Currently there is no medical cure for CBS.
When you experience CBS, the most effective form of
treatment can come from knowing that the condition is not a mental health
problem or a symptom of another disease but is due to sight loss. Knowing that
CBS usually improves with time (even if it doesn't go away completely) may also
help you cope with the hallucinations. Having information on CBS and sharing
your experiences with friends or family can also help.
Although there is no proven drug you can take to
stop CBS hallucinations, some drugs for other problems have been successful in
helping some people. The drugs that have been tried are usually very strong and
are designed for people with epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, dementia or mental
health problems. All these drugs can have serious side effects and should only
be used under proper supervision and probably only for people who are very upset
or confused by their CBS hallucinations.
Some common medications people take as they get
older can interact when they're taken together. This can make your CBS
hallucinations more frequent. If you’re not sure if the medication you’re
taking is making your CBS worse, ask your GP to review your medication. This
may help to lower the frequency of your hallucinations.
Coping
Having a hallucination can be frightening,
particularly when you're also dealing with losing your sight. Although the
hallucinations may not be of anything frightening, it’s natural to feel anxious
and confused just by having the experience of a hallucination.
Self-help measures
You could try some self-help measures to help
relieve your hallucinations when you experience them. For example, when a
hallucination starts, you could:
**change the lighting conditions to see if it
disappears
– for example, if you're in a dimly lit area, switch on more lights or
move to somewhere that's brighter; if in a brightly lit area, make it dimmer
**move your eyes from left to right – do this once every
second 15 times without moving your head, then pause for a few seconds and
repeat; it's worth trying this up to four or five times
**stare at the image and blink rapidly or reach out
to touch the vision – try this for a few seconds
**move around or perform a task – for
example, get up to make a cup of tea
**make sure you're well rested and are getting
enough sleep at night –the hallucinations may be worse when you're tired or stressed
Some people overcome their fear by getting to know
the figures in their visions.
For example, one man with Charles Bonnet syndrome has
described how when he wakes up in the morning, he says, "Right, what have
you got in store for me today?" to the figures he's seeing. This
allows him to have some control over the way he feels about his visions.
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