Generally I don’t start anymessage with “Hi, I have type 1 diabetes – for 23 years now and I am 32 yearsold” but considering the site I am on and since this is my very first postingof any sort, it seems like the best way to start.
I am hoping for some enlightenmenton retinopathy - but not just the regular stuff of what it is, why does itoccur or what treatments are available, as I am not looking for the genericinformation – what I do need is real life answers on a more advanced level.
Let me tell you my situation,and I’ll leave out the medical terminology, since I’m not a doctor, but just aregular patient. In 2002 my lefteye required its first laser treatment for the centre of my vision, and thenagain in 2004 and then 2006 – all single 10 minute sessions or so all that wasfelt was the impression of where they had lasered. Last year in October (2007)the laser treatment became much more intense and involved. This time it was 4successive sessions, nearly 20 minutes long and in the white matter of the lefteye. They wanted to create agrid-like pattern to fix the abnormal nerve growth and hopefully prevent anyfurther internal bleeding. I won’tcomment on the pain of having a nerve lasered multiple times, except that Ithought root canals were really bad until I had this done!
Since then, all follow-upappointments indicate that there is no further bleeding, however, what theydidn’t tell me was how bad the internal swelling was going to be. I adjusted to the fact that every timethe light changes around me, whether its just sunlight or walking from thehallway to the bedroom and there is a different level of light, your visiontakes forever to adjust and sometimes all I see are white shadows withsomething that can only be described as lightning bolts shooting out. But whatI didn’t adjust to was how bad my vision really was.
If I look out my left eyeonly (i.e. I cover the right eye with my hand) I see everything as if I was looking at a reflection on acracked mirror - distorted images, only pieces of text that are merely ajumble. The doctors say that theonly solution is to try a steroid injection right into the eye to diminish someof the swelling. Apparently it isan out patient procedure, I would be awake, and lasts nearly 20 minutes. However, my doctor can’t assure me thatit will work nor give me odds on if it ‘s worth the risks of infection. Do I really want to inject somethingdirectly into my eye without any assurances it will work? Just the mere thoughtof it makes me squirm. I wouldrather have a root canal in every tooth that is in my mouth than have a needleinjected into my eye while I am wide awake…likely staring at the needleprotruding right at me.
I would love to hear fromsomeone who has been in this situation – should I have this done? Was it worthit? Did it work? I have searchedeverywhere online on literature to support such procedures – they are allunclear about benefits – I have asked all my doctors (including my endocrinologist)and none of them advocate clear support. I’m all out of ideas…please take a few minutes to write if you can helpme. Thanks for reading this far – I really appreciate it.
Ana
p.s if you are wondeing how Iwas able to type this out…I’ll give you a hint….really, BIG BIG font J