So, 15 years of t1 and no complications. I went in for an eye exam because i developed an annoying "floater" in bright light, but it was not diabetes related, just a common 'floater' that everyone gets.
I want to share my gripe with eye docs. My doctor told me flat out that ALL type 1's will develop retinopathy at some point, and will need laser bla bla...and since i was young i always believed this nonsense. Turns out, this belief that optometrists have is taught to them in school, and it was based on a study published around the year 2001. I found this study a while back, and it is true that they did find most t1's had retinopathy after 20 years. Heres the thing, it was published in 2001, it was conducted between 1996-1999. This means that people who had had t1 for 20 years would have been diagnosed between 1976 and 1979. This is before home glucose monitoring, before modern fast acting insulins and pumps, and it wasn't until what? 1994 that it was 'officially' accepted that tight glycemic control reduced complications. This study is horribly scaring kids who already have a lot to deal with into beleiving they are doomed to terrible complications, when in reality more type 1's than ever are living complication free as long as they have reasonably good control.
For about 8-9 years now I always have a supply of alpha lipoic acid, benfotiamine, and a complex vitamin C, E, selenium. Anytime I need to correct a high BG I usually pop all 3 of these. Ive done endless reading and it appears almost certain that retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy are all caused by Oxadive Stress, which as you probably know is caused (or increased significantly) by hyperglycemia. Give your body ample supply of novel antioxidants like ALA or selenium and it will help. Obviously keeping BG lower is your main defense. Also, with regards to benfotiamine, it seems hyperglycemia causes a renal "flushing" of thiamine, and benfotimine is a very effective way to keep on top of that, lots of good information regarding thiamine, and its synthetic fat soluable derivitave benfotiamine, and diabetic complications.
I take a lot of supplements too, and I did before D diagnosis. I don't usually take them when my bg spikes though.. just take everyday with my meal.. I wonder if it would help more to take extra when we spike? I do have alot of visual effects still. My vision went totally blurry after I was treated for DKA and the blurryness still gets worse with bg fluctuations. I'm going to another doctor soon. There is no sign of retinopathy yet fortunately. Thanks for posting this, I'm going to look up benfotiamine- I haven't heard about that. None of the retinopathy specialist's I've seen have said all type 1 will develop it, but they told me to come 1x per year for an exam.
I also get very blurry vision from BG fluctuations. I asked my optometrist about it, and he said high blood sugar causes the lens to swell which basically created a temporary refractive error, which then resolves when blood sugars come down. My three biggest symptoms of high blood sugar are being thirsty, very tired, and having blurred vision.
I think one important thing to remember about retinopathy is that just because you develop retinopathy doesn't mean you will experience vision loss. I read somewhere that these days only 0.2% of people who develop retinopathy ever go on to become legally blind. So even if 100% of Type 1s develop retinopathy after 20 years, only 1 out of 500 Type 1s would end up legally blind. That's similar to an average person's risk of getting Type 1 in the first place. These statistics were for people who get proper monitoring and treatment, so it's still important to get your eyes checked once a year, or else the risk goes up a lot.
I do agree that the 20-year statistic is probably outdated these days, especially when looking at those who are diagnosed within the past five years and end up on pumps and CGMs almost from the start.
I don't take supplements. I have had T1 for 27 years and I have no sign of retinopathy. I get retinal photographs and eye exams every year. I have my kidney function checked every 3 months, and I also have no sign of protein in my urine or nephropathy.
Everyone is different, and complications could happen at any time. The problem with those statements from your doctor is, that they are based on the average.
If he had just said, " many people with diabetes develop retinopathy at some point"
