Vision Changes - Can't see what's in front of her

[LexiLou]

Good Morning1

I recently joined the community, I care for my grandmother who has vascular dementia and Alzheimer's. She's mid stage I'd say (at a guess), but over the last few weeks she's deteriorated. She can't see things that are right in front of her, from cups of tea, TV remote, thermostat, toaster, kettle or cutlery, I know this is a normal part of the illness but does anybody have experience with managing this and what advice could you give?

Lexi

 

[Grannie G]

Welcome @LexiLou

I`ll ask the obvious to begin with. Has your grandmother had vision problems in the past? Does she wear glasses? Might she have a cataract?

If the answer to those questions is no, there may be other possibilities.

Has she lost the ability to understand what these implements are for, the remote, the thermostat, the kettle, the toaster?

Are the cups of tea or cutlery blending into the background of the surfaces where they are placed?

Lastly, has your grandmother been checked for a UTI. If the changes are recent, she could have an infection without any appearance of pain but which could affect her in many other ways.

 

[LexiLou]

Welcome @LexiLou

I`ll ask the obvious to begin with. Has your grandmother had vision problems in the past? Does she wear glasses? Might she have a cataract?

If the answer to those questions is no, there may be other possibilities.

Has she lost the ability to understand what these implements are for, the remote, the thermostat, the kettle, the toaster?

Are the cups of tea or cutlery blending into the background of the surfaces where they are placed?

Lastly, has your grandmother been checked for a UTI. If the changes are recent, she could have an infection without any appearance of pain but which could affect her in many other ways.

Thank you very much for your detailed reply.
She does wear glasses, in June this year she had cataract surgery on one eye, then an eye test saying the other didn't need doing, she had a new prescription and new glasses which she wears.

I wonder if it's more how to use them, she came in to ask me where the TV remote was, it was on the table in front of her, green marble table with black remote.

UTI's are commonplace for us absolutely, she finished her latest antibiotics 10 days ago, do you think the UTI can affect interpretation of vision?

Lexi

 

[DollyM1]

My mother, who had Alzheimer’s, had exactly this…couldn’t work out was if front of her. I was led to believe that although her eyes worked perfectly, the message from the eye didn’t get to the correct part of the brain for understanding to take place. So, if you put a cup of tea in front of her and told her what it was, she would understand at that point but go on to ignore it.

 

[LexiLou]

My mother, who had Alzheimer’s, had exactly this…couldn’t work out was if front of her. I was led to believe that although her eyes worked perfectly, the message from the eye didn’t get to the correct part of the brain for understanding to take place. So, if you put a cup of tea in front of her and told her what it was, she would understand at that point but go on to ignore it.

Thank you Dolly! This will help my patience levels greatly and give me a jumping off point to research from!

 

[canary]

Yes, its a vision processing problem. She may better understand what things are if you put them in her hand - eg put a cup of tea in her hand rather than place it on the table in front of her.

 

[LexiLou]

Yes, its a vision processing problem. She may better understand what things are if you put them in her hand - eg put a cup of tea in her hand rather than place it on the table in front of her.

Thank you Canary, will try this today and see how we go!

Lexi

 

[Jaded'n'faded]

Definitely a processing problem. When you say, 'There's a cup of tea on the table,' her brain should be doing the automatic thing of visualising what a cup of tea looks like then identifying it from the things she can see in front of her. Unfortunately this process breaks down so although she's looking around, her brain isn't telling her what she's looking for.

This is the insidious nature of dementia. Cognitive processing starts to fail. It becomes the same with movement - all the things they used to do automatically (like walk up a step or stand up/sit down) have to be worked out as if they're doing it for the first time. When you start to realise the enormous impact of cognitive breakdown, it really is heart-breaking.

My advice would be to not assume she knows anything! Handing her the tea and saying, 'Here's your tea' is a million miles away from saying, 'Your tea is on the table.' Imagine she'd never seen a cup of tea before, didn't know what it was or what she was supposed to do with it and work from that point.

And good luck!

 

[try again]

Have she had her eyes tested recently. These can also be caused by high eye pressure and macular degeneration.

 

[LynneMcV]

Something that might also be relevant re. the whole processing problem is decluttering the area.

i say this because when my husband's dementia started affecting the way he saw things, it soon became evident that things that were on the other side of the room could appear to him as if they were in his face or on his lap. It became hard for him to know what was actually in front of him and what wasn't.

Even rugs and cushions would seem to be floating in the air - and anything on a tv programme might also enter his personal space (a tricky situation when we were watching a wildlife documentary with lions one time!)

Decluttering the room didn't completely solve the situation, but it definitely helped.

I also found that he could not see black objects - they appeared as holes to him. I added bright green electrical tape to the remote control box so he could see it more easily.

 

[canary]

Yes exactly what @LynneMcV said
I also found that mum interpreted patterns on the floor as being in 3D and white things seemed to disappear as well as black things looking like holes.

 

[Banjomansmate]

The Banjoman used to lift his foot up high to step off the edge of the mat in his living room.
The first time I realised he had a problem with his vision was when he couldn’t recognise a cucumber on the chopping board in front of him.

 

[Jelly171]

Good Morning1

I recently joined the community, I care for my grandmother who has vascular dementia and Alzheimer's. She's mid stage I'd say (at a guess), but over the last few weeks she's deteriorated. She can't see things that are right in front of her, from cups of tea, TV remote, thermostat, toaster, kettle or cutlery, I know this is a normal part of the illness but does anybody have experience with managing this and what advice could you give?

Lexi

I’m brand new to this community but this really rang a bell with me. My husband was diagnosed a year or so ago and is so far really holding his own. He does however, have a problem with visual processing. New glasses have helped a lot but sometimes he just can’t see something. A glass of water is difficult to see on the table and strangely, he has lots of trouble doing up zippers. We’ve been told that he seems to have a problem with his optic nerve connect to the brain and he is seeing a specialist in January. We are so fortunate that he is still calm, loving and accepting and takes every day as it comes - long may it last!

 

[Grannie G]

Welcome to the forum @Jelly171 I hope you will find it helpful and supportive.

It`s amazing how we say all people with dementia are different yet there are so many similarities too and it`s comforting to be able to share symptoms and be helped to understand

 

[Jelly171]

Welcome to the forum @Jelly171 I hope you will find it helpful and supportive.

It`s amazing how we say all people with dementia are different yet there are so many similarities too and it`s comforting to be able to share symptoms and be helped to understand

Thank you

 

[Lawson58]

My husband had cataracts removed and a new prescription for his glasses. Everything seemed to be OK for a while but then he started complaining that these new glasses didn’t work. At his next optician appointment, he could read the eye chart successfully but it was also discovered that he has an epiretinal membrane in one eye that clouds his vision.

But from my observations, I think he also doesn’t make the cognitive connections that are required in visual perception. And when I think back to how awful his driving was, I am inclined to think that it actually started years ago. I know that his spatial awareness was pretty erratic and I blamed this for his lousy driving but if you couple it with visual perception difficulties, it explains a lot.