Update on my Vision Problems

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to the ophthalmologist to see if I could find out what was going on with my eyes. About a week after I started on Medifast, suddenly my vision was extremely blurry. It was like my glasses had been misplaced with someone else's overnight. I went to the Eye Center at Walmart where the eye doctor did a brief exam and said that my prescription had changed drastically. I told him about the new diet and that I was type 2 diabetic but that my blood sugar numbers had been great since starting the diet. (Prior to starting, I had been sporadic about taking my meds and sporadic about monitoring my numbers...) He said that the blurriness was due to deposits on my eyes shifting due to the fluctuations in my glucose numbers. OK... I thought it was weird that this had never happened before, especially since I had been on an insulin pump during both of my pregnancies and had extremely tight control on my diabetes during those times in my life. So why did my vision not freak out then?


So I get the new glasses and all is well... for a couple of weeks. Suddenly (overnight again!), everything's blurry again! Not as bad as the first time, but bad enough that it freaked me out. I had mentioned this to my primary care doctor when I saw him in February when one of the kids was sick, and he had told me that he would be glad to refer me to an ophthalmologist if it happened again. So off I go yesterday to the thus referred ophthalmologist to get some answers.

The good news: it's not early stages of diabetic retinopathy (which is what I was really worried about!) and it's not an eye infection. My eyes are healthy. He basically said the same thing the other guy did: this was due to my blood sugars changing. When I asked why it hadn't happened before, he basically said that you never know when dealing with blood sugars how they're going to affect things. Hmmmmm... OK..... so is this going to keep happening?? I certainly can't afford to keep getting new glasses (although Walmart does replace the lens for free within 60 days, thank the Lord!) and I certainly don't want to keep having my life turned upside down while I wait for new glasses - I'd been afraid to drive, which left my husband the sole chauffeur for the family. And it just feels weird to walk around and not be able to see things clearly, know what I mean?

So here we are. I'm waiting for the new lens to come in (supposed to be here in 11 days - how silly is that?? so much for expedited service!) and hoping that my eyes are through with their little bouts of fluctuations. On the one hand, I'm happy that my numbers are so great and that my diabetes is under control now that I'm on Medifast! Yippee! But on the other hand, it really is sobering to think about how bad I've been for the past year since my daughter was born. My numbers were never extraordinary high or anything like that - the highest I'd had was probably mid to upper 200's (my husband on the other hand has much higher numbers than I do, but that's the subject of another blog). I had kind of taken a "oh well - everything's fine" attitude about my diabetes (and about my health in general) and was totally in denial.

Until 2010. Suddenly, it was as if a switch had been flipped. Suddenly, I was ready to change my life. No looking back - onward and upward, on to bigger (well, actually smaller!) things. Suddenly, getting healthy is a huge priority for me. Maybe this was just a little reminder that I can't just ignore my health issues and hope they go away. Not anymore. I have to get healthy for my kids. No - scratch that - I have to get healthy for ME. Yes, my children are a huge incentive. They're extremely important and I want to be around to see them grow up! But the bottom line that explains why this time it's almost easy is that I'm doing this for me. Numero Uno. I've finally reached a point in my life where it's like God is saying to me (like He said to the Israelites), "This day I put before you life and death... therefore, choose life." It really is a matter of life and death, you know? I don't mean to be overly dramatic or anything. Shoot, maybe I do! :) But it's like all these verses from the Word are floating around in my mind - about presenting my body a living sacrifice, about my body being a temple of the Holy Spirit. Obviously I haven't been treating my temple very well at all!

[That reminded me of something: A few weeks ago, a friend of ours had an analogy that I thought was awesome about our new lifestyle with Medifast. At the time, my husband was doing it with me and we were at a very informal worship service at the coffeehouse, sharing what all was going on in our lives. A friend named Michael made the comment that we were remodeling our temples, and that remodeling can get messy, especially at first! Wow - there's so much insight in that comparison! So when the going gets tough, I remind myself that sometimes before you can remodel, you have to get out the sledge hammer and do some demolition... makes it easier to "crucify my flesh"! :)]

I feel like I've been rambling overly much in this post, but so be it. I tend to type like I talk, and I ramble lots and lots when I talk. But the bottom line is that I'm in this for the long haul. I can't wait until I can proudly count myself as one of the folks on here that have reached goal and kept it off for years and years. And I will reach my goal. Oh yes! That much I'm certain of - 'cause this time, I'm doing it for the right reasons.