Anyone Have Speech Problems?

[Maxine]

This has been more recent.

My husband and I had to go to an appointment together, and it took a couple hours. I had to sit up, and try to keep good posture and my composure at the same time. I had a difficult time to say the least. It's been very difficult lately to hold goohd posture. When my Husband and I go out to dinner we always ask for a booth because I can't hold posture in straight chair without extreme discomfort, and then the OI symptoms, and of course the pain in my spine, then the back of my head.

On the way home from the appointment we called my Dad, and he said I sounded drunk. I was slurring my speach, and it was also broken or garbled. I have often told my doctors my speech gets this way, but none of them seemed concerned, or maybe they just didn't believe it, as it was never mentioned in any of the clinical notes. Well now it's getting worse--

There have been some lesions that showed up on my recent MRIs, but they have also been on previous MRIs. However, one lesion on the medulla/brain stem area was not on the previous MRIs.

It has been a tough few months, my mother dying terminal cancer after horrible care from her Docs--(putting her in rehab for "deconditioning" the last week of her life----------clueless she is full of cancer despite many CT scans), my brother's cancer, and today we just found out his daughter---(my niece) lost her full term baby girl --little Sophie. Her heart beat stopped two days before she was going to be born by induced labor. Tomorrow my niece Jessica has a c-section delivery. I cried so hard---our family was looking so forward to Sophie entering this world. After I cried, I was talking like a drunk again. the back of my head hurts, just like it does when I was talking like a drunk before. Maybe I should call Dr. Heffez about that prominant vertebral artery pressing on my brain stem.

I strain, cry, laugh, and just sit up too long, and I get the pain in the back of my head, and the problems with my speech and thinking-------not only do I talk like a drunk, I feel drunk. I can't figure out what it is---the POTS/lack of blood flow from the pooling----------brain-----------Not sure what to do. My local neurologist is OK. She's not dismissive about my health issues, but thinks I have migraine even though I told her I have never had these headaches. I have other possible causes for these headaches in the back of my head.

Our family needs prayers. My dad is really having a rough time. I'm also feel on the end of my rope---both physically, and emotionally.

Maxine :0)

[lloppyllama]

Hey Maxine,

Im so sorry your having such a rough time! You are going through quite the rough patch,

I do experience feeling "drunk" and alot of people think that i must do drugs since it seems im so high, well since i dont do drugs its not from that, i think it is just the crazy old pots acting up. my speech gets goofy but i havent noticed that it is significantly more when i am "drunk" than just on a regular "bad day".

I think that it would probably be a good idea to talk to your doctor about it since your mri showed some abnormalities and all, maybe that is causing it, i dont really know what to tell ya, good luck though. Keep us posted on how its going.

I hope things look up soon for you and your family, my prayers will be with you.

Hope you have a good night.

Mary

[MNsue]

Sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

I think a second opinion from another neruo may help. I found that they can each have a different option. The first Neuro I say said "I will see you when you get worse" and offered no treatment. The second Neuro had a number of different treatment options. You may find the same to be true.

Hang in there.

Rhonda

[smiles]

so sorry that you have so much loss in your family right now. That has got to be hard.

don't feel alone in that drunk thing. My family has gotten to the point that it's no big deal when I talk or act drunk. I felt alone in my symptoms of the slow brain and speech, and then it gets slurred and then sometimes I can't get the whole word out. I really do act drunk they say. I was reading just yesterday about the vagal nerve which can affect many of us with dysautonomia. It controls speech too. I found that very interesting.

I don't trust neuros. I've been to so many of them and none of the ones i've seen understand autonomic dysfuncion. My cardiologist has helped me more than anything. One neuro told me that I had shrinkage of my pons and cerebellum in my brain which caused the imbalance, lack of coordination and speech problems. My symptoms are not consistant though. I get better for a bit and then I can't function for a while. Another neuro told me later after another mri that my brain looked fine (they wouldn't consider comparing my previous 2 mris). Who know why anything autonomic misfires? Who knows if it's our brains or our nerves or our blood vessles or just the whole body flipping out. I've been dealing with this for almost 3 years. Each doc says something different.

Hope I didn't discourage you. You are not alone though. Hang in there baby! Life will get better.

[pat57]

what came to my mind is emotional shock.

http://www.terrylarimore.com/SignsOfShock.html

.

This information was developed by psychologist William Emerson. Note that many of these symptoms are paradoxical. A lot depends on whether a person:

* has sympathetic or parasympathetic shock

* is in the early or late stages of adrenal fatigue/burnout

* is a direct, avoidant or other style of recapitulator (for more information see Recapitulation.)

Every symptom listed below can also occur because of reasons other than shock. However, these symptoms are common in people who have experienced emotional shock (severe emotional trauma). This checklist is an anecdotal diagnostic tool; the Adrenal Stress Index provides a biological measure of adrenergic hormones and is a very accurate measure of unresolved shock levels.

.

IN ADULTS

.

Here are some commonly-reported symptoms of unresolved emotional shock in adults:

.

Physical symptoms

# Lack of focused eye contact; stuporous or fixed gaze (zoning out)

# Vacant or distant look (preoccupied)

# Molded skeletal or muscular cranial/facial features

# Fixated postures and/or movements

# Body numbness

# Cold, clammy hands and feet

# Immobility

# Restlessness

# Amnesia: inability to remember blocks of time, patchy or absent memories of childhood

# Over- or under-tense musculature (hyper- or hypotonic)

# Nervousness or tremors

# Loss of speech; change in speech pattern

# Very fast or very slow speech pattern

# Fainting or dizziness when aroused or stressed

# Pupils fixed (very large or small)

# Dryness in eyes

# Dry mouth

# Tight jaw

# Chronic muscle tension

# Shallow breathing

# Difficulty breathing

# Frequent sighs

# Chronically tired

# Poor general health

# Speedy, racy, hurried

# Extreme precision in physical movement; physically cautious

.

[dawn]

Maxine,

So sorry to hear of all the the sadness in your life right now.

Regarding the speech. I get those episodes also. I have for about

a year now. They can last from 30 minutes to 4 hours. I can tell

I am speaking slowly and people say it is slurred. When several

people are in the room talking I feel like everyone is talking too

fast and I can't keep up. I saw my neuro last week, he said maybe

mini strokes or "just a POTS thing." Big help. He suggested I take

a baby aspirin daily, they really bother my stomach though even

the ecotrin which is coated.

I have noticed that this happens usually when I am under alot of

stress. If I get really emotional and crying it is almost a sure thing

that it will happen.

I wish I had an answer for you.

God Bless you real good today, Hugs-

Dawn

[MightyMouse]

I'm sending you my warmest healing thoughts--for you and your family. With love, Nina

[Maxine]

Thanks for the kind words, blessings, and hugs. It's a really difficult time. Today Jessica is going to the hospital, and we will go up to see her some time today when she is ready. We are waiting for my brother and sister in law to call. She was supposed to go in tonight to have labor induced to deliver a healthy baby girl. All we know is that the heart beat stopped----possibly over the weekend. It's a very sad time, and very overwhelming for my niece, her husband, and my brother and his wife. The father's parents are devastated, as we all are. There will be an autopsy performed to see what happened.

I'm worried about my brother and his wife----and of course the parents, Jessica and Doug. My brother is also battling colon cancer. We'll get through this somehow. I just can't figure out what happened. It's all very sad and overwhelming.

PAT57----thanks for the information. I'm sure the stress doesn't help my symptoms. I have had the speech problems before all of this happened. It's just recently gotten worse. I have some structural problems with my lower skull----(the odontoid bone, which is the bony covering over c-2 in cervical spine), the prominant vertebral artery, and of course the small posterior fossa/lower skull, cervical/cranial instability-----------------which of course the EDS doesn't help.

I see an orthopedist in regards to my spine instability the end of the months, and I'm going to be seeing another neurologist who also has ANS dysfunction experience after they get the referral.

Hopefully, they will be able to help me. I feel like a bad erector set with screws that don't fit right.-------------------

Maxine

[Ernie]

Hi Maxine,

I am so sorry for the bad news. I hope that it is the emotional shock that is giving you this trouble. When I hear such terrible news I can't speak at all because I am so shocked.

Love

[sbtalbott]

I also have had speech problems. Actually, it was one of my first POTS symptoms in January of this year. I thought I was having a stroke. My speech became slurred and slow. I had severe pain on one side of my head, and tingling on one side of my face. It was intermittent and would resolve after about 5- 10 minutes, but return almost hourly. The MD's initially diagnosed me with status migrinosis (unending migrane), then said I had too much stress at home and perhaps this was stress related. It wasn't until I saw a MD who knows about POTS and had my tilt table test (where I also presented these neuro symptoms) that I was properly diagnosed. My cardiologist says it's decreased perfusion to the brain and he's seen it many times with POTS. Since my bp and pulse have been stabalized somewhat with meds, I only get these symptoms when I either forget to take my meds or am really tired and feeling POTSY.

So sorry about your family. I do think stress plays a role in how symptomatic you are at times. All that adrenoline.

Kaye

[flop]

Hi Maxine,

((((((HUGS)))))) I just wanted to let you know that I am praying for you and your family. You have already faced so much emotional trauma as a family this year that I felt shocked and upset when I read your latest post. I know that traumas like these heal slowly and pray that you are all given strength and time together to support each other as you come to terms with everything that has happened.

Flop

[Maxine]

Thanks again for the replies, help---encouragement, prayers, hugs---------------

It helps to know this happens from POTS.

Kaye, you have a good doctor-------------sounds like good common sense to me. It's only natural one would have the same symptoms of stroke, or anything else that would block or reduce the blood flow.

I think the ANS/neurologist is going to try and squeeze me in for the appointment before he goes on vacation, so I should be going soon. He will do other ANS testing. All I have had so far was the tilt table test twice, and both times I passed. I was already on beta blockers though, so that is probably why it took longer for my pulse to go up. I still got break through tachycardia even on beta blockers. My blood pressure gets really low, but I'm thinking I have ANS dysfunction secondary to something else. There are some symptoms that are POTS related, but one thing different is that my pulse no longer compensates for the drop in blood pressure.

Oh---I forgot to add, I have the implantabel cardiac loop recorder, but it doesn't show much other then a fast heart rate at times-----(the break through tachycardia). But my tachycardia doesn't get very high, and it shows some single PVCs. I had a bad episode with my heart. It felt like it was stopping, a grey out ect.----so the loop recorder was put in. Of course this has not happened since the device was put in my chest. It has happened about 6 times since being diagnosed with POTS---but of course we can't capture it on this loop recorder------of course not----

I just need a really good ANS workup to see what the heck is going on, because I'm becoming more and more limited. As far as stress goes---------------I just can process it well at all.

Basically, I just can't wrap my head around this latest family tragedy. I just can't fathom what my niece is going through right now. Jessica and I are very close. I was afraid to call her last night---I didn't know what to say. We ended up talking-----and she will make it through this. We are all here for them. She made it through the c-section delivery OK today. Tomorrow we will go and see her. My husband is on vacation this week thankfully.

One day at a time......

Maxine

[Sunfish]

so sorry for all that you & your family have been dealing with. when it rains it pours. somehow you all will get through it, though it's not always easy to feel that way in the midst of so much tough stuff. take care of yourself the best you can.

you all have been & will continue to be in my thoughts & prayers,

melissa

[Rachel]

Dear Maxine,

I'm so sorry to hear about all you are going through. What tragic news. I will be praying for you, Jessica and Doug, and the rest of your family.

Love,

Rachel

[cardiactec]

I am so sorry to hear of all you are going through.....

it is hard to know what exactly to say to someone after such loss. one of my good friends carried her twins to full term, was supposed to go in for c-section and a week before the c-section, something happened, she ended up losing one of the twins on the spot, and the other died a week later of brain death (oxygen deprived for too long)...................i had no clue what to say to her with such loss...............i guess all you really can do is simply be there for her, a shoulder to cry on, someone who she can vent to -- when she even gets to the place of knowing HOW to vent.............

so sorry for all you are going through.............i can see why you would be more symptomatic with all the stuff your family has gone through and currently IS going through.......

I will be prayering for you.

Hang in there.

cardiactec.