Some vision questions

Diabetes Complications and other Conditions Eyes
1

I am T1 LADA DXed about 10 yeurs ago.
I have had pretty poor to fair control for a lot of that time. I do best when I do very low-carb and just really eat clean.
But, whenever I am having a “good season”, my vision suffers. When my sugars are down at or near where they should be, things get pretty blurry,especially on my computer.

My question – when I saw my eye doctor last, he changed my prescription a little bit, I laid out a small fortune for new glasses, and now they seem like they aren’t going to work very well. I was NOT high when I went to the eye doctor, and I am not high now, so it seems to me I should be OK. Would it have been best to have been lower/normal for a good week or so before I went to see him? This has happened every time I go – the glasses don’t improve my vision, and in most cases, it is worse. Will my eyes adjust to the new glasses, even with normal blood sugars?

It seems like this is important information that diabetics should know when addressing eye care, but I have never heard anyone say anthing about it.

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2

Hi Rebecca7!

Personally, my vision changes as my A1c changes, and I need ~6 months or so of steady bg numbers before I can change my Rx. Otherwise I have problems similar to what you have described. If I remember what my Opthomologist told me correctly, the eyes hang on to high sugars longer than anywhere else in the body and high blood sugar causes the lens of the eye to swell, which changes your ability to see. I currently have 3 sets of glasses (sadly for different A1c ranges: 6-6.5, 6.8-7.4, and a +7.5). I generally go to Costco Optical and try to work their yearly 2 for 1 sales. Out of pocket with no insurance, using the sale, I can get 2 pairs of progressives for ~$280 plus a $59 eye exam.
Hope you find an affordable solution. Diabetes is challenging enough without blurry vision.

3

My vision fluctuates along with my sugars. It doesn’t seem to take much of a change. Some days I see better than other days.

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4

I have my yearly opthamologist visit in early March so I can take advantage of the sales.

5

This is actually when retinopathy is diagnosed. Usually it occurs not with high blood sugars, but with the stabilizing of blood sugars. Mine did the same thing after doing very poor control of diabetess for 4 years.

My retinal specialist said that this is what he hears all of the time.

6

With sugars my vision also suffers, but not always. Also consider the lightning conditions of the surrounding it may also help.