Diabetes Retina Eye Problems: Floaters or Spots in Vision? Learn What You Must do Next to Avoid Total Blindness due to Retinopathy

I said to Virginia, "What do you mean you can't drive?" She said,"I can't see the road because everything is blurry, and black spots and splotches are in my vision." We discovered later that these tiny spots and splotches that suddenly appeared to limit her sight turned out to be what eye doctors call, "floaters." She is diabetic--for over twenty years now--type 2. The floaters in her eyes were classic symptoms of diabetic retinopathy, a serious diabetes complication of the retina that can progress to total blindness if not discovered and corrected in time.

So, what is diabetic retinopathy?

Diabtic retinopathy is a chronic diabetic complication that develops in the eye(s) of a diabetes patient. Having excessively high blood glucose ("sugar") levels, high cholesterol or high blood pressure can cause tiny blood vessels in the retina to become constricted and block normal blood flow.

The retina is located at the back of the eye where it functions similar to camera film in that light passes through the front of the eye and impacts sensors attached to the retina at the back of the eye and those light images are transformed into signals which are sent from the retina to the optic nerve and on into the brain where the person recognizes the images.

In response to this blockage of blood to the retina, the body triggers a natural response to develop new blood vessels to bypass the blocked vessels. However, the new blood vessels that are generated tend to be very fragile and hemorrhage blood into the eye, causing the "floaters," and scar tissue damage in the eye. The new blood vessels attached to the retina can grow into the middle part of the eye, called the aqueous, and can pull on the retina to make it become detached. If this retinal detachment occurs, the person can become totally, and irreversibly, blind.

What Virginia saw that night while driving home were these classic symptoms of "eye floaters," and if you or your loved one experience the same, it is extremely important that the person be seen by an ophthalmologist as soon as possible so that corrective measures can be taken if the person is diagnosed with advanced retinopathy.

In Virginia's case, her ophthalmologist told us she had blood leaking into the back of both eyes and needed to see a retina specialist right away or she could go blind.

You can go to the following link to read more in-depth details about Virginia's experiences with diabetic retinopathy, vitrectomy and laser surgery, and what she had to endure after all of her eye operations.

The important thing to take away from this information is that a diabetic needs to have their eyes checked at least once a year, as they may not even notice any symptoms of diabetic retinopathy. If they do notice "floaters" in their vision, they should immediately setup an eye appointment right away to have their eyes checked and don't ignore the problem. An eye specialist can take corrective actions that may delay or avoid further damage to the eye.

Although a diabetic cannot prevent having diabetic retinopathy, they can slow down the progression of the disease to more advanced stages. Virginia would be the first to admit that she did not "always" attempt to maintain the correct insulin levels in her body over time. She did not "always" monitor her blood sugar. She did not "always" eat the right foods that would not spike her blood sugar. She did not "always" get regular exercise. She did not "always" get enough sleep and reduce stress.

Who can? Life happens. It is very depressing though. She is such a sweetheart of a person. She is too young to have gone through what she has gone through so far. She still cries with all she has been through with diabetes. Her eye complications aren't the only thing she has and is dealing with currently.

For me, these eye operations were very scary. How would I support her if she went blind? I'm the breadwinner, and got laid off from my job. How would I take care of her and get her to all of her doctor appointments and surgeries? What would I do if she couldn't drive, and lost her independence?

This is why she is asking me to communicate to those of you who have been recently diagnosed with diabetes to follow her diabetes tips to hopefully avoid what she has gone through with diabetes.

Virginia wants me to let you fellow diabetics know about a few good diabetes resources to be found here and further down this page.

You can click on the following link to join a diabetic community where you can ask questions, get answers, and connect with people who understand your diabetes condition. The site provides answers from Certified Diabetes Educators who answer common diabetes questions and also where you can access 1000's of Diabetes Recipes to help you plan healthy meals and keep your blood sugar under control.

Listed further down this page you can find even more resources from Amazon where you can order blood glucose monitoring kits ("glucometers"), test strips, diabetic recipe books and more.