Doctors!

[Garland]

Hey...ya...I've noticed a pretty good make up of the upper echilon here knows a pretty good amount about medicine, and based on that assumption, I'm guessing maybe a smaller percentage of you are doctors.

Now...I know this should probably be directed towards an opthomologist or perhaps a diabetes specialist, but I have a quick question;

My best friend, a diabetic, and a former drug addict, woke up yesterday and was unable to see out of his left eye. He went to an opthomologist today and they diagnosed him with some sort of retinal damage (they likened it to a stroke in his eyes, i.e. blood vessels broke) linked to his diabetes. The doctor claimed that it wasn't going to get any better, and he's going to have a partial loss of vision in his left eye. They were very vague about how to halt this process...but I was wondering if any of you guys knew anybody who was a specialist that I could direct him to.

I love this kid, he's the only person who's been there for me through an enormous amount of drama and shit, and I'm hoping that he can be alright, I would do anything for him. I'm also really hoping that this isn't a glance of things to come, considering that if his vision is starting to go at 19, 19 FUCKING years old.

Christ...life throws another fucking fast one... but I refuse to bury another friend.
So, does ANYONE know of ANYONE I can contact for his eyes?
Is he going to be alright?

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Hope to help!

I am so sorry to hear about this. I am not a doctor myself (I have a bachelors in Sports Medicine Sciences) but my sister is a Doctor who is a diabetic herself. She was forced to go on an insilin pump 3 years ago after collapsing at work and spending 2 weeks in a diabetic coma. She was lucky enough to recover and now leads a relatively normal life. If anyone would know about loss of circulation to organs, ie. broken blood vessles in the eyes, it would be her. Unfortunately she lives on the east coast and it's too late to call her tonight, or I would. I will get ahold of her tomorrow and post what I find out asap.
Mahalo, Jeremy

[IPON]

Hey Garland - I am sorry to hear about your friend as well. I am not a doctor, but I have conducted a lot of clinical trials with diabetic patients. I can't say with certainty, but your friend may have the early stages or non proliferative retinopathy which will progress as a result of the diabetes (and can ultimately lead to blindness). The good part regardless of the nature of the condition is that it seems it was caught early. I assume that your friend has IDDM (type I) and as a result of drug addiction has poor management of his disbetes. I think the best direction (regardless of the reason for teh ocular dysfunction) now is to seek an endocrinologist or diabetologist to control the diabetes. And regular appointments with the opthamologists to check for progression. It goes without saying.....no more drugs.

This link will give some information about retinopathy and clinical trials your friend may want to consider if he infact has retinopathy:

http://www.nei.nih.gov/

Some info for you

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001212.htm

[Garland]

Thank you for the links.
he has type 1 Juvenile diabetes, and now severe diabetic retinopathy in his left eye.
I just hope that this isn't a precursor to something much more severe, i.e. renal failure or circulation problems, he's been under a great deal of stress lately, and he complians sometimes about chest pain, but I'm hoping all of that is just nerves.

[IPON]

Garland - unfortunately it is a precursor to blindness if it is proliferative. If the diabetes is unmanaged as I suspect your friend certainly runs the risk of neuropathy and renal insufficiency. I truly hope that it does not go down the road of dialysis, following a dialysis schedule (depending on the amount of centers available) can truly be lifestyle altering. But this is why it is critical for your friend to see a specialist and have lab values drawn, specifically creatinine, and check for protienuria at regular intervals to check for progression..

Also, your friend could have some hypertension issues and the chest pain (tightness) could be angina, he may just need a prescription for a calcium channel blocker for both. Or it may be panic attacks it he is under a great deal of stress. Hard to say, but I would probably put money on the htn/angina

[HtTKar]

Garland, personally I dont know. So I called my girlfriend that is an RN. I hope this helps.

Since you do not live in NY, she doesnt know anybody in particular. However, she stated that the first thing he should do is get a second opinion. Also the vision loss, and circulatory problems are not the real issue. Diabetes is the issue. She said that if he really keeps up on treatment, and takes very good care of himself, He should be OK. Its possible that it wont progress if he takes superb care of himself.

If he does not take care of himself he will die. He needs to change his lifestyle to deal with this challenge. He will need to adapt quickly. A friend of mine died from diabetes while we were in college. He was 25. Not the disease itself, but he couldn't take care of himself and drank himself to death. A little alcohol has a huge impact on a diabetic. Do not let him drink, ever. Just keeping it real.

[Garland]

he checks himself in for other shit tommorow.
I hope his life starts getting better, everything that hurts him hurts me.
This shit is just another fucking cruel twist in his life, and now I'm so horribly worried I'm going to lose a friend, I've started drinking again.
Man...such weird, random, awful shit just keeps happening, and I'm just trying to keep shit optimistic and look at the big picture, but it's hard, and I'm affraid that all this recent turmoil is just going to **** everything else up.

Man...I could go on and on about bullshit, and although it would feel good to get it off my back, I don't feel it's appropriate to air my dirty laundry in the public eye, or express my life story and all the drama over a computer to strangers.

I'm very very thankful that you guys pulled together to help, and it's truly inspiring that you guys would be so chill with it and help out even though you don't know me or my pal.

So...I guess I'll try and keep what happens posted here, but until then, I guess I'll just see you guys around the board.

Thank you.