My dh can be looking right at the object he's looking for and not see it. It seems that I always have to come and point it out. Even then, he sometimes cannot see it until I pick it up and show it to him. I wish I knew what was going on in his head. Is he confused; unable to follow my instructions? I just wish I knew more about why he does what he does.
mothert they do tend to develop certain visual restrictions and complications. i know my DH even as late as stage 7 has hardly any peripheral vision. he also needs it to be right in front of his eyes. i brought up a visual topic for you too. divvi
We have had discussions on this board about "visual agnosia", but when I did a search, there was no specific topic with that name, so it's kind of hard to find. However, in the "How Long Have you been a caregiver?" thread, toward the end of that discussion, there is information about agnosia. I have brought it to the top for you.
Also, check out this link; http://www.psychnet-uk.com/dsm_iv/agnosia.htm
motheert, my husband did the same thing for a long time. It is like they do not recognize the object. I feel it is like visual agnosia like Joan said. From what I have read, this is not to uncommon.
My DH has visual agnosia quite severely and that is how I first suspected that he had a problem. He couldn't see things that were straight in front of him, so I thought his eyes were the problem and took him to an eye specialist. The specialist said his eyes were perfectly healthy, but he felt I should take him to a neurologist, which I did and she dx. AD. It remains a big problem for us and excellerates the frustrating effects of this dreadful disease.
My dh does exactly the same thing and has for several years. He can be looking directly at an object and not see it. When I point it out to him he just thanks me. Someone on this board mentioned the Posterior Cortical Atrophy to me. I sent a link to our doctor and he said that altho he had never heard of it (its rare) that it explained Tom's visual problems. He will talk to me while looking at something totally different. One night he kissed the air by the tv and told me goodnight. I just told him that i knew he loved the tv but if he wanted to kiss me he would have to look a different direction. Again he thanked me.
My DH doesn't see what is right in front of him either. At first I thought he was being lazy or obstinent but then when I found out that he had Dementia I knew that he really couldn't see it. He use to tell me all the time "If I can't see it it isn't there." Now I am wondering if he really can't see what is right in front of him. Or can he see it but his brain is not telling him that it is there.
Really typical. Especially, as has been pointed out, there is more damage to the visuospatial processing areas, as in PCA. But there's overlap in the progression of the illness, whether or not it starts more or less visual.
Had not heard of visual agnosis until this site. Always wondered why when I would tell him something was right in front of him that I could see his eyes were darting all over in search of it.
Last week I developed a very large and unsightly stye in my right eye. I knew that it was time to make an appointment with the opthomologist, but because I yearned for my DH's care and attention, I asked for his opinion. First he looked at my face, focusing on the wrong eye and said that it looked fine. I pointed out that it was the other eye. He looked at that eye, pupil obscured by swelling, and said that it looked normal- not to worry. DH was once a surgeon. Is this part of the visual processing problem?