Saturday News

Contents of This Week Saturday News - September 26th / 2015

• Definition: Agraphia

Agraphia is an acquired neurological disorder causing a loss in the ability to communicate through writing, either due to some form of motor dysfunction or an inability to spell. The loss of writing ability may present with other language or neurological disorders; disorders appearing commonly with agraphia are alexia, aphasia, dysarthria, agnosia, and apraxia. A longer definition comes from Wikipedia.

• Video: Agraphia

         -- Severe Dysarthria and Agraphia
         -- Improvements in Severe Dysarthria and Agraphia
         -- Gerstmann Syndrome
         -- Neuro Exam ; Mental Status : Anatomy Parietal Lobes
         -- Agraphia and Alexia
         -- Agraphia
         -- "Pathophysiology", Agraphia

• Headline Blog: Agraphia
• Let it Bleed
• June Is National Aphasia Awareness Month
• Stroke Rehabilitation - Language

• Eclectic Stuff: Many articles from many Guest Bloggers about Stroke
• How to Cheer Up Stroke Victim
• It's My Hand Again
• Aging Gracefully, Dammit! aka I Can't Blame My Stroke on This One
• Walking in the Dark, Part 2
• The Ramblings of a CARER
• God is in The Neurons
• The Dangers of Being Consistently Inconsistent
• BOOYAH
• And the Answer to the Aspirin Question Is ...
• One-Handed Typing Blows

• Weekly Columnists
• Musing: Arm-Hand Stroke Exercises by Madfit
• Stroke Survival Sunday: It Has a Name! Agraphia
• Caregiver: And I've Been Up To ...
• Tadpole Update: Reported to September 25th
• Jester: The Phone Call
• TED Talks - Manuel Lima: A Visual History of Human Knowledge
• Rick Mercer Report: Rick and the Peace Tower Carillon
• Laid-Back Admin: No Post This Week

• Daily Comics: For Better Or For Worse, Dilbert, Mayes, Doonesbury

• Future Topics in SSTattler

Saturday News | Future Topic
--------------+------------------------------ 
Oct/24/2015   | Fish Oil (i.e. Omega-3)
Oct/17/2015   | Robotics for Stroke Survivors
Oct/10/2015   | Power Nap
Oct/03/2015   | Neuronal Death

Definition: Agraphia

Agraphia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SSTattler: In the first month or two after my stroke, I could not read or write. My favourite book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - it seem to be like Greek, Ζεν και η τέχνη της συντήρησης μοτοσικλετών, and I could not formulate/spelling the “weird” words  i.e. I had agraphia.

Agraphia is an acquired neurological disorder causing a loss in the ability to communicate through writing, either due to some form of motor dysfunction or an inability to spell. The loss of writing ability may present with other language or neurological disorders; disorders appearing commonly with agraphia are alexia, aphasia, dysarthria, agnosia, and apraxia. The study of individuals with agraphia may provide more information about the pathways involved in writing, both language related and motoric. Agraphia cannot be directly treated, but individuals can learn techniques to help regain and rehabilitate some of their previous writing abilities. These techniques differ depending on the type of agraphia.

Agraphia can be broadly divided into central and peripheral categories. Central agraphias typically involve language areas of the brain, causing difficulty spelling or with spontaneous communication, and are often accompanied by other language disorders. Peripheral agraphias usually target motor and visuospatial skills in addition to language and tend to involve motoric areas of the brain, causing difficulty in the movements associated with writing. Central agraphia may also be called aphasic agraphia as it involves areas of the brain whose major functions are connected to language and writing; peripheral agraphia may also be called nonaphasic agraphia as it involves areas of the brain whose functions are not directly connected to language and writing (typically motor areas).

The history of agraphia dates to the mid-fourteenth century, but it was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that it sparked significant clinical interest. Research in the twentieth century focused primary on aphasiology in patients with lesions from strokes.

Characteristics

Video: Agraphia

SSTattler: agraphia |əˈgrafɪə, eɪ-| - inability to write, as a language disorder resulting from brain damage.

Severe Dysarthria and Agraphia

Published on Mar 3, 2015

Tim describes his dad, Sam, as "his hero". He discusses the impact of Sam's stroke on their family's lives.


Standard YouTube License @ The Aphasia Centre

Headline Blog: Agraphia

Definition: Blog (noun). Add new material to or regularly update to a blog. (≃1990s: blog shortening of weblog)

Let it Bleed

Tim Seefeldt
Brain Food Cafe for the Mind

Posted April 5, 2015

This was a week of bad news.

I can’t get into what it was exactly. But it was that gut-wrenching stuff that first has you slip into denial, then into bargaining with higher powers, then finally, grudgingly and painfully into acceptance.

And, hopefully, into the kind of acceptance that comes with action. What I can do in this case can only help emotionally, it can’t specifically impact things one way or another, but still…

I want to write about the bad news. I did, actually, and then destroyed it because I can’t put it out there without betraying a confidence.

My mind is a fog and I can’t focus on my original plan for this week’s blog. Wasn’t it Ernest Hemmingway who wrote something like; “Writing is easy, you just sit down at the typewriter and bleed”?

So, I’ll follow Papa’s lead, and the Rolling Stone’s, too, and Let it Bleed.

When my mind was made mush five years ago by the stroke, it was devastating and almost too much to comprehend. Especially given that I was trying to comprehend using a faulty melon. But at least I could do something about it. Being faced now with circumstances that I can’t take direct action on is having a sizzling impact on my noggin.

It would be fascinating if it wasn’t so frustrating.

June Is National Aphasia Awareness Month

Grace Carpenter
My Happy Stroke

Friday, June 21, 2013

Here in Massachusetts, there will be the first Aphasia Awareness Day at the State House on Thursday, June 27. If you live in Massachusetts, please join us between 11am and 2pm to raise awareness about this communication disorder. The event will include information about resources for people who are living with aphasia and their families and friends. For more information, see Justice 4 Aphasia. Many thanks to Karen Kelly for making this happen.

This might be obvious, but I'll say it anyways: these kinds of events are important because so many people who have aphasia cannot speak (or write or read) for themselves--and people who can't speak for themselves can't get the services they desperately need.

For people who don't live in Massachusetts or can't join us at the State House, there is a growing number of online resources for people who are affected by aphasia. A good place to start is the National Aphasia Association and its directory of  support groups and centers that offer speech therapy and courses. Also, if you are on Facebook, there are also at least two pages that are great places to connect with other people who have aphasia and their caregivers: Aphasia Recovery Connection and Living Successfully With Aphasia (sorry, I don't know how to link to a Facebook page).

See the original article:

June Is National Aphasia Awareness Month

in

My Happy Stroke

Stroke Rehabilitation - Language

Richard L. Burns
Live or Die:
A Stroke of Good Luck

Friday, June 1, 2012

You're reading number Nine in this series examining the physical problems that stroke survivors must face and conquer as he or she progresses through recovery:  lost movement of body and limbs, lost skills of daily living, meeting the obligations of life.  Please note that we refer to "survivors," not "victims" and always remember that problems can really be opportunities.

Let's first discuss the problems of speaking and understanding language.  The medical tern is "aphasia."

At least one quarter of all stroke survivors experience some form of language impairment.  It may involve the the ability to speak, convey thoughts properly (the brain knows but communication with the mouth doesn't "sync." and the thoughts cannot be conveyed properly),  write or even understand the spoken or written language.  Damage to the left side of the brain (for right-handed individuals and even some left-handed) causes what is called "expressive aphasia" and the individual loses the ability to speak the words he/she is thinking and to put words together in a coherent manner  In contrast, damage to the language center in the rear of the brain results in "receptive aphasia" and people with this disorder have difficulty understanding written or spoken language and often have incoherent speech.  (they may have grammatically correct sentences but the words together are often devoid of any meaning. And the most severe form, called "global aphasia" represents damage to many areas of the brain and people with this complication lose all their abilities to understand language or convey any thoughts.

Sounds pretty awful and daunting but please take it from one who's been there (I guess I had all three):  I'm able to write this blog.  After time I taught and gave presentations and speeches.   Always remember, nothing is impossible if you have hope and the knowledge and willingness to take on one problem at a time, make it well and then move on to the next.

Eventually you'll make everything, and you, well.


Dick Burns
http://www.liveordieburns.com/

See the original article:

Stroke Rehabilitation - Language

in

Live or Die: A Stroke of Good Luck

Eclectic Stuff

Definition: Eclectic (noun). A person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources

How to Cheer Up Stroke Victim

Amy Shissler
MyCerebellarStrokeRecovery

September 17, 2015

The title of this post was a search term on my blog today.  ‘How to cheer up stroke victim.’  Ummm, I’m sure the person that wrote this is newly devastated but I’ve been dealing with this crap for nearly 5 years and I’m a bit jaded.  It’s wonderful that someone cared enough to search that.  I’m pretty sure that something like that was never searched for by the main players in my life on how to deal with me and interact with me.  You really can’t cheer the person up, maybe you can, I don’t know.  For me, I just wished I had died.  The most you can hope to do within those first couple of years after a brain injury is provide fleeting moments of joy through laughter, perhaps through Grumpy Cat pictures.  This was the case for me anyway.  Maybe there are other stroke survivors that didn’t badly want to be released by death from the hellish existence they were forced to live.  I did.  Does anyone else want to comment on how you may have been cheered up?  I couldn’t be cheered up.  I was in a deep, deep, deep depression and had lost any and all hope.  The fact that I was able to pull myself out of that is quite amazing.  It’s pretty much all up to the individual, I think.  You can suggest all kinds of things that you think would help, read my blog, read Dean’s blog for all kinds of suggestions.  But you can’t do anything for the person, you can only recommend stuff, and hope they oblige.

It's My Hand Again

Barb Polan
Barb’s Recovery

September 19 / 2015

Unlike most of my blog posts, this one is part rant and part brag. Sit tight, though – you’ll see (I’m hopeful I’ll show you) how they are related.

Long before having a stroke, I refused to listen to unsolicited advice. If I ask for advice, I’ll pay attention, but volunteer your opinion about what I’m doing, and I shut down. It’s not that I’m not open-minded, just that I spent a long time in my life trying to please everyone, and then I decided to stop. I think it was when I became a mother and I decided to parent my way despite all the voices of experience inundating me with the same shit I just wasn’t paying attention to the first time the person offered it.

Then I had a stroke; at that point, I asked many people for advice and took what little was offered to try to fit into my new circumstances. Again, though, I received appalling unsolicited advice.

One survivor hassled me via FaceBook to try Neuro-Aid – because it worked for her and would “definitely” work for me. Actually, she told me to ask my herbalist to concoct the equivalent for me using all-natural ingredients; and if I didn’t happen to have an herbalist, she could put me in touch with hers, who she was sure would be happy to provide me with it. Yes, I finally un-“friended” her.

I believe that stroke survivors who are actively working on recovery research their options, try them out, then select the ones they find work for them (or make them feel better in some way). We also set specific and concrete goals, sometimes with deadlines, sometimes without.

Aging Gracefully, Dammit! aka I Can't Blame My Stroke on This One

Joyce Hoffman
The Tales of a Stroke Patient

Sep 19, 2015

Sarah Jessica Parker was the sex columnist, Carrie, in the television show "Sex and the City" and Shania Twain is the rockin' Country star and Kevin James is the hilarious comedian, but what do they all have in common? They've all turned 50 years old, (emphasis on "old"). How did that happen? They were 40, and then, in the blink of the eye (from my perspective), they've probably lived longer to date than they're going to live in the future.

I count myself among them because, at the age of 67, I am going into the sunset of the rest of my years and a senior citizen, and I, too, passed the midway point of life.

I hired a new aide who's 24-years-old. We were talking about her mother who's 51. She was saying when her mother and she walked into a store or restaurant, everybody who didn't know them thought her mother was her sister.

"She really looks young," she said, "and people can't believe she's that old." Old? She thinks 51 is old? I let that go, didn't go rogue or anything.

I look younger than I am, too, so I asked the aide, who already knew my age--67--what other people would guess my age to be.

Walking in the Dark, Part 2

Rebecca Dutton
Home After a Stroke

September 16, 2015

I went to a great concert with a friend.  The old auditorium was beautiful.  However, we had to walk four blocks to the car in the dark.  The street lighting was so poor in certain sections that I could barely see the sidewalk.  The darkness was intensified by the low light of a new moon.  Decreased light is a fall hazard for me because my stroke damaged the bridge to the cerebellum (pons) that controls balance.  I learned I stay vertical by using my vision when I toured a huge Christmas light display with my brother three years ago.  This experience gave me the foresight to prevent a fall by asking my friend if I could put my sound hand on her shoulder as we walked.  When I maintain physical contact with an object that is vertical I know I am vertical.

The four block walk to the car was a wake-up call.  I have let my walking endurance decline so my hemiplegic (paralyzed) leg tired quickly.  I started scuffing my toe because I did not lift my leg high enough.  My walking improved when I handed my cane to my friend.  My hemiplegic hand can usually hold onto my cane while I drag the rubber tip on the ground - but not tonight.

Bottom Line:
      Once again I learned that mobility in the community = motor control + problem solving.

See the original article:

Walking in the Dark, Part 2

in

Home After a Stroke

The Ramblings of a CARER

Nick for Sas Freeman

September 7, 2015

My name is Nick and the love of my life, Sas Freeman had a stroke 5 years ago. When someone you love has a stroke, initially you, now the carer, may have one, two or more negative emotions – anger, disbelief, blame, (was it my fault), why me, need to leave, unable to cope, don’t need this, this is going to change/affect my life and I don’t want it too. All a bit self-centred I know, but believe me it happens and it tests the love you have for the survivor.

There were two challenges for me being a carer for a stroke survivor, the physical disability and the emotional change. The physical disability is the easy one to come to terms with, you can see it, the emotional one is much harder and requires patience, strength; resolve, thick skin, understanding, empathy, the ability to second guess what is needed/required at all times and a lot of love.

Initial Feelings and Challenges

Disbelief – seeing someone in hospital does not prepare the carer for when the stroke survivor returns home. Not knowing the limitations of the condition. So many questions, what can the survivor do? What will they be able to do in the future and when? What facilities/adaptions are available and how will they help?

God is in The Neurons

John C. Anderson
Stroke Survivors Tattler

Uploaded on May 17, 2011

SSTattler: About neurons & philosophy & medicine & disease (like stroke) & ... You have to see the YouTube below...! His site, I Power Project (Full soundtrack at Professor Kliq who did the amazing original soundtrack)!

Related links that can help in understanding God is in The Neurons (Neuroscience related):

• YouTube - Part 4 - Phantoms In The Brain (Episode 1)
• YouTube - Part 5 - Phantoms In The Brain (Episode 1)
• Where is consciousness?
• Joseph M. Carver, Ph.D. - Norepinephrine: From Arousal to Panic 
• Dharol Tankersley, C Jill Stowe, and Scott A Huettel - Brain Scan Predicts Difference Between Altruistic And Selfish People 
• New Scientist - Empathetic mirror neurons found in humans at last
• Dr. Christopher Reist - Psychiatry And The Brain
• John McManamy - Dopamine - Serotonin's Secret Weapon 
• Invalidation 
• YouTube - The Neuroscience of Emotions 
• How Our Brains Make Memories
• Alpha, beta, gamma - The language of brainwaves - life - 12 July 2010 - New Scientist
• TSN: Take the Neuron Express for a brief tour of consciousness
• LeDouxlab Web-AudioFearful_Brains
• Joseph LeDoux Can Memories Be Erased
• Zócalo Public Square :: Full Video
• When in doubt, shout -- why shaking someone's beliefs turns them into stronger advocates | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine
• The Brain: How The Brain Rewires Itself - TIME

Standard YouTube License @ AtheneWins

The Dangers of Being Consistently Inconsistent

Pamela Hsieh
StrokedUP

19 September, 2015

I have something to confess.

All these years I’ve been blogging, I’ve been doing it one-handed.

Stroked Up alone contains over 200 posts, and with a (low) estimated average of 500 words per post, that means I’ve written 10,000 words in front of you all with my right hand, alone. (We haven’t even touched any of the other blogs I’ve written for, or my memoir.)

And even though I know I’ve never outright claimed to do all my writing nowadays with both hands, it still feels a little misleading to me. As the face of the Stroked Up movement, I’m here to empower you. In order to do so, I need to reach out to you when I personally also feel empowered.

The truth is, the doctors were right about something: After my hemiparalysis, function would be the slowest to return to my affected hand.

Now, it has been 12 years since the stroke. I definitely haven’t heeded therapists’ orders and sat down to flip cards and coins or stick my hand in rice to pick out buttons every day in those 12 years. Actually, it hasn’t even been anything like once a week. I’ve been fortunate in that my hand does get daily stimulation just by virtue of being part of my body, so it hasn’t curled up and wasted away by any means.

BOOYAH

Diana Smith
Beyond Reality

September 15, 2015

I drove around a little after I dropped my son off at his group meeting. I saw an awesome halloween display on someones porch. I hope to get my lights up with a few decorations this year.

I had a real horror in my garbage can. A possum was in there yesterday, when I tipped the can over today with a rake it was still there. I left the garbage can sideways and took off. I was too scared to see if it was dead or alive…my son said it was alive yesterday. I want it to be scared of me and run off into the woods. I don’t think it did.

Tomorrow is a new day. It is warming up again. I am so glad I won’t have to wear socks for awhile. I am almost packed for my trip. I still need to clean my house. My house always needs cleaning.

I lost a few more pounds. I am starving right now. I ate dinner late so I should not be hungry at all. I went to the doctor today. I have to go back in two months after I do bloodwork and a chest xray. I was surprised they said chest xray. The receptionist said they are routine, every year. Huh, I don’t remember having one ever.

See the original article:

BOOYAH

in

Beyond Reality

And the Answer to the Aspirin Question Is ...

Jeff Porter
Stroke of Faith

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Photo from Open Knowledge via Flickr

Those who are trying to prevent a stroke might feel like a ping pong ball.

There's been a bit of back and forth about who should take an aspirin every day to prevent strokes or heart attacks. Now, it seems we're now told that adults in their 50s should take aspirin daily:

Updated guidelines issued by the US Preventive Services Task Force recommend daily low-dose aspirin for the prevention of heart attack and stroke among adults aged 50-59 who are at high risk for cardiovascular disease. ... 

While adults aged 60-69 may benefit from daily low-dose aspirin, the new guidelines conclude that the decision to take daily aspirin among this age group should be made based on the patient's individual circumstances. 

Contrary to the 2009 USPSTF guidelines, however, the new recommendations state there is currently insufficient evidence to suggest daily low-dose aspirin is beneficial for adults younger than 50 and older than 70.

As I've said before - before you start or stop taking aspirin, check with your health care provider!

See the original article:

And the Answer to the Aspirin Question Is ...

in

Stroke of Faith

One-Handed Typing Blows

Leslie
Living After Stroke

SSTattler: Lots of different typing/speaking in SSTattler:

• Sticky Keys & Keyboard Shortcut
• One-Hand Typing with Your Cell Phone
• Dragon Naturally Speaking
• Dvorak vs Qwerty
• One Handed Typing Options

Typing with one hand instead of two is frustrating. Not only does it take longer to respond to someone when texting or messaging but it often changes the context of what I’m trying to say.

Oh do I miss two-handed typing. I mean really really really miss it. Not like self-pity missing something sadness. It’s more like how I miss cooking with cheese since Danny discovered he had a dairy intolerance.

I still cook and eat yummy foods, just very limited cheese. We discovered coconut oil and other super delish products. Good came from it. But I still miss ooey-gooey cheese.

I still type. It’s just different. I know typing is such a silly thing to be sad about considering my total circumstances.

I was an amazing typist. My fingers did the thinking as they typed. They would type my thoughts before they were in the forefront of my mind.

When I first started typing again, the sentences were bizarre. It was as if every other word was missing.

Weekly Columnists

Definition: Columnist |ˈkäləmnist| (noun). A blogger or a journalist contributing regularly to a blog or newspaper

Musing: Arm-Hand Stroke Exercises by Madfit

Dean Reinke
Deans’ Stroke Musing

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Madfit has posted these on several stroke forums. They are so good they need to be distributed again. You won't get something like this from your therapist so since this is a non-medical source it is not worth listening to.

When you read these you can see that she covers the therapy needed for those muscles that still partially work, and goes to passive movement to neuroplastically get functions that were in the dead area moving again. She also worked on sensations which has been proven to help movement.

Here are the exercises:

1. Take your arm, and with the other hand massage the affected arm, trying to loosen the muscles. If you keep doing this, eventually it will loosen up. In rehab this method is called Miofacial Release. The therapist did for me and I continued to do it at home. It really worked on me. Ask at Rehab if they offer it.
2. Stengthen your whole arm including your fingers, by taking a plastic grocery bag and put a few groceries, adding more and more weight when you think you can. You'll be surprised, by carrying the bag with 2 or 3 fingers, you'll see how strong both the fingers and arm become and the muscles will loosen up.
3. With the affected hand, pull the fingers on the opposite hand, one at a time, and keep stretching them out. Stretch each joint on the finger, the 3 joints on every finger. I constantly did this. My hand used to be like a claw. You should see it now. I am even touch typing this note using every finger on both hands. It takes a strong will, perseverance and a lot of work.
4. Take the good hand and pull on the thumb stetching it, farther and farther from the index finger. After a while, you'll notice you can separate the thumb from the index finger until it is normal like your good hand.
5. Then when you have accomplished this, just try opening and closing the fingers, over and over until they become strong.
6. Use a tight springed clothes pin, and keep pressing it open, this will also give strength to the fingers.
7. Put some small type shaped pasta or marbles in a bowl and try picking one at a time up. This gives coordination.
8. Did they give you puddy in therapy? That was also good to build strength.
9. It's very important to do exercises all the time. Just relaxing in bed, sitting in a chair or anyplace. I even used to do this when someone took me by car shopping, after a while it will be instinctive. I can personally attest to these exercises helping.
10. Use the squeeze ball method to gain strength, while watching TV, in a car, etc.

Now I touch-type, that is using both hands and all fingers, I do everything with the affected hand. The only thing I cannot do well is write. The precise coordination which is needed in the wrist I still don't have for writing. It takes alot of hard work, a strong will, and dedication every day, as well as prayers. But it does work.

I had a pretty bad stroke in October 2002, when I was 55 years old with a good job. I was totally paralyzed on my right side (leg and arm). I had about 3 months in-patient therapy, and 2 months outpatient therapy. Eventually went home in a wheelchair.

I was told I probably would walk eventually with a cane, but several doctors told me I would never have function of my right arm and hand. I told them I don't accept their prognosis. I might add that I am a right-handed person, so that made it even worse. I had to learn to write and do things with my left hand.

Hope this helps you! Good luck.

See the original article:

Arm-Hand Stroke Exercises by Madfit

in

Deans' Stroke Musing