Diabetic Retinopathy Treatment Care

Question by Jennifer: What could cause this weird spot on my vision?
Since last September (not this year, I mean last year) I noticed a strange dark spot in the middle of my field of vision of my right eye. It’s not pitch black, but it is a little shadowy. Kind of just like a little blog in the middle of my vision. Annoying as it was (I mostly notice it whenever I’m trying to read something, since it keeps moving along with wherever I’m focusing my vision), I never thought too horribly much of it since it wasn’t causing me any pain or anything, and I’m not currently covered by insurance…so unless it were some severe life threatening thing, chances are I wasn’t going to be able to justify having it looked at.

Fast forward about a year. It’s still there…the dark patch hasn’t really changed in shape or size or anything. So that’s probably good that it hasn’t taken over my vision or anything. But, there’s these weird squiggly lines coming out of it in either direction. They, however, aren’t dark like the spot. They look like what I can only describe as if a bunch of floaters (I’ve had those since childhood) somehow joined together to create a squiggly line. But the weirder part is that these lines sort of change shape over the course of the day. Sometimes it’ll be an almost straight line, other times it’ll look like a squiggly, zig-zaggy line, and other times it looks like it’s trying to loop around the dark spot. It’s been like that much of the time I’ve had the dark spot, but those lines have definitely become larger with time. They don’t change fast enough for me to sit there and watch them morphing or anything, but say I’m typing and then look up at a light colored wall and see how it looks, then look back down at my typing for a few minutes, then back at the wall. It will have changed at least a little bit in that time.

I know that I *should* have this checked out, and whenever I have the resources to be able to do so, I will. But in the meantime, just some thoughts on different possibilities of what this might be? The spot itself doesn’t cause any pain or anything, although I know that eye is more sensitive to light than the other. (My eyes have always been light-sensitive though, so whether or not that’s changed or if it was already just more sensitive than the other, I’m not too sure.) Only other even possible symptom I can think of is some on again/off again mild headaches I’ve had on that same side of my head for a couple weeks. Not horribly painful (not even bad enough to need to take a painkiller), just enough to be annoying. I thought they might be tension headaches, but the “band-like” description doesn’t fit here, and I can’t think of too many other things that might be causing those, so perhaps they’re related. Maybe they’re not, but just in case it’s a critical piece of info, I thought I’d include it. But, of course, being the hypochondriac I am, I’ve had to wonder if maybe this whole thing is a brain tumor, or an aneurysm waiting to burst or something. I know it could also be something like retinal detachment (which would be bad for how much time has passed, I’m sure), and even though I tested negative for diabetes last time I got checked, the disease does run in my family, so I had to wonder about diabetic retinopathy too. Any other thoughts on what it sounds like it could most likely be based on this description, or anything I haven’t even thought of? More importantly….this isn’t fatal, is it? I would REALLY suck to lose my vision in that eye (but I’m hoping to get this checked before it gets *that* far) but I’m really scared about whether this thing could potentially kill me.

I should also probably mention that I’m a 24 year old female in otherwise fairly good health.

Best answer:

Answer by UmbrellaGirl
It sounds like you have what is called a Scotoma if it isn’t floating around like floaters would. Here is the Wikipedia article on them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotoma

Save up what you can and see a doctor about it soon. It could very well be from your headaches and when they go away, this may fade as well. There is a possibility it could be something serious, so if it doesn’t go away, you should be checked out.

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Question by S: What else besides diabetes would cause glucose to show up in urinalysis?
My doc used urinalysis to diagnose a urinary tract infection and she mentioned that glucose was also present. I will go back for blood tests. I do have a family history of diabetes. So I borrowed my father’s glucose meter and tested my blood –glucose level was only 99, which is not in the diabetic range.

Best answer:

Answer by Gary B
The kidney infection (in fact, ANY infection) WILL cause you blood sugars to be high, and THAT could have caused the sugar to spill into your urine,

This is NOT a problem — UNLESS it continues after the kidney infection is healed.

You doctor will do ANOTHER urine test before you are “released” as being “well”,. IF the sugar STILL shows up then, you have other problems to look into.

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Question by guts_spunk_moxie: Can diabetes cause you hair to fall out?
I have diabetes (newly diagnosed, but apparently I have had it fo a while and didn’t know it according to my doctor) and my hair keeps falling out near the crown and in the back, causing thin spots.
Someone told me that this can be a symptomatic cause from having diabetes. Is this true and if so; why?

Best answer:

Answer by Monique L
Type 2 can cause it.. A lot of stress or other hormone problems can also hair loss. You may want to be checked for some thing that is called Alopecia Areata as well. My daughter has it. There are two different types, thank goodness she has the kind where the hair will come back. I took her to 4 different dotors and they all wanted and did give her the same steroid cream for the spots but you can only use it for so long because it thins the skin. I just happened to be in Macy’s one weekend and started talking to a lady in front of me and she told me about the Organic cream that Walmart, Riteaid and Walgreens sells. It’s is in where they have a lot of the hair kits for Afro. Americans, it is called Olive Oil Organic root stimulator. Let me tell you, it works wonders!! GET SOME… They have a whole line of products which I use on my daughter. Every now and then I have find a little spot and I just nip it in the bud and rub it in and leave it over night and wash her head the next day and after a few applications you see peach fuzz coming up. Good luck, let me know if this helps you out.

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I’ve been eating a lot of sugar lately. Diabetes doesn’t run in my family but I’ve heard too much sugar can cause it. Is this true?

clammy skin
sweating
acting out

They go away after he has a snack or meal. The doctors have tested several times for diabetes but all the tests have come up negative.