# scared to death!



## laurenbeth1988 (Aug 6, 2012)

Hi all,

This might sound jumping the gun but im 24 and want tp start a family, however Two years ago i started with diabetic retinopathy ive had a virtrectomy in my left eye due to retinopathy and a load of laser in my right it has been stable now since november 2010 all my cells have gone. But I am terrified of getting pregnant because of my eyes and I really want to have children but I cant lose my sight i just dont know what to do  xxx


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## trophywench (Aug 6, 2012)

Talk to your diabetes pre-conception team, I should!

Good luck !

I think where there is a question mark involving retinopathy, it's doubly important to keep your BP well in check as an aid to avoiding further eye damage.


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## Monkey (Aug 6, 2012)

trophywench said:


> Talk to your diabetes pre-conception team, I should!
> 
> Good luck !



Yep, this. They'll be clued up on the risks and how best to manage them. Never too early to think about things like this tho, you're one ahead by having done that.


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## laurenbeth1988 (Aug 6, 2012)

I will do have an appointmetn with my eye surgeon in september, I just hate waiting im so nervous about it had such a bad experiance with it all just want to find all the awnsers i guess


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## Twitchy (Aug 10, 2012)

Hi there...i had background R which post baby1 became proliferative needing laser to both eyes...we all thought it had stabilised so I had baby2 (needing more laser during & after preg). It's since stabilised but I did have to have a vitrectomy to deal with contracting scar tissue from all the lasering. The bottom line is that there will be a risk of rapid worsening of your retinopathy during preg (it's known to accelerate things in some women) & I suspect your eye doc will want to be confident things have stabilised before you start trying. They'll want to keep a close eye on you (no pun lol) & should check you at least every trimester. i remember reading that in extreme cases baby might be delivered early to limit eye damage & allow for ops etc but this is very rare. I guess the ultimate factor is how much you trust your eye care team? If it (R) does become an issue in preg they & your preg team will need to work together closely. Sorry, not sure how helpful that is?! It can be done but as ever it's a case of weighing up what you want vs the level of risk you will be happy to tolerate...good luck!! Xxx


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