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Stress – A Strain on Eyesight

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

“I am a little worried as my eyes seem to be getting worse. I’ve been under a tremendous amount of stress the past month,” shared a patient with macular degeneration. Anyone with a degenerative eye disease can relate and knows about the anxiety and stress vision loss creates. For those with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) the loss of one’s ability to see what’s straight ahead can mean the loss of a job, the loss of a driver’s license, difficulty reading and the inability to recognize a face. Concern over finances and the ability to live independently can promote feelings of depression, stress, and fear. As with many other eye diseases, when one is diagnosed with AMD, a sense of uncertainty and instability become new companions. When and how fast will my retinal disease progress and how will the vision loss impact my daily living are now real questions with few answers. The future seems less hopeful and the chartering of new unknown territory can rob people of their present joy.

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)

The March 2017 issue of Optometry and Vision Science published an article called Measurement of Perceived Stress in Age-Related Macular Degeneration. A scale used to measure stress called the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was used to evaluate the progression of vision loss from AMD and the patient’s perceived level of stress. 137 patients with macular degeneration at the Department of Ophthalmology at Ohio State University were given a 10 question test. Forty seven percent of those given the questionnaire were receiving anti-VEGF eye injections the day of the PSS evaluation. The study concluded that the PSS was an acceptable method of measuring perceived stress in patients with AMD.

Inflammation and Stress

Inflammation contributes to macular degeneration and stress contributes to inflammation. “Because AMD is an inflammatory disease, we are studying the link between inflammation, stress, and AMD treatment outcomes,” said Bradley E. Dougherty, OD, Ph.D., of the Ohio State University College of Optometry. “In the end, we hope to better understand how general well-being influences disease outcomes.”

Many different low vision centers, like the Chicago Lighthouse in Chicago, IL offer a variety of services for those with blindness and low vision, including the Bergman Institute for Psychological Support. They recognize an important component of living well with vision loss is learning how to cope and handle stress. Individual, group and family support is provided to address stress management with the help of staff psychologists. Learning to recognize stress and how to manage or minimize it may in fact be another way of helping your vision.

Leslie Degner, RN, BSN
www.WebRN-MacularDegeneration.com

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How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment
Vision

How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment

by Richard Bitner
written by Richard Bitner

Poor eyesight is a serious health concern for American seniors. Roughly one in three seniors copes with some form of vision loss or vision impairment. Poor vision is linked with lower quality of life, poor self-care, and increased risk of injury and poor health. One study from 2014 found that, over an eight year period, seniors with poor vision faced a 16% higher risk of mortality compared to those without vision problems. How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment
One way to fight back against elderly vision impairment is through home care services. While home care services can’t restore vision, they can help seniors with poor eyesight in a number of other ways. With home care, seniors with vision loss receive the personal support they need to maintain quality of life and reduce their risk of injury, poor health, and mortality.

Home Care and Poor Eyesight

Vision loss may be linked with lower quality of life and poor health, but these aren’t direct links. There’s almost always something in between.
For instance, seniors with poor vision are more likely to suffer injuries. This isn’t because poor vision causes injuries. Instead, it causes seniors to misjudge their surroundings, which increases the risk of slipping, tripping, or coming in contact with harmful objects. In these situations, it isn’t necessary to correct vision problems to reduce the risk of injury. If someone is there to lend a helping hand and a second set of eyes, it can dramatically reduce the chance of injury.
If a spouse or family member can’t always be there, a home care professional can step in to help seniors with vision problems. Through the support of a home care professional, seniors with poor eyesight can benefit in a number of areas. These include:

  • Social Life. Researchers have found that seniors with poor vision report lower levels of social activity and higher levels of loneliness. A home care professional can make it easier for vision-impaired seniors to get out and meet friends and family. Even if seniors prefer to stay at home, a caregiver can provide them with much-needed person-to-person contact.
  • Self-Care.Poor vision makes mundane tasks more difficult than many people realize. These difficulties often lead seniors with limited eyesight to give up on aspects of self-care. Home care services ensure that someone is there to help perform these tasks, which may include activities like dressing, grooming, day-to-day hygiene, and preparing complete meals.
  • Homemaking activities, as with self-care activities, become more difficult as vision degenerates. Seniors with poor eyesight who struggle with homemaking can benefit from a caregiver’s help with activities like buying groceries, light housekeeping, washing dishes, and doing laundry.
  • Many seniors give up their favorite pastimes as they lose their vision. A caregiver is the perfect partner for hobbies like card games, gardening, model making, or bird watching, providing a companion and a second set of eyes to make these activities enjoyable once more.
  • Accident Prevention.Accident prevention is the most important thing home care can offer to seniors with vision problems. A caregiver’s presence means someone is there to spot dangers that visually impaired seniors can’t, such as slipping or tripping risks on floors, sharp or hot objects, and household chemicals and medications with hard-to-read labels.

If you have a loved one with vision loss or impairment, you should be able to find home care services through a home care agency in your local area. To find home care services near you, we invite you to contact your local Visiting Angels® office

How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment

How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment

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Vision

MAY is Low Vision Month!

by Kimberly Johnson
written by Kimberly Johnson

MAY is Low Vision Month!

NEHEP resources help you maximize hope and independence for individuals with low vision MAY is Low Vision Month!

Low vision is defined as a visual impairment that is not correctable by standard eyeglasses, contact lenses, medication, or surgery and that interferes with the ability to perform everyday activities. A recent study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) estimates that the number of Americans who are visually impaired, including those with low vision, is expected to double to more than 8 million by 2050. Most people with low vision are age 65 or older. Although vision that is lost usually cannot be restored, people can learn to make the most of the vision they have. MAY is Low Vision Month!
The National Eye Health Education Program’s (NEHEP) Low Vision Education Program offers English and Spanish resources that provide people living with low vision and their loved ones with information about the benefits of vision rehabilitation and the services and devices that can help them live independently and maintain their quality of life. Our Low Vision Resources At-a-Glance describes all of our low vision resources, which can be used year-round. The following are some that you may be especially interested in using during Low Vision Awareness Month this February:

Living With Low Vision: What you should know

Share this booklet [8.6 MB] and companion video with people who have vision loss and their families to help them better understand how to get help and live safely and independently. You can also link to the video from your website or share it on your social media outlets.

Living with Low Cision Education Module

Use this module to conduct educational sessions in your community about low vision. You can inform others about the signs of vision loss, the benefits of vision rehabilitation services, where to get more information, questions to ask a low vision specialist, ways to manage medications, and more. The module includes a PowerPoint presentation, speaker’s guide, participant handouts, and other useful tools.

Other resources

NEHEP offers a variety of resources to assist you in promoting vision rehabilitation through social networking. These include infographics and infocards that can be shared on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest or can be placed in newsletters, publications, and websites; articles that are ready-to-use in newsletters, magazines, newspapers, and blogs; and prewritten posts that can be shared on Facebook and Twitter.
For more resources and ideas, visit https://nei.nih.gov/nehep/lvam.

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