It sounds like you have been thorough in checking out problems in the eyes.

I would definitely call the neurologist, and I would politely not let him blow it off. This side effect (if that is what it is) is effecting your mother's quality of life. If adjustments can be made to improve that, they should be considered, in my non-professional opinion. Of course, that may mean you face a trade-off on the other symptoms the drugs are treating. It ain't easy, is it?

I recently developed blurred vision as a drug side effect. It cleared right up when I stopped the drug, but the so far the other drugs the doctor is having me try have not been as effective as the original drug. Sigh. I can't function with blurred vision, though, so we are still trying to find something else.

I wish you luck in dealing with this frustrating problem.

Gayle,

The right specialist to see is a neuro-ophthalmologist. Has your mom seen one of those? Find one at nanosweb.org.

Like you, I'm not sure anyone can help. Have you tried prism glasses?

Does it matter that she can't see the colors very well or the type of flowers? Does it matter that she can't play bingo well? (Maybe it's more of a mental confusion issue and she's "blaming" it on vision problems?)

When she goes to doctor's appointments, can someone be assigned to write down what the doctor says? And then the key points typed in large print?

I feel sorry for her, as I'm sure you do.

Robin

My husband's vision has been fluctuating for several years. He got new glasses in 2009 but continued to have periods of vision problems [which he is unable to describe]. We had hoped that cataract removal would help but the ophthalmologist he saw later in 2009 said his cataracts were slight and did not warrant surgery. He seems to have trouble focusing both of his eyes. It's very hard when they cannot clearly explain what they are seeing [or not].

Most of the time his right eye is mostly closed and the eye looks unfocused. He can track with both eyes, however.

Every four to six months, my mother complains that her glasses aren't "working right." The first couple of times, I took her to the eye doctor, who checked her eyes and glasses and said they were fine. He looked at her list of meds and didn't feel any of them should be causing blurry vision, which appeared to be her complaint.

She had successful cataract surgery in both eyes about ten years ago, and in fact can function well without her glasses because of the correction in the replacement lenses.

So now I just take her in for her annual eye exam, and if she complains in between, I remind her that the eye doctor said she is fine, and within a week or so, she stops complaining. I don't know if this is an LBD issue or not.

Julianne

I know PD can cause vision problems so I assume Lewy can, as well.

Gayle,

This vision problem topic crops up a lot with LBD. My post is in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1651&start=0. You might find other responses helpful if you do a general search. Good luck to you, Annie.

Yes it does cause vision issues, I took my husband to an Neuro ophthalmolgist and the explaination we received was because of the PD side of LBD one eye muscle might be off slightly and that is in part the reason their vision is so blurry and he suggested we try Prizm's and we did and honestly I don't think it helped much, so in order for us to see clearly both eye muscles moves exactly the same !

Gayle - has she been evaluated for PSP? My friend, whose MIL just died from PSP, told me a simple test that the geriatric neuro who saw her MIL did. Gently hold the person's upper eye lid/eyebrow up and ask the person to look down. People with PSP can't look down. Visual issues were one of the first signs that we noticed with my friend's MIL about this time last year. Then the falls & shuffling started. Symptoms seemed to overlap a lot with LBD from what I could tell, but I am not a medical person. Lynn

Thanks to all of U. I really appreciate all the replies.
Lynn, what does PSP stand for? I am going to check the simple test U suggested with her.
Robin, I thought the one specialist was specialized in this area as well.
But.............??? : )
Julianne, I know what U mean my Mom does the same. But Irene's explanation of the muscle etc. makes sense.
She also complains more of feeling like she will fall & faint. But no evidence she has.
It is hard to talk to her anyway because I don't know anything : ( well according to her. But she doesnt' go for me reminding her she just was at the eye Dr. And of course what he said. She has heard him as well.
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! Thanks again !!!

Lynn,
The test that you described wouldn't tell very much. Many neurodegenerative disorders can have downgaze palsy, including PD. And vertical gaze palsy can be part of aging.
Robin

Interesting. My friend who told me about this is an RN, and she told me that the geriatric neurologist said that was a pretty clear indication of PSP (progressive supranuclear palsy). So, I don't know if she misinterpreted what the dr. said, or what, but after much testing and imaging PSP is what my friend's MIL's dx at The Memory Center was. She died less than a year from when I noticed her visual problems. Lynn

Lynn,

Since there's no autopsy confirmation, there's no way to know. While the diagnostic accuracy of PSP is better than for LBD, it's still not great.

Well-trained neurologists *can* look at eye movements and have a good idea if the person has PSP or not. It's just not the test you described.

Robin

I believe she did have an autopsy.

Gayle,

This is a good article on visual symptoms in DLB:

http://www.optometry.myzen.co.uk/articl ... 030110.pdf

Robin

That is a good article, Robin. I wish I had seen it before.

According to John he had three pairs of glasses: reading glasses, bi-focals, and double vision glasses. Whenever someone would point out that he was seeing double he'd complain that he wasn't even wearing his double vision glasses.

After he had cataract surgery it was discovered that he had a film that had atrophied across his retinas. one eye was relatively smooth but the other had dried with wrinkles in it. I thought surgery would be nessecary but his doctor was able to prescribe glasses that compensated for the defects ($500+). We were warned that it could take weeks for his brain to recognize the difference. Although he was able to enjoy TV more soon afterwards.

At one visit I asked what they did for children or people who didn't recognize letters or numbers. They ran a vision test that way but with mixed results.