Visual Hallucinations

Pearls for Parkinson's: Tips for Daily Living with PD. 

To watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZATxRp5cLGI

Visual hallucinations can be one of the more confusing and isolating symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease. While not everyone experiences them, they are more common than many people realize and can range from seeing shadows or movement in the corner of your eye to seeing people, animals, or objects that aren’t there.

In this week’s Pearls for Parkinson’s, we discuss what visual hallucinations are, why they can occur in Parkinson’s disease, and practical strategies that may help manage them. Most importantly, we encourage open conversations with your healthcare team, as treatment options and support are available.

If you or someone you care about has experienced visual hallucinations, know that you are not alone.

Listen to this week’s episode for insight, understanding, and practical tips.

To support more programs like this: https://wiparkinson.app.neoncrm.com/forms/support-pearls4pd

Wisconsin Parkinson Association 
website: https://wiparkinson.org/
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Pearls for Parkinson's. Here is this week's Daily Living Tip. Welcome back to Pearls for Parkinson's. Today's topic is one that won't apply to everyone who's listening today with Parkinson's, but for those of you who experience it, visual hallucinations can be unsettling, confusing, and at times very isolating. The first thing I want you to know is that visual hallucinations are recognized as a symptom of Parkinson's disease. If they're happening to you, you are not alone. And it's important to talk with your healthcare provider about them. Before we talk about management, let's briefly discuss why they happen. Visual hallucinations occur because Parkinson's affects more than just movement. Over time, changes can occur with the brain pathways responsible for vision and attention and sleep and perception. The brain may begin to misinterpret visual information, and that causes a person to see something that's not actually there. Certain Parkinson's medications can sometimes contribute, particularly as doses increase over time. Medications can be adjusted to help improve that. And hallucinations may also become more common when someone is sleep deprived, dehydrated, ill with an infection, experiencing visual problems, or developing cognitive changes. Often there's more than one factor involved. So what can you do if hallucinations begin to occur? One of the most helpful strategies is to look for patterns. Do they happen late in the day? Do they happen when you're tired? Is it in a dimly lit room or during periods of stress or illness? So keeping track of when they occur can help provide important clues. Good lighting is another simple but effective tool. Hallucinations often occur in shadows or in poorly lit environments. So brightening the rooms, opening the blinds, and reducing the visual clutter can really help the brain better interpret its surroundings. Sleep deserves special attention as well. When the brain is exhausted, it becomes more difficult to accurately process information. So prioritizing good sleep habits and discussing sleep problems with your healthcare team can sometimes reduce hallucinations. And then vision matters too. Make sure you have regular eye exams and the eyeglass prescriptions are up to date. The clearer the information is coming into the brain, the easier it is for the brain to make sense of what it sees. If hallucinations occur, try not to immediately panic. Sometimes looking directly at the image, changing lighting, blinking several times, or shifting your attention to another object can help. Many people find that once they focus on the image, it disappears. For care partners, reassurance is often more helpful than correction. Rather than saying, that's not there, try responding with, I don't see it, but I can understand why that would feel unsettling. Remain calm and help reduce fear and anxiety. And finally, review medications regularly with your healthcare provider. Never stop or adjust Parkinson's medications on your own, but know that medication changes are sometimes part of the solution. One thing I often tell families is that visual hallucinations are a symptom worth paying attention to, but they're not something to be ashamed of. The earlier they're discussed, the more options there are for identifying contributing factors and to develop a management plan. If visual hallucinations are part of your Parkinson's journey, just know that you're not alone and there are ways to help manage them. Thank you for joining me today on Pearls for Parkinson's. If you like this episode, please hit that like button, share it with a friend, and leave me a message, and tune in next Monday for more Pearls for Parkinson's. The Wisconsin Parkinson Association is a grassroots organization funded by people like you. To support more local programming like this, visit wiparkinson.org.