Kids it always comes to doing for our kids don't it Scott????
Thanks, but I doubt it. I was diagnosed about 4 years ago. I've had literally dozens of laser treatments to each eye, and a vitrectomy to my left eye. My right continues to act up now and then. I seem to have sustained damage from the treatment itself - I have lost a lot of color vision, some peripheral vision, and much of my depth perception. Even with glasses, my right eye can't be corrected to 20/20.
What I'm hoping for now, however, is to avoid further major issues with my eyes (ie requiring further surgery), especially because further laser is out of the question - I have too much scar tissue build-up as it is.
Unfortunately, damage to the retina (of any source) can't be reversed. A condition like proliferative retinopathy may improve in that abnormal blood vessels stop growing—but any damage already done to the retina (and vision) can't be reversed. The "improvement" is only that the condition is not advancing further (or advancing more slowly), not that it's reversing.
The need for glasses relates to the lens, not the retina. Retinal problems can't be corrected with glasses.
Blurred vision could be caused by blood sugar fluctuations affecting the chemical makeup of the lens, which affects its ability to change shape and focus. These changes from high or rapidly fluctuating blood sugar are temporary and can improve over time (which is why a lot of people with diabetes experience blurred vision right after they are diagnosed and have experienced rapid changes in their blood sugar). Since the lens' ability (or inability) to focus is what creates a need for glasses, these types of changes could result in a change in prescription.
What made me get control was wrong information from my doctors and one visit to the ICU thanks to DKA in 2008.
My (now) husband was the reason for my taking control over my own care.
I was diagnosed T1 at age 4 and, like others have noted, just sort of did what I had to do until my late teen years, when I just basically said, "Screw this! Diabetes isn't the boss of me!"
That lasted through college and into my mid-20's. Then my fiance (at the time) said something along the lines of, "If you're not taking care of yourself, it's going to effect me too, because I want you around for a long time.
So even if I don't feel like doing it for myself (which. . .I should, but you guys know how that goes), now I do it for my husband and future kids.
I was diagnosed with T2 about ten years ago, and my control has waxed and waned over the years.
I have suffered greatly for control, e.g. two years of nonstop sickness from metformin (nausea, severe and daily gastric distress.) I've worked really hard for control, e.g. strict diet and exercise program resulting in a huge weight loss and a big improvement in my insulin resistance. I've fallen apart and completely given up on control, e.g. near-constant binging, huge weight gain, hovering in the 300 to 450 range for months at a time.
Diabetes is HARD and for most of the ten years since diagnosis, I've struggled and failed, struggled and failed, struggled and failed. Somewhere in the middle of this past ten years I managed to get ONE A1C in the 5's, but most of the time I've been somewhere between 7 and 13.
Chronic depression, thyroid issues, adrenal issues, polycystic ovaries, menopause, severe career stress and severe family stress (several cancer diagnoses and one cancer death, etc.) haven't made it any easier.
However, I recently turned a corner. I found that not only do I want to live, I have something to live FOR, something to be healthy and complication-free FOR: music.
I need my eyes to read music and see the strings of my guitar. I need my hearing to hear every note, every subtle phrase, every harmony. I need my fingers to work perfectly in order to play intricate passages, to control the dynamics, to play just the right rhythm. I need my shoulders to be unfrozen to be able to practice and perform for hours every week. I need my strength. I need my vitality. I need patience and concentration. I need to be able to learn and remember not one complicated piece, but many. I need hope. I need inspiration. I need confidence. I need serenity. I need to be healthy!
When I didn't know, really, why I was here or what I was working so hard FOR, it was easy to fall into a negative space, "Why bother? Who cares? It's all too much work, and for what?"
I don't have a husband, children, grandchildren, my brother is gone, the rest of my family lives far away, never visits, doesn't really care about me all that much, no one really needs me or relies on me -- not even a stray cat or a rescued dog. I couldn't see the point of trying so freaking hard day after day after day when my life was just a colorless series of days going to a job I could barely stand and then home to my cold, dark, empty apartment. (This is textbook depressive thinking, I know!)
Now that I have reconnected with music, have my new (amazing) guitar, have bonded with my wonderful guitar teacher, have started making friends with other musicians -- some late bloomers like me, others seasoned professionals with world-class skills -- I have something to drive my desire for control besides and beyond my (fairly weak and wavering) basic sense of self-preservation.
I've cleaned up my diet again. I've lost quite a bit of weight in recent months. I'm working really hard on testing, treating, logging, learning. I've started doing exercise again (not enough yet, but a bit more each week as I get stronger.)
Music and my musical friendships have inspired me to care enough again to really TRY. I'm actually looking forward to my next A1C.
Of course! Is there anything wrong with that?
NOPE!!! I sooo totally agree with u on that!!!
i'm happy for you that you found something to keep you going...don't give up...smile...
Thanks, shoshana27. We all need to see a light guiding us forward, something to live for, right? A reason to get up again tomorrow and keep trying.
Y'all are so blessed to have them! ;0)
Oh Yes & Now I got 3 g-kids!!! I get to live my life all over again with them!!!
I dunno if he wrote any guitar pieces but Shostakovich's autobiography "Testimony" is kind of an interesting read, about the perils of maintaining dignity and a sense of humor under the gaze of the RED EYE in the Kremlin? There's bunches of funny stuff about Soviet bureaucrats scrutinizing classical music and his efforts to comply with guidelines and stay out of trouble.
I just bought a new guitar too and know what you mean about it being inspirational!
I too received an inspiration transfusion via an new ax (an electric 12 string), need to stay away from eBay:)
Thanks, I think I'd enjoy reading "Testimony". I can't imagine how people survive under that kind of oppressive social control. I'm sure I would be one of the ones who got shipped off to the gulag for my bad attitude!
I SAW MY OPHTHALMOLOGIST YESTERDAY. MY EYES ARE OK BUT THE REASON I DON'T SEE WELL IS BECAUSE THEY ARE DRY. NEED TO USE DROPS WHICH I AM
2 near death experiences (2 diabetic seizures due to massive lows - I should be dead) and the fact that if I didn't get it together I wouldn't live to see then end of 2004.
Got it together, have run marathons in Ottawa, Melbourne Australia, competed in 4 triathlons, lost 20 pounds and changed every single thing in my life for the better.
I second that!
Hey Super_Sally,
Well my best friend lost 90 pounds after watching me cross the finish line of one of my triathlons. She said "if you can do this with diabetes what's my excuse for being over weight."
She then came to do a marathon with my in Melbourne Australia. We crossed the finish line together and cried and huged! The greatest day was to see her do it.
So Sally - I set out to change my life and ended up helping her to change hers too. :)