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Oddly enough I was just reading about this condition yesterday. Your mother fits the description of people with 'visual release hallucinations' or 'Charles Bonnet Syndrome'! These visual disturbances are rather rare but do occur at a low rate in people older than 65 who are otherwise well apart perhaps from poor eyesight. There may be a small link to eye problems like macular degeneration. For this reason it is important that for visual problems your mother should be seen by an ophthalmologist an MD who specializes in the eye. Unfortunately optometrists do not have this level of anatomical and physiological knowledge. The most frequent type of hallucination is that things patients see are much smaller than normal (does that sound familiar?). Often the visions they see are part of their actual lives at the moment but they can also see things that aren't there like colorful patterns faces animals and so on. The most important fact is that this is not mental illness: the patients know that what they are seeing although weird is not real. Second--after brain scans and other tests have been done--is the fact that this is a benign condition believe it or not. The visual disturbances may be temporary or may come and go. Usually patients get used to what they are seeing and learn to ignore it. There is not much in the way of treatment though often just talking with other people who have the problem is extremely helpful. There is apparently some recent evidence that antidepressants of the SSRI group might be useful. So the information to take away is this: Look up Visual Release Hallucinations (Charles Bonnet Syndrome) on wikipedia where there is an excellent explanation. Be sure that your mother's eyes are examined by an ophthalmologist. If he/she says your mom's eyes are OK (no macular degeneration etc) then she should be under the regular care of a neurologist. Charles Bonnet Syndrome is so rare that most GPs will probably never have seen it although they might have read about it in medical school. I hope this helps.

2014-12-26 04:11:02

Ben