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 and Welcome to NT!

I can't imagine how frustrated you must be. Many of us have some experience of doctors trying to tell us that what's happening to us isn't happening to us. GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

I'm afraid that unless you've suffered a head injury, I don't have any idea what might be triggering your speech problems. Have you talked to a Speech Language Pathologist about your issues? I doubt it's a "language problem," but it's possible that they may have encountered something similiar in other patients and have some idea what's going on and who you need to see.

You might also want to check our NT's Rare Conditions Forum. The link is:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum2.html

Good Luck

I understand your frustration. You have to keep your head up, know what you know, and keep going back. Look every doctor in the eye and say (calmly and firmly) "I am not crazy".

Something to note, though. A psychiatrist may be exactly who you need to see. Not a Psychologist, but a Psychiatrist. They deal with medical disorders of the brain. You could ask for a referral to a NeuroPsychiatrist, but a Psychiatrist may get you exactly where you need to be. They are medical doctors with years of extra education specifically on the brain, and how it works. They are to the brain what a Cardiologist is to the heart. A Psychiatrist would know just what evaluations need to be done to find out what part of your brain is affected, and how it might be affected. Just a thought. People often think that referral is a "crazy referral", but it can also be the absolutely appropriate referral.

I hope you get this worked out. The recording was a brilliant idea - keep it and bring it with you to the doctor. Don't get upset - be calm and firm and definite. DECIDE that they will listen to you.

Good Luck!!

Smiles,

Linn

I am a 54 year old woman, because of my MS, my speech is slurring, my speech is slowly worsening. I've had carry-out places hang up on me, DD does all necessary calling now. Mine is MS, I don't know what yours is. It is VERY frustrating. I can see people are very uncomfortable when I speak sometimes.

The suggestion to see a speech person is one I support. I feel their expertise and experience makes them a better choice than a psychiatrist. Ask about their related neurolgical experience when calling. I grew up with a brother who was Aprxic (low muscle tone) and his speech was often unintelligible. He highly suceeded in college, worked hard with speech therapists to overcome what he could and did well socially through his efforts.

I do agree with seeing a speech pathologist. However, you will probably want to know what is causing this to happen, especially as it seems to be episodic? A good guess is that it originates in the brain, somewhere -- whether vascular, neurological, seizure of some kind, or a number of other possibilities. I can't stress enough the amount of education a good Psychiatrist has, all geared toward solving these exact questions. They will have a large array of diagnostic tools and assessments at their easy disposal, also. Just a thought. :-)

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Hi Mango, and welcome to NT! This is such a great place with many friendly, caring, and helpful people.

We're so glad you found us!

I also have MS, and my speech is slurred a lot. If it was me in your condition, I would get a referral to a speech therapist. Just don't give up. I fully understand the frustration of trying to get a diagnosis. :hug:

Conversion Disorder
 

I too have CD and was not diagnosed until December of this year, after spending 15 months in the dark with my physicians. CD is easy to diagnose if your MRI's are coming back normal and your blood work is negative for auto immune issues like MS or Lupus, etc. I can tell that you are frustrated. I am 44 years old and my "past" has crept up and bit me this late in life.

If you have anxiety issues in conjunction with the speech issues it may be PTSD, GAD and has manifested into CD. CD is VERY treatable with the right combination of meds and psychotherapy. Meds alone will not give you full benefit if CD is the root of your issues.

Be aware that most physicians don not want to tell a patient that their issues are "in their head" as it is not good for business. Find a teaching hospital that has staff that are actively seeking to diagnose and not keep you coming back. Most hospitals will only put you on a stroke profile and will not go any deeper than that so be leery of the ER visits.

Some migraines can cause funny symptoms (hemiplegic or complex) so don't rule them out. There are other neuro issues that can give you speech issues but the mutism seems related to CD. My issues were related to trauma I experienced when I was 9 and 11. Both sexual in nature. If these types of events occurred in your life it is likely PTSD related.

A couple of non-judgmental questions for you. Do you have inappropriate anger outbursts and do you have allusions (shadows, wiggly vision), not to be mistaken for hallucinations where you see people or items?

Again, treatment is normally 20 weeks or less and may be life changing for you. It has been for me. Best of luck and I hope that you are doing better.

DM

Sorry to hear your frustrations :(
 

I hate the fact that there is even the term 'Conversion Disorder', because the vibe I get, it is a 'fancy' label a Dr wants to tag on someone and send them off believing that they are 'exaggerating' their problems or that they are borderline 'hysteria'....... I'm sure many here have left Dr's offices (in my case Neuro #2, and PM #3) with this tagged on them as a possible diagnosis....

One of the most hopeless feelings conceivable is when no one seems to believe us.

When you've had your episodes, did you become extremely confused......? I witnessed my best friend having what later was found out to be a TIA..... It was freaky. She was terrified. It didn't last long, but for about 5 minutes, she became so confused she didn't recognize me and she had no idea where we were (we were in a car and thank God I was driving). She babbled incoherently and at first I thought she was joking. To top it off, she was 8 mo pregnant at the time.
She's been ok since. We are in our mid 40's now. This happened about 10 yrs ago. She's had about 5 of those episodes over the past 20 yrs.

You've come to a good place. Here you won't be written off as some sort of 'attention seeker'.
You've got something going on and it needs to be pinned down. Many knowledgeable folks here.
I don't claim to know much at all......just compassion.....but that's a good start huh!

Truly Caring
Rae

Welcome to NT

I do believe you know what you're talking about and we won't write you off here at NT.

Medicine is a science. As Linn is saying to you, psychiatrist have a WHOLE/DIFFERENT medical book dedicated to the brain and what makes it tick.

Medical doctors can only go so far and buddy that's it. If you're outside the bounds of their books, you're SOL. Many here have been SOL with their problems.

It's hard to find the right help if you're not quickly diagnosed and helped. Don't give up.

There's lots of info here to research, an overwhelming amount of info, really.

We're here for you.