Worried about Background Diabetic Retinopathy
I spent most of Christmas scouring the web, looking at research papers. My endo has said not to worry, and that retinopathy can come and go over the years. However, from what I have read, the condition gradually gets worse.
Finding this complication has made diabetes overwhelming, as I am now testing over 20x per day, in the hope that the retinopathy can at least be slowed down, before it becomes proliferative. Losing vision in the years ahead is something that concerns me a great deal. I keep on going back to searching the web for answers (sometimes for hours). This often makes me feel terrible.
Tags: retinopathy
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Patrickmind on -
Hi Malcom,
There are some great responses and strategies on this thread that I liked reading. Definitely follow Josh's lead on blood pressure. I also recommend consider taking a low grade aspirin everyday, like Ecotrin. It increases blood flow throughout the body and its a low grade aspirin which can decrease the chances of side effects. I know many people who have done this and had higher A1C's than you yet still managed to have little if any retinopathy. The technologies out there are incredible as well including laser treatment but hopefully you won't have to go that route. I have had retinopathy for 10 years and at one point had minor leakage but exercise, a better diet, ecotrin and yoga allowed it to improve.
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Permalink Reply by Josh F on -
I can't wait to talk to you about this Patrick sometime in Jan. It will be extremely good to talk to someone in person who is dealing with this, and dealt with it. I should do Yoga. Or get back to Tai chi.
My doctors seem more confident than me right now ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Randall Wong, M.D. on -
Dear malcolm3057,
Hope you are managing well.
In my opinion, the number of years that a patient is diabetic is the biggest risk factor to developing diabetic retinopathy.
I've been in practice almost 20 years and would have to say that almost every diabetic should expect to get background diabetic retinopathy. It is more likely than not to develop.
But, having background diabetic retinopathy does NOT mean that you will lose vision. Especially nowadays!!!
The chance of your losing significant vision is <1% over you lifetime. Plenty of people retain 20/20 with the diagnosis of background diabetic retinopathy. The best you can do, as many have highlighted on this thread, is control your serum glucose as best you can. There is nothing to prevent the disease, but there is plenty you can do to prevent vision loss. Make sure you have a retina specialist who you see regularly. Hang in there! Randy
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