who here has had slurred speech as a symptom

[drsdonthelp]

It has been on my mind for quite some time , how many of you have had the slurred speech.?. I also would like to know how you felt right before it started.?  For me I could tell it was going  to happen. I could feel it in my mouth, jaw,  upper neck like it was tightening up. It felt like my tounge was very heavy and lazy.

One more question What other symptoms did you have with it?
I had brain fog, word searching, and lightheadedness.  
oh yeah, and it went on for two weeks

[drsdonthelp]

So, to all that have responded,, slurred speech is something that is common for you as your symptom during a relapse or just on occassion?

Thanks !! Pamela

[willowwoman7]

When I get overtired, my tongue feels thick and I start slurring - family says I sound ok, but I can tell myself. Wrong word usage? Frequently, but family is adept at figuring out what I mean. I have also noticed that I can communicate much more clearly using the written word rather than speaking. Could be because in my pre dx life, I was a freelance journalist...but that's how it is for me.

[supermum_ms]

Crickey Pamela, dont feel bad for me, you'll start making me think theres something wrong with me ROFL!

Cheers.......JJ

Note to self: dont make rice with dinner until after you can swollow properly again, so not a good look coughing rice all over the table and son with the tact of a peice of wood, cant help pointing out everything thats wrong with that picture.lol

[drsdonthelp]

no offense taken.. Thank God it is only a pill issue.. I feel bad for you that you have to go through that.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.. As I said before.. I am the one with a ton of questions. This is definately a question i do not want to ask a doctor about. LOL


Pamela :)

[supermum_ms]

Please dont take offence but if your saying you ONLY have issues will pills then this is more likely a learned response and not really uncommon. The swallowing issues seen in MS is often exaserbated by certain foods, eg crumbly foods but not singular objects in nature, and no amount of thinking of some other swollowable object is going to help.

When i'm having swollowing issues, i even gag on my own spit, the object size, shape or nature is totally irrelevant but i will with out fail, almost cough up a lung if I try and eat something crumbly like a biscuit, when its happening. I find what helps sometimes is to actively think the incremental procedures through before i try to swollow, forget the expectation of automatic compliance, think and do!

Cheers.....JJ

[drsdonthelp]

The only problem that i have with swallowing is... pills. I did have a post going about this and wondered if that could be something to look into.
I have the hardest time taking a pill, I have to trick myself into thinking its just food, so i always have to take a cracker or cookie first. If I dont,, I will gag, choke and the pill will go nowhere but out!! LOL
I know that sounds weird, but it happens. I HAVE A HORRIBLE GAG REFLEX!!!

[Ndobbins]

I don't get tightening in my face with the slurred speech. I do have tightening in my throat at times. I drink a lot of water due to this. I also try to avoid dense bread because I get choked so easily when swallowing.

[COBOB]

Not really sure how they differentiate the two, but I take a shot at a "Bob explanation."  Aphasia is a language deficit.  Expressive Aphasia is where you don't have the ability to speak or write the words, but you know what you are cognitively trying to convey. Apraxia of Speech typically means you have the ability to speak and write, but have a failure to find or use the correct words or use them consistently.   They signify very different areas of the brain are being effected.

Again, If I "fouled" that up, I hope Quix will fix it.

Bob

[drsdonthelp]

I am so very grateful to all of you to take the time and explain all of this. This is very helpful.

[sllowe]

Bob,

Now that you mention this. Something was written about me in a report regarding transient aphasia and dressing apraxia. What's the difference?

Drsdonthelp: Hope this info is helping you too!

-shell

[COBOB]

If I remember correctly, the ability to understand but not speak of write it specifically "expressive aphasia."  It is considered a major cognitive finding in Neuro Trauma patients and is pretty common in coup contrecoup brain injuries.  This is very specific to a lesion or lack of blood flow in Broca's area of the brain.  I seem to remember that many stroke victims have expressive aphasia and one of the "work arounds" was to sing what you are trying to say.  Singing uses a different area of the brain to form that expressive thought (left brain - right brain issue.)  This was a big area of research in functional MRI.   Maybe a search under expressive aphasia will yield some more ideas.  As people of the forum write stuff, the weirdest stuff comes back to me.

Bob

[sllowe]

Hi there,

I had it and could tell mostly when it was going to happen so I would pause if I was speaking, or stop altogether. During those same pre-slur/slowed sensations (i'm clueless as to what to call them) I lost my ability to write as well.

-shell

[drsdonthelp]

I know the neuros always pin point speech slurring on TIA's or seizures, however, I have a problem with the whole two week long episode,, I believe they think they passify the patient with a dx just to shut them up for a while until the lesions show up.

I have read about the medicine for seizures can also help control or keep the flare from progressing , also, I have read that when a dx cannot be made, a doc. will say its a ministroke because the treatment is an aspirin or (AGGRENOX) that's what I was on.
Fibromayalgia is another one that gets thrown out there along with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. They are an easy dx, instead of doing the research and find out the underlying cause for the pain, twitching , slurring and fatigue.

I am certanily not a dr. but I have brought this up to some of my 13 drs. and my physchologist and they kinda smirked and had to agree with me.

To Opie74:
I believe what I was feeling was the beginning of a relapse and not an aura to a seizure.
This is sooooooo crazy.

[opie74]

I sounded as though I was drunk.  My tongue felt thick.  I could tell that I was beginning a relapse, but that was a new symptom.  Frome time to tim, my face goes numb or my trigeminal nerve goes crazy.  This was mostlly un-related.  I drives me crazy too.

[lori115]

i get slurred speech, almost every episode over if i over do it. it is embarrassing. face tingles, twitches and tongue and lips feel heavy or numb. then blotchy vision off  balance and then i walk funny. scary stuff. my brain  has periods where it doesn't think right  my episodes were shorter and symptoms were less strong now after 1 and half yrs the symptoms are way more severe and scarier by the minute. i feel for you and you are not alone!

[drsdonthelp]

I haven't had any show on my brain either. I had an mri on my cervical area but was not looking for ms it was  to look for a bulging disc,, I don't know if it can be seen without looking for it. After my reflexes showed they were hyper, the nuero ordered an mri of the lumbar spine and still nothing showed.. My last step is most likely a spinal tap.

[drsdonthelp]

I am going crazy over this whole slurred speech thing . It has been my recurring symptom over the years  
.During each of these times I experience something new througout the year. And it lasts longer each time

First time I had slurred speech,, I had two "dead" legs while lying in bed during that year, can't remeber how long after it happened, but that lasted throughout the night.( not on the same day though)

Second time, I had it, I also had a stiff neck come on outta nowhere while I was in a stressful meeting at work. I started to get pain in my neck and whamo, STIFF neck and cant move it for a month.

Third time, I had just got done having Radio Active Iodine treatment for my thyroid and I Became very very sick, I felt like I was dying .. i was told I could have slipped into a coma. It was bad and the slurred speech lasted for a week. I was extremely fatigued, muscle weakness in arms and legs. Pain in wrist that became very stiff and I couldn't move it for a week.

Fourth time: 4 months after surgery, I was very stressed about losing my job, and health insurance, disability checks from work were ending and my optic nerve specialist would not release me to go back to work, not that i could anyway but I was absolutely devastated,
This tiime I slurred for a week and a half. EACH EPISODE GETTING LONGER. Symptoms started up big time this year   during this same year and another surgery, I had Lightheadedness, poor memory, word searching , ground sinking in when walking, very off balance, double vision getting worse, optic nerve damage appeared worse, dx, with nystagmus, bulge disc in c5/6, depression, noise intolerance and found out I was vit. d deficient
5th time: Waiting on lawyer about SSD and he was very mean to me!!! and  Again 4 months after my surgery slurred speech for TWO WEEKS. Along with more odd symptoms to follow throughout the year. Twitching, cramping, buzzing, itching, some numbing but not bad, eye twitching (nystagmus) always when trying to focus or tired. Facial pain, foot pain, stabbing random pains all throughout body. and my list can go on and on;;;; how could these dr.s not see the obvious. OMG

I am soo sorry everyone for my rant, I guess I needed to get that out!!!!!

i am feeling very "out of it " today, and I dont know why

[essdipity]

I've never had slurring, but I have had an almost lisping problem, a bit of a whistle.

That was pointed out to me by a doctor, not a neuro, who knew me well. It was years before my MS diagnosis. I was having numbness and tingling in my mouth on the left side, along with several neck problems.

Fortunately, it went away after a few weeks, and ultimately the other neck stuff resolved. These haven't returned, knock on wood.

ess

[drsdonthelp]

yes I have been dx with simple partial seizures because the doc. believes my brain is misfiring and getting stuck for two weeks...
I have had the slurring speech come on out of nowhere before but it was like 16 years ago and i called it my lazy tongue. I was reading out loud to my consumers at work and my words started to come out all slurred and i sounded drunk. Back then it was short lived, maybe a day.I never looked into it,,, never said anything to my GP either, I was young and I thought it was normal . Who Knew>???

Ndobbins:

Do your facial muscles start to tighten up when you slur, and how long does it last

[Ndobbins]

I have intermittent slurred speech. Embarassing! I feel as if I have a mouth full of bubble gum & can't get the words out! At times my mind & mouth don't work together! I will say things/words backwards.

[supermum_ms]

I have intermittent slurred and or stuttery speach, i do not feel anything different so i dont have any warnings. I can be talking quite normally, which now includes intermittent loss of nouns, and out of know where a word will elongate or be strangely pronounced or be impossible for me to pronounce. It is deffinetly more likely to happen if i am dealing with fatigue but other wise there is no warnings.

Have you been assessed for epilepsy or one of the types of migraine?

Cheers.....JJ