I've noticed something different.

toolbeltexpert

My dw seems to have lost her Peripheral vision. I have scared her several times, I walk right to her side, inches apart I have tried standing there and nothing till I touch her.  She acts scared or surprised. I had noticed other times she acted surprised,but today was like an eyeopener. I know her sight is 2020. We already have appointment for her eye checkup after cataractsurgery in about a week. I will be asking some questions about if it's really lost. 

jmlarue

Teepa Snow has quite a few YouTube videos that talk about the changing vision of PWD. She describes it as a progressive narrowing of the field of vision - like tunnel vision or putting on blinders. She recommends that we always approach our LO from the front, whenever possible, and then move to their dominant side to take their hand. Check out the videos. I always find Teepa helpful.

Ed1937

My wife lost her peripheral vision some time ago. I'll be sitting on the couch, next to her, and she'll look to the kitchen,and call for me.

Scooterr

You know this just blows my mind. I feel for you toolbelt all these little blows. When my DW was first diagnosed with AD in 2019. My little brain thought ok she will just be forgetting a few things, never, never did I imagine where we were headed. I will have to start watching DW's vision closer now.

JDancer

I recently attended an "dementia tour." We put on various items to simulate the experience of dementia and then tried to complete a list of tasks. We wore spiky things in our shoes to simulate neuropathy, bulky gloves to simulate loss of fine motor skills, glasses that limited vision and ear phones that played startling noises. 

It was hard to complete the tasks. I was able to mange some things, like folding towels, but not very well. I learned that results don't always need to meet my (high) standards. My DH can still help. The results may vary and that's OK.

The glasses we wore severely limited peripheral vision because, as others have said, it's frequently lost with dementia.

ButterflyWings

This was one of those ‘aha’ moments for me, that made the stop driving decision more urgent. Stage 4 and I was just learning AD was more than just memory loss, and connecting some of the dots. DH had started complaining about pedestrians “jumping in front of him” at intersections. 

I took the diagnosing neuro’s instructions to “watch him” to heart. Rode along one day to observe his driving closely and, sure enough he gets to a stop sign. Pauses then is ready to take off again completely oblivious to the person who had begun taking their turn to walk across the street. I realized he wasn’t seeing that peripheral area mentioned here, and that he also wasn’t aware that he wasn’t seeing! Anosognosia strikes again. 

The narrowing field of vision is so scary. He could have run over many a person in our busy little town. This was a full grown adult that didn’t register until they were suddenly almost in front of the bumper. Imagine if it was a child, or a runner or biker moving into the intersection much faster, or at night. I alerted him and resolved right then to get him off the road permanently somehow, which I did quickly through subterfuge and sheer tenacity. 

It is so important that we share this information on this forum. I would have had no idea, and now I understand why it felt to him like people were just coming out of nowhere. His eyesight is still better than mine to this day. But his field of vision was narrowing unbeknownst to us. Thanks to AD. A dangerous thing.

GothicGremlin

Nobody in my family has particularly good eyesight, and my sister and I have worn glasses since we were kids. So, when her vision started changing due to Alzheimer's I didn't notice it right away.

A little more than a year ago, I noticed that she wasn't seeing objects in plain view, and she wasn't seeing objects that were literally right in front of her. We were weeding out some of her clothes in the closet, and I would pull a shirt out, hold it in front of her, and say, "how about this one?" She would reply, "which one?" She couldn't see it until I jiggled it in front of her. It was the movement that got her attention.

toolbeltexpert

I did some checking and watched the teepa snow video that jmlarue posted. I found that objects could appear invisible because there is no contrast. Like Gothic told about, Also the higher range of light. Blue violet purple get harder to see for everybody. Found a page that has some help information about vision and colour.

Thanks everyone 

https://hellocare.com.au/dementia-colour-perception/ 

Crkddy

Toolbeltexpert, your post is a revelation for me.  My DW was diagnosed with EO 4+ years ago. I noticed some time ago that something was wrong with her "seeing comprehesion".  When I point out something for her to look at, she rarely sees what I'm pointing to.  When I want her to take something (like a cookie), she can't see what I'm offering, and I have to put it in her hand. When I call out to her, she can't find me.  I know her vision (otherwise) is good.  I had no idea that peripheral vision was an issue.

Iris L.

Read about visual agnosia.

Iris