This post is for my new neurologist.

As I stated previously, I liked several things about him… how he gave me courage to try the medication again, providing strategies to avoid a repeat of its making me ill, and how he said see you in three weeks, and frequently till your life is under control.

BUT I sensed his frustration with me, as he held up a finger asking me if I saw double. I, too felt frustrated as he moved his fingers across demanding I respond. I had several responses going through my mind, but I finally blurted out No. I only see one. But it felt like a lie. You see, doctor, I had all these thoughts running through my mind…but couldn’t find a way to express myself:

• The eye doctor even told me I leaned like a person with oblique double vision. ..PLUS the prism glasses restored my ability to text, and read.
• And… I have seen where vision problems are related to Parkinsonism.

What follows is taken from a presentation given by Joseph H. Friedman MD at the May 29th, 2018 World Parkinson’s Congress

“We all misperceive things….. In Parkinson’s disease (PD), there are a number of misperceptions that may occur as part of the disease, and may seem puzzling to the person with Parkinson’s (PWP) and the family. The misperceptions usually affect the person with PD, but there are misperceptions by others concerning the PWP.”

“Many PWP do not perceive spatial relationships as they did before the onset of PD. This occurs in a number of settings, and is particularly important for driving. It is not rare for a spouse of a PWP to complain that they are never in the center of the lane, but always to the right, or to the left, or sometimes too close to the car in front. When confronted, the PWP will disagree and confidently state that the car is, in fact, in the middle of the road, even when it isn’t. This occurs because of changes in parts of the brain that process visual input, which causes a distortion in what is perceived as the middle, or up, or down, causing the PWP to argue, because, to the PWP, the car is in the middle, but it really isn’t. It is difficult to convince PWPs of problems such as these when their own personal and repeated experience indicates that they are in the middle of the road. A similar problem occurs in PWP who think they are closer to a chair than they really are so they sit down, and almost miss the chair. Sometimes people will actually miss the chair, and injure themselves.”

Author: suerosier

In May of 2018, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's. After researching, I believe the symptoms began to manifest themselves years prior to last year. The purpose for my blog is to share what I have learned (with an index) to save others time as they seek for answers about, symptoms, therapies [and alternative things to try], tools I use, Parkinsonisms, recipes, strategies, clinical studies, words of encouragement or just enjoy the photos or humor. View all posts by suerosier