Background diabetic retinopathy with microaneurysms

[tilly-roo]

I have just received a letter telling me I have this, though nothing that will effect my sight. I'm distraught... I am 18 years old, have an eating disorder, have had 6 years of eating disordered behaviour and have had bouts of very poor control so I suppose it is to be expected and I am lucky to have come this far.

However my question is, will this progress if I recover soon and my diabetes control reestablishes? If it does progress how fast does it usually do so and does this mean I'll go blind in the future even with good control?

I know that if my HBA1C goes down too rapidly soon it'll speed it up, so how can I reduce how fast my HBA1C goes down by?

Thankyou so much.

[notme]

I have just received a letter telling me I have this, though nothing that will effect my sight. I'm distraught... I am 18 years old, have an eating disorder, have had 6 years of eating disordered behaviour and have had bouts of very poor control so I suppose it is to be expected and I am lucky to have come this far.

However my question is, will this progress if I recover soon and my diabetes control reestablishes? If it does progress how fast does it usually do so and does this mean I'll go blind in the future even with good control?

I know that if my HBA1C goes down too rapidly soon it'll speed it up, so how can I reduce how fast my HBA1C goes down by?

Thankyou so much.


Retinopathy is a progressive disease. Once it has happened the best you can do for yourself is control your blood sugar. Keeping your blood sugar under control will slow the progression, but not stop it forever. How fast or how slow it progresses is individual. Even with good control, you can still have retinopathy progress.

You did not say what type of eating disorder, but if it includes purging, that could be very detrimental to your eyes because of the pressure.

What is your HbA1c at this point? Do you control your weight by withholding insulin?

[tilly-roo]

HBA1C is 14.something. I don't purge, just withhold insulin. I've had periods of good control and anorexia and periods of bad control and bulimia.

[Marcia K in Fl]

I have no advice but I promise to pray for you-for healing in all aspects. Keep reading and posting here to help you.

[tilly-roo]

Thankyou, Marcia.

[xMenace]

You need to get your A1C below 6.5%. I know you have an eating disorder, but you really do have to. Seek professional help if you can't do it on your own.

[BlueSky]

I had some microaneurisms from when my HBA1c was 8+. It took a while (several years), but reducing my HBA1c to below 6.5% has cleared it up. There are now no signs of retinopathy, so yes, it can be reversed. But with an HBA1c of 14%, I think you can expect retinopathy to progress quite quickly. The retinopathy risk graph below shows how the risk increases. You need to move down it as quickly as possible. Good luck !

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll181/stratplan/retinopathy.jpg

[strack350]

As the others have said, YOU NEED TO LOWER YOUR A1C. this is very important, and you need to take your insulin to do it. If you have to seek professional help do it, there is no shame in it, and It's better than being blind anyday. I have had type 1 for 25 years, and had a eye checkup a few months ago. there was a few spots on my retinas, and my eye doctor said it was background retinopathy. This is all I needed to hear to get my self in gear to get lower. I pray you will do the same:)

[techgirl2000]

tilly-roo, I've been a T1 for 12yrs and wasn't good @ controlling my blood sugar. Abt 6 months back, I was diagnosed with Non-proliferative retinopathy. Now it has progressed to Proliferative retinopathy. It was really a rude awakening for me. I was depressed that I could go blind if I don't take immediate action to change my lifestyle.

I'm fortunately to have found DF this year as I've never had any support & guidance from fellow diabetics over here in Malaysia. I've since had 2 rounds of laser treatment (spread out to avoid any headaches if performed all at once) and due for a followup with my opthomologist this month. He said there are not many bleeds so I'm ok for now BUT I gotta control my blood sugar within the range of approx 6.5mmol/l. I'm now controlling my blood sugar much better than I used to with low carbs diet and exercise whenever I can (I work 12 hours of day and night shifts).

My last HBA1c was 7.4 mmol/l and the previous was about 8.9 mmol/l. I hope to get this below 7.0 mmol/l the next time I test.

Feel free to post your questions here as there are so many people who can share their experience and knowledge to help you.