Loss for words can be a rare brain disorder, not Alzheimer's

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

WASHINGTON (AP) — A mysterious brain disorder can be confused with early Alzheimer's disease although it isn't robbing patients of their memories but of the words to talk about them.

It's called primary progressive aphasia, and researchers said Sunday they're finding better ways to diagnose the little-known syndrome. That will help people whose thoughts are lucid but who are verbally locked in to get the right kind of care.

"I'm using a speech device to talk to you," Robert Voogt of Virginia Beach, Virginia, said by playing a recording from a phone-sized assistive device at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "I have trouble speaking, but I can understand you."

Even many doctors know little about this rare kind of aphasia, abbreviated PPA, but raising awareness is key to improve care — and because a new study is underway to try to slow the disease by electrically stimulating the affected brain region.

FULL story at link.


Robert Voogt, uses the communication device MiniTalk to answer questions during a news conference in Washington, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016. Voogt cannot speak because he suffers from primary progressive aphasia, a brain disorder sometimes confused with Alzheimer's. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4e04d405c03e49c785973be094aee9c4/loss-words-can-be-rare-brain-disorder-not-alzheimers

[July]

1. My mother has this disease.

Although she now lives in a "Memory Care" wing of an assisted living facility, there is nothing wrong with her memory. She knows her children, our spouses, our children, her siblings, and their children. However, she is gradually losing the ability to communicate. it seems just as cruel as Alzheimer's, though it takes a different path.

[Downwinder]

2. MS can have that effect.

[Mojorabbit]

5. Yes

I have trouble remembering how to pronounce words though I can read them and know what they mean. It is maddening.

[Downwinder]

6. Question.

Do you have any trouble with song lyrics you have learned or things you memorized in school?

[Mojorabbit]

7. I remember song lyrics ok as far as I can tell.

My brain just decides on three different ways a word can be pronounced and I can no longer tell which one is correct. I used to have an awesome vocabulary. Do you have problems with lyrics?

[Downwinder]

9. No. I decided that memorized things are stored

in streaming format like a computer. I have/had problems with free text, ASCII. I couldn't get it from my mind to my voice. There was no path. I have lost speaking three times. Each time I have been able to get it back. If I get frustrated it comes out garbled or juxtapositioned. Tried therapy, didn't work, all of the tongue twisters they gave me were were in my formatted memory. Did better on my own. I think I have lost temporary registers where I put words to arrange them and then send them to a printer.

Thought it was interesting, didn't know if anyone else had that problem.

[Tanuki]

10. This has been observed consistently in stroke patients who have sustained damage to the

left hemisphere regions subserving language. You might find this review interesting:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2982746/

Abstract

It has been reported for more than 100 years that patients with severe nonfluent aphasia are better at singing lyrics than they are at speaking the same words. This observation led to the development of melodic intonation therapy (MIT). However, the efficacy of this therapy has yet to be substantiated in a randomized controlled trial. Furthermore, its underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. The two unique components of MIT are the intonation of words and simple phrases using a melodic contour that follows the prosody of speech and the rhythmic tapping of the left hand that accompanies the production of each syllable and serves as a catalyst for fluency. Research has shown that both components are capable of engaging fronto–temporal regions in the right hemisphere, thereby making MIT particularly well suited for patients with large left hemisphere lesions who also suffer from nonfluent aphasia. Recovery from aphasia can happen in two ways: either through the recruitment of perilesional brain regions in the affected hemisphere, with variable recruitment of right-hemispheric regions if the lesion is small, or through the recruitment of homologous language and speech-motor regions in the unaffected hemisphere if the lesion of the affected hemisphere is extensive. Treatment-associated neural changes in patients undergoing MIT indicate that the unique engagement of right-hemispheric structures (e.g., the superior temporal lobe, primary sensorimotor, premotor and inferior frontal gyrus regions) and changes in the connections across these brain regions may be responsible for its therapeutic effect. (more at link)

[Downwinder]

11. THANK YOU!! I have asked and had no response.

Last edited Mon Feb 15, 2016, 10:04 AM - Edit history (1)

Music also helped my gait. Live seemed a bit better than recorded. I'll go read the link.

Edit: I read the link. Very interesting. Have to compare my MRI. I will still stick with my theory on streaming format. I could not put three words together in a sentence but I could recite the Gettysburg address or the preamble to the Constitution also most of the script of "A Christmas Carol" memorized in second grade. The computer model also explains occasional (disk) read errors when searching memory for words. After several retries they suddenly are there. Thanks again.

[Tanuki]

12. Recitation of familiar, "overlearned" material such as the pledge

allegiance, Lord's Prayer, nursery rhymes like "Jack and Jill...", etc. are also often preserved in aphasic stroke patients even when they are severely impaired in propositional speech. These are often part of a formal examination by a speech pathologist. Cursing is also well preserved, in many cases! You may also be aware that people who stutter can often sing with absolutely normal fluency. Mel Tills is a famous example, and the Australian singer Megan Washington gave an interesting TED talk on her experience with this.
I am really glad that your symptoms are in remission and hope it stays that way! Two of my close friends have MS, and I understand that there is a very promising new MS drug in late stages of clinical trials.

[Yo_Mama]

15. I have a neurological disorder and I have had multiple instances of aphasia.

I had one weird one where for a few months I communicated best in a foreign language. Every time I tried to talk English I got the foreign word instead.

[Downwinder]

16. Interesting.

Do you translate between languages, one being primary?

Or do you just think in the language you are using?

[Yo_Mama]

17. I don't think at all in any language.

I think using the circuitry you use to move around - geospatial imagery. Not in linguistics sections of the brain at all.

A few years ago my neurological damage had progressed to the terminal stage - my brain could no longer regulate my body chemistry, glucose, etc.

In that state, my brain can't run big chunks of its own hardware either. So it uses very limited chunks of neural tissue.

[ginnyinWI]

3. And there are over 80 types of dementia, I'm told.

My mother is also in a memory care unit. She has her social skills--can interact and fool people for a little while. But she can't remember something that just happened. She also has more and more trouble solving small problems that come up. She is hardly ever at a loss for a word, except maybe when it is late and she is tired.

[trillion]

4. Cool that there are studies to slow the disease

[SheilaT]

8. Ever since I was about 18 I've had a problem with words.

I believe I have a mild aphasia. I distinctly recall two times when it abruptly got worse, once at age 19, the second a year or two later. I've learned to compensate so that almost no one notices, but I am VERY aware of my inability to come up with words, almost always nouns, at times.

I'm now 67, and at this point in my life, the "senior moments" are considered so common that it's simply no longer an issue. But it still makes me crazy when I can't come up with words. Earlier this week it took me more than 24 hours to remember what kinds of birds build a nest in my front porch. Swallows. They're swallows. Not starlings, which was the only word I could think of for a day.

Anyway, what is nice about being older is that when I tell people I can't quite recall the word, they are very forgiving.

[eppur_se_muova]

13. ((Not an expert)) but sounds like anomic aphasia ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomic_aphasia

[SheilaT]

14. Luckily for me, if I even have

an aphasia, it's relatively mild. I can be very aware, but since I have gotten good at covering up, when I tell people who know me that I have this thing, they don't quite believe me. And again, at my age it's sufficiently common, so it's less of a problem than it used to be.