Anyone else experienced this? Mum worn glasses all her life: now refusing to wear

[doingmybest1]

Hi lovely people on this Forum

I wonder if you are experiencing what I am with your loved ones as PWD?

This is now new to me and my brother. Mum's probably middle to late Alzheimer's.

Mum's worn glasses all her life. We've kept her presciption up-to-date, and she's always worn her glasses, even since being in her care home 2022, but in the last few months, she's decided that she doesn't want to wear her glasses and now refuses to wear them.

My brother and I had labelled them, and also, because she wanted to have frames that were colourful, we know the glasses she has are hers.

Mum is now saying "... these aren't my glasses!". And is also refusing to wear them.

It seems that something in her brain can't cope with wearing glasses any more even though they are her perscription and her glasses.

Whilst she's been in the care home, she's lost loads of pairs of expensive glassses, even though labelled by us, the care staff have said they can't find them. For a while we were always paying over £350 each time to replace her glasses as she has special varifocle lenses etc which cost quite a lot of money.

We've now decided to give up spending her money on replacement glasses because she's seems to have turned a weird corner, and no longer wants to wear glasses.

Has anyone else gone through this with their loved ones? Is a PWD thing?###

Thank you to all who reply.







W

 

[SAP]

I don’t know if it’s a “thing” or not but my mum won’t wear any glasses ( or her teeth for that matter) she just hands them back and says “no thank you”
She wore glasses for years and years , she is longsighted like me and I couldn’t function with out mine but she is totally un bothered.

 

[Jools1402]

Not glasses - but my PWD has given up wearing her hearing aids - she says they make no difference even though the audiology clinic say they are adjusted correctly. I think it's a matter of perception of sensory stimuli being altered or diminished - just my theory!

 

[doingmybest1]

Thank you both for your replies. Seems there is a part of Mum's brain that doesn't work as previously.

And you've both experienced the same with your loved ones and glasses, teeth and hearing aids.

Thank you for sharing because this suggests that it's not a problem my mum is experiencing but something related to her Dementia issue.

Perhaps others will share, and we can understand that our loved ones get to a point where their brains just don't do "anything on their faces etc".

Thank you for your replies. All the best.

 

[Toopie28]

According to Ma, she's never worn or needs glasses. So yes, I think that's a dementia thing.
I spent loads on glasses but now, don't.
I also realised she didn't like her hair cut over her ears anymore (at least 2 years now).
Lots of things are no longer Ma's but she doesn't recognise them. Clothes and shoes are not hers either but I tell her to wear them since we "share" and they belong to both of us (she's tiny and I'm double her size - but there you go).

 

[Alisongs]

My mum and husband both experienced visual problems with dementia. The brain can't understand what the eye is seeing. Mum insisted on varifocals at great expense and her brain just couldn't cope. Husband had recent cataract surgery and wants new glasses but often he can't understand what he is looking at. Not taking him to optician yet as we're still sorting out a care package as he no longer has medical capacity to cope with diabetes 1, Parkinsons and dementia. He's only 67

 

[doingmybest1]

Thank you all for your replies.

It seems that whilst we make sure our loved ones get sight tests, and we are recommended to get glasses to fit the presciption, our loved one's brains don't undertsand their glasses any more even if they are current presrciption.

Mum's in a care home and they don't have any advice to give me about this part of her brain issue.

It seems Mum just can't understand glasses any more.

And the fact that the care home keep losing her glasses is now not an issue any more although it was for over 2 years and cost us over £2k.

Anyone else out there that wants to comment on this and can also hekp me to unravel this as it does seem like a thing with Mum's brain and how it is now at the mid-late stage of Alzheimer's.

Thank you in advance to all who reply.

 

[Knitandpurl]

My husband has a form of dementia called posterior cortical atrophy, it is classed as a type of Alzheimer’s. Tge first place that is attacked is the optical nerve (in his case left side ) so he has no right sided vision on either eye. This has gradually got bigger and ‘deeper’. There is nothing wrong with his actual eyes but his brain just doesn’t translate what the eye sees. My understanding is that most people with dementia eventually suffer to at least some degree out this problem as the dementia reaches the optical nerves. The same happens with the other senses too. With my Mum it was hearing, she actually told me she could ‘hear’ me, but she really struggled to make sense of what I was saying. My husband is starting to do this, and as also with the sense of touch. He doesn’t always know whether he is touching something or not, struggles to pick things up, and often doesn’t grasp things hard enough or conversely it’s too hard.

 

[TMH]

Hi lovely people on this Forum

I wonder if you are experiencing what I am with your loved ones as PWD?

This is now new to me and my brother. Mum's probably middle to late Alzheimer's.

Mum's worn glasses all her life. We've kept her presciption up-to-date, and she's always worn her glasses, even since being in her care home 2022, but in the last few months, she's decided that she doesn't want to wear her glasses and now refuses to wear them.

My brother and I had labelled them, and also, because she wanted to have frames that were colourful, we know the glasses she has are hers.

Mum is now saying "... these aren't my glasses!". And is also refusing to wear them.

It seems that something in her brain can't cope with wearing glasses any more even though they are her perscription and her glasses.

Whilst she's been in the care home, she's lost loads of pairs of expensive glassses, even though labelled by us, the care staff have said they can't find them. For a while we were always paying over £350 each time to replace her glasses as she has special varifocle lenses etc which cost quite a lot of money.

We've now decided to give up spending her money on replacement glasses because she's seems to have turned a weird corner, and no longer wants to wear glasses.

Has anyone else gone through this with their loved ones? Is a PWD thing?###

Thank you to all who reply.







W

My dad's always wore glasses and now doesn't bother with them. His partner who also had dementia was the same, didn't wear hers for 3 years before she passed

 

[Yankeeabroad]

My mom stopped wearing her glasses (we didn't push) and we did not take them to the care home with her. Then some months later she insisted on having them. However, my dad (& his new caregiver) could not find them so just bought some cheap, weak reading glasses. This seemed to satisfy her need (she had worn glasses since she was a little girl). But really, she couldn't see much anyway, as she had macular degeneration, so I think it was just a comfort thing.

Hearing aids were a different matter. I suspect my mom started turning up the TV and wearing hearing aids (when she could remember) when she began having a hard time understanding the programs and following the plot lines. As the disease progressed and she wasn't trying so hard to understand TV programs, her hearing miraculously returned. Good thing as well, as I'd accidentally thrown them out when I took them for safekeeping during a hospital stay!

 

[Duggies-girl]

My dad always wore a cap when he went out, always, for as long as I can remember, he wore a cap. After a spell in hospital we were going out to an appointment and it was windy and I said 'do you want a cap dad' he said 'I've never worn a cap in my life' He had five or six caps hanging on nails on his kitchen wall but denied they were his 'never seen them before in his life' He also started taking sugar in his coffee after about 40 years.

There are no answers to this, it is the dementia and it is totally unpredictable but can be a shock when it happens

 

[StressedDaughter]

Mum has worn glasses all her life. She did have a 4 year break after having both cataracts done.
Optician has prescribed glasses. She will not wear them and claims she has never worn them. Even though all the photos in her room show her wearing a pair.
I have given up - my only concern is she is classed as a falls risk - and this must add to that risk. Initially I used to nag her to put them on but now they just sit in the box in her room.

 

[Angel55]

Hi lovely people on this Forum

I wonder if you are experiencing what I am with your loved ones as PWD?

This is now new to me and my brother. Mum's probably middle to late Alzheimer's.

Mum's worn glasses all her life. We've kept her presciption up-to-date, and she's always worn her glasses, even since being in her care home 2022, but in the last few months, she's decided that she doesn't want to wear her glasses and now refuses to wear them.

My brother and I had labelled them, and also, because she wanted to have frames that were colourful, we know the glasses she has are hers.

Mum is now saying "... these aren't my glasses!". And is also refusing to wear them.

It seems that something in her brain can't cope with wearing glasses any more even though they are her perscription and her glasses.

Whilst she's been in the care home, she's lost loads of pairs of expensive glassses, even though labelled by us, the care staff have said they can't find them. For a while we were always paying over £350 each time to replace her glasses as she has special varifocle lenses etc which cost quite a lot of money.

We've now decided to give up spending her money on replacement glasses because she's seems to have turned a weird corner, and no longer wants to wear glasses.

Has anyone else gone through this with their loved ones? Is a PWD thing?###

Thank you to all who reply.







W

💗 Hello

We did have a phase of using old glasses, newly prescribed glasses, no glasses but things settled and I have no clue what it was all about to be fair. They were needed to tv viewing and reading. We also had a phase of loosing them too x

 

[maggie6445]

My OH has worn glasses for 70 years. He doesn't always put them on and when I comment that he's not wearing them he feels his face to check. Obviously not making a big difference to him any longer.

 

[Jake's Nan]

Feel your pain with the lost prescription glasses 😔 have put brothers on a cord see if it helps but he's not really bothered if they're on or off now, can't read or really make out family in photo album. I think drugs he's on not helping and obviously the progression of the Alzheimer's.

 

[GeorgieW]

It seems that whilst we make sure our loved ones get sight tests, and we are recommended to get glasses to fit the presciption, our loved one's brains don't undertsand their glasses any more even if they are current presrciption.

this is exactly where I am at!

or it could be 6 months down the line her eyes have changed radically, but I feel that its more her brain is not coping with varifocals.

 

[Jale]

Mum went through a spell of refusing to wear glasses - and she lost a pair in the home, as you say they're not cheap to keep replacing. Now some days she will leave them on others they are taken off. It doesn't make that much difference to her as she can't read or watch/follow anything on TV anymore.

 

[Toopie28]

I think it's depth perception with Ma. I also took Ma to the eye doctor for a test and he told me her eyesight is the same but that his Mum suffered dementia and she was losing the ability to recognise objects.
Ma couldn't "see" a cup but she could spot a seed from across the room.

I also mentioned it to the care home when they wanted to get her new glasses and they looked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about. Anyway, we got some cheap ones and I told them she doesn't wear em so they are just lying there.

I did read that object "feel" differently to them.

Horrible, horrible disease!

Depth perception for dementia: A decrease in depth perception can make it difficult to distinguish between flat surfaces and raised surfaces. A loss of depth perception may make it easier to trip or harder to judge distances.

 

[annieka 56]

My husband has a form of dementia called posterior cortical atrophy, it is classed as a type of Alzheimer’s. Tge first place that is attacked is the optical nerve (in his case left side ) so he has no right sided vision on either eye. This has gradually got bigger and ‘deeper’. There is nothing wrong with his actual eyes but his brain just doesn’t translate what the eye sees. My understanding is that most people with dementia eventually suffer to at least some degree out this problem as the dementia reaches the optical nerves. The same happens with the other senses too. With my Mum it was hearing, she actually told me she could ‘hear’ me, but she really struggled to make sense of what I was saying. My husband is starting to do this, and as also with the sense of touch. He doesn’t always know whether he is touching something or not, struggles to pick things up, and often doesn’t grasp things hard enough or conversely it’s too hard.

Hi Knitandpurl

My husband also has PCA and you have described the vision thing perfectly.
He can spot a dropped bit of popcorn in front of him like a hawk. But can't judge where a table is to put a cup down or how far away the wash basin is so can't get near enough to it to be of any use. And anyone approaching him from the side with the best of intentions is likely to get lashed out on. Grasping things too hard is the order of the day as well - vice like grip.
Very interesting to read someone with a similar experience.

 

[Knitandpurl]

Hi Knitandpurl

My husband also has PCA and you have described the vision thing perfectly.
He can spot a dropped bit of popcorn in front of him like a hawk. But can't judge where a table is to put a cup down or how far away the wash basin is so can't get near enough to it to be of any use. And anyone approaching him from the side with the best of intentions is likely to get lashed out on. Grasping things too hard is the order of the day as well - vice like grip.
Very interesting to read someone with a similar experience.

Ooh yes - the amount of drinks that have ended in the floor as he ‘puts’ them on the table. And always either too close to the toilet pan or too far away- I try to persuade him to sit on it, but doesn’t usually work.