Helping Those Who Care for Parkinson's Patients
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Does Parkinson's affect eyesight? Thanks. |
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I asked my mother's neurologist that same question - he basically said no. However I remember he qualified that answer somewhat though I can't remember exactly what he said. Something to the effect that, at least that was the common belief right now. It does, as many have pointed out, cause hallucinations and delusions and vivid dreams and lots of other things that you might be referring to when you say "eyesight" -- are you referring to something that has been seen or something in the way the eye works or looks? |
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Our neuro told us that it does, mainly the convergence between both eyes. My husband said it is like when he tries to read, it is hard for his eyes to track smoothly across the page. The neuro seemed to know pretty much what he was talking about. My husband also says he has double vision sometimes but I read that is a side effect of some of his meds. Sometimes I wonder if they cause more problems than they are worth. Sigh. If you google "parkinson's and vision" you'll find lots of information, more than you probably want/need to know. I think really, there is no part of the body that PD doesn't ultimately impact, since everything about us seems to require some amount of dopamine to function properly/smoothly. |
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| Lurking, You're right on target! Parkinson's does eventually affect every part of our bodies! Eyesight, breathing, bladder & bowels, blood pressure, heart rate, voice......it's like the Damn Borg in Star Trek, "You will be assimilated, resistance is futile!" |
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| My husband frequently uses eye drops and says they help to clear his vision. |
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PD has decreased my dad's blink rate which makes his eyes dry. He also experiences double vision from the convergence type problem lurking mentioned. Sometimes he wears a patch over one eye to "correct" it. My dad's neuro sent him to a pediatric opthamologist because they see more "lazy eye" cases than other opthamologists do. |
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| In addition to what others say, my YOPD spouse has trouble with his eyelids freezing the the closed position. It has lasted anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. It's like he blinks and then his eyes won't reopen. |
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| 30something, Hi, welcome, what you describe is called blepharospasm, the inability to open the eyelids or once opened to keep them open. (Just in case You wanted the term for it.). Take care, best of luck and hang in there. |
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Hi, My dad seems to have trouble with his eyesight when he's in bright daylight -- he says he sees patterns he can't describe. I think it's due to the PD but I'm not positive. His optometrist tells me his vision should be OK. |
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| susger8, Makes sense to Me. As we are "electrical" machines, meaning our senses send input to our brains through neurons and the neurons in our brains process the information in this case calling for our iris to contract to limit the amount of light entering the eye. If the muscles or the messaging are interrupted causing either delay or the message not getting through at all, our brains could possibly transmit the surplus of light as patterns. Sometimes we must mention to (educate) the medical field to the effects of Parkinson's Disease on our whole system. It helps to think in cases like this of people as a house with the old fashion fuse box's if a fuse in blown the circuit doesn't work. Our nervous system is like that, between the neurons are gaps. Dopamine acts as fuses allowing the current to flow through these gaps to the next neuron and so forth on to complete the circuit. Or think of a line of dominos, if you stand them up and topple them over ....... any spaces between them and the effect stops. We Parkinson's suffers can't produce the required dopamine to keep our machines running, we have to supplement the natural dopamine with L-Dopa. So perhaps when talking to the Optometrist you can pose this as a question to them? You know a well what if there's delaying of the iris's contracting due to low levels of dopamine? What effect would that have? Take care, best of luck and hang in there! |
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| LOHENGRIN: I think you covered it in your usual comprehensive and eloquent way (I have my thesaurus and 2 dictionaries with me today). In my case what I frequently refer to as "white out" AKA dilation may be a side effect of one or more of 6 meds I take in the am. About 2 hours after ingestion I must do sunglasses even to glance out a sunlit window. I suspect something other than lack of l-dopa. H.I.T. Al! |
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| I love you Bob! Whether you mean to or not you always make me laugh and that feels good. I wish you were my neighbor! |
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| My Husband has had Early-Onset Parkinson's for 16 yrs. He was 41 when he was diagnosed. Ten yrs. later he was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration & had to have Laser Surgery. He is legally blind in his right eye. My husband went to 5 drs. before he found one that knew what was happening.... He couldn't see anyone's face from their eyebrows to their chin. Please people get tested & if your Dr. prescribes a new prescription for your lenses & you can't see any better, don't just " put up with it " get another opinion !!!! |