Wednesday, March 31, 2010

When the words don't come...

Ever struggle for the right word?

For most people, that happens from time to time. But for some stroke survivors, that struggle happens every day. The next few blog entries will include some resources about stroke-related aphasia - problems that arise when your someone's speech is affected.


A reference from about.com:

There are many ways a stroke can affect a person’s ability to speak. Symptoms are typically related to the specific area of the brain affected, as language function in the brain is localized inside highly specialized areas such as Broca’s, Wernicke’s, and other areas.

In my case, I couldn't say a word initially, and hours later, was able to struggle some words. Not all of them made sense. Some were the wrong word. Others just gibberish. And not only speech, but reading and writing were affected as well.

Talk about frustration. I was writing for a living, based on questions I posed and answers I wrote down. That was all suddenly taken away.

Not only frustrating, but incredibly frightening.

I slowly regained reading and writing skills. But still, I wonder when I stumble in speech: Would it have happened if my stroke had never happened?

To get more information about aphasia, read the link above and the previous postings covering aphasia or speech. Then check back for more entries during the next few weeks.

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