Mr A, age 40 years, has diabetes for the last three years. His blood sugar is not only high but quite fluctuating. Recently he found difficulty in reading or writing. He has changed his glasses thrice but none of these suit him.
Ans.8. At around 40 years, normally one finds difficulty in reading or writing (near vision), he needs lenses (reading glasses) to improve the near vision. Those who are myopic, i.e., using ‘-‘ lenses (distant vision) find reduction of their minus power.
It is due to difficulty of adjusting the power of lens of the eyes for near vision. It is an ageing process. You might have seen some old people shifting their glasses over their nose away from the eyes, (it results in reducing the negative power of glasses or adds ‘+’ power).
One should get the glasses changed only when the blood glucose is within normal range and not fluctuating, as the power of your own eye lens varies with level of blood glucose. Let it settle down, so that it does not fluctuate from hour to hour, and your glasses fit you well for some time.
Mrs B a well-educated lady, at the age of 46 years started having heavy and frequent periods. Young and gay in spirits, she did not bother about it except that it was a nuisance, felt tired and exhausted, saw her gynaecologist for intense itching in the private parts. On examination, she was found to be diabetic. It was most surprising to her, as none other in the family had diabetes.
In prime of life and when everything is going strong, one does not expect even the normal events like menopause in life. She was prescribed some tablets for diabetes. She felt frequent epidoses of sinking, sweating and warmth, which she thought were due to hypoglycemia, but sugar was never so low. In frustration she left the tablets, over the next 6 months she lost 5 kg weight, felt weak, and when tested, the blood sugar levels were quite high. Why and how did this happen?
Ans.9. One should be aware of and be prepared for normal events in life, like menopause. She suffered unnecessarily with irregular periods and became anaemic. A simple treatment could have relieved her misery.
Many women suffer from vaginal itching when their blood sugar is high, which is due to fungus infection. Often diabetes is diagnosed with this symptom.
What she considered low sugar episode was, in fact, due to hot flushes quite common in menopause. Wrongly she discontinued tablets for diabetes, and her blood sugar went up very high.
Blood sugar must be controlled, and investigation for high blood pressure and possibility of ischemic heart disease done. It is a common knowledge that women suffer from heart attack, less often than men, but this advantage is lost after menopause.