Step, PWDs can experience visual agnosia.  This means that the eyes are good, but that the images received in the brain are distorted.  This is a function of the brain damage due to the dementia.  It will be variable, because brain damage has to do with chemical neurotransmitters. 

It is always wise to get a full eye examination by an ophthalmologist, because there are many eye changes as we mature, such as cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeration, plus eye changes from hypertension and diabetes.  Plus there are other eye diseases.  Not everything is due to dementia.

There have been many threads on vision changes.  You might want to do a search on this message board for "vision" or "agnosia".

Iris L.

TThank you for the feedback.  Both responses beneficial!

Step,

I would follow Iris advise to get an examination by an ophthalmologist. If your eyes test normal  then you need to consult with neurologist about the vision changes. Some floaters in the eyes are normal as long as there is not flashes of light with the floaters.

We must reevaluate our relationships that are not supportive, loving and reciprocal. No more letting others drain you and suck the wind out of your sails! 

Please do not take calls from family members that you are in conflict with when you are feeling emotional and vulnerable. This is an important part of taking care of yourself and reducing stress in your life where you can. Relationship conflicts with loved ones and family members can be brutal and cause much unneeded stress in our lives if we let them. Sick hurt people, hurt people and we must be wary of others who wish to hurt us because they feel so bad inside. Don't let anyone love you to death! 

Set boundaries with accepting only brief calls and what trigger topics will not be discussed. If you must communicate wait until you are feeling well and are prepared with scripted responses to counteract the negativity.

Longstanding conflicts sometimes can be resolved in ways that are healthy for both you and the other person but reciprocity, love, unselfishness, willingness and forgiveness is required. Not all persons have the capacity or the willingness to resolve longstanding conflicts and if we still love them despite all, we must do so from a safe distance in order to protect ourselves. 

For what it is worth, I don't do well on any kind of estrogen anything either.  Indeed, I also avoid things like soy that mess with one's estrogen. 

Floaters are a common issue in Lyme Disease...which can cause issues like dementia...unfortunately the standard doctor test for only has a 35% chance of catching it in people, so many have false negatives.  If you are interested, the Igenix test is the gold standard...although you have pay cash for it...most insurances will reimburse you. 

I mention that only because I think I recall you had mentioned some other interesting health issues...so I thought this might be pertainent to you.

Anyways, I hope that helps.

 <3

Step, please, never again say that you are an idiot for forgetting.  We all forget, and we just forget a bit more than others.  But so what?  It's not the end of the world.

We have so many people, family members and professionals, who try to put us down and try to make us feel bad about ourselves.  We do not need to give in to that propaganda and put our own selves down.  Counteract negative thoughts by positive, uplifting thoughts. 

It is not wise to reduce some medications abruptly.  Please discuss medication changes with the prescribing physician.  I don't know if estrogen patches have anything to do with floaters. The persons to ask would be your ophthalmologist and your gynecologist.

I agree with Ilee.  I have learned that there will be many people who seem to delight in disturbing me.  I have also learned that the primary recourse is to avoid these people.  Most of the time, they abandoned me, I didn't abandon them.  You will have to learn to put up your own protective barriers.  Best wishes to you in this.

Iris L.

TThank you Lee, Sun, and Iris. I need to hear all of that.

I'm glad the ophthalmologist visit turned out well.  I see more floaters.  My ophthalmologist told me that floaters become more prevalent when we become more mature.

Iris L.

Visual agnosia is different from hallucinations.  With visual agnosia, the PWD looks at an object, but doesn't recognize it.  With hallucinations, the PWD sees something that isn't there.

These two sites can give you more information.

http://dementiatoday.com/visuo-perceptual-difficulties-in-dementia/

 http://www.alz.org/centralohio/documents/vision_problems_associated_with_alzheimers.doc

With feeding, make sure the food is on a contrasting plate.  Meaning, don't put mashed potatoes on a white plate, but on a different colored plate.  Increase the lighting in an area.  Keep the area free from clutter.  

Iris L.

Oh thank you so much Iris! I believe that she has both, but it seems that the vision issue is dominate! That's too bad. I will assure that I use contrasting colors for her food. She sometimes doesn't see things that are right in front of her. Even looking out the window upsets her. I would be anxious,too. Might have to replace the pattern curtain and rug. Thank you Iris. Your an angel.

hugs

Deb

Tauruslady, even if your mom could see that the dishes are still dirty, she could still not be able to wash them thoroughly.  This is due to impaired executive functions.  Executive functions allow us to complete a task in sequence.  There are many little steps that must be accomplished, that people do almost automatically.  But for the PWD, the steps are broken.  The goal with activities for PWDs at a certain stage should be "failure-free" activities.  Activities where it doesn't matter if they get accomplished "right" or not.

Vision should be checked by an ophthalmologist to look for cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, or other problems.  Visual agnosia can exist with eye diseases.  The two articles mentioned have good tips on how to compensate for visual agnosia.  It is one of the characteristics of Alzheimer's Disease, so it probably won't go away.  One might think of visual agnosia as "brain blindness" in that the eyes are seeing, but the brain does not process what is seen.  MissHer, feel free to repost.  Sharing is good.  I got the links from another board.

Iris L.