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I had to place her in an AL with memory care this summer. I am concerned that she will fall! She claims she can see as well without them. She is extremely stubborn and I do not want to argue with her... I know that there are vision changes that come with dementia. Is this what is happening? I have made an appointment with the eye Doctor however I am not sure that she can answer the questions... Since being in the AL memory care she has fallen at least twice. She also wants to sleep all the time! I think she lacks motivation and also feels useless. She is on an antidepressant but I do not feel it helps at all.

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Are your Mom's glasses bi-focals? If yes, then your Mom is trying to look at the flooring through the *reading* part of her glasses which could make her miss-step. I can understand her seeing better without the glasses, if that is the case.
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Bifocals make the floor look closer than it is. Go with her choice.
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Can she watch television comfortably? Look at magazines? Talk to her primary nurse at the AL. What is his or her observation?

Dementia patients can really benefit from improved vision (cataract rmoval, for example) and sometimes better vision can reignite some interest in things around them. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If you don't think the antidepressant is helping, can you discuss it with the prescribing doctor? Maybe a dosage change or a different medication is needed.

I'd be interested in what the eye doctor has to say. Good luck!
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my mom does not want to wear hers either she says they are not hers that they give her a head ache and they end up on the floor or in the bed some where ,along with her dentures . But if I don't give them to her she wants them .I am a 24/7 caregiver doing it mostly alone ,So I have decided that there are other more pressing issues so she has her glasses if she wants to wear them she can if not then oh well ,But my mom is in bed and is a bi-lateral amputee so I do not have to worry about falls .
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It depends on what type of vision correction she has. If she needs glasses for reading, then she won't need them for most of the day, unless she's reading. My mom doesn't wear hers in her apartment most of the time, because she needs them for distance and isn't looking at anything that far away while she's home. She's also had cataracts removed, so maybe she has the lenses that make her vision better.
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I have the opposite problem with mom. She won't take the durn glasses off when we're walking. Even the doc and PT person have told her she needs to lose the glasses when up and about since even one step can be a problem for her. As she no longer does any real reading, would love to get rid of them and probably will soon since I figure she will sooner or later really hurt herself. She can see TV well without them but says she feels weird without the glasses.
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We left it up to my MIL whether or not she wants to wear her glasses. She says she sees well enough without them. Maybe, maybe not but not worth the battle. For her, she used to put them on as a kind of a "disguise." Her dementia has progressed to the point in which she doesn't understand TV, reading or looking at pictures needs assistance, and the care center where she's at has her stuck in a wheel chair all the time. So her vision, even if a little off for reading, doesn't amount to anything. She can see our little DVD player we bring in with one of our children's animal shows pretty well, which does work for her.

Your situation sounds different in which vision could a factor but you're the best to know if wearing glasses is a big deal or not. Is there a PT you could speak with? Has your mom had cataract surgery? My parents and in-laws experienced a dramatic improvement in their eyesight after cataract surgery to the point they no longer needed glasses.
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Depending on what type of dementia your mother has, it could affect not only her sight but also her balance and co-ordination, too (I can only scratch my head at some of the positions my darling mother gets her feet into). I'm sorry, I realise that doesn't help very much. But the point is that you needn't go into battle with your mother over her glasses. If she thinks they're not helping, then they're not helping.

I second Jeanne's vote for at least *considering* cataract surgery, but unless a) she has in fact got cataracts and b) her optician or ophthalmologist agrees that they're severe enough to be making a significant difference, it probably won't be worth putting her through even that comparatively straightforward surgery.

I'm sure you've already been advised that deep sleepiness - is this new, by the way? - is one effect of stroke. Of course, it's also an effect of being very elderly and getting plain tired…

I hope the person doing the eye test has a much better bedside manner than our optician. If he weren't a good optician I'd sack him on grounds of sheer grumpiness with poor tired little old ladies. Stay with your mother throughout the test to hold her hand but guard against actively answering questions for her, of course.
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thank you for all your kind responses... I appreciate them!!!
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My mom is a 90 yrear old alheimers patient, shes living in her own home with caregivers ans me taking care of her. She has recently decided she no longer needs her glasses, says they make her vision worse, She had cataract surgery before the onset of the alzheimers, thank God!
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If yours is like mine, glasses will just be the first thing to go, and trust me, not the worst. When they stop wearing dentures and stop eating....then you worry.
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