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Diabetes and My Eyesight

eyes.jpgFor the past 3 days, I have been taking it easy by minimizing my online time. I even took a one day leave. See , last Monday after working for two hours on the internet, a hairlike strand just appeared in my field of vision. It felt like I had hair in my eyes which refused to go away. Oh no, I panicked. Am I getting blind? I am aware that diabetics like me are prone to diabetic retinopathy. Everyone with diabetes will develop diabetic retinopathy. Regular eye exams when first diagnosed with diabetes, and then at least every two years, will reduce the risk of vision loss and blindness. I couldn’t believe this was it. The start of my blindness. But I protested silently. I just had an eye angiogram 8 months ago and it was normal.

I paid a visit to my Philamacare-HMO opthalmologist who in turn referred me to a retina specialist for a retinal pathology. The opthalmologist saw some fluid in the retina but wasn’t so sure about it as my pupils were not dilated when he examined me. Yesterday, I waited for Dr. Chan at the Medical Center Manila for two hours. While waiting, I befriended some of the patients whose eye problem stories made me even more nervous. A diabetic woman who is a few years older than me is almost blind. She underwent a laser operation to save her eyesight. Before the operation, she could only see headless people . Though she still has blurry vision, at least the people she sees have heads on their shoulders. Eek, I thought. So that’s how it is to be partially blind? I comforted myself with the thought that perhaps my defective eyesight is still in its early stages. The nurse checked my long distance vision and I still had a 20-20 vision. Hm, that’s good news. Then she placed a few eyedrops to fully dilate my pupils. Good thing my husband dropped me off so I didn’t have to drive home with dilated pupils.

Finally the doctor arrived . He said it could be nothing. He didn’t seem worried after he saw my latest angiogram. Probing my eyes with blinding light was difficult as I kept on tearing and blinking. Various round shapes similar to the sun and yellow colors was all I could see

The verdict! “it’s nothing. It’s what we call floaters or posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) due to aging.

What a relief. I really thought it was a floater but then it was such a long strand. The common floaters I see are small specks or clouds moving in my field of vision.. This particular annoying floater would hover briefly then drop out of sight. Still I didn’t want to rule out a a retina problem.

Getting out of the clinic was difficult as my dilated eyes were sensitive to light. Feeling like a hungry vampire, I wore my heavily tinted sunglasses as I made my way to “McDonald’s” , the meeting place for my husband to fetch me.

Fish Fillet sandwich and coffee please?

The girl says ” we don’t have fish fillet.

Why? did you stop making them already?

“No. We never had fish fillet.

I was adamant. How could they just stop producing “Fish Fillet”? It’s healthier alternative to hamburgers.

“Maam, this is Jollibee”

Yikes. We both laughed. Because of my sensitivity to light I didn’t bother to look at the fastfood signages .

Oh well, I’m just happy that my eyesight is pretty normal sans farsightedness. Back to work now.

7 thoughts on “Diabetes and My Eyesight”

  1. hehehe my dad did that before too. he got mad at the mcdonalds lady manning the drive-thru booth for not wanting to sell him chicken joy! LOL

    seriously though… do you use an LCD monitor instead of the usual CRT one? it makes a lot of difference on the eyes. i used to wear glasses when I was still using a CRT monitor, but since I changed it to LCD, i didn’t have to anymore.

  2. Hi Noemi. I read ur blog everyday and the format is nice and breezier. Take care of ur health, its one thing that is so precious.I will pray that nothing is wrong with your eyesight. I am wearing glasses myself and I sometimes also have blurred vision.

  3. It’s very informational and useful for diabetes management.
    I have ever heard about diabetes caused by excessive sugar content in blood making essential body organs dirty.
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    when I enter forum. Have a nice day!

  4. “Everyone with diabetes will develop diabetic retinopathy”

    This is not true. Everyone with diabetes has the potential to develop it, but not everyone will. The key is keeping your blood sugars as close to normal as you possibly can. Dr. Bernstein’s diabetic solution is a book I highly recommend.

    Sarah
    Type 1 ten years

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