Happy holidays,
Tracy
Tracy
I have seen people who talk about word finding issues like that. I have it, but it is from my fibro and severe headaches in my case....
I am really sorry your consultant is not helping at all. Is it possible to go for a second opinion? Sounds like a good thing to try if possible since this is getting worse. I am sure it is really frustrating to you...
Epilepsy.com is a great place to learn more about all kinds of seizures, treatment and issues. They have a large archive of medical articles.
Emedicine, if you go to the neurology area is HUGE as well. These are all doctor written articles and easy to understand. They also have a click on dictionary feature that is really helpful!
Best wishes. I sure hope you can find help for this!!
Hey Andrew:
I hear you man, I can totally relate, I get the same thing and it seems to get more frequent as I get older. Other people don't even have to think about foming their words b/c it comes naturally, but for me (and probably you too) I have to concentrate on every word, even the simple ones. If I don't, I slur my speach and everybody thinks I'm drunk.
My Neorologist calls this a "speech arrest"
You really take your speach for granted.
This is a side affect from the meds but if I don't take my meds, I risk a seizure. Usually by the time I figure out what word to use and form it, everybody else in the room is on the next subject.
Randy (Ontario)
Diagnosed with epilepsy and ulcerative colitis in 1979,
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God.
I have and had that problem, mine is attributed to my meds-for me it's a side effect of certain meds, others it's the epilepsy itself. Three weeks ago I was staring at a door hinge trying to think what it was called and just couldn't get it out of my mouth, in fact I couldn't remember it until later that night. Now I'm reducing one med and increasing a different one that doesn't have similiar side effects and my speech and memory is coming back. I would imagine your consultant wasn't sure if it was the med or the epilepsy itself, if it was the med you'd probably want him to change it and he would have to risk you have more seizures.
Good luck to you.
minnie66,
I totally agree with everything you said in your post.
The Doc's don't tell me anything either.
Randy
Diagnosed with epilepsy and ulcerative colitis in 1979,
.... To everyone who replied,
Just to say thanks for all your respnses. They've all been a great help and it's nice knowing I'm not alone. Slightly worrying that the condition might be a side-effect of one of the drugs. Everytime I mention it to my consultant he just says "let's whap up the dosage again and see what happens." Doctors eh?
Happy New Year to you all,
Andrew
I am having this problem with "speech arrest" for the first time it started about 6 mo. back and makes being me real hard because I am a real outgoing person and enjoy conversation but I have been experiencing a real hard time "hanging out"/communicating simply because I cant keep up with conversations. I was under the impression that it was just because I had been on all these meds all these years and the seizures were catching up with me. I will look into this more.
Graffix_sk
These "speech arrests" that you are getting are caused by the medication doing it's job.
It's warning you that if you wern't on meds. you would have a full out grand-mal siezure, so the question comes to mind - do you want to go off the meds and have good speech and memory and risk a siezure or stay on the meds as a type of "insurance policy" to help control the siezures and have a little speech problem, what is more important to you?
Also, How long have you been on the meds,? You should be concerned about long term use of the meds and the affects it could have on you or if it can cause neurological damage.(that's what happened to me - 25 yrs of meds.)
Randy
Diagnosed with epilepsy and ulcerative colitis in 1979,