Eyes and good control

I may be stating the obvious, but as a T1 for 63 years I have learned a few things about eye problems and control. For the major part of my life I was not under good control (my A1Cs were at 8.5 or above). I got retinopathy and glaucoma as a result. Some five years ago I found an excellent endocrinologist who put me on a different insulin regime, allowing me to keep much better control (A1C values as low as 4.9 and never above 5.9). My retina and glaucoma spcialists are now marvelling at how well my eyes are behaving, and attribute it all to the better diabetes control.
The insiduous thing about diabetes and eyes is that you may not be aware of the problems before it is too late. When we are young we all believe we are invincible and tend not to take as good control of diabetes as we should. I have certainly learned my lesson!

Let me add to the above by saying that if you are not in good control, taking control “too quickly” also leads to or accelerates the onset of complications. Take your time making changes.

Yes I agree it is definitely good to have tight control but it is not so good to take control too quickly.

Wow you had an a1c of 4.9.
Were you having alot of lows with that?

Yes, I was having my share of lows, but as I am retired and can pretty well control my lifestyle it wasn’t too difficult to manage. It has become a LOT easier with the advent of CGM, and now I don’t know how I ever got along without my DexCom Seven.

I too didn’t have the education regarding tighter bgs. In the latter part of the 1980s I had to have laser for Retinopathy. When you and I were diagnosed it was the “dark ages” and research didn’t know what it knows today. We are able to have tighter control because of it. I’m just happy that I’ve lived to see the advancement in managing Diabetes…although it’s no cure.