I'm worried about going blind if I become diabetic

I am overweight and I am worried about diabetes. It is on both side of my family and a couple of my family members died of it. I am always eating a lo...


I am overweight and I am worried about diabetes.

It is on both sides of my family and a couple of my family members have died of it.

I am always eating a lot of sugar too! Should I be worried?

Can you go blind if you have diabetes?


I can fully understand your worries about diabetes, with this history of it in your family, but I do think you need not be too worried right now.

The inheritance of diabetes is unpredictable and not very strong, so it is far from a certainty that you will get diabetes as you get older.

However there are some things you can do to reduce your chances of developing it.

There is no doubt that one type of diabetes does seem to be associated with being overweight, and sometimes weight loss can even cure it without the need to take pills or injections.

So I think you should try and reduce your intake of foods that make you more overweight.

That of course includes sugar, and also fatty foods particularly fried foods and things like crisps, chocolates and sweetened drinks that are fattening because they contain a lot of calories.

A generally healthy lifestyle is a good thing as well, like taking plenty of exercise, playing sport, or just walking as much as possible.

You ask about blindness in diabetes.

It is true that in certain cases the eyes are damaged by diabetes. There are complications that occur at the back of the eye that can lead to poor sight, and for a few unlucky people, blindness happens eventually.

A lot can be done now to prevent this, including keeping very good control of diabetes, and having the back of the eyes checked regularly to detect and changes as soon as they appear, and treat them if necessary.

Blindness is a very serious complication, but thankfully it is not very common.

Yours sincerely

The NetDoctor Medical Team

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