A Change in Observing Eye, and Concerns for the Future.

[Mr Spock]

For as long as I can remember I have observed with my left eye. That is going to have to change.

I am diabetic and have diabetic retinopathy in both eyes, and diabetic maculopathy in my right eye.
The maculopathy in my right eye consists of a blurred patch just below centre. I will have laser treatment soon to stop it spreading - it's not a cure. It's still sharp in the centre though.
The retinopathy can only be seen in my left eye. A year ago it was a string of floater like objects across the centre; a few days ago it was four strings. The view of Jupiter was so difficult I had to switch to my right eye. Very uncomfortable as I'm not used to it. I did get to see lots of belt detail with the 4" though.

So, sometime in the future, I may have to give up visual observing altogether. I've no idea when that will be 

[glafnazur]

Sorry to hear that Michael, hopefully it won't get so bad that you have to give up and if it does I hope it will be many years away. 

I know what you mean about switching eyes. I have always used my right eye and a while back I got a new, rather large, floater in my right eye. It was really bothering me when I was observing (probably because it was new) so I swapped eyes and I was surprised by how difficult it was to observe with the 'wrong' eye.

[josefk]

I feel your pain very much Michael - i am also recently diagnosed diabetic and the blurry vision that accompanies unmanaged blood sugar has been quite frightening so though mine has been temporary i empathise with you. Good luck with your treatment for your more advanced symptoms.

Without patronising you - you could/should really persevere with swapping your observing eye to your right one. I had to swap my dominant eye for photography and though i still instinctively sometimes bring the camera to my wrong eye it has overall been successful. Took ages though!

To anyone else reading this don't assume blurry vision is only a worsening eye prescription (as i did) - its also a symptom of sustained high blood sugar so get it checked out!

[Mr Spock]

I'm off to the doctors in a few moments. My blood sugar over the last week has been 12-13 before meals and 17-18 after - it should be 5 and 8 

[PeterC65]

Sorry to hear about your eyesight issues. I always enjoy reading your comments on here and hope you will continue.

I'm also diabetic, but its been relatively mild, so far. I find my eyesight changes from day to day for no apparent reason.

I can recommend EAA as an alternative to visual if things get too bad. I still do both.

 

[Mandy D]

@Mr Spock sorry to hear this. It is not nice to lose any sight for any reason. Mine was forcibly taken in my observing eye about a year ago and I had to swap. It took months to get used to it and I am still not happy with the switch, but no longer try the wrong eye, so it is possible to adapt and get used to it. I am now waiting on the surgeon to decide when I can have the next stage of treatment, which may restore some more vision. I hope you don't have to give up on something you love. Good luck at the doctor's.

[bosun21]

6 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

I'm off to the doctors in a few moments. My blood sugar over the last week has been 12-13 before meals and 17-18 after - it should be 5 and 8 

Type II Diabetes can be completely reversed with diet change. I was diabetic (type II) for many years on insulin and metformin. I started getting neuropathy in my feet and left hand. What finally kicked me into action was I awoke one morning and my vision was blurred. I have now been insulin and metformin free for 2 years now with a fasting BS of 4.2mmol and 5.7mmol after meals. This is a massive reduction compared to previous intervention levels. My high blood pressure also returned to normal and now hovers about 117-120/ 70. There are a lot of Professors and medical doctors who as well as sorting themselves out now apply this method to their patients. Big pharma are trying to pour water on this as there’s no money to be made by diet change. Something to consider Michael.

[Elp]

I concur, it's difficult but switching to more plant based reducing the meat a lot helps (fats especially animal type reduce your insulin response (you become insulin resistant) so your body produces more and more to no effect). If you can also fast by cutting out one meal you'll also see a dramatic reduction in your blood sugar, I generally don't eat breakfast and can still exercise relatively hard prior to even getting hungry (more than 12+ hours fast every day). It's difficult but the more you stick to it the easier it gets.

[bosun21]

3 hours ago, Elp said:

I concur, it's difficult but switching to more plant based reducing the meat a lot helps (fats especially animal type reduce your insulin response (you become insulin resistant) so your body produces more and more to no effect). If you can also fast by cutting out one meal you'll also see a dramatic reduction in your blood sugar, I generally don't eat breakfast and can still exercise relatively hard prior to even getting hungry (more than 12+ hours fast every day). It's difficult but the more you stick to it the easier it gets.

You have the insulin resistance situation actually reversed.  I achieved complete reversal of my type II diabetes and I am extremely insulin sensitive now. I have only eaten animal products ie grass fed beef, lamb, eggs, butter, bacon etc. Insulin resistance is caused by over consumption of carbohydrates especially processed. Seed oils and fructose are especially bad and are the primary cause of fatty liver. The liver is where the resistance starts causing an increase in visceral fat accumulation. I have been on what is basically a zero carb diet for 18 months now and lost 40kgs in that time. My HDL has increased and my triglycerides dramatically reduced. During my 40kg weight loss I never once went hungry and have been in nutritional ketosis for over 12 months. Sorry for rambling on but this has been a huge positive to my health and well-being.

[Mr Spock]

I went on a health/food training day for diabetics a while ago. Obviously no sugar, but the teaching is to have a balanced diet. So something from each food group, vegetable, meat, dairy etc. Just sticking to one is unhealthy. Things like fats and cheese are ok in moderation. 

Here's what I had yesterday. It was a first try at something different - next time I'm going to add some chopped green beans and more spices. It's basically a Lebanese Bahata W Lahme with an egg on top. Very tasty. This is my allowance of one egg per week 

[Elp]

I think we consume a lot of meat for the satiety effect of it, it makes you feel fuller and more satisfied. I've found if you can replace the meat with freshly cooked beans (kidney, chickpea, harricot whatever as long as it's not processed), it achieves the same satiety effect, in fact you actually feel better afterwards too and don't get that lethargic effect meat tends to give you.

Good on you for making a start, it's never too late.

 

[Elp]

41 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

You have the insulin resistance situation actually reversed.

I've been trying to find a readable article about this. Excess carbohydrates don't help with the issue as too much will lead to fat accumulation as will overeating in general, but I've read about fats and their contribution from many sources, the fat interferes on a cellular level which causes resistance to insulin function:

https://lipidworld.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12944-015-0123-1#Tab1

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Elp

[bosun21]

8 minutes ago, Elp said:

I've been trying to find a readable article about this. Excess carbohydrates don't help with the issue as too much will lead to fat accumulation as will overeating in general, but I've read about fats and their contribution from many sources, the fat interferes on a cellular level which causes resistance to insulin function:

https://lipidworld.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12944-015-0123-1#Tab1

 

Watch this and there are many more from professors and cardiologists, endocrinologists etc.

 

[Mr Spock]

Very interesting video. I'm going to study some of that in more detail. We've always been lead to believe that lard is bad and sunflower oil is good. Yet it appears to be the other way round as sunflower oil is high in omega-6.

[VNA]

Hello, Mr Spoke, so sorry about your visual acuity, exercise would help with diabetes?

Unfortunately I suffer from dry AMD, nothing can be done so far, don't smoke, not overweight I exercise vigorously but I found out that I have one of the two gene!  Can"t drive, read or ride bicycle on my own, etc, Blind? no, but very motivated to keep observing the sky as I can see using "averted visional."

Keep strong, make sure not to get depressed, make sure people close to you know of your health situation to keep a close eye on your moods. (no pun intended.) Loosing one's eye sight or partial is not for sissy . Depression is very silent hard to detect and share.

Unfortunately, speaking  from experience.

Edited September 12, 2023 by VNA

[Spile]

I was diagnosed type two ten years ago and as a result of a low carb diet I was able to reverse it. I have a check up every couple of years but I have a target weight that I keep below and that makes all the difference. Reducing processed food rather than fats made all the difference for me.

[bosun21]

4 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Very interesting video. I'm going to study some of that in more detail. We've always been lead to believe that lard is bad and sunflower oil is good. Yet it appears to be the other way round as sunflower oil is high in omega-6.

You should Michael. It’s worked wonders for me. Totally reversed my type II diabetes, high blood pressure and dramatically reduced my arthritis. Any questions or video suggestions from medical professionals just ask.

[Piero]

At cellular level, you need to reduce mTORC1 activity as that protein complex activates S6K which triggers a negative feedback loop to IRS1, the insulin receptor substrate 1.

In T2 diabetes, mTORC1 is hyperactive, causing a persistent inhibition (and degradation) of IRS1, leading to insulin resistance.

Metformin acts by increasing AMPK activity which indirectly inhibits mTORC1.

Both calorie restriction and physical activity increase AMPK and decrease mTORC1 activities. Therefore, they both make the cell sensitive to insulin again.

There are other cellular signalling pathways involved, but this is a critical one.

I would certainly cut off red meat (and calories) and do regular exercise.

 

--

I tried to find out a diagram. This shows far more than what is necessary here, but the point is there (discard the NFkB pathway to the left and GLUT4 to the right).

At the bottom, the diagram says IRS serine phosphorylation by S6K. That phosphorylation leads to the degradation of the substrate. A lack of substrate in the cell makes the cell insensitive to insulin (coming from outside the cell).

Edited September 13, 2023 by Piero

[Mr Spock]

I'm allergic to metformin 

I'm seeing the diabetic nurse at 12:45 for blood tests, so we'll see what that brings. Meanwhile my reading just now was 8.3 which is more like it. Quite a few years ago I managed to lose 10kg, all I have done now is go back on the diet I had then.

 

[josefk]

if you don't know it @Mr Spock the diet app "MyFitnessPal" is very good for keeping an honest eye on things diet wise. The free version with ads is annoying, the paid for version is expensive for what it is but it is a brilliant tool for managing portions and, if you do want to get into it, also for managing things like carbs and proteins and fats etc.

I had and have a "relatively" healthy diet in composition but always ate too much of it overall - with the app and weighing some foods to get my eye in for portion sizes it all became very controlled in a good way. This screenshot shows part of my breakfast today - even multiple parts of meals can entered with one button press after a few days of using the app and it beginning to store your regularly eaten foods (so it isn't too tedious to use).

i'm using it to keep the weight off i "lost for free" in the last few weeks of my Type-2 being undiagnosed (the only silver lining to the experience).

Edited September 13, 2023 by josefk

[bosun21]

5 hours ago, Piero said:

At cellular level, you need to reduce mTORC1 activity as that protein complex activates S6K which triggers a negative feedback loop to IRS1, the insulin receptor substrate 1.

In T2 diabetes, mTORC1 is hyperactive, causing a persistent inhibition (and degradation) of IRS1, leading to insulin resistance.

Metformin acts by increasing AMPK activity which indirectly inhibits mTORC1.

Both calorie restriction and physical activity increase AMPK and decrease mTORC1 activities. Therefore, they both make the cell sensitive to insulin again.

There are other cellular signalling pathways involved, but this is a critical one.

I would certainly cut off red meat (and calories) and do regular exercise.

 

--

I tried to find out a diagram. This shows far more than what is necessary here, but the point is there (discard the NFkB pathway to the left and GLUT4 to the right).

At the bottom, the diagram says IRS serine phosphorylation by S6K. That phosphorylation leads to the degradation of the substrate. A lack of substrate in the cell makes the cell insensitive to insulin (coming from outside the cell).

mTORC1 is stimulated by raised insulin and growth factor in which a diet of meat will keep insulin suppressed. Here’s a short video explaining the basics. Humans on the planet have been carnivorous for hundreds of thousands of years.

 

[Elp]

But not to the excess it is consumed now, any food in general is typically consumed excessively more than in older times. I can only speak of my own experience, when I was diagnosed I was on insulin as my sugars were in double digits. I immediately stopped eating meat, dairy, still had small amounts of bread and rice (no pasta) and my sugars went to ideal levels. I was off insulin within around 6 weeks and never went back on it. I still eat meat out of choice but tend to veer toward more lentil options if available. Losing excessive weight (fat, not muscle, muscle is much easier to burn away via exercise than visceral fat is) will have a beneficial effect.

[bosun21]

52 minutes ago, Elp said:

But not to the excess it is consumed now, any food in general is typically consumed excessively more than in older times. I can only speak of my own experience, when I was diagnosed I was on insulin as my sugars were in double digits. I immediately stopped eating meat, dairy, still had small amounts of bread and rice (no pasta) and my sugars went to ideal levels. I was off insulin within around 6 weeks and never went back on it. I still eat meat out of choice but tend to veer toward more lentil options if available. Losing excessive weight (fat, not muscle, muscle is much easier to burn away via exercise than visceral fat is) will have a beneficial effect.

The body burns visceral fat before anything else as it's dangerous to health. Then it burns subcutaneous fat and muscle last. The body has a protein sparing system built into its biochemistry.

[Richard N]

I had a Posterior Vitreous Detachment in one eye recently. That eye is now a bit rubbish. Unfortunately they often detach in the other eye soon after. 

[Mr Spock]

I now have a 10mm blood blister where the nurse took blood  Good news is since my last visit in July I've lost 2kg