I almost forgot – Mom's word-visions 1/4
Today’s words:
DEWBERRY (in the seam of a pillowcase),
COO (in a piece of matzo),
MOOSE (in a chocolate cookie).
Today she was seeing the word first, or extrapolating it from a few letters that were visible to her. She was doing this all day, but these were the only words she could piece together when encouraged.
I do love dewberry!
#OldOld #OldBrains #SeeingThings
2/4 She was pondering a piece of matzo and I asked if it was saying, “Eat me!”
She laughed, then squeaked out in a funny voice, “Eat me!”
I told her that I wasn’t worried about her seeing words in things, but if she started to hear objects talking to her, then I would worry. She laughed and said if that happened she probably wouldn’t tell me about it. And I said I hoped she would tell me about it, that I want to know, even if it makes me worry. #OldOld #OldBrains #SeeingThings #caregiving
3/4 BTW, I found a possible medical description of her behavior: Visual release hallucinations aka Charles Bonnet Syndrome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_release_hallucinations
The article doesn’t mention letters, but says the images are tiny. Today the letters were the size of the holes in a piece of matzo. Approx 1-2 mm in size. Another similarity: my mother has macular degeneration and is functionally blind in her left eye. (Right eye works.)
#CharlesBonnetSyndrome #AMD #OldOld #OldBrains #SeeingThings
How I found the page: I had my own visual hallucination, a kaleidoscope image, first with eyes closed and, alarmingly, persisting when I opened them. The image was superimposed over everything. I seemed to be looking at a baby’s limbs thru a #kaleidoscope, image bright and crisp and spinning rapidly.
I’m guessing it was a #migraine #aura b/c it resolved into a more standard (for me) #scintillation, like looking through flowing water. It was on waking from a vivid dream (not about babies). 4/4