Stroke—Aphasia

Aphasia is a disorder caused by damage to the parts of the brain that control language. It can make it hard for you to read, write, and say what you mean to say. It is most common in adults who have had a stroke. Brain tumors, infections, injuries, and dementia can also cause it. The type of problem you have and how bad it is depends on which part of your brain is damaged and how much damage there is.

There are four main types:

• Expressive aphasia – you know what you want to say, but you have trouble saying or writing what you mean
• Receptive aphasia – you hear the voice or see the print, but you can’t make sense of the words
• Anomic aphasia – you have trouble using the correct word for objects, places, or events
• Global aphasia – you can’t speak, understand speech, read, or write

Some people recover from aphasia without treatment. Most, however, need language therapy as soon as possible.

NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

• Communicating with someone with aphasia (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Speech impairment (adult) (Medical Encyclopedia)

Also called: Brain attack, CVA

A stroke is a medical emergency. Strokes happen when blood flow to your brain stops. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die. There are two kinds of stroke. The more common kind, called ischemic stroke, is caused by a blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood vessel in the brain. The other kind, called hemorrhagic stroke, is caused by a blood vessel that breaks and bleeds into the brain. “Mini-strokes” or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), occur when the blood supply to the brain is briefly interrupted.

Symptoms of stroke are

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg (especially on one side of the body)
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

If you have any of these symptoms, you must get to a hospital quickly to begin treatment. Acute stroke therapies try to stop a stroke while it is happening by quickly dissolving the blood clot or by stopping the bleeding. Post-stroke rehabilitation helps individuals overcome disabilities that result from stroke damage. Drug therapy with blood thinners is the most common treatment for stroke.

NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

• EEG (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Preventing stroke (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Stroke (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Stroke – discharge (Medical Encyclopedia)