Dysarthria, a disorder of the nervous system that affects the muscles that function to speak

Dysarthria is a disorder of the nervous system that affects the muscles that function to speak. This causes speech disorders in sufferers. Dysarthria does not affect the intelligence or level of understanding of the sufferer, but it still does not rule out the possibility of sufferers of this condition have a disorder in both cases.

Dysarthria Symptoms

Some symptoms that are commonly felt by people with dysarthria are:

Hoarseness or nasal voice

Monotonous tone of voice

Unusual rhythm of speech

Speak too fast or speak slowly

Not able to speak at loud volumes, or instead speak at too slow a volume.

Slurred speech

Difficulty moving the tongue or facial muscles

Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia), which can cause uncontrollable salivation

Causes of dysarthria

Patients with dysarthria have difficulty controlling their speaking muscles, because the part of the brain and nerves that control the movements of these muscles do not function normally. Some medical conditions that can cause these disorders are:

Head injury

Brain infection

Brain tumor

Stroke

Guillain-Barre syndrome

Huntington's Disease

Wilson's disease

Parkinson's disease

Lyme disease

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease

Muscular dystrophy

Myasthenia gravis

Multiple sclerosis

Cerebral palsy

Bell’s palsy

Injury to the tongue

Drug abuse.

In general, based on the location of the damage that causes dysarthria, this condition can be divided into several types, namely:

Spastic dysarthria. This is the most common type of dysarthria. Spastic dysarthria is caused damage to the cerebrum. Most often, the damage is caused by severe head injury.

Ataxic dysarthria. Ataxic dysarthria arises in a person due to the presence of the cerebellum, such as inflammation, which regulates speech.

Hypokinetic dysarthria. Hypokinetic dysarthria results from damage in a part of the brain implanted in the basal ganglia. One example of a disease that causes hypokinetic dysarthria is Parkinson's disease.

Dysarthria is dyskinetic and dystonic. This dysarthria arises due to abnormalities in muscle cells that play a role in the ability to speak. An example of this type of dysarthria is Huntington's disease.

Flaxid dysarthria. Flaxid dysarthria results from damage to the brain stem or nerve endings. This dysarthria appears in patients with Lou Gehrig's disease or tumors of the peripheral nerves. In addition, people with myasthenia gravis can also experience flaxid dysarthria.

Mixed dysarthria. This is a condition when a person suffers from several types of dysarthria at once. Mixed dysarthria can occur due to damage to widespread nerve tissue, such as severe head injury, encephalitis, or stroke.

Diagnosis of Dystria

The doctor identifies the clinical symptoms and signs experienced by the patient as an initial step in diagnosis.

The doctor will evaluate the ability to speak and determine the type of dysarthria, by checking the muscle strength of the lips, tongue, and jaw when the patient is talking. Patients will be asked to do several activities, such as:

Blowing the candle

Counting numbers

Make a variety of sounds

Sing

Sticking her tongue out

Reading writing.

The doctor will also conduct a neuropsychological examination, which is a test that will measure thinking ability, as well as understanding of words, reading, and writing.

Furthermore, some tests that doctors usually do to find out the cause of dysarthria are:

Imaging tests, such as MRI or CT scans, to get detailed images of the patient's brain, head and neck. This helps the doctor identify the patient's speech disorder.

Urine and blood tests, to identify the presence of infection or inflammation.

Lumbar puncture. The doctor will take a sample of brain fluid for further investigation in the laboratory.

Brain biopsy. This method will be done if there is a tumor in the brain. The doctor will take a sample of the patient's brain tissue to be seen under a microscope.

Dysarthria Treatment

Treatment that will be undertaken by patients with dysarthria is distinguished based on several factors, namely the cause, the severity of symptoms, and the type of dysarthria suffered.

The focus of dysarthria treatment is to overcome the cause, for example if it is caused by a tumor, the patient will undergo surgery to remove the tumor, according to doctor's instructions.

Dysarthria patients can undergo therapy to improve their ability to speak, so they can communicate better. Therapy undertaken by the patient will be adjusted to the type and severity of dysarthria, such as:

Therapy to slow down the ability to speak

Therapy to speak louder

Therapy to speak with clearer words and sentences

Therapy to train the mouth muscles stronger

Therapy to improve the movement of the tongue and lips

In addition to improving speaking skills, other alternatives to improve communication, patients can be trained to use sign language.

To help communication, some things that patients with dysarthria can do, include:

Say one topic before explaining the whole sentence so the other person knows what topic is being discussed.

Do not talk too much when you are tired, because a tired body will make the conversation difficult to understand.

Ask the other person to make sure that the other person really understands what you are saying.

Speak more slowly and pause, so the conversation becomes clear.

Help the conversation by pointing objects, drawing, or writing.

Complications of dysarthria

Dysria patients can experience quality of life disorders due to suffering from this condition, such as experiencing changes in personality, disruption in social interactions, and emotional disturbances due to the difficulty of communicating with others. In addition, communication disorders can cause dysarthria sufferers to feel isolated and tend to get a bad stigma in the surrounding environment.

This is no exception in children. Difficulty communicating in children can cause children to experience frustration, as well as emotional and behavioral changes. Education and character development of children can be affected due to these things, so that children's social interaction can experience obstacles, especially when the child develops into adulthood.

To avoid this, dysarthria sufferers, both adults and children, need support from family and close people to maintain quality of life and communicate well with the surrounding environment.

Prevention of dysarthria

Although the causes of dysarthria are quite diverse, several types of causes of dysarthria can be prevented by healthy habits and lifestyles, such as:

Exercise regularly

Limit consumption of alcoholic drinks

Do not take drugs without a prescription from a doctor

Eat more fruits and vegetables

Quit smoking

Subscribe to receive free email updates: