migraines: language

Robin (

mellawyrden) wrote in

migraines,
@ 2006-01-16 11:05:00

Current mood:	confused
Entry tags:	diclofenac, fioricet, migraine & work, migraine side-effects, migraine symptoms

language
. . . . .

Something really scary just happened.. our department secretery just came to my door and spoke to me. I didn't understand a word she said!! Nor could I get any words to come out. I just gestured toward my head and managed to say I have a migraine.. and told her to just show me what she was talking about (something about a "shelf") I finally managed to figure it out with her help. But wow, that caught me by surprise. Half an hour before this happened, I had no trouble at all speaking to one of my colleagues in the office next to mine.

The migraine is just a dull throbbing right now, but with lots of shadowy visual symptoms and nausea. I've just taken one fioricet and one diclofenac, and I'm starting on my first cup of half-caffeine, half-decaf coffee of the day.

I hate these weird symptoms. I always worry that I must seem like a drug addict, with all of these weird migraine-related problems that have to crop up while I'm at work!

(Post a new comment)

	ladypeculiar 2006-01-16 04:26 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, how frightening. I've definightly had those moments where nothing seems to make any sense-- you know the language spoken is the one you speak, but the words just aren't adding up? At work people always suspected me of having a hangover, because I would have a headache and be nauseous in the morning. I hope you get some relief soon! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	skeptictank 2006-01-16 07:16 pm UTC (link)
	I wish it were realistic to buy one of those books I've read about migraine facts & myths to pass around my office (and to my family) so they don't think I'm just blaming everything I do wrong on headaches because it sounds like a good excuse. (Reply to this) (Parent)

journalismgirl
2006-01-16 04:45 pm UTC (link)

That's kind of how I've been.

Except while I've been able to understand people -- for the most part -- I can't really communicate back.

Yesterday at work was really bad. I was talking to another editor, and was trying to get out the name of another reporter. Except I couldn't remember it. I finally went with "the guy who sits over there."

The phrase "today is not a language day" has never gotten so much use.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	lapetiteflower 2006-01-17 02:22 am UTC (link)
	don't feel bad......the other day i couldn't remember the word "refrigerator". i had to keep calling it the "make-cold thing" (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	journalismgirl 2006-01-17 02:32 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, I'm realizing this is more common than I thought. Tonight was a night I was glad for editors. I was giving a sentence to the desk and said "A hospital representative refused to give a status report Thursday night." "It's Monday," the desk chief said back. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lapetiteflower 2006-01-17 02:57 pm UTC (link)
	lol! at least another day of the week came out instead of some random word that made no sense whatsoever....... (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	mellawyrden 2006-01-17 08:33 pm UTC (link)
	.. LOL!! like when I saw a picture of my friend's son, and he was holding a little toy rabbit. I said, "Oh he looks so sweet, and look, he's holding a cute little banana..." And when I called caterpillars "mushrooms" So embarrassing..! (Reply to this) (Parent)

mellawyrden
2006-01-17 03:07 am UTC (link)

oh no.. something like that happened to me recently!

I was on the phone, trying to tell my mother something about my "cupboard" but the word was just not there. So I had to describe what I meant: "it's got a door, you put the... things... in it, it's made of wood", etc. Finally she guessed properly. Then she laughed at me, but I was almost in tears. It was really scary not being able to think of the word.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lapetiteflower 2006-01-17 02:55 pm UTC (link)
	it's so frustrating.....you can picture and describe what you are trying to say, but the word is just not there anymore! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	mandiapple 2006-01-16 05:39 pm UTC (link)
	nods I share the same language problems - I can't get the names of things at all or even simple words/phrases :( (Reply to this)

	cloversea 2006-01-16 05:41 pm UTC (link)
	That's scary and it sucks that it happened at work. I lose language sometimes, but I never get used to the feeling of it. I hope your symptoms settle down soon. (Reply to this)

	nabba 2006-01-16 05:42 pm UTC (link)
	Yup. Me too (Reply to this)

skeptictank
2006-01-16 07:14 pm UTC (link)

It's funny you mention that. Last night I was having a headache so I got out of bed to get something to drink and flipped the TV on while I had a glass of milk... after about 2 minutes my ears started hurting (like an ear ache) and then about a minute later I noticed the volume on the TV seemed to decrease suddenly as if I were sitting on the volume button. The sound faded in and out about three times after that before I gave up and went to sleep.

Then this morning my screeching loud alarm clock failed to wake me up. I think it probably beeped for about 4 minutes before I heard it and hit the snooze button.

Have you ever had that hearing issue during other migraine attacks before today? I've never had that experience before so I can't decide if it's a side effect of the medication or the headaches.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

mellawyrden
2006-01-16 08:04 pm UTC (link)

It was not so much that I couldn't hear her.. her voice was at a constant volume. It was just that her words didn't make sense in my head.. except for the word "shelf" (I could picture a shelf in my mind when she said this.. but the other words around it were all garbled)

I have had the volume fading in / out thing at other times though, & I'm not sure what it is, meds or migraine. It hasn't happened to me very frequently. Was there any sort of audio tone or "white noise" sound in your ears when the fading happened?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

skeptictank
2006-01-16 08:15 pm UTC (link)

No white nose... I actually grabbed the remote to make sure I wasn't leaning on it or something. It wasn't until I was brushing my teeth and the water stopped making noise that I realized something was really not how it should be.

I can relate to the nonsense, too. I read/write a lot and it's really uncommon that I'll repeatedly grasp for words and come up with nothing so when it does happen I feel like I'm having a stroke or something.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	Oscillocusis accompanied by tinnitus? k_something 2006-01-16 09:07 pm UTC (link)
	Can you describe this somewhat more, how long did it last etc.? Was your experience of " oscillocusis " accompanied with some sort of "audio tone or 'white noise' sound in your ears" (i.e. tinnitus, http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Auditory_symptoms.html )when the fading happened? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Oscillocusis accompanied by tinnitus? mellawyrden 2006-01-17 02:59 am UTC (link)
	For me, it's accompanied by a faint, far-away, whistling sound, and all the noise around me sounds "muffled". This has only happened to me very rarely, thankfully! It's very upsetting! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Re: Oscillocusis accompanied by tinnitus? mellawyrden 2006-01-17 03:01 am UTC (link)
	.. I forgot to mention the duration.. from what I remember, the episodes of tinnitus/hearing loss seemed to last only a few moments at a time. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Oscillocusis accompanied by tinnitus? k_something 2006-01-24 06:56 pm UTC (link)
	Hi Mella, have a look at http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Auditory_symptoms.html , we have included your observations in the "oscillocusis" section, hope that's o.k.? (Reply to this) (Parent)

Oscillocusis

k_something
2006-01-16 09:05 pm UTC (link)

"I noticed the volume on the TV seemed to decrease suddenly as if I were sitting on the volume button. The sound faded in and out about three times after that before I gave up and went to sleep." Over how many minutes did that go in total? Did you have any other accompanying symptoms? Seems to be a rarely described form of auditory aura symptoms, named " oscillocusis " (see http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Auditory_symptoms.html ).

Similarly, Whitman and Lipton (1995) reported "a 14-year-old girl with a migraine aura characterized by the sense that ambient sounds were fluctuating in intensity, as if emanating from a radio while the volume control was being altered. These auditory oscillations lasted 5 to 10 minutes and were followed by a typical migraine headache. By analogy with oscillopsia, we term this unique form of migraine aura 'oscillocusis.'"

Similarly, Piovesan et al. (2003) reported "A 56-year-old woman [who] started to present migraine episodes at age 40. An year later she perceived ambient sounds to be fluctuating in intensity (oscillocusis). This would last 50 minutes, and was followed by a unilateral (right or left side), throbbing headache associated with nausea and vomiting. These episodes lasted 18 hours, occurred at twice a month and were commonly triggered by stress."

These 2 are, to my knowledge, the only reports up to now recorded in the medical literature.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: Oscillocusis

skeptictank
2006-01-16 09:17 pm UTC (link)

Oh no, I hope I'm not a medical marvel. I'm going to write this down so when I see my doctor again I can mention it to him and not sound like a lunatic.

This lasted only about 5 minutes. It was preceeded by a pain in my ears similar to the pressure one would get with an ear infection (only it was more like a throbbing that lasted only about 30 seconds) and was followed by headache pressure behind my left eye that made it difficult for me to shut my eyes so I could fall asleep, which isn't abnormal for me.

It came and went again this morning rather quickly, and this time I noticed that it was accompanied by a bit of a dizzying head rush, which I've been getting often lately.

I know dizziness is a side effect of Pamelor, which I'm not really seeing the benefit of taking, so I'd like to have my doctor put me on something else to see if it goes away any. I've been having those head rush feelings frequently for the past couple of weeks. And on that note, once last week I had my head down looking at something and when I looked up at myself in the mirror I got dizzy and lost vision for a few seconds while I grabbed the counter and composed myself.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Oscillocusis k_something 2006-01-16 09:32 pm UTC (link)
	What is a " head rush " (I'm not sure what you mean by this)? Please don't be afraid of being a ' medical marvel ' (BTW, what argues against marvels?), the scarcity of reports just means that only few doctors have paid attention to the symptom/experience, you see it from this thread in LJ that it must be more frequent. Wish you feel better soon. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: Oscillocusis

skeptictank
2006-01-16 09:39 pm UTC (link)

Oh when I say "head rush" I just mean that sort of tingly feeling one gets sometimes when one stands up too fast, for instance. It's sort of a tingly, light-headed feeling like champagne bubbles in your mouth (only it's in your head) or if you suck helium out of a balloon.

Sometimes it makes me feel a little dizzy but it usually only lasts for a moment. When it happens to me now that I'm on medication, these can last as long as a minute before I manage to orientate myself well enough to stand up straight or walk properly.

As far as all that goes, it's not so major that it's interrupting my life, but it makes me think that something just isn't right anymore. I naturally have poor blood cicrulation so I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

I'm hoping that my doctor can offer some insight into these Oscillocusis headaches or direct me to a specialist who can.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: Oscillocusis

k_something
2006-01-16 09:52 pm UTC (link)

I understand, thanks. As a non-native speaker, such apparently "easy words" as head rush are much more difficult to grasp than other more technicasl words.

"Oscillocusis headaches": It's "just" a variety of migraine with aura, not a special form of headache disorder on its own, so the therapeutic strategies will be the same as in other varieties of migraine with aura. Visiting a neuro with some experience in migraine with aura should do it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Oscillocusis skeptictank 2006-01-17 01:38 am UTC (link)
	I guess words like that are more like slang than actual phrases that you would learn in an english class. Not a problem explaining, though! I looked up the condition on google and all I really came up with is that it's a rare side effect of aural headaches. Still something that should be put on my records that my doctor has. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Oscillocusis k_something 2006-01-24 06:55 pm UTC (link)
	Hello skepticanc, have a look at http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Auditory_symptoms.html , we have included your observations in the "oscillocusis" section. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	godsmackgirl 2006-01-16 08:29 pm UTC (link)
	I was actually accused of coming to work hungover when I was really suffering from migraines...I ending up having to get a doctors note. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	chutchings 2006-01-16 10:13 pm UTC (link)
	no way. oh my... that's awful, and so embarrassing. (Reply to this) (Parent)

Global aphasia

k_something
2006-01-16 09:01 pm UTC (link)

Hello Mella, you've experienced a bout of migraine aura with ' global aphasia ', where both the expressive and the receptive language powers are impaired. I just intended to make a link to the description of this ' language symptoms ' at http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Language_symptoms.html , but I note that ' global aphasia ' is not yet mentioned here, seems it is not described so often so that no description of this was found previously. Must be a strange experience to be aware of the loss of language whilst some powers of thinking (but without words, or just rudiments like the single word "shelves") are still intact and functioning. Did you actually see a sort of shelf befoe your "inner eye" when you heard the word "shelf"?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: Global aphasia

mellawyrden
2006-01-16 09:17 pm UTC (link)

Hi K, Yes, I did envision a shelf when she said the word.. but nothing else made any sense. Maybe I sould see it because it was the only object-related word in what she was saying to me.

It was really scary to suddenly be without language like that! The only thing I had was "shelf" so I kept saying "shelf? shelf?" and gesturing with my hands, like I was trying to get more information out of this one word.

After I got the language part of my brain back, I explained myself to her a bit better and apologised! She said she gets them too, but never has language-related symptoms.

Thanks for giving me a term to go with this problem. It's better to say "global aphasia" than it is to have people wonder what kind of crack I've been smoking before coming to work. It gets depressing when I can't function. It's very isolating. I can't even joke about it with people at work who've never experienced it or don't understand it, because it sounds too bizarre!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Global aphasia lapetiteflower 2006-01-16 09:26 pm UTC (link)
	i've had global aphasia and dyslexia together as part of my aura. totally freaky stuff. it's true, you can't describe what it is like to people who have never experienced it......... (Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: Global aphasia

k_something
2006-01-16 09:28 pm UTC (link)

This repeating of "shelf - shelf - shelf" etc. is very typical of global aphasia, in clinical terms it is considered as " verbal stereotypy ", and it's very interesting to hear the "inside view" of this from your account, because subjects suffering from permanent global aphasia (rather than just from the transient experience of it, as it occurs as a migraine aura) can't speak about this. This may go so far, that one can only express sequences of consonant-vowels, like tan-tan-tan, ha-ha-ha, etc., which is termed " recurring utterances". However, in your experience, it was a recurring word.

Hope you feel better soon (you obviously do, as you can write again!) Best, K

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: Global aphasia

mellawyrden
2006-01-16 11:56 pm UTC (link)

Wow.. thank you so much for your diagnosis. You've made me feel so much better. I'm glad it's something that's been documented.

After reading more about global aphasia this afternoon on the internet, I feel very sad for those in whom it's a chronic condition. It put me into such a panic to feel alienated from my language all of a sudden. If I hadn't at least had "shelf" to grasp at like a life preserver, I would have felt completely lost.

And I do feel much better now.. thanks :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

sweetjezebel
2006-01-17 05:19 am UTC (link)

I had a loss of language thing happen to me back in October. I went to the ER not knowing who I was, who my husband was or anything else for that matter. It lasted about 6 hours and then faded. They call it a "borderline stroke" apparently induced by a severe 2 day migraine. For about 2 weeks after that, even though the migraine was gone, I had trouble finding my words, how to say them and so on. And then it just faded away. Totally weird and something I hope never happens again. :(

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	mellawyrden 2006-01-17 05:41 am UTC (link)
	How terrifying!! I hope you've been feeling well since then, with no lingering aftereffects from that episode. I'm sure they've given you all possible tests to be sure you're okay. Stay well..!! (Reply to this) (Parent)

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