THE EYES HAVE IT

Eyesight - just another muscle in the body, but is it affected by PD?

Yes, it is.

I once asked my optomitrist if PD could affect eye sight. "Not that I know of," was her reply. You can't really blame her. PD was not in her purvue and since so few of us have PD in Canada (1 in 500), people don't view it as an important condition. Besides, PD is a designer disease, so that a symptom arising in one PWP may not be common in the local PD community and unless you are a fan of PD, you probably focus in on shaking hands.

Face it, you are a PWP and you didn't know PD can affect eyesight; so why would my optomitrist?.

I consider myself lucky. Eleven years post diagnosis and I am feeling good. I seem to have had visitations from most of PD's onslaughts, but they usually go away. But my eye sight is definitly changing.

My main problem involves is what the experts call it "convergence insufficiency". My eyes are not able to come together sufficiently as a target draws nearer. It affects my ability to read. I have to keep changing the position of the book to avoid double vision. It is a pain in the ass.

That's all for now. My eyes are tired and dry (both caused by my PD). The eyes are affected by PD in other ways as well. One particularly interesting article on the subject can be found on the website of the American Parkinson's Assocation.