visual anosognosia?

M1

Iris mentioned this the other day, and it gave me a name for something I'm seeing a lot right now:  namely that my partner can't identify things that are right on front of her face.  Including the cats, and this morning, the huge can of Coffeemate that was sitting by the coffee maker.  There's a lot of "Honey, I can't find the...(fill in the blank)" and "Have you seen the (fill in the blank)?" and it frustrates her when I can always find what she's looking for and she can't.  It's something that's clearly progressed and is the subject of much of our interactions these days.  This week she woke me up twice because she couldn't find one of the cats, and it was right there in her bedroom.  She claimed she didn't turn on the lights, but I don't think that's the case.  Interesting.  But sad, too, and exhausting....I just have to accept being her search engine, I guess.  I don't mind it except when I'm trying to work....or sleep.

Davegrant

I have noticed the same thing  and my DW asks for things that are right in the open. The unusual part is that she used to know where everything is and I would ask her.

riajean

Hello, visual/spatial issues are huge with ALZ.  My husband had these issues present over six years ago when told he had MCI.  Now he's in the moderate plus stages and worse than ever.  If you research this phenomena, you'll understand that the brain doesn't process images correctly.  My husband can't see our cat if she's sitting beside him because she's black and white and so is our sofa.  Going up the stairs we painted, he's unsure what he's stepping on.  If we're walking outside and the road is shiny, he thinks it's ice.   He looks at the refrigerator and we say the word for what it is and he doesn't understand the word or that he's looking at the refrigerator.  There is much more he struggles with, just a few simple examples.   It's real and frightening for our spouses and confusing for us because it's hard to understand what they're seeing.

Hope you can find some peace and just know it's better to just get it for them, hand it to them and not question as it creates more frustration if it's discussed.

Ed1937

Same here. Sometimes she will ask where the dog is. A 93 pound German Shepherd is laying on the floor right in front of her.

Nowhere

My husband has no idea he has Alzheimer’s and he has lost facial recognition. It began five years or so ago with everyone looking familiar him. We’d be out and he’d insist he knew “that person”. He now believes other females are myself, our daughter, or his niece.

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ScottyTom

This has been a constant symptom of my wife.  If she is sitting on the couch and on the coffee table there is a glass of iced tea, a book, some pencils, and a magazine, she will ask where her glass of iced tea is.  I'll say, "Right there, on the table in front of you."  She will then study the table, then sort of reach out with one hand and start feeling around as if she is blind.  I'll say, "to the left" and she'll continue to feel around, I'll say, "Just two more inches...", and finally she'll make contact with the glass.  Or, if I put a plate of food in front of her, I have to be sure to identify each item and then put her hand on the fork.  (Of course, the use of a fork and such is becoming a hit or miss deal.  We may be looking at finger foods soon).  Even three years ago, we would go to pick up our granddaughter from preschool and she had absolutely no ability to identify our child from any of the other four or five in the room.  At the age of three the granddaughter could use the handicapped telephone with pictures of her mommy, uncle, aunt and push the picture/button to make a call.  My wife has never been able to look at the picture of our daughter and identify her.  Watching TV she cannot tell male from female, child from adult, black person from blond.  Her course of decline has been very visual.  Thank God, she retains the same cheerful, optimistic, friendly disposition she has always had.  That is really a blessing.

John_inFlorida

This sounds something like my DW too. She can identify faces of family but has started mentioning that she cant always identify people on tv, like newscasters that shes seen for years.  Also she can look right at something and not see it, but when I point it out to her she can see it.

tryingtolearn

what stages does that happen in ?

M1

I put my partner between 4 and 5, leaning more towards 5 lately.

Ed1937

M1 wrote:

I put my partner between 4 and 5, leaning more towards 5 lately.

Ditto.

Jeff86

I think in some cases it’s not a question of not seeing what’s not in front of our LOs, but not processing what they’re seeing.

caberr

My husband has been doing this for probably a year now.   I'll say it's on the table and he looks right at it but doesn't see it.  He also gets frustrated with himself when I can find something he can't.

ScottyTom

DW is solidly in stage six but this has been going on for several years.  I agree that it is not that they don't SEE a particular object, their eyes and optic nerves send the message to the brain and the brain responds with... Huh?  The brain does not understand what it is looking at.  

My wife is sort of paranoid about insects, flies, etc. being in the house (sometimes hallucinates seeing them) but we can be sitting watching TV and a fly will zip through the room ten feet from her and she immediately sees that, so I believe her eyes work just fine.  In fact, several years back when this started she kept insisting she needed glasses so we had her tested by an optometrist and the optometrist said her vision was fine.  

Ed1937

Jeff86 wrote:

I think in some cases it’s not a question of not seeing what’s not in front of our LOs, but not processing what they’re seeing.

Jeff, I think that's exactly right. 

caberr

I agree with what Jeff wrote as well. 

My husband constantly complained it was his eyes.  He's been to 3 eye dr's, one was an neurological optician,  over 3 years and none found anything.  He still thinks it's his eyes. 

anneleigh

I now associate anything with vision for DH as him seeing only something that is right in front of him with binoculars. It is a total different mindset that has made me understand and realize my DH's capabilities.  I refer as well to Teepa Snow's youtube videos for reference.

I will take the time to stand in front of him and gesture to him, the drink, the food, plate or whatever it is I am trying to convey to him.  He may not understand many things, but hand motions help a lot.  Being compassionate and not overcorrecting is now how I try to operate with DH.  It is like they are in a daze the whole day and just finding their way around.  I do think we need to inform our family members what the reality is of how much they can see, so they fully understand when they may visit.  My grown kids now are learning techniques to talk to their father more lovingly and appreciate the extra advise given to them.  I often send them videos that I think may be helpful so they can communicate with their dad.

Let's try to get through another day- we all need prayers to keep up the strength to care for our loved ones~  hugs to all

Jeff86

One more point on this subject.  This processing issue can be auditory as well as visual.

When my DW hears a sound, she does not know how to process or interpret it.  If the sound comes from something right in front of her, it’s fine.  But if it’s coming from another room, or outside, she does not know what caused it or what it is.  Footsteps on the stairs, the door bell, cooking—it doesn’t matter.  Her brain appears not to be able to make sense of what she hears.

I have learned to be her interpreter.

M1

Agree Jeff, it seems to be processing problem for sensory input be it visual or auditory.  My partner's is more visual right now, but I've noticed the auditory too sometimes--not processing random noises.  Clearly can't process a lot of speech on television.   Sometimes harder to tell with auditory if it's a hearing problem, but I know her eyes are fine.....so it's more noticeable there.

Iris L.

anneleigh wrote:

   It is like they are in a daze the whole day

This is a good way to explain it.

Also, as Jeff86 mentioned, there is also auditory agnosia, when a patient does not process the sounds that they hear.  There can be agnosia for all the senses, such as tactile, olfactory and taste.  But these are harder to test for.  The sensory organ, skin, nose or tongue, has to be intact in order to input a sensation, but the damaged brain is not able to recognize the sensation.    

A safety issue:  at some point a PWD may begin nibbling on objects and becomes unable to distinguish a food item from a non-food item, which is usually potentially dangerous.  For example, a PWD may try to eat buttons or stones or even a tiny battery, thinking they are candy.  Or drink a colored cleaning fluid, thinking it is a soft drink.  They taste it but don't recognize that it is bad.  

There are many other possible examples.  This is why dementia-proofing the home is so important.  

Iris

Cheryl264

My DW will now eat a paper napkin if she finishes her meal and I am not there - stepping into the kitchen for a moment!

Also I use only plain white plates because she was trying to eat the floral designs on the plate.

HowDoYouDeal

I forget the names of things all the time and my husband fills them in. When I was teaching my daughter new words, I would pretend to forget the names of things.

 I would run through a number of words to let her find the word she wants, and she feels like she is right.

What is that animal? A Flot-ter? No, its a Splot-ter, no that's not right was it an Ott-son?

 No. um an Ott-Fer.  That can't be right. Ummmm.. help me out here, it's an Ott-er, No, a Motter, a Bot-ter. Hmmmm.....

Then she guesses Otter and she's happy.

It probably not the same with an adult, but... is it possible she'd feel better if you occasionally made mistakes too?