Speech Difficulties as a Symptom of Multiple Sclerosis By Julie Stachowiak, Ph.D. Updated March 30, 2012 I would say that my MS-related speech difficulties are barely noticeable some days, while other days, I get nervous about having to talk to anyone outside of my immediate family for fear that I will not be able to communicate as smoothly as I would like.For me, it is pure torture to “hear” the MS in my voice as I am talking to someone. In the middle of a conversation, usually a very important one, I can tell that my speaking cadence and rhythm are bizarre. Often, this is taken even further by my tongue tripping over syllables, slurring parts of words as I try to push them out. The result, to my ears, sounds like a toddler speaking English as a foreign language while frantically trying to communicate something of great urgency. What Do Speech Difficulties as an MS Symptom Feel Like? Dysarthria: The speech of someone with MS can be affected by (a href=ms.about/od/signssymptoms/g/dysarthria.htm>dysarthria and dysphonia, which are speech disorders in which the pronunciation is unclear, but the meaning of what is said is normal. Dysarthria usually results from lesions in the cerebellum and can affect articulation, resonance and intonation.Scanning speech is a form of dysarthria that causes people to speak in slow or strange rhythms, where syllables of words are separated by long pauses.Dysphonia: Dysphonia is an impairment with the voice, which can include hoarseness, raspy speech or a change in pitch when the person tries to talk. Dysphonia in people with MS usually manifests as trouble controlling the volume of speech, meaning people end up speaking too softly to be heard or more loudly than is appropriate.Dysphasia: Both dysarthria and dysphonia should be differentiated fromdysphasia or aphasia, both of which refer to problems understanding or communicating spoken or written words. Cognitive dysfunction can lead to word-finding difficulties, which also affect the overall fluidity of speech and ease of communication. How Bad Can Speech Difficulties Get? Only a very tiny percent of people will be rendered unable to speak. However, if this happens, there are assistive devices available to help them communicate, including high-tech options like devices with simulated voices and low-tech options like hand-held cards. How you can fight back against speech difficulties Cool down: As bad as it sounds to my ears, I probably have a pretty mild case of both dysarthria and dysphonia, which comes and goes and is worse when I am tired or hot. I find that cooling down and slowing down help a great deal.Calm down: When I feel that I am having this problem, I work on keeping sentences short and simple and trying to stay calm and relaxed.Professional help: If simple measures do not adequately control your problem or if your speech disorders are impacting your work or other aspects of your life, a speech/language pathologist is a professional who can evaluate the situation. They can work with you and give you exercises to do on your own to improve your enunciation and overall rhythm of speech. Bottom Line As far as MS symptoms go, I guess speech difficulties are not too bad – they dont physically hurt, like many symptoms. It is not as embarrassing to stumble over words as it may be to fall or have a problem with urinary incontinence. They dont prevent you from getting things done, like many of our symptoms. However, they may cause us anxiety, as we struggle for words or hear our garbled speech.Ill tell you this – in most cases, it sounds way worse to us than it does to other people. Most people do not hear us struggling and dont know that we settled on a word that was not quite what we were looking for. What I have learned is that if I feel like I am having a hard day, speech-wise, I usually tell the people that I am with (depending on the situation) that I am feeling a little more challenged than usual and that they may hear it in my speech. Often, putting this out there relaxes me enough that I dont have any problem at all. Of course, you may not want to call attention to any speech difficulties you may be experiencing and may choose to speak with simple words and short sentences while you are feeling that your speech is off. Mona Sharabi
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 19:23:03 +0000
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