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429949 tn?1224691579

Parietal Lobe Syndromes, vision and other disfunction!

Shortly after the attack I had in April 2006, I experienced some pretty wierd symptoms along with the acute ON symptoms that I had. One week after, while in the hospital I had problems with getting dressed. Not because that I had limb or body weakness, but because I could not figure out how the garments went on my body. I would turn them around and around trying to figure out how to put on my clothes

Later in the next several weeks I noticed that I could no longer fold laundry correctly. I could not position the clothes in the right way to get them folded and could not make a straight stack once they were folded. I would keep spinning the top garment trying to figure out when it was straight on the stack

This happened again while making a sandwitch. spinning the top piece of bread not being able to figure out when the top piece lined up with the bottm piece. Also I noticed that I was unable to tell the right from left of things. Another one was when my 6 year old came home with math homework, I seemed to have forgotten the most basic mathematical skills learned in grade school, eventhough I have completed one and a half years of college and have done Algebra and other complicated math problems.

One other thing that was one of my main problems was controling  my visual gaze. I could not keep my focus on an object without losing control of the gaze. These are things that have never been explained to me by my neuro or optho. So I have been studing for a while to try to find out what could cause these things to happen in the brain. The answers to these questions seem to keep coming back to the Parietal and occitipal lobes in the brain. I have lesions in these two areas and also the Corpus Collosum. I found two different syndromes that seem to match these symptoms that I have experienced.

1. Gerstmann's Syndrome, which consist of these four symptoms:

    Right-left confusion

    Agraphia ( difficulty with writing)

    Acalculia ( difficulty with mathematics)
    
    Finger Agnosia (inability to recognize and name ones own individual finger or those of others)

    Can also  produce:

    Aphasia( disorders of language

  
    Agnosia ( the inability to preceive objects normally)




2. Balint's    Visual Attention and Motor Syndrome:  characterized by:

    Ocular Apraxia ( the inability to voluntarily control the gaze)

    Simultanagnosia ( the inability to intergrate components of a visual scene

    Optic Ataxia ( the inability to accurately reach for an object with visual guidance)


These are just a couple of the symptoms and syndromes that can be caused by just these two areas of the brain. I am listing the web pages which tell a lot of other areas of the brain and the disfunction that lesions or damage to the different areas can cause.  I though it might help some others here to finally understand where and why they have unexplained symptoms in different areas of the body and in functioning!  I decided to share it because of the post about difficulty visually in the grocery store! Hope it helps some of you!

From  Rice University
          Langbrain

Parietal Lobe Assessment
http://www.neurosurvival.ca/ClinicalAssistant/Examinations/parietal%20lobe/parietal_lobe_testing.htm



TBI Resource Guide
CNS Centre for neuro skills

Parietal Lobe Function

http://www.neuroskills.com/tbi/bparieta.shtrnl


~Santana~



    

    



  

    
8 Responses
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147426 tn?1317265632
Hey, there, your guess is as good as mine where neuroanatomy is concerned.  Your analysis seems valid.  

Yes, contralateral means "the other side."

Quix
Helpful - 0
429949 tn?1224691579
The right left confusion, the dressing apraxia, the inability to control my gaze and of course the inferior Harmonious quadrantopsia(visual field defect were the most dominant of the symptoms I had and still have to some degree!

I also have some cognitive damage with thinking, concentrating, multitasking, ect...
The brain is such a complex organ that even the doctors don't understand everything about! But I decided that when I am in thier office and they start talking about all of the neurological things, test,ect..., that I wanted to at least have a general idea of what they were talking about, I read and try to learn as much as I can. This helps me to stay with them when they are discussing my health and also gives me some control over my own care.

~Santana~
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that if you haven't asked for a neuro-psych exam yet, do so.  It will give you an idea of which bits aren't working right, and will help your doctor.

http://subtlebraininjury.com/neuropsychology3.html
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
Hey, Santana - take a look at this page.  It's got a list of brain structures, and some common problems associated with damage in those areas.

http://www.waiting.com/brainfunction.html

During my flare in March 07, I had a lot of cognitive problems, which I've decided were because of the punctate lesions in my right parietal.  I've had some loss of my problem-solving ability, as well as vocabulary and attention/listening skills.  

And evidently I've got a bit of agnosia, as well!  I wondered what was going on - I can look at a person, and know who they are, but I'll call them by the wrong name.  It's especially bad when I'm tired or just woken up from a nap.  This also happens with objects.  I went and looked it up - here's the wiki article, with full description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosia
Helpful - 0
429949 tn?1224691579
Forgot something earlier!  I will blame it on cog Fog, lol!
Quix, If you do get the chance to read this I am wondering what you think about Balian's syndrome. It says if you have bilateral lesions on each side on the Parietal lobes that it can cause this syndrome, And I do have bilateral Parietal lesions, larger on the left.

I also read on the graph that deep lesions of the radiations on either of the Parietal lobes could cause a contralateral visual field defect called an inferior quadrantopsia, and this is the exact visual field defect that I have. Does contralateral mean on the opposite side of the lesion? If that is what it means then that would make sense for me because I have lesions on both sides and the visual field defect is harmonious(meaning on both sides of the vision field). Just wondering what you think about this maybe being the cause of my visual field defect!

~Santana~
Helpful - 0
429949 tn?1224691579
You're  welcome, there was too much for me to try to explain it all, so I figured everyone could read about the specific problems that they have too!  I find sites like this all the time, usually by googling  the symptoms or disfunction I am having and then also putting in brain lesions.

As you can see, each small area of the brain can cause distinct and different symptoms. The problem I had with dressing I think might be called dressing apraxia and it too is caused by Parietal lesions. Most of these that fit with my symptoms are caused by left Parietal lesions. The left Parietal and Occitipal lobes are where the bigger lesions are in my brain, and I believe this is why I had these weird and unusual symptoms.

The Parietal, Occitipal, and Corpus Collosum can have a lot to do with vision and orientation which have been my main problems. I plan to copy this info for my next neuro appointment and then ask him if he thinks I have any of these syndromes, and maybe what the possible prognosis may be if I do!

~Santana~
Helpful - 0
230625 tn?1216761064
Thanks for posting these!

Take care, Pat :)
Helpful - 0
147426 tn?1317265632
Wow!  this is interesting and stuff I never heard about.  I'll be checking out these sites.

Thank you!!

Quix
Helpful - 0
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