Need Help!!! Difficulty Talking and Slurred Speech
 

Hi,

I am a 52 year old female. Two and a half years ago (8/2007), I woke up one morning and my speech was extremely slurred. I was hospitalized and had a CT and MRI nothing was found. I was told to go see a psychiatrist.

Since then I have had several experiences where I awake from sleep and cannot talk. When I attempt to talk, I speak gibberish. After a while my speech begins to return but it is significantly slurred. Over time, it gradually returns to normal.

I have been hospitalized three times and all of the tests come back negative. I have been told that this is conversion disorder. I dont believe it because it keeps happening. It happened again on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009.

This time I taped myself as it was happening. So I have proof of what I am experiencing.

After being pushed off by doctors, I am reluctant to even go to the hospital again.

But I know something is wrong and I need guidance. Can someone please contact me? I live in Homestead, Fl and really want to help myself before something terrible happens to me.

Thank you.

Hi Mango,

I copied your post to the New Members Forum as well as leaving it here in this forum.......thought you might get more responses that way since you're new.

I hope someone comes along and gives you some advice. And I hope you feel better soon. :hug:

Here's the link to your post in the New Members forum: http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post597365-1.html

Go see your family doctor, It is his job to refer you to a specialist that can diagnose and ultimately help you. If you do not have s a family doctor, you should get one, or see an internal medicine doc and have him refer you to a speciialist.

i am wondering about perimenopausal/menopausal migraine?

Are you having difficulty swallowing and weakness? Slurred speech can be a muscular disorder but then again it could be anything. Hope you find answers soon and hope you are feeling better

temporary aphasia symptoms
 

Hi Mango, how completely distressing these symptoms must be for you. I can only imagine. I second the other suggestions. I doubt that the hospital can help since it is fairly unusual presentation.. I would insist on follow up with specialists and do more research. However with this added warning; reading about conditions becomes very triggering when one already fears something awful. Please try to avoid telling yourself scary nightmarish stories. Fear is the worst when we read medical stories and apply them even in imagination to our own case, it can create a 24/7 stress leading to more symptoms and clouding the original issues.

While you research the cause maybe you will consider look into a competent and compassionate therapist, clergy, someone who will listen and help you make sense of this journey you are on. I know it helps me when the doctors don't know what to do and brush me off. Nothing makes me feel more upset and alone than that! Good luck and Best WishesTT

Hi Mango,

I had a similar situation that lasted over a year. I woke up one morning in 2008 with my teeth chattering and when I tried to talk I stuttered. I immediately contacted my neurologist and he wasn't sure what was causing it. The stuttering became so bad that there were times when no one could understand what I was saying.

In September 2009, I had a spinal cord stimulator implanted in my lower back to relieve some of the pain I was suffering with. Three weeks later, I woke up one morning and no longer stuttered! One theory was that the nerve pain I was suffering from CRPS was so intense that my brain had no other way to get rid of the pain. Every now and then I will stutter a little if I am tired, nervous or talking too fast but it is nothing like it was for over a year.

Please let me know what your doctor thinks about why this happened to you.

Annmarie