Alzheimer's and eyesight

[drummer]

My mother is in the late stages of Alzheimer's. Recently she has lost her vision and become blind. Her eye doctor said her eyes are fine but can no longer interpret the signals from the brain. Has anyone else ever heard of this happening?

[healthy4life]

Originally Posted by drummer

My mother is in the late stages of Alzheimer's. Recently she has lost her vision and become blind. Her eye doctor said her eyes are fine but can no longer interpret the signals from the brain. Has anyone else ever heard of this happening?

Yes, my mother has early onset Alzheimer's. She was diagnosed at age 62 and is now 68 and in what appears to be late stage AD. Her eyesight was bothering her early in the disease. Her opthamologist said she did have the beginning of macular degeneration. However, not much longer after that when she went back to the eye doctor complaining and he new she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he told my parents that the macular degeneration was not bad enough to cause the symptoms she was complaining about. He said it is not uncommon with AD patients that they get to the point where their brain does not compute what they see. This makes sense to us. Now she is at the point that we wouldn't know if she did see things because she can no longer communicate intelligibly.

I am sorry for what you are going through. I know just how hard it is. Someone asked me the other day if it was hard seeing my mother this way. Of course, I said it was, but she has been so bad off for such a long time that I'm used to her being this way. It really is a long good-bye. The grieving process lasts and lasts.

Good luck to you and your family.

[drummer]

Dear Healthy4life,

Thank you for your response and concern. It's a horrible disease as you well know. Best wishes to you and your family also.

[Snooks]

Thank you for posting and for the information. My mother has very bad eyesight and is near blind in one eye. Recently she said she was "blind" for a few minutes. She goes to eye doctors for new glasses so often. I hope her eye doctor will be able to explain to her what is going on. Blessings to all of you who read and post.

[camachinist]

Originally Posted by drummer

Her eye doctor said her eyes are fine but can no longer interpret the signals from the brain.

In our experience, it's the other way around. The brain is damaged or deteriorating and can't interpret the signals sent by the eyes. In my mom's case, part of the vision center in her brain was damaged by stroke and she now only sees out of the right half of each eye. Her remaining vision is still 20/20, meaning her eyes are fine, but she just can't see to the left. This affected her spacial orientation as well and, combined with the dementia left from the stroke, makes it much more difficult for her to move about and perform complex tasks. She does, but just at a slower pace. She still can see small objects that I would miss, so that's a small consolation.

Pat