Late last week I was diagnosed by an ophthalmologist, after a full
retinal exam, with Retinopathy and Macular Edema, with the right eye
worse than the left.

I had a retinal exam last year, and my eyes were fine. Several weeks
later, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and worked like crazy to
get my blood sugar levels (which were in the 600's) down to normal
non-diabetic levels.

It's now looking like I made an colossal mistake. According to my
ophthalmologist, a rapid reduction in blood sugar levels can cause
inflammation of the retinas. He said my retinopathy is not of the
normal diabetic variants, but an inflammation likely caused by my
rapid change to normal blood sugar levels. (HB1AC of 5.4 after three
months).

Here is a link describing the problems caused by lowering blood
sugars:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7116/1105

I do have some visual distortion from the Edema in my right eye. When
I look at test grids (which I do daily), I see a slight distortion in
my lower peripheral vision. I also sometimes get temporary dim ares in
my vision, much like what normal people get as an afterimage from a
bright light, but mine last for hours and don't seem to be caused by
bright light.  

I was also on an ACE inhibitor (normally used for blood pressure) that
apparently caused me some neural and circulatory problems in my hands
and feet. On a hunch, I ceased taking it two weeks ago, and since then
the neural symptoms have 90% vanished, and get better every day.  

I'm seeing a retinal specialist in 11 days, for evaluation and
possible laser surgery. Obviously, I need to become educated on this
subject, and have been doing quite a bit of reading. However, this
group looked to be a good place to ask for thoughts, and possibly
pointers to discussion groups (I'm already in some great ones for
Diabetes).

Any advice or opinions would be very welcome.

BTW, I'm 38 years old, Male, normal weight, Type 2 for 6 months.  

Chris