What is the number one cause of aphasia?

The most common cause of aphasia is brain damage resulting from a stroke — the blockage or rupture of a blood vessel in the brain. Loss of blood to the brain leads to brain cell death or damage in areas that control language.

What happens to a person suffering from aphasia?

Aphasia is a disorder that results from damage to areas of the brain that produce and process language. A person with aphasia can have trouble speaking, reading, writing, and understanding language. Impairment in these abilities can range from mild to very severe (nearly impossible to communicate in any form).

What brain damage causes aphasia?

Aphasia is caused by damage to one or more of the language areas of the brain. Many times, the cause of the brain injury is a stroke. A stroke occurs when blood is unable to reach a part of the brain. Brain cells die when they do not receive their normal supply of blood, which carries oxygen and important nutrients.

Does aphasia worsen with age?

Symptoms begin gradually, often before age 65, and worsen over time. People with primary progressive aphasia can lose the ability to speak and write and, eventually, to understand written or spoken language.

Can medications cause aphasia?

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).

Can you recover from aphasia?

Can You Recover From Aphasia? Yes. Aphasia is not always permanent, and in some cases, an individual who suffered from a stroke will completely recover without any treatment. This kind of turnaround is called spontaneous recovery and is most likely to occur in patients who had a transient ischemic attack (TIA).

What medications can cause aphasia?

What is it like living with aphasia?

Essentially, aphasia robs you of your language skills, taking your ability to read, write, or speak. Losing the ability to express yourself leaves you effectively locked inside your own head. It impairs your ability to meaningfully interact with others — an essential ingredient to quality of life.

Can aphasia be recovered?

Can a person with aphasia live alone?

Myth 1) Aphasia is a rare disorder. One in three stroke survivors will have aphasia (at least initially), and it’s estimated that more than 2.5 million people are living with aphasia in the US alone. More people have aphasia than Parkinson’s disease.

What medicine helps aphasia?

Dopamine agonists, piracetam (Nootropil), amphetamines, and more recently donepezil (Aricept), have been used in the treatment of aphasia in both the acute and chronic phase. The justification for the use of drugs in the treatment of aphasia is based on two types of evidence.