Probably not. This time I actually have a halfway decent excuse for not posting for awhile. No, I’m not going to use that tired old canard about the dog eating my bandwidth. I have a real excuse, signed by my doctor.
I lost much of my eyesight for about six weeks as a result of type II Diabetes. I could see enough to get around without help, but reading was absolutely out of the question. I just couldn’t read characters less than about an inch tall at any distance. I’m oversimplifying a bit, but take my word for it: I couldn’t read.
My doctor had been warning me for years that I was “pre-diabetic” and could expect to go over the edge eventually, but my blood sugar seemed to be stabilized at just below the point of concern. Then in December of last year, I started to experience strange symptoms which ultimately became too strange to ignore.
The first symptom was overwhelming thirst, all day every day. Not surprisingly, this was accompanied by the need to relieve (I hope that is sufficiently graphic) every 20 to 30 minutes. By the end of April I had lost 30 pounds and the ability to read, but what really sent me rushing to my doctor’s office was severe muscle spasms in my hands and lower legs. By severe I mean that I basically couldn’t use my hands for up to two hours at a time.
Blood tests quickly revealed a fasting glucose level of 324 mg/dL (normal is 65-139) and hemoglobin A1C of 12 (normal is less than six). That explained pretty much everything including my rapidly deteriorating vision. Dr. Chung prescribed Metformin and advised me to reduce my carbohydrate consumption immediately and substantially.
A visit to my eye doctor confirmed that my vision issues were almost certainly related to the ultra-high levels of glucose coursing around my blood stream. Two type of vision loss occur with Diabetes: Retinal damage and Lens deformation. Pictures of the interior of my eyes indicated that my retinas were OK and the problem was almost certainly all in my lenses.
Maybe I have the best eye-doctor in NYC (Dr. Alan Schlussel, in case anyone is in the market) or maybe the level of care I am getting is routine. Dr. Schlussel has been taking good care of me at no additional cost over my annual (insurance covered) check up and, in particular, has been providing me new contact lenses on an almost weekly basis as my vision swung wildly from near blindness to actually somewhat better than it has been for the last 15 years.
Long story shortened (since I know I’ve already gone on too long about this): I ended up with a net improvement of 1.25 diopters in both eyes and significant improvement in presbyopia as the excess glucose has been purged and glucose production constrained by the Metformin. Both doctors agree that while the response (in both directions) is well known, it is not well understood, and neither of them have ever seen quite so dramatic a decline and recovery before.
I’m just happy to have eyes and thumbs back and it has been more than six weeks since I’ve awakened in the night with spasms and stabbing pains in my calves. Modern medicine works for me. Uh…no, I’m not suggesting that this demonstrates that health care in America is not in need of a substantial overhaul (remaining resolutely in the private sector). I’m just saying that when skillfully applied, we do enjoy a very high standard of care in this country.
Will I reform my ways and post more often now that I’m (at least feeling) better? Only time will tell, but I doubt it. My basic problem is that I’m lazy.
