Do you have eye problems due to diabetes? Introduce yourself!

Oh dear. I am so sorry. Wrinkled retinas?? Seriously? Bad enough that our faces and bodies crinkle up, but now it's our retinas as well? Set that iron on low, Shoshana! Our retinas are fried enough as it is :-(
What is it like to look through wrinkled retinas?

I don't know if wrinkled retina's or shrivelled up ones are the same, but my left eye retina shriveled up at the end of last year. I have had 3 operations on my eye, and for some reason it seems like it has straightened out all by itself. Perhaps there is still hope that yours will do the same? Just make sure those sugars are under controll. My A1C has been 6.5 for the last 10 months. Best of luck!

Dear Earthling and VikkiToria,

Wrinkled retina's are commonly known as epiretinal membranes. They frequently are found in normal, healthy eyes and also in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

In most cases, the "wrinkling" is benign, but may cause decreased vision and/or distortion.

The membrane, in non-diabetic retinopathy related cases, is due to an overproduction of a protein from normal cells resident on the surface of the retina.

Like dried "Elmer's Glue" on your hand, the ERM can be peeled off surgically.

Hope this was more helpful than confusing,

Randy

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dear randy,your comment to wrinkled retina was helpful,thanks.
is that why my eyes feel gluey at the outer corners?

Does anyone recommend a particular insulin pump/insulin delivery system for someone with visual limitations???

Hi Susan. I use an Animas Ping, and find the black screen with white letters and yellow highlighting easier to see, except outdoors in sunlight. Screen is large too.

Thank you so much for your advice. Which color pump do you have?

Mine is pink!

Thank you, Linda. Does the Animas Ping provide any audio/speech output? I am going to give a presentation on insulin pumps to a low-vision diabetic support group. Any feedback would be very helpful.

Hi Susan. -No speech that I'm aware of. But there is an audio bolus feature you can turn on that will beep for each half or whole unit of insulin that you punch in with the bolus button (you can set which amount). And it has aural warning sounds/tunes for occlusions, accidentally cancelled boluses, low cartridge, etc. Good luck with your presentation.

http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw050203

Here is a link from the American Federation for the Blind, that did a study on the accessablity of insulin pumps for vision impaired and legally blind persons. I read a part of it bud didn't got thru the whole thing. Hopefully this will give you some ideas of the virtues and downfalls of different pumps as far as ease of use go.

I use the Paradigm 512, and it has a vibrate and sound alarm for more or less everything. The easy bolus is super simple, and if they are using the CGM, they can have it set up to send them an alarm when it goes out of an adjustable range. Ex, mine is set to go off if I fall below 4 or rise above 10. I also use the Ibgstar which you can plug into your iphone and it uploads all your bloodsugars, and has a rather large display of what the bg is. You can also email all the results to doctors and it has an average of you bg for 7 days, 14 days, 30 days, and 90 days.

Hope this helps you a bit
its surprising that there is really nothing developed for visually impaired diabetics other then a glucometer that talks.

Wow, I was going to chime in here but it seems there are far more knowledgeable people than me. LOL! I was way past legally blind for a couple of years. Legally blind is 20/200. My best eye was 20/800 and the other so much worse they didn't even give it a rating. I've had Cataract surgery on both eyes now and can see again, though having a lot of problems with close up vision and huge floaters. Especially in my right eye, I have a clear floater that's large and when it's floating around it's like looking through sculpted glass. You can see but it's all deformed.

I checked out the link you sent ladybell, and it is from 2004. Would be good to know about newer technology in pumps... I guess you mentioned some of it in the bit about your CGM. Sorry your vision is so challenged, Mr. Bruster. Sounds difficult!

Thank you everyone. The website is very helpful. Also, I agree-pumps need to be more accessible to diabetics with visual limitations.

Hi,Everyone.Im a news memember just looking to connect with someone.Ive been t1 for 14 yrs an its has been a struggle.About eight months ago I was told I had cataract in both my eyes an would remove them asap or I would eventually go blind.So I did remove them an had lens implant surgery.An I also have early stage of retina.My vision is now 20/30 an at times I still find it hard to do simple everyday task, especially if its dark.

Hey everyone, I go in for another round of vitrectomy on monday and I'm pretty nervous. This is the third time in a little over a year, and I don't know why I'm so freaked out this time. Last time I got really closterphobic about the sheet they put on your face, and I think the drugs they gave me to "calm me down" just made me feel like my body and my breathing was sluggish while my brain was in overdrive. Any suggestions for the nervous patient?

ladybelle89....No need to panic. I have had 5 (thats right, FIVE) vitrectomies in my time! On top of those, I have had ONE Cataract removal as well! Due to all this, I am now considered legally blind and receive disability ( I know...nothing to brag about. But also, nothing to complain about as well. We just have to take the good with the bad and put the nose to the grindstone and do our best to help others who suffer the same crap we have to deal with day to day. Good luck and PEACE.

I had a fun tomography done this morning, it looks like the good doctor has a hell of a surgery cut out for him I have all the colors of the spectrum on the left eye but at least the right eye is almost settled. 3 more days, beh, thanks for the encouragement Steve D forgive me for seeming rude or uneducated, but how do you read and reply the comments on here?

So back in 2/10/12 I was diagnosed with moderate nonproliferative retinopathy. The good news is at that time I had one bleed that 6 months later resolved itself. But there are others that are still swelling. I also found out that I have holes and if I start to see floaties or flashes of light I'm to call them immediately so they can go in and fix it.

Good question, Ladybelle! It turns out that I am only "legally' blind, and with very strong reading glasses I can read a computer screen, although after one hour I get a MASSIVE headache! Thank you for asking though, and it is NOT RUDE in a forum like this!