Hello,
I am a graduate student in speech pathology at the university of South Ca
rolina. I know just a very basic little about parkinson's disease from my clas
ses here, but my interest has become more personal and I was wondering if anybo
dy could give me some information.
My grandfather, who has symptoms of broca's aphasia, has just recently be
en suspected of being in the first stages of Parkinson's disease. An MRI five
years ago, when the aphasic symptoms began to appear, showed nothing at all. T
he diagnosis then was that he had a series of very small strokes which caused t
he aphasia. Since then he has gotten much worse in a progressive manner, and n
ow he basically can't talk at all. I am not convinced of the stroke diagnosis
because of the progressive nature of the symptoms appearance. My understanding
is that in stroke the deficits appear suddenly in a plateau and sudden drop typ
e pattern, but his symptoms appeared very gradually over the course of 5 - 6
years.
His aphasic symptoms are very motor involved. IN the beginning he would
occasionally stutter on an isolated word or two. Now when he tries to speak,
he mumbles and stutters, but usually only succeeds in producing phonation,
and doesnt produce any recognizable sounds. So it sounds as if he is moaning o
r humming. And when he is trying to speak he has muscle spasms that jerk from
the right corner of his mouth down his neck. Occasionally he is able to get
out one or two words unencumbered. STress seems to be a factor. The more rela
xed he is, the more likely he is to get out one or two words, but he still has
great difficulty. His comprehension seems intact, and he seems to know what he
wants to say, but just to be physically unable to do it.
HIs symptoms now that are suspected to be early parkinson's are very slo
w careful movements and steps and stooped posture. Also, he almost constantly
rubs his thumb and forefinger together on both hands. It looks like a nervous
habit. These symptoms have developed and gotten progressively worse in the
past 3-4 years. In the past month, at a routine check up, his doctor suspected
parkinson's and is now awaiting the report of the neurologist who did the MRI
five years ago, before looking into it further.
I just wondered if anybody knew of a connection between these broca type
aphasic symptoms and parkinsons. Could they possibly be related? Any thoughts
at all would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Shannon Douglas
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