Hello All. I am new to this site. I am a female who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 15 years ago. I am 46 years old. I think I was in denial so I never kept good control of the diabetes. I took Metformin for the first couple of years but for the last 10 years, I haven’t been on any meds. I also had high blood pressure and was very overweight. I have lost weight over the years. The end of January of this year, I suffered a mini stroke. I believe this was a combination of the diabetes and high blood pressure. Thankfully, I wasn’t affected by the stroke too much (Right side of my body lost sensation but I still feel and have function). They lowered my Blood Sugar with Metformin and insulin. My vision was 20/20 and I never had any problems even though I do have retinopathy. About 2-3 weeks later, I started to have issues with my vision. At first, I couldn’t see close-up as everything seemed blurry. Reading glasses (over the counter) helped with that. Then that cleared up and I started to not be able to see far. When I wake up in the morning, my vision is worse. Especially when I go outside. Don’t get me wrong, I still see fine but it seems like everything is a bit statticky? It’s hard to explain. I got glasses to see far now. I went to two separate opthamologists and two separate Retina specialists. The first retina guy said he saw some macular edema in my right eye and wanted to give me a shot right away. I didn’t accept that. The second retina guy is the head of Retinology at Columbia in NY. He saw it as well but said let’s wait a couple of weeks. I went back to him yesterday and he said the swelling is gone and I don’t need the shot. He also said he saw improvement from the last visit. So what is going on with my vision? I have heard that when you bring your sugar down rapidly it may mess with your eyes. My a1c went from 14 down to 6.7 very quickly. Can someone please help?
It is true variable blood sugar does impact one’s eyes. Blood sugar going up or down will make your eyes more blurry until they settle into a more stable pattern. Once the blood sugar stabilizes within a few points most of the time you may see your vision normalize.
When my blood sugar was first corrected after being over 800, I actually didn’t need glasses for several weeks. Once everything was stabilized I needed them again. Apparently high blood sugar can actually change the shape of the eyeball (that was what I was told in 1999, I could be wrong) and after it is corrected things slowly go back to normal. You may or may not get back to 20/20.
I think two things can happen, normally without retinopathy, your eyes go blurry for a while when you fix your bloods
with retinopathy, as well as the blurry, it can get initially worse but better over time, But Dr says your’s are ok, I would keep seeing him every 6 months for a couple of years, to keep an eye on them.
http://www.diabeticretinopathy.org.uk/retinopathyprogression.htm
I am also seeing the director at Columbia. I have been getting injections for about a year but it isn’t clear whether my eye issue is related to diabetes. It could be completely unrelated.
I’ve also read that a quick reduction in BGs after prolonged highs can cause temporary vision problems. The key is temporary. So hopefully your vision will return to your normal level.