New Delhi, Dec 6 (Mirror) A common but perhaps little-known sign of diabetes could be hiding behind your eyes, a leading health charity has warned.
If you’re struggling, however rarely, with blurred vision – an inability to see fine details without squinting, and a general loss of visual sharpness – a more serious medical condition may be at play. Diabetes mellitus, or just diabetes, causes a person’s blood sugar levels to become too high.
Those diagnosed with diabetes are either unable to produce sufficient amounts of, or are resistant to, insulin – the hormone responsible for moving glucose out of the blood and into the cells. High levels of blood sugar resulting from diabetes can affect your ability to see clearly by causing the lens inside your eye to swell or even leak, resulting in a temporary blurring of eyesight.
Very low blood sugar levels can have the same effect, but your vision should return to normal as soon as levels have re-stabilised and returned to normal range.
The charity Diabetes UK estimates that more than five million people in the UK are now living with diabetes, an all-time high. The NHS devotes about 10% of its entire budget to diabetes, with almost 80% of that money spent on treating complications. One such complication is diabetic retinopathy, now the leading cause of blindness in working age adults, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Blurred vision may be a warning sign.
If you’re experiencing sudden blurred vision, you should book a doctor’s appointment to get your eyes checked as soon as possible. It may be nothing to worry about, or indicative of a different underlying problem – such as cataracts, migraines, and age-related macular degeneration.
