my daughter's eye

[bonskeee]

My daughter is was diagnosed early this year with type 1 diabetes, and was recently complaining about blurry vision and occasional narrowing of visual field, and her eye doctor is suspecting glaucoma. She spends a lot of time on the computer on a daily basis and I'm suggesting to cut some time off her computer habits to ease her eyes from strain. Will this move ever help? Or acquiring glaucoma, if she indeed will ever have one, is really an inevitability due to her condition as a diabetic and heredity?  

[c5buck]

Aren't you putting the cart before the horse?  You don't know what is causing the vision problems.  It could be diabetes but it may not be.  In such a short time, it seems unlikely that diabetes is the culprit.  

I have been diabetic for 20 years.  I was diagnosed at age 13 and am exhibiting none of the typical complications from diabetes.  So don't lose hope.  Tell her to keep her A1C levels under 7 as a broad goal but under 6 as the big-time target and things should be fine.  

You can't mess around with this.  Diabetes is a serious condition. Some kids and especially teens act like they are in denial because they don't feel the effects of high blood sugar.  If this is the case, then she may need counseling or group therapy.  Good luck.  

[bonskeee]

Well, you're right about that, thanks. Proper blood sugar management to near normal levels is the key. But to prevent complications from ever developing to a person with type 1 diabetes especially during childhood is i think a shot to the moon. Realistically,we  can only  hope to delay the onset of the myriad complications first of which is, eye problems, most notably retinopathy. Some people manage it for decades, and some only years. I just hope we can manage this condition long enough for my daughter to live a fuller, and normal life ahead. Thanks for your support.  

[Zoelula]

No, eye diseases are not inevitable results of diabetes; no complications are. The key with diabetes is to manage blood sugars and keep the numbers as close to normal as possible to prevent complications from developing. There are people who have had diabetes for decades with no complications.

So the question is how are her blood sugars? Are they in target range most of the time? If she has frequent highs this alone would lead to blurry vision which will dissipate when numbers return to normal.
Of course, eye problems can develop in anyone without any connection to diabetes.