Know the Effects of MS on Speech and Articulation

With the high number of health risks affecting people nowadays, it is important to keep yourself informed. This goes especially with types that have great impact on your daily living such as multiple sclerosis.

This ailment mostly affects communication and speech. Therefore, it is important to be on the lookout for the most obvious symptom, which is trouble with speaking. When this happens, it is an indication that parts of the brain are damaged. As a result, there are changes in the person's normal language patterns, wherein mild cases involve slurring while severe conditions entail talking complications.

In order to have basic knowledge over the causes of articulation difficulty brought about by MS, you have to learn the two types of speech problems. These are:

Dysarthria - this is considered the most common form, wherein the damage is found on the brainstem - a posterior area of the brain that connects the gray matter to the spinal cord. Since this part is responsible for controlling language, an injury can lead to long pauses between syllables or words. Sometimes, it may result to trouble with pitch and resonance control or slow and slurred communication.

Dysphasia - this is a rare kind of medical condition and it is further divided into subcategories - receptive and expressive. The first refers to tough comprehension over the MS patient's own words while the second subcategory refers to difficulty in enunciation or remembering vocabulary.