Diabetes Talking

Question:

. If she is scheduled for the laser clinic you can bet that she has neovascularization (retinopathy).  Meaning they probably will laser.  How much depends on the amount of damage that is there and the

doctor. Well here’s hoping the damage isn’t too great. She’s going for the treatment today, so I’ll probably know more tonight. Chances are they will laser the area around the vessels: 1)  hoping that they will shrivel up and the growth will stop and no new growth will appear 2)treating areas they see leakage from so that there is no major hemorrhage in the future

Let’s hope. How bad it is depends on how long and how out of control she was.  They tend to treat earlier to catch things before they get out of

control.  I have had friends tell me when they got in better control is made the retinopathy worse.

She’s not been in good control since the beginning 7-8 years ago, or to put it another way, she’s only been in good control for the last 10-12 months. Will she go blind is another matter.  It depends on if she

stays in control. I suspect she will now. Well if it was ME, I know I would. How big of an area they are treating.  How much damage is done. How many laser spots they burn.   Most people caught early can save their vision providing laser is done sparingly.  More than likely not, but vision could be impaired.

Not the best news, but I dind’t expect much more. I had my right eye done more than 20 years ago when laser was new.  No real neovascularization, but the eye doctor conned my parents into believing that is she burned the entire area where it could occur I wouldn’t go blind. WRONG!  She so damaged my rod and cones and I suffered from Macular Ishemia. Lost most of vision in that eye.

And people wonder why we (as a whole) don’t trust doctors anymore! Ten years ago I was moving a refrigerator and had a major hemorrhage in my left eye.  No signs of where it came from in my eye.  No neovascularization. It was a real freaky thing.  The doc lasered 10 spots in areas he suspected and that was it.  My vision in that eye is better than 20/20, except for the fact that I now am developing cataracts (caused my light? intense light from laser?  California’s sun?)

Age?? Good Luck to her.

I’ll pass that along Jill, and thanks Beav

Response:

I just turned (Shhh…) 40 — Jill

My vision in that eye is better than 20/20, – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – except for the fact that I now am developing cataracts (caused my light? intense light from laser?  California’s sun?) Age?? Good Luck to her. I’ll pass that along Jill, and thanks Beav

Response:

. I just turned (Shhh…) 40

There you go you old bugger ) Beav (Who won’t see ANY of the 40’s again)

Response:

One minute I had no retinopathy and the next I did. I have had laser on one side ad not on the other. BG control is CRITICAL. Every eye doc I have see says the same stuff to me. I had a burst blood vessel, but it was not new grwth. Urge your friend to seek treatment. This time i was lucky !

Response:

I just turned (Shhh…) 40 — Jill

Jill, I’ll trade you ) — Bob Visit my information & link page at (New URL) http://twilight.webbernet.net/~gooteebob news.newusers.questions Moderation Team Worker

Response:

No thanks, I am quite proud that I have made it this far, having been a diabetic since before my first birthday.  I think that in itself is quite an accomplishment considering they said that I would never live past 16 when I was diagnosed.  My complications are minimal up to this point. Unfortunately, my only regret is that most of my diabetic friends from my youth didn’t make it this far to celebrate with me. Jill

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I just turned (Shhh…) 40 — Jill Jill, I’ll trade you ) — Bob Visit my information & link page at (New URL) http://twilight.webbernet.net/~gooteebob news.newusers.questions Moderation Team Worker

Response:

. No thanks, I am quite proud that I have made it this far, having been a diabetic since before my first birthday.  I think that in itself is quite an accomplishment considering they said that I would never live past 16 when I was diagnosed.  My complications are minimal up to this point. Unfortunately, my only regret is that most of my diabetic friends from my youth didn’t make it this far to celebrate with me.

I didn’t realize you were diabetic for so long (and during your childhood to boot) Jill. Making it this far is truly wonderful to hear. I hope *I* manage 40 years as a T1 diabetic, but I’m hardly likely to coz I’ll be dead of old age by then:) Well done girl!! Beav

Response:

You might surprise yourself Beav and live to be well over 100.  Anyone with enough fire in them like you has a chance.  All my grandparents lived to that mark, all with the same fire. — Jill- A Beav fan for the past few years.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – . No thanks, I am quite proud that I have made it this far, having been a diabetic since before my first birthday.  I think that in itself is quite an accomplishment considering they said that I would never live past 16 when I was diagnosed.  My complications are minimal up to this point. Unfortunately, my only regret is that most of my diabetic friends from my youth didn’t make it this far to celebrate with me. I didn’t realize you were diabetic for so long (and during your childhood to boot) Jill. Making it this far is truly wonderful to hear. I hope *I* manage 40 years as a T1 diabetic, but I’m hardly likely to coz I’ll be dead of old age by then:) Well done girl!! Beav

Response:

. You might surprise yourself Beav and live to be well over 100. Anyone with enough fire in them like you has a chance.  All my grandparents lived to that mark, all with the same fire.

It WILL be a surprise Jill (but nice I have to admit:-) We’re not a SUPER long living family on one side (my dad’s) but we fare batter on Mum’s side. Still none of them reached 90. — Jill- A Beav fan for the past few years.

Don’t TELL me that, I’m bad enough as it is Beav

Response:

<order slightly rearranged I don’t need or want answers from Dan Fake, Jeff Henz or Watchpratt. I wonder why.  But removing all iron from her diet and

replacing with rectal sundown stuff would make it so she would never have to test

again.  lol Hehehe – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Seriously… Many of you probably know that I have a diabetic neighbour who for some time didn’t take care of herself (denial and all that), but she recently got the idea that maybe better control would be a GOOD idea. However… After staying vigilant for some months (close to a year) and keeping her sugars MUCH closer to normal than before, she got a letter from the hospital following her regular eye exam. The letter tells her they’ve made an appointment for her at the laser clinic and obviously this has put a scare into her. They haven’t said what they’ve found and this is even more scary. She’s been diabetic (T1) for 7 or 8 years total. Anyway, that’s the background, now the questions. Is it likely that she’s suffering from retinopathy? Could be.  There are a few different types of lasers, used for a variety of reasons.  Without knowing what type of laser, it would be mere speculation that this is diabetes related.

I’d suggest that it’s speculation with good cause though Mar. She’s only a kid (early 20’s) and I don’t know of any "normal" kids at that age with eye problems that require laser treatment at such short notice. This is the NHS and we’re talking DAYS here, where we normally talk weeks, months or years. Is it likely that she’s suffering from new blood vessel growth? It is possible, but again, it would be speculation since we don’t even know the type of laser.

That part I agree with, but what’s USUALLY the first to happen. New vessel growth, or retinal detachment? Are lasers used to "treat" new blood vessel growth at all? Yes.  Pan retinal laser treatments in essence kill off the area where the blood vessels grow so ther can be no more growth.  I’ve been told that they can "cauterize" bleeders as well.

That’s interesting Mar. I heard something similar a while ago, but to be honest, I didn’t pay a lot of attention because I don’t have any eye problems myself. Now that my pal has this problem and as she won’t research anything (for fear of what she’ll find I think) I thought it’d be a reasonable idea to do a bit for her. I can give her any good news OR any bad. For some reason she accepts what I say more than anything her parents say. If it’s retinopathy, how bad could it be in such a short space of time? Retinopathy can progress very quickly.

That’s not such good news is it? How effective is laser treatment at halting the progression? (on average) Laser treatment, with good blood pressure and glucose control are very good at curbing retinopathy.

That’s better She’s done a lot of work getting under control and I wouldn’t want it to have been for naught. Is she likely to lose her sight anytime soon? (please say no) No one can say with 100% certainty that she would not, but the changes are highly unlikely.  Sight loss is typically due to a detached retina that happens after lots and lots of vessel growth.  Chances are good that she would have had a bleeder before this would happen.

Well she’s had NO obvious signs or symptoms and even now the only way this was discovered is by the "eye drop" exam and the photo session she did last week, so hopefully they caught the problem before it’s got too serious.   I would hope they would have done laser long before a bleeder ever happened.

So far, that’s the case. She doesn’t even know what a bleed is. That’s about it for now, but I’m sure I’ll have more questions later. Send her my best wishes and tell her to keep her chin up.

Will do.  She’s getting proper treatment which makes things much better than getting no treatment! I agree, although she probably won’t She’s a bit like me, not a hospital person Beav

Response:

<order slightly rearranged I don’t need or want answers from Dan Fake, Jeff Henz or Watchpratt.

I wonder why.  But removing all iron from her diet and replacing with rectal sundown stuff would make it so she would never have to test again.  lol Seriously… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Many of you probably know that I have a diabetic neighbour who for some time didn’t take care of herself (denial and all that), but she recently got the idea that maybe better control would be a GOOD idea. However… After staying vigilant for some months (close to a year) and keeping her sugars MUCH closer to normal than before, she got a letter from the hospital following her regular eye exam. The letter tells her they’ve made an appointment for her at the laser clinic and obviously this has put a scare into her. They haven’t said what they’ve found and this is even more scary. She’s been diabetic (T1) for 7 or 8 years total. Anyway, that’s the background, now the questions. Is it likely that she’s suffering from retinopathy?

Could be.  There are a few different types of lasers, used for a variety of reasons.  Without knowing what type of laser, it would be mere speculation that this is diabetes related. Is it likely that she’s suffering from new blood vessel growth?

It is possible, but again, it would be speculation since we don’t even know the type of laser. Are lasers used to "treat" new blood vessel growth at all?

Yes.  Pan retinal laser treatments in essence kill off the area where the blood vessels grow so ther can be no more growth.  I’ve been told that they can "cauterize" bleeders as well. If it’s retinopathy, how bad could it be in such a short space of time?

Retinopathy can progress very quickly. How effective is laser treatment at halting the progression? (on average)

Laser treatment, with good blood pressure and glucose control are very good at curbing retinopathy. Is she likely to lose her sight anytime soon? (please say no)

No one can say with 100% certainty that she would not, but the changes are highly unlikely.  Sight loss is typically due to a detached retina that happens after lots and lots of vessel growth.  Chances are good that she would have had a bleeder before this would happen.  I would hope they would have done laser long before a bleeder ever happened. That’s about it for now, but I’m sure I’ll have more questions later.

Send her my best wishes and tell her to keep her chin up.  She’s getting proper treatment which makes things much better than getting no treatment! — Marilyn

Response:

If she is scheduled for the laser clinic you can bet that she has neovascularization (retinopathy).  Meaning they probably will laser.  How much depends on the amount of damage that is there and the doctor. Chances are they will laser the area around the vessels: 1)  hoping that they will shrivel up and the growth will stop and no new growth will appear 2)treating areas they see leakage from so that there is no major hemorrhage in the future How bad it is depends on how long and how out of control she was.  They tend to treat earlier to catch things before they get out of control.  I have had friends tell me when they got in better control is made the retinopathy worse. Will she go blind is another matter.  It depends on if she stays in control. How big of an area they are treating.  How much damage is done.  How many laser spots they burn.   Most people caught early can save their vision providing laser is done sparingly.  More than likely not, but vision could be impaired. I had my right eye done more than 20 years ago when laser was new.  No real neovascularization, but the eye doctor conned my parents into believing that is she burned the entire area where it could occur I wouldn’t go blind. WRONG!  She so damaged my rod and cones and I suffered from Macular Ishemia. Lost most of vision in that eye. Ten years ago I was moving a refrigerator and had a major hemorrhage in my left eye.  No signs of where it came from in my eye.  No neovascularization. It was a real freaky thing.  The doc lasered 10 spots in areas he suspected and that was it.  My vision in that eye is better than 20/20, except for the fact that I now am developing cataracts (caused my light?  intense light from laser?  California’s sun?) Good Luck to her. Jill

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Many of you probably know that I have a diabetic neighbour who for some time didn’t take care of herself (denial and all that), but she recently got the idea that maybe better control would be a GOOD idea. However… After staying vigilant for some months (close to a year) and keeping her sugars MUCH closer to normal than before, she got a letter from the hospital following her regular eye exam. The letter tells her they’ve made an appointment for her at the laser clinic and obviously this has put a scare into her. They haven’t said what they’ve found and this is even more scary. She’s been diabetic (T1) for 7 or 8 years total. Anyway, that’s the background, now the questions. Is it likely that she’s suffering from retinopathy? Is it likely that she’s suffering from new blood vessel growth? Are lasers used to "treat" new blood vessel growth at all? If it’s retinopathy, how bad could it be in such a short space of time? How effective is laser treatment at halting the progression? (on average) Is she likely to lose her sight anytime soon? (please say no) That’s about it for now, but I’m sure I’ll have more questions later. I don’t need or want answers from Dan Fake, Jeff Henz or Watchpratt. Beav

Response:

Many of you probably know that I have a diabetic neighbour who for some time didn’t take care of herself (denial and all that), but she recently got the idea that maybe better control would be a GOOD idea. However… After staying vigilant for some months (close to a year) and keeping her sugars MUCH closer to normal than before, she got a letter from the hospital following her regular eye exam. The letter tells her they’ve made an appointment for her at the laser clinic and obviously this has put a scare into her. They haven’t said what they’ve found and this is even more scary. She’s been diabetic (T1) for 7 or 8 years total. Anyway, that’s the background, now the questions. Is it likely that she’s suffering from retinopathy? Is it likely that she’s suffering from new blood vessel growth? Are lasers used to "treat" new blood vessel growth at all? If it’s retinopathy, how bad could it be in such a short space of time? How effective is laser treatment at halting the progression? (on average) Is she likely to lose her sight anytime soon? (please say no) That’s about it for now, but I’m sure I’ll have more questions later. I don’t need or want answers from Dan Fake, Jeff Henz or Watchpratt. Beav

Response: