize. I have read that you should be under good control for about 3 months before getting a new eyeglass prescription.
But, it is good to get into the habit of checking out symptoms right away - don’t procrastinate and hope it’ll go away, for you might regret it.
Welcome to Tu Diabetes. This is a very well-informed group of people.
I saw my ophthalmologist today and my eyes are in good shape. There are no retinal, macula, or any other problems in my eyes. The Dr. said that this is actually quite common and that it should resolve fully in 1 - 2 months (she used to work exclusively with diabetics). In the mean time she told me to go to Wal Mart or WalgreenS and buy some cheap +1.00 reading glasses. My mother in law happened to have some +1.00 at her house, I put them on and I could SEE!!!
What a relief to know that my eyes will be OK.
Mark,
Glad to hear everything is okay and keep those glasses handy, because with fluctuation of bgs this can continue to happen. Not to scare you but just an FYI. Changes in bloodsugars effect every cell in your body and not always easy to obtain a perfect number at all times.