I've noticed that, lately, my husband has his eyes shut a good deal of the time, even though he is awake. I asked him if his eyes hurt or if the light hurts them and he said no. Anyone else's LO do this?

My LO sits with his eyes closed a lot of the time also. Like you, I ask him if his eyes hurt or are tired but he always says his eyes are open. I don't argue but wonder if he can concentrate better with them closed or is he somewhere in Lewy Land and likes it there. I don't know, but I know of two other people with Parkinson's that sit with there eyes closed.
Mary

This symptom is called blepharospasm. It's very common in PD and LBD.

Oh! I always thought blepharospam was eye twitching.

Whether the eyelid twitches or closes completely, I imagine the issue is the same -- it's an involuntary contraction of the eyelid muscle.

Robin, Thanks for the information. I didn't realize that blepharospasm was so common in PD and LBD, but as I said I did notice two other people that I know who have PD sit with their eyes closed a lot. In fact one of them had botox for it, but I think it made that person look kind of scary because the eyes were too wide open all the time. I don't know why they used botox because I would think it would make the eyes stay closed more. Interesting.
Mary

I agree that it's somewhat counterintuitive. In many matters, botox relaxes some muscles so that others can work. Like in the bladder. Urologists are using botox for an overactive bladder. Botox relaxes certain muscles such that other muscles can hold the urine in the bladder.

I visited my dad in February and took him out to eat. He stayed in the car the whole time and seemed zapped of all energy. He kept his eyes closed and I asked if he had a headache. He said No.
He was not talking so I had to keep checking if he was awake because
he kept his eyes closed. This was new.
I was doing all the talking and started feeling like I may be annoying him by talking too much but he said. "No, keep talking"

After my brother also mentioned how unresponsive dad was and that "he didn't even look at me" (from my brother) - I drove back to the nursing home and asked for his medication list.
He was on 2 medications for cold/allergy and Namenda all 4 added at the same time all three new..
After they took away the cold/allergy medications he quit sitting with his eyes closed all the time.

GraceGirl,
My guess is that the symptom of the eyes being closed will occur again at some point in the future.
Robin

It's so interesting to read about symptoms that PE has with others. Just the eyes closed is one of them. For about 4 months now, I have noticed this. He has his eyes closed, even when he says he's listening. It can be very disturbing to me as caregiver, as it takes him quite a while to answer a question so I never know if he is sleeping or in a mood to listen. So it takes several minutes to ascertain what is going on in his mind and to be able to cater to it.

Eating can be frustrating because he wants to eat by himself with his eyes closed and of course this brings a lot of messes which I get so tired of cleaning up! If this happens, I know it's part of the disease and nothing I can say will have an effect.

I now have someone come in the evening for three hours to help get supper, help him eat it if necessary, clear away and go through the bedtime routine, washing up, changing, and evening meds, etc. It is a great help for relieving these little details, but oh so heavy, from my shoulders. But still no one to replace me so I could go see my grandchildren! Dinny Wolff

My husband is doing that also, so maybe when I think he is sleeping he really isn't, but if he isn't sleeping, or half asleep while eating, he doesn't always open his mouth when asked, although one time he did say he was trying. Hmmmmm, is that also a symptom, not being able to open their mouth sometimes?

His speech is frequently garbled, more often than not, and I have reached the stage where I don't want to agree with any thing he says, as I don't know what he said. He asks to go home so often, I don't want to pretend I know what he said, in case he was again asking to go home. He will look at me with great expectation waiting for my agreement, and I don't have any idea what he said.

Mary

I can relate to most of the postings today, drooling, closed eyes, wanting to go home, getting up half dozen times, during a meal, to clean up his lap or the floor before he gets up and steps in it. I also pretend I didn't hear him, his eyes are closed so sometimes I just leave the room. We still can get out, try to walk 1-1 1/2 miles, when weather permits. I'm finding more and more that it's just not fun to plan little outings. We do have breakfast with two of his friends at 6:45 Saturdays. This morning he kept his eyes closed most of the time, but he hears everything that said, and I wiped drool a good part of the time. These are VERY good friends, they understand and feel it's important to continue this Sat. routine. I do appreciate it, it gives Frank someone else to, Maybe, talk with. Lately, when we go out, I always ask if he has to go to the bathroom first, I ask several times. Half the time he has an accident on the way home or can't hold it until I get his jeans down. The laundry never ends. Well I've sputtered enough.

Have a good day,
Gerry

Laundry. I can relate to that. Two loads every other day.

My aunt has told me that one of her eyes is closed and one is open whild Im talking to her...but they are both open. This disease does affect their vision by far and Ive also heard and read somewhere that it can also cause blindness in one eye or both, temporarily or not. I love the Lewy Land comment..LOL. Hope I could help. Good luck to you.

Just started noticing that with my dad today. While he was talking he'd shut his eyes for maybe 15 seconds, like it was normal. He did this many times throughout the afternoon.