How are people's lives whom have macular degeneration changed?

It really depends on what type of macular degeneration you have. There are two main types, dry and wet.

Dry AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration) is usually a slow acting disease, slowly taking away central vision over many many years. The upside to dry AMD is that it usually takes a long time to seriously take away vision. The downside is there's no real treatment for it. The only thing you can really do is to take vitamins to try and slow progression. I-Caps is one of them, though there are many out there. Just make sure to watch for smokers vs. non-smokers versions, smokers shouldn't be taking extra beta-carotine as it has been linked to aiding in the development of lung cancer, that includes those that used to smoke. You should also be regularly checked by a retinal specialist (Ophthalmologist) to make sure it's not progressing to the wet form of AMD.

Wet AMD is a different story. In wet AMD, the retina is trying to heal itself by growing new blood vessels, but those vessels leak blood all over the retina and that takes away vision very quickly. In some cases, overnight. That's obviously the major downside to wet AMD, that it can take you vision very very quickly. One (very small) upside is that there are treatment options. None of them are very pleasant (the most current and best options involve getting shots of medications in the eye itself), but they can work to give vision back to the patients.

So to answer your question, it really varies on where you are in the progression stages of AMD. With dry AMD, you may not notice anything for years, but eventually it will take away your central vision, and you most likely won't be able to read, drive, or see anything centrally, which can be devastating really. With wet AMD, you'll get the same outcome, only much faster (like I said, it can happen overnight, I've seen it), but there are treatment options that can sometimes give some or even most vision back as long as it's caught right away.

The moral of the story: If you have AMD, you need to be seeing your Retinal Specialist regularly, and they will decide the best options for you.

it hasn't changed my great aunt's life much. There's medicine to slow it down and it happens at such a slow pace that it's not that noticeable for a long time.

I have macular degeneration and my life is slightly changing now. My biggest worry is will I be able to pass my drivers test, and if not my life will change drastically.. Right now reading is not enjoyable anymore. The only help for the dry macular is vitamins and I Caps (or one of the other over-the-counter capsules.)

In addition to Eye-vites or I-caps, Take lutein 6 mg daily and Bilberry 80-160 mg of 25% anthocyanidin content daily. Monavie juice has also helped people with this condition. (info on request)