Hey everyone! My name is Liz ( age 29 ) and I’ve been a T1 diabetic for 20 years. Diagnosed at age 9. Through out my years I’ve been on a roller coaster. Especially with my BG. I some times will become discouraged and not take care of myself for a little while and then snap out of my downfall and began to take care of myself again. I’m now paying the price of not taking care of my diabetes for I am going blind in my left and my right I am beginning to get the black floaters. I am scared. My biggest fear is the dark and now my biggest fear is coming true and I’m going to be in the dark forever. I don’t know how to accept this. I have a 10 year old son who is unbelievably strong and is taking my condition without showing a break down or depression. But I know that he is just holding his true emotions in. Bottling it all up. My little boy is watching his mama go blind and this absolutely breaks my heart. Just thinking about how I won’t be able to watch my son grow up, breaks me in half. I know my time is limited, so I’ve been making the best out of my days. I’m just scared. I don’t want to be a burden on my family. They would have to hold my hand forever. They wouldn’t be able to live their lives if they are always taking care of me. Im just broken and scared. How does one process all this? How do I accept this?
Hi Liz. I can’t begin to imagine how you must feel or what you must be going through. You are still so young and full of life so there is still time to get your diabetes better controlled and limit further complications.
Do you have health insurance and the ability to acquire the tech that would help you take better control? Do you already use tech? CGM for starters?
Update: Looking at your avatar it looks like you are wearing a G6. What insulin injection method are you currently using? What is your A1C? What are your biggest struggles? It sounds like just frustration over the disease? This is a very real concern for me, for my own son who was diagnosed at 2 and is now 7. 
How can we help you improve your circumstances so that you can turn this around for you and your son?
Here at FUD, We are all about trying to help each other through our struggles so i am sure people will begin asking you how we can help.
Sending warm vibes your way.
You need to seek professional help. Having a therapist to talk to will help immensely.
I understand how fearful and scary being diagnoised with a complication can be. I also got a very scary complication when I was 27. That was 20 years ago. It wasn’t easy, but I made it through that period. I spent a lot of time reading experiences of others on forumns like this to learn and understand.
I would encourage you to ask questions. There are a lot people with similiar experiences.
Wishing you the best.
Are you in the care of an opthalmologist (not an optometrist—“eyeglasses doctor”) who treats diabetic patients? If not, I think you need to find one pronto, while you still have vision.
Have you made appointment with eye doctor? There are many treatment options depending on what the diagnosis is. Can you get dr recommendation from your doctor/endo ? The sooner you get checked, the better the outcome.
I have had many treatments on both eyes in 1980-90s, and treatments today are much improved. They can do less invasive procedures to stop progression.
Hey @LizziSkywalker91! (Are you a Star Wars fan? I was a massive fan growing up!) What you are going through definitely sounds scary! I would echo others’ suggestions about finding a good ophthalmologist (preferably a retinal specialist) and taking advantage of diabetes technology, if you haven’t already done both.
I was also diagnosed with diabetes when I was 9 years old, and I’ve also been severely visually impaired (legally blind) my entire life from unrelated causes.
If you’re currently experiencing a level of vision loss that’s interferring with your everyday life, I’d highly encourage you reach out to organizations that provide services to blind and visually impaired people. There are a ton of low-vision and non-visual skills and technologies that can make almost everything possible! Being blind doesn’t mean that you’ll end up being a burden on your family or being unable to continue to do the things you love! It just means, if it happens, you’ll have to learn new skills and find new ways of doing the things you used to use vision to complete.
I’m so glad you found this site and hope the information and connections here are helpful! If there is any way I can help with regards to vision loss information or resources, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Sorry to reply late. Are floaters your only symptom, or do you have other problems with your vision? If by floaters you mean dark or cloudy lines or blotches in the vision, they are actually quite common and only rarely signs of impending blindness. Given your age and your diabetes history, though, definitely do what others have said and get checked by an eye doctor. While diabetic retinopathy can lead to blindness, when it’s caught early – such as at the floater stage – it can easily be “fixed.” Don’t despair yet!
Floaters are fairly unlikely to be a symptom of a diabetes complication. Just part of getting older. I’ve had them for years and in my case they’re nothing
Get an exam by an actual ophthalmologist (not an optometrist—- don’t ever let an optometrist convince you they can do health exams). Hopefully it’s nothing
In my case I did get floaters first, and regret that I ignored it. I was seeing ophthalmologist, and wish he had referred me to retina specialist sooner. But that was 35 years ago, and I know they have newer treatments that help at the earlier stages.
Liz, as you’re probably well aware, floaters at your age are likely small bleeds inside your eye. They also could be caused by cataracts (protein buildups), but you’re a little young for that.
I developed Proliferative retinopathy in both eyes in my mid-30’s. The bleeds were significant and at one time or another I was legally blind in both eyes. Fortunately I saw a retinal specialist and after significant laser photocoagulation, my vision was completely restored. That was about 24 years ago … My only other eye issues has been cataracts.
The other possible reason for bleeds (floaters) is a detached retina.
In either case you should arrange to see a retinal ophthalmologist immediately.
Wishing you luck. Please let us know how things work out.
They’re also likely just coagulations of vitreous humor which is a normal part of aging
But agree get examined by a proper doctor
Normally if you just started experiencing this as a result of a sudden change e.g decided to take care of yourself, you body also needs to adjust to this change and thus you can experience sone temporary eyesight interference. E.g if you start taking insulin and initially had high bg, your eyes need to time to get rid of all the glucose accumulated inside and vice versa. So I think you can either stop the damage or even reverse it if you take time to improve your control, after all, all cells in the body do regenerate themselves with time. This is what you should take advantage off.