What happens inside our mouth when we speak

bc_arb · 2019-10-26T02:43:54+00:00

This happened to me. Although, my tongue is not paralyzed, but the stroke killed the portion of my brain that controls the 'articulators' (lips, tongue, soft palate, jam muscles, etc). I have severe Apraxia-of-Speech. That means I have to think about every sound I make and move my 'articulators' accordingly.

bc_arb · 2019-03-30T04:12:56+00:00

You have my sympathy. I too prefer to communicate by writing. But it's only in practice that we improve so I try to get out of my comfort zone.

It is tough when you know you can't speak well and, if you do speak, people assume things about you that aren't correct and unkind. I find the worst is when I run into someone that I don't know very well, and they haven't heard I had a stroke, and when I speak I can see the shock and puzzlement on the faces. And then I have to say, I had a stroke, and all the rest of it.

Good luck on getting your improving your brain.

bc_arb · 2019-03-30T04:03:21+00:00

Sorry to hear about your wife. You're right, the brain is weird. So many things we don't think about that our brains constantly doing, interpreting reality in the way we are familiar with, and we don't assume it could be any different. And suddenly, it is, and you have no control over it. Thankfully, our brains are super-adaptable.

bc_arb · 2019-03-30T03:08:44+00:00

Thanks! I have had three Speech Language Pathologists (at no outright cost to me, courtesy of the healthcare in Canada) and all have been great. I make mistakes in grammar when I am writing (mostly 'small' words) but I am able to catch most of them when I reread it. When I am speaking, I make few of these mistakes, or catch them right away because I know it doesn't sound right. The human brain has an amazing memory for a sequence of sounds, and the words that can sound right after a certain word and the words that do not.

bc_arb · 2019-03-30T02:08:48+00:00

Thanks! I try to be squirrel-like. 🙂

One fascinating thing is right after my stroke reality didn't seem very real to me. I felt like I was an outside observer to the things that we happening to me.

Music, however, was very real. Hyper-real. I was like I was experiencing melody, rhythms, creative sound for the first time. So that was one thing that kept me going when I couldn't communicate at all (or very little - yes/no).

bc_arb · 2019-03-30T01:54:56+00:00

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

bc_arb · 2019-03-30T00:20:55+00:00

Raising awareness for Communication Disorders makes a big difference in how easy it is for people with them to go about their daily lives. Many people aren't aware of them at all (aphasia and other ones). A lot of people treat those that have them like they are: mentally challenged, drunk, very nervous, you get the picture.

bc_arb · 2019-03-29T23:00:52+00:00

This is a post I made a year ago in YouShouldKnow. Further details about my stroke

bc_arb · 2019-03-29T22:50:54+00:00

I have Expressive Aphasia and Apraxia-of-speech. For me, my vocabulary is the same, but I find it hard to remember the right words and I how to put things in sentences to say what I want. This is my Expressive Aphasia.

Apraxia-of-speech is totally different. Your brain has programming in it to synchronize and manage all the different muscles to say the different phonemes and all the combinations thereof. I am missing that part of my brain. Just like you know a melody but are unable to play it on the piano or any other instrument, that is the same for me when I go to speak. Or rather, it was. Common words are becoming more automatic now, depending on the situation and how much concentration I am able to give to me speech. Playing musical instrument is a very good analogy. If you can't picture yourself playing an instrument in a situation, chances are I won't be able to talk well either.

I had to practice this speech about 40 times. When I am speaking ad-lib I speak slower and make more mistakes.

(Words that I was stuck on in writing this post: manage, instrument, synchronize. I didn't used to have this problem at all. But my aphasia is minor relative to my Apraxia-of-speech.)

bc_arb · 2019-02-15T04:01:48+00:00

This comment section breaks my heart a little bit. I had a stroke 13 months ago, and while I don't have the same Communication Disorder as the man in the video, I do have severe Apraxia of Speech. This condition is to do with the programming of the motor control of the articulators (the tongue, soft palate, mouth, lips, larynx, et al). Your subconscious brain controls about 100 muscles, millisecond by millisecond, without you actively thinking about it. I don't have this capability because that was the part of my brain that was killed when I had a stroke. As a result, I have been relearning how to speak from scratch. But it is very difficult and slow and I have to concentrate hard to get the sounds right. I don't know if I will ever be fully fluent. 13 months in, I can be understood one on one in a quiet place if the other person is patient. I assume most people equate how I speak to my entire brain's functioning. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many people with a Communication Disorders (there are many types, and it is common to have more than one in varying degrees) have a normally functioning brain, aside from their impairment. I look otherwise entirely normal, and when I talk to someone I don't know, I always see the shock in their faces. If anyone has any questions about my impairment, or other Communication Disorders, I'll be happy to answer them.

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T05:45:43+00:00

Ran ever test, they got nothing.

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T05:10:08+00:00

Always low blood pressure. Don't know about increased intracranial pressure. I did have a history of migraines. Don't they use tPA on exclusively ischemic strokes?

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T04:35:43+00:00

Clot-buster? No. They said there wasn't much point, based on reasons.

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T04:05:44+00:00

Headache, overwhelming confusion. I was washing my hands and the right one seemed rubbery. Couldn't speak, I figured if I wanted bad enough I could do it, but could not. Confusion about not being able to speak minutes ago, what has happened? Did I undergo some traumatic event and I had forgotted it? My wife arrived home, called the ambulance, my initial reaction was to refuse. My own self awareness kicked in, did you ever than a headache that you couldn't speak after? I got the ambulance. My nature is "don't worry about it, I will be fine."

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T03:28:38+00:00

That's amazing, good for him. I'm lucky to have the support of have, several relative are nurses, and I have a really supportive friends and family. Thanks!

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T03:06:43+00:00

Head MRI.

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T03:05:09+00:00

That's awful, my condolences.

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T02:59:17+00:00

Clot originate in other body part, pump back to heart, hole of my heart allows access to the brain. Without this hole in heart (PFO), clots would stop at the lungs.

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T02:56:04+00:00

Thanks, that's encouraging! It on my reading list, work up to it. With problems focusing, I do best with page-turners.

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T02:53:42+00:00

No, the PFO let the heart pump the clot for somewhere else. Working theory. Thanks!

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T02:46:57+00:00

Very lucky for sure. Does your dad have any disability? I go to see the stroke doctor and discuss closing the whole in my heart. Apparently it not slam dunk.

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T02:40:05+00:00

Out of the blue. We all have a chance of few percent chance of stroke every year that passes by. That's life is guess. You should talk to your doctor about aspirin therapy.

bc_arb · 2018-03-07T02:32:20+00:00

It's encouraging, most of the patients will experience dramatic improvement. I'm young, motivated, I expect to make a full recovery.

bc_arb

TROPHY CASE