My story - Viaga, Levitra, Cialis, loss of vision, blurry vision, NAION, HELP...

[ooobob]

Originally Posted by Cher2005

My blood sugar numbers are good now but they went haywire for quite a while until I got them under control starting last Nov. I was under the mistaken impression I had my diabetes almost cured with diet and exercise 10 years ago. I let the checkups go, thinking I was OK, not understanding it was a progressive disease.
In the meantime, my eyes suffered a terrible fate. Too long with sugars out of control left retinal damage.
As much as I now control my sugars and am right on top of things, I guess the damage has been done nd it is hard to stabilize at this point.

Hi Cher2005

Sorry to hear you suffered vision damage. Like you I have noticed the diabetes does seem to worsen over time and requires a person to be more vigilant about monitoring blood sugars and also in a small way I think we have all eaten food at times we should not have just because we desired it! It's interesting that we both have trouble see faces. I have noticed I have a lot of trouble seeing in dim light!!!

[Cher2005]

Not being able to see into faces is a definite retinal problem. I can no longer recognize neighbors, etc. on the street. I now have to rely on voice recognition. Very sad. I find it hard to believe that this is actually happening and the factr that it happened so quickly, most of it in the course of a week. I remember I was having a little trouble with my vision on election day last Nov. but by the end of the week, I couldn't read the newspaper. Still I thought it was just age catching up to me and I needed new glasses.
How wrong I was! Lucky that the optican was alert enough to realize my problems were more than astigmatism and sent me to a retinal specialist.
Still, with my very close tabs and control of my diabetes since then, I was surprised to see my vision worsen. What I didn't realize was that diabetes is progressive and never goes away even if it's under tight control. Also, as your sugar levels come down, your vision can worsen just from the changes. When blood vessels in the eyes become damaged, there is really no way to repair them and also the retinal wall is damaged from the leaky blood vessels. I have had a lot of laser work done to seal the vessels, but still the damage continues.
If only I had watched the diabetes more closely over the years.

[Torre]

Canada issues warning about Viagra vision loss
Tue Jul 26, 2005 5:53 PM BST

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada advised users of the erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra on Tuesday to "seek immediate medical attention" if they experience sudden vision loss or other vision-related problems when taking the medications.

Canada's health ministry said it was likely to change the product information for the three drugs. Earlier this month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved new labeling to warn men about possible blindness from Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra.

The U.S. warning labels also affect Cialis -- sold by Eli Lily & Co. and Icos Corp. -- and Levitra, which is co-promoted by GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer AG .

[ooobob]

Originally Posted by Torre

Canada issues warning about Viagra vision loss
Tue Jul 26, 2005 5:53 PM BST

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada advised users of the erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra on Tuesday to "seek immediate medical attention" if they experience sudden vision loss or other vision-related problems when taking the medications.

Canada's health ministry said it was likely to change the product information for the three drugs. Earlier this month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved new labeling to warn men about possible blindness from Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra.

The U.S. warning labels also affect Cialis -- sold by Eli Lily & Co. and Icos Corp. -- and Levitra, which is co-promoted by GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer AG .

Hi Torre

Thank you for passing on the information. Once I heard a doctor say (on PBS) that one should not take any new drug until it has been on the market for at least five years. I remember before trying the Cialis I researched the history of Viagra and found it had actually been approved by the FDA in 1998? My cardiologist didn’t even give it a second thought when he suggested I try the IP drugs. One would have thought that this problem would have showed up many years ago! Torre you seem to really be on top of these eye/drug issues. Do you work in the Ophthalmology field?

[EYESTWO22]

I am woundering the same thing about Torre. She seems to have a lot of knowledge about the Eye Care field. Very informitive,I my add.

EYESTWO22