Hi all
Anybody here with tips or advice of how to avoid re bleedings after vitrectomy?
I am 35 years old and was diagnosed in 1988. In 2014 i was put on the pump which ruined my eyes due to a huge drop in a1c.
I have found an article from a dr Ortiz where he suggest EPA vitamin and chrome and zink tablets. I will try that and start more exercising.
Just had my left eye done 6 weeks ago. Right eye was done a year ago. Re bleedings (big and small) occur regularly.
Docs tell me my eyes look great at my check ups. It makes no sense with the re bleedings. My a1c is perfect. I eat healthy.
Bleedings mostly occur when i relax
had 3 bleedings during 2weeks vacation.
Any help or advice could be helpfull!! Thank you. These bleedings are really stressing me and ruining my life. It makes me so depressed when it happens. Even tho my eyes clear up eventually.
I have had vitrectomies in both eyes and both eyes have continued to have bleeds. One eye has only bled a few times in seven years. So that hasn’t been too bad. The second eye continued to bleed every six weeks. I needed to have more lasering in order to get it to stop. Even with that, there is still an occasional bleed.
Has your Dr tried Avastin or Eyelea on you? Those drugs work very well to control bleeding. It’s an injection that you need to have about every three months. That part of it is a pain, but they do work very well. You may be able to stay free of bleeds for a long time that way. I have had to do that. For right now, I am off those injections. I had them for about five years in one eye or another. One day the bleeds just stopped. Not sure why, but they did. I’m sure they could start up again at any time. The eye injections are a pain and do take some getting used to, but they work. So I am grateful for them.
I hear ya about the stress of it all. It’s horrible. Eye bleeds are very stressful when they happen. And then the waiting begins for your eye to clear out. It takes two seconds for your eye to bleed and two months for it to clear out. As if diabetes alone isn’t stressful enough. To add eye bleeds to it can feel like a curse on top of a curse.
If it’s any consolation, two things…you are not alone. There are many people dealing with this situation. The second thing is the wonder of modern medicine and technology. There was a time not that long ago when people like us were basically told “sorry”. There was not much that could be done for us. It’s the miracle of vitrectomy surgery and lasers and injectabe medications that are keeping us able to see.
I have been through it all. I have laid in bed crying with the blankets pulled up over my head because my eye was bleeding. I have had times when I couldn’t drive. I have had times when I couldn’t see to do my job. I have had times when I could barely see at all out of either eye. I have had vitrectomies, cataract surgery, lasering and repeated injections in both eyes. I have been in counseling over the emotional toll it has taken in me. BUT, the good news is that I’m texting this on my iPhone while sitting at my desk at work. That means I’m seeing pretty good. I’m working. I drove myself here. I’m using my phone without a magnifying glass today. Today, things are pretty good.
You will get there. Take advantage of everything modern medicine has to offer. Keep in good control. Eventually, your eyes will settle down. It might take a few years but it will be worth the wait. The same has happened with my brother. He had gone through all of this as well. He went about eight years through this nightmare. Eventually, his eyes settled down. He, like me, only has the very rare eye bleed and is doing the minimum of maintenance.
I will keep you in my thoughts.
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I just want to add that I’m not aware of any supplements that you can take that will work on this condition. Keeping your blood sugar in control and working closely with your eye dr is really the only thing.
All my troubles began shortly after a time when I started taking better care of myself and really watching my control. Strange how that seems to be a big trigger of your eyes starting to go.
Thank you Cinderfella!! Thanks for taking your time writing to me.
I will ask my doc about the medicine you mention but they seem to do it very differently here in denmark. They rather want to wait and see than give the shots.
I hope and pray my eyes will settle down sooner than later. Ive had 3-4000 laser shots on each eye the past years and theres not room for any more they say.
Ugh its like being trapped in a really bad horror movie 
Thanks for giving me hope 
There is hope! All is not lost. Retinopathy can definitely be managed. It’s costly and time consuming, but it is possible. Sometimes it can even regress. The main thing is to keep it from getting worse.
As long as you have sight, there is hope.