What does a common man refer diabetes to? Sugar? Glucose? It actually doesn't mean just this. Diabetes is actually a multi-organ disease affecting all the parts of the body at the same time. Eyes are one of the important organs that get affected. The disease has certain side-effects that can be prevented or at least delayed with major course of actions. When blood vessels at the back of the eyes are affected, the technical term is called diabetic retinopathy.
The progression of diabetic retinopathy starts out with normal eyesight, which then becomes blurred, patchy, or distorted. These vision changes cannot be corrected with corrective lenses. Next, one may experience problems with their balance, problems reading, watching television, or recognizing people. Lastly one could become highly sensitive to limelight and experience difficulties with night vision. It's not possible to predict the retinal disease at the time of diagnosis.
People with type 1 diabetes will get retinal disease almost by 35 years they have been diagnosed. Swelling in the central area of vision can be easily seen in one-third of the sufferers. This is termed as macular oedema. The time period to develop retinal diseases for people suffering diabetes takes minimum period of 30 years who takes insulin or the people who are not able to control their blood sugar level. In US, there are more than 8000 cases of blindness mostly resulting in the age group of 25-74 years which is caused by Diabetic retinopathy which indicates that diabetes itself is responsible for more than 12% for blindness. The second place having higher number of diabetic patients is UAE having 20% of their population suffering from it.
Diabetes related blindness is one of the complicating factors for metabolic disease. Many people in this world don't even come to know that they are suffering form diabetes. For the welfare of the patients some screening programs should be implemented which would take care and give attention towards the sugar level testing. More and more people should be reached with the help of mobile clinics by the public health screenings. NGOs should also lend a helping hand in arranging these programs thereby screening people at various places for a long time. There should be a system under which patients suffering with diabetes should be followed up at each primary healthcare centre with the help of ministry of health.
In order to control diabetes, patients need to gain control of this disease that is afflicting their body. By gaining control of diabetes, it can prevent complications, or detect conditions before they become severe enough to cause loss of vision. In cases where the damage is already started, diabetes control and treatment can prevent the damage from becoming much worse. Obtaining yearly eye exams for patients with diabetes is highly recommended, this differs from persons that do not have diabetes, who should get eye exams every two years. Should you experience symptoms such as sudden onset of blurred vision, seek medical attention immediately.
Julia Hanf author of the book How To Play the Diabetes Diet Game and Win Through a real life crisis Julia figured out how to live diabetes free. Visit http://www.yourdiabetescure.com and learn more about your solution for diabetes.