Aphasia

Simply defined, aphasia is the loss of ability to communicate normally resulting from damage to the left side of the brain, the center of communication. It may affect a person’s speech and comprehension as well as the ability to read, write or deal with numbers. Intelligence is not lowered, although the inability to communicate may leave the impression that the affected person is less intelligent than he or she actually is.

Different Types of Aphasia

Anomic Aphasia
Speech is normal, but there is difficulty in naming even common objects or places.

Conduction Aphasia
Trouble occurs in repeating anything said by another person, but speech remains somewhat normal.

Expressive Aphasia (Broca’s Aphasia)
Everything is heard and understood, but there is a lack of ability to express thoughts. In some cases, the person may be capable of repeating single words, or even uttering obscenities when angry.

Fluent Aphasia
Though speech may be normal or rapid, incorrect words or sounds are substituted without the person realizing it. The person may say “dog” when they mean “horse”, or “may” instead of “hey,” not realizing even after the words are spoken that they are inaccurate choices.

Global Aphasia
As the term indicates, there is great difficulty with all language functions – comprehension or understanding, reading, talking, or even repeating what is heard. It is as though the person is transported to a planet where he or she lacks even the most basic understanding of how to communicate with the local residents.

Nonfluent Aphasia
Speech is slow and difficult, and in the desperate attempt to talk, is often used with hand and face gestures. Sentences may have words or parts of words missing.

Receptive Aphasia (Wernicke’s Aphasia)
Sounds are heard, but with no understanding of what they mean. The person can neither
understand nor monitor his or her own speech.

Copied from the Stroke Recovery Guide, published by the National Stroke Association.

Initially, I suffered from expressive aphasia; I understood everything said to me but my speech was gibberish. It took me about three months to get to the point where most people could understand me. I still have trouble if I'm laying down because I don't have the breath support, and I have to pause regularly to catch my breath. I also have difficulty if I become emotional: my voice becomes incredibly nasal and people can't understand me. Also, once the other cleared up, I had more trouble with using the wrong word or messing up the word order (especially if I'm tired). I won't dissemble: this scares the crap out of me, especially because it seems to be getting worse. I guess this would be another form of  asphasia, but why now, seven months later?


More info on aphasia.