Eyesight...Reduced vision - anyone else?
 

Ever since I started this wonderful journey down the road of PD, I've noticed a decline in my eyesight. My vision is best in the morning after my first dose of Sinemet then after that it varies during the day, but gets worse by evening. Eventually I get to the point where I can't even see with my glasses on and my glasses actually make me dizzy. These are multi-focal lenses with a prism in them for double-vision. The double vision is worse than before, and I can't seem to find a good place to look through the glasses to see clear.

The rotten part of this is thing is I just got the new glasses in April and spent nearly $650 for them after the insurance coverage. I'd hate to have to give them up and continue on increased strength for naught.

At this point in the game, I have a difficult time reading books and magazines because the text seems too small so I do most of my reading online where I can blow the text up in size. This of course also affects my piano playing because I have a difficult time seeing the music.

I also find that I can't get enough light on anything when I'm reading. It's like the light in the room is very dim even with a 200W 3-way bulb in the lamp.

So what's going on here? Does anyone else have this problem?

John

Did you consult an opthalmologist?
 

Hi John,
Not so sure we can blame P.D. on reduced vision.
If there's a really sudden decline perhaps you should be seeing an opthalmologist instead of an optometrist if you're not already.
I'd take what an optometrist says with a grain of salt and be inclined to consult an opthalmologist.
They have a far superior knowledge of the eye and disorders associated with it.
Lee

Pd does cause vision problems
 

You can google PD and vision together and quite a bit will come up. Additionally, when we mentioned this to our neuro, he told us that PD causes problems with convergence and this pretty much describes it. I think vision problems in PD are much more common than most people think, and although everyone begins to experience vision loss after 40, they say, I think the PD affects the eyes as well, like our neuro said.

Glasses did not really help with this either, at least for us.

PD & Vision
 

Hi jcitron,
My experience has been exactly yours.
I used to be short sighted, and I know you go more long sighted as you grow older. This has happened, and I can even drive without my specs now. However, I used to be able to read the smallest print without glasses, but no more. I have lost the ability to read small print catastrophically in a very short time.
I believe this coincided with starting Mirapex 18 months ago. I have a PD friend who suffered exactly the same on Mirapex and changed to cabergoline. You don't say what meds you are on, but what agonist are you taking?
Ron

Hi Ron,

I am taking no agonists at this time. I'm on Sinemet, Amantadine, Citalopram, and Lodosyn. I noticed this was one of the side-effects when I was taking Mirapex, and when I stopped taking it the problem had initially gone away for a bit. It's now everything seems to be worse, and this is now two years later.

This was like all of a sudden I couldn't see small things anymore, and at first I figured that I needed new glasses and went to an opthomologist to have my eyes checked. The reason I chose and opthomologist is I also wanted to have my pressure checked for Glaucoma at the same time because this runs in my mom's family. My great grandfather went blind from it, my cousin has it, and my grandmother had it. The pressure was normal, but the double-vision was worse and so was my vision.

The glasses worked great for about 4 months, then I saw the doctor again for a follow-up and he was dismayed at the decline in my vision. The double-vision isn't helped anymore by the new prisms, and my left eye is worse. You could see his broad shoulders slouch with disappointment.

The other thing too, which I neglected to mention is going from light to dark or dark to light is a killer. This not only makes the eyes ache, but it takes what seems like forever for the them to adjust to the difference. I was blaming this on being a geek and hanging in front of computers for too long of periods, but this doesn't see to be the case. The darkness is pretty scary. I almost fell down my front stairs the other day. I was going out with my brother, who was driving and I went from the bright porch to the darker steps. I couldn't see the end of one of the steps and nearly went off. What caught me was the railing I was gripping on to with a death grip.

I see my neuro in a couple of weeks so I'll add this to my check-list of questions to ask because she's great at explaining things. I've read different things on the web, but a lot of it is written in "scientist" and "doctor" and it's difficult to understand.

John

I also want to thank everyone that has posted so far. This helps me understand what's going on and figure out how to ask certain things when I am with my neuro.

John

John;

have you been checked for macular degeneration? Mine gives me double vision with some degredation of vision. Do you see a dark spot seemingly floating in space?
The good news is there is a new drug "Lucentis" that is very effective to treat this. I have recovered much of my vision.

You definitely want to be checked for this.

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

I haven't been checked for this and I don't have any blank spots in my vision that I have noticed. I know what you mean by that though. A close friend of mine has it and complained about it before she become really bad. She also complained about the piano keyboard looking like it was tipped or twisted, which it was not. She has the dry kind and is now legally blind.

I'll look into this in more detail, and I'll call my opthomologist and see what he says. I see my PCP on Monday and I'll probably need a referral anyway. Gotta love the insurance process.

Thank you for the thought and the heads up on this.

John