What are 4 causes of aphasia? (2023)

What are 4 causes of aphasia?

Aphasia usually happens suddenly after a stroke or a head injury. But it can also come on gradually from a slow-growing brain tumor or a disease that causes progressive, permanent damage (degenerative). The severity of aphasia depends on a number of things, including the cause and the extent of the brain damage.

Although most cases of temporary aphasia are the result of migraines, aphasia can be caused by any number of things that create electrical interference in the brain. For example, another cause of temporary aphasia is a transient ischemic attack.

Wernicke's aphasia or receptive aphasia is when someone is able to speak well and use long sentences, but what they say may not make sense. They may not know that what they're saying is wrong, so may get frustrated when people don't understand them. The features of Wernicke's aphasia are: Impaired reading and writing.

With primary progressive aphasia (PPA), the impairments in language appear gradually and get worse over time. In many instances, the person with PPA may be the first to notice that something is wrong and the changes in language may initially be attributed to stress or anxiety.

What is aphasia? Aphasia is a language disorder caused by damage in a specific area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension. Aphasia leaves a person unable to communicate effectively with others. Many people have aphasia as a result of stroke.

Aphasia after a stroke is common but a traumatic brain injury or brain infection can also cause aphasia. The three kinds of post-stroke aphasia are Broca's aphasia, Wernicke's aphasia, and global aphasia, which all affect your ability to speak and/or understand language.

Damage to the temporal lobe of the brain may result in Wernicke's aphasia (see figure), the most common type of fluent aphasia. People with Wernicke's aphasia may speak in long, complete sentences that have no meaning, adding unnecessary words and even creating made-up words.

Who does it affect? Aphasia can affect anyone who has damage to the areas of the brain that control your ability to speak or understand other people speaking. It's more common in middle-aged and older adults — especially because of conditions like stroke — but it can also happen at any age.

Aphasia is common in elderly patients in the context of vascular or neurodegenerative disorders. In some cases, aphasia is an isolated symptom, occurring suddenly after a stroke, or developing progressively as a primary progressive aphasia.

Can aphasia be caused by medication?

So far, several medications have been reported to cause aphasia, including: ipilimumab; immunomodulatory drugs (thalidomide, lenalidomide, pomalidomide); lamotrigine; vigabatrin; sulfasalazine; cyclosporine A; ifosfamide; phenylpropanolamine; naftidrofuryl oxalate; and some contrast mediums (Table 1).

Isolated cases of nominal aphasia were reported in patients with temporoparietal tumor and stroke [6,8]. The nominal dysphasia usually occurs with other symptoms either neurological or hematological in patients with vitamin B12 deficiency.

Other health conditions like uncontrolled diabetes or high blood pressure can increase the risk of a stroke and therefore, in some instances, aphasia. There's also primary progressive aphasia, a type not caused by a stroke or brain injury.

Although aphasia is often the result of a stroke or brain injury, dementia can also cause it. A certain form of aphasia, primary progressive aphasia, is a type of degenerative disease that affects the speech and language portion of the brain. In some cases, it may be a form of atypical Alzheimer's disease.

It's sometimes confused with dysarthria, a speech disorder. It may also be confused with dysphagia, a swallowing disorder.

Outlook / Prognosis

Primary progressive aphasia worsens over time. Many people with PPA eventually lose their language skills over many years, limiting their ability to communicate. Most people who have the condition live up to 12 years after their initial diagnosis.

Primary progressive aphasia is a debilitating disease that is on the Social Security Administration's Compassionate Allowances List (CAL). This means that people with this disease can receive expedited Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits because of the severity of the illness.

Aphasia co-occurs with sleep disturbances like sleep apnea and it is suggested accompanying with speech therapy clinicians consider sleep treatment that it may hold the key for improved speech therapy outcomes.

Understandably, feelings of confusion and frustration are normal for people with aphasia. "They try to read something and can't recognize the words,” says Cherney. “Or they try to say something, and it comes out sounding like gibberish.” People with fluent aphasia also often struggle to understand what others say.

The answer is no. There are several common and possible causes of aphasia, however anxiety is not among them. At the same time, anxiety often occurs after strokes, and it is commonly seen in people with aphasia. It's not at all surprising that many people wonder about the connection between anxiety and aphasia.

Does aphasia affect memory?

As it's a primary progressive condition, the symptoms get worse over time. Usually, the first problem people with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) notice is difficulty finding the right word or remembering somebody's name.

Causes and Symptoms

Sometimes transient episodes of aphasia – meaning those that appear and pass quickly - can occur. These can be due to seizures, migraines or a transient ischemic attack, commonly known as TIA (or a “mini-stroke”).

Aphasia is a language disorder that affects your ability to communicate. It's most often caused by strokes in the left side of the brain that control speech and language. People with aphasia may struggle with communicating in daily activities at home, socially or at work.

What is aphasia? Aphasia refers to trouble with speaking, understanding speech, or reading or writing as a result of damage to the part of the brain that is responsible for language processing or understanding. It may occur suddenly or over time, depending on the type and location of brain tissue involved.

These are the most common causes for a traumatic brain injury (TBI): Motor vehicle accidents. Falls. Violence or gunshot wound.

Anomic aphasia is the mildest of the aphasias, with relatively preserved speech and comprehension but difficulty in word finding. The persistent inability to find the correct word is known as anomia (literally, 'without names').

You can still speak fluently and can understand language but have trouble with repetition and finding words. This is a more mild aphasia. Your speech is fluent and you can understand others. However, you'll often use vague or filler words.

Although it is often said that the course of the illness progresses over approximately 7–10 years from diagnosis to death, recent studies suggest that some forms of PPA may be slowly progressive for 12 or more years (Hodges et al.

Do people with aphasia know they have it?

No. There are many types of aphasia. Some people have difficulty speaking while others may struggle to follow a conversation. In some people, aphasia is fairly mild and you might not notice it right away.

Aphasia primarily impacts speech, but comprehension, reading and writing can also be affected, making it challenging for survivors to communicate and navigate daily life. Aphasia does not affect a survivor's intelligence. Survivors with aphasia typically know what they want to say. They just may not be able to say it.

Aphasia is a long-term condition and you may need support for several years after its onset. However, you can continue to communicate effectively with the right tools and support. It's impossible to predict how much language you will regain, but many people continue to show improvement for years.

Several medications, such as memantine (Namenda), donepezil (Aricept, Adlarity), galantamine (Razadyne ER) and piracetam, have shown promise in small studies.

Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid: Being deficient in both Vitamin B12 and folic acid is common in those with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Taken together, these two supplements can help lower the levels of an amino acid in the blood that is often linked to dementia.

Particularly vitamin B1 (thiamine), B6 (pyridoxine), and B12 (cobalamin) contribute essentially to the maintenance of a healthy nervous system.

Having low or deficient vitamin D levels may negatively impact cognitive health and contribute to brain fog symptoms. People who have depression or depressive symptoms often experience brain fog symptoms such as poor concentration and memory problems.

People with PPA can experience many different types of language symptoms. In many instances, the person with PPA may be the first to note that something is wrong and the complaints may initially be attributed to stress or anxiety.

Some people with aphasia recover completely without treatment. But for most people, some amount of aphasia typically remains. Treatments such as speech therapy can often help recover some speech and language functions over time, but many people continue to have problems communicating.

Aphasia can also result from degenerative diseases, seizure disorders, or medication usage.