Has anyone taken someone with dementia to the eye doctor?
Reading has always been my mothers first love. I can't remeber a time in her life when mom didn't have a book going. Mom would read up to three books a week - everything from serious political or religious books to biographys to best seller crime novels. In the last couple of months mom has stopped reading - barely glances at magazines. When I talked to mom about it last week she said she couldn't see well enough to read anymore. I'm not convinced this is the cause as she has lost intrest in just about everything save her cat! However, I'm willing to give it a shot and take her to the eye doctor. Has anyone taken someone with dementia to the eye doctor? Moms dementia is probably considered moderate these days. Since I took her to a Getiatric Psychiatrist in December and he did a complete medication overhaul, mom has been 100x easier to get along with and is usually pleasant and agreeable. Still I'm not sure she could manage the "which one is better? This one or this one, this one or this one"? That bit makes me crazy when I go to the eye doctor! So - worthwhile attempt or exercise in futility? Lastly, a large chain bookstores offers a wide variety of those larger magnified reading assisters - some with or without an attached light. Has anyone used one that is worthwhile? Mom would need something on the larger side that she didn't have to grip and move along like a typical magnifying glass.
How long has it actually been since she's seen any eye doctor - optometrist or ophthalmologist? Even if it is difficult for her to distinguish between two objects that are seemingly close in size and clarify, she can be checked for eye pressure and any other issues that might not be seen without the special equipment used by ophthalmologists.
My father has low tension glaucoma, has had it for years. We go regularly for checkups, he uses Latanaprost, and thus far there's been no change in pressure. Had we not learned he had this years ago, the current situation might have been different. I would never forgive myself if the glaucoma had developed into something more serious. As it is now, it's very controllable.
Another issue to explore is dry eyes. My father has it, I have it, and sometimes my eyes become sensitive after being in dry areas, especially like heated cars in the winter, homes that are heated above 70 - 75 degrees, and especially hospitals or medical offices. I can usually guess that on my way home from a trip to Dad's, my right eye is going to become sensitive and teary from the dryness, especially during the winter.
Yet another possibility is periodic ophthalmic migraines, which I've had for over 30 years. My ophthalmologist said they're not unusual for people who are nearsighted. They appear like 1/2 of a bear trap, clawed, and multi colored flashing lights. Had I not seen her years ago when these started I would have been scared when they happened. If your mother has these, she would definitely have difficulty reading when they occur. And they could be frightening.
They're also aggravated by computer work; there's a definite correlation in my opinion.
So take your mother to an ophthalmologist, not an optometrist, even if she's not able to tell which of 2 choices of objects are clearer. At least raise the issue of dry eyes or cataracts and what might be shown by the high powered equipment that's available to see what we can't see with normal vision.
As to the magnifiers, I use them sometimes just to read the fine print on contracts and other documents that are difficult to read (such as consumer contracts). I have one I bought years ago to read surveys and title work; the glass is about 4" in diameter and is still very useful.
I've seen the ones you refer to; I don't know how well they would be for reading books because eye flow is a part of comfortable reading, and if the magnifier has to be moved from paragraph to paragraph, it could become a nuisance. But the kind you refer to might be better. And if it magnifies a whole page, that would be much, much better.
Back in the day when I was still taking my mom to doctors, the thing I would involve myself in was making sure that I understood what the doctor was telling us. "So you're saying that mom has the good kind of macular degeneration, and she should be seen in 6 months?".
By the time we would have left the office, mom would think she had the bad kind of macular degeneration, that she was going blind and that she had to come back in 6 days. I would have written down what the doctor said, and she would then believe what I was telling her.
When I went to visit her in the evening (I'm usually there in the daytime) she was sitting under her little lamp (with a 3-way bulb) and it was only working on one setting. It broke my heart that my mom was sitting in a very gloomy room at night and didn't know/think to say anything to me. So I know how you feel. I replaced that bulb with a stronger 3-way bulb and I added a timer on a lamp she already had. It comes on automatically when it starts to get dark and it shuts off at 10 PM. It took several different ways of marking the lamp and switch, so that my mom didn't turn it off (not understanding it was on a timer). She kept thwarting my best efforts to keep her in the light. Ha!
I'd try a few simple "tests" before I'd try taking her to the eye doctor. I'd also call the eye doctor to see if he/she has worked with people with dementia, to see if they have ways of handling it.
Good luck and please let us know how it goes.
"You're always bossing me around!" On and on it would escalate until the doctor has left the room and mom and I are still in there arguing!
Yes, try large print texts. There are also magnifiers that are the size of a page, like 9x11.
Mom would want to go to the eye doctor office every 6 months, thinking that stronger lenses glasses would help her... but eventually there came a point where no matter what the strength of her glasses, nothing would help.
Then Dad decided to change all the light bulbs to those florescent curly lights and that made it worse for Mom to see. So Mom had to use a flashlight to help her read :P
Going to the eye doctor wasn't easy as Mom was constantly blinking like she was trying to blink away that grey cloud in her eye. The techs would try to take a photo of the inside of her eye but Mom just couldn't stop blinking. And the eye test itself [which is better A or B] wasn't easy as Mom was also hard of hearing. But her long time eye doctor had a lot of patience with her and had a voice that Mom was able to understand most of the time :)
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