Can Cervical Spondylosis Cause Aphasias/Other REALLY Weird Stuff?

[Trace420]

Hi.

I've had a lot of weird stuff going on for about a dozen years or so. An MRI of my brain showed nothing abnormal. My doctor recently ordered a cervical spine MRI, and it also showed no lesions. It did, however, show that I have cervical spondylosis with "minimal" central canal stenosis at C4-C5, and "mild to moderate" neural foraminal  narrowing in a few spots.

I've been trying to read up on this, but I keep coming up with the same old symptoms lists - which fit, but only to a point.

Some of the stuff I haven't read about include semantic paraphasia (word switching, which I do a LOT) and muscle fasciculations. Is it possible that these things could be related to the spondylosis/stenosis/foraminal narrowing?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Oh! Also, I'm only 37 and have had no obvious injury that I can remember. These problems have been going on for about a dozen years, but have gotten really, really bad this year. Cervical spondylosis is usually age related; when not age related, it seems to be injury related. I was pretty athletic in general when I was in high school and college, though, so I was probably pretty rough on my joints.

[JCWHITE]

I was just diagnosed with cervical spondylosis and can relate with the Weird symptoms. I suffer from extreme sensitivity of my senses and nerve endings.  That creates a pulling electrical current that's very painful which rediates from my neck to arms or ears or up the brain.  Sounds, slight touch, light, or even a particular positions (like cutting toe nails) can cause the symptoms to Increase the pain level.  Normally, I will take a muscle relaxant will subside the pain.

[kay290]

I use Ambien when I need it and it works great for sleep. Yes, sleep deprivation is a bad thing indeed. I can't function without my sleep.

[Trace420]

Update!

Haha, I think I've got it figured out. (Hope so, anyway.)

I've been building up a sleep debt for years. Years. The more I've hurt, the less deeply I've slept. It takes me two-three hours to even fall asleep, and then I still feel half awake. I used to be able to at least take naps, but this year I've not really been able too. My muscles have usually just been too tight for me to get to sleep before I had to wake up.

Sleep deprivation can cause all kinds of cognitive issues! Attentions span problems, emotional lability, and aphasia-like language problems!

Awesome! I should have thought of it before, but I guess I was too sleep deprived to do so. :-)

My doctor has actually suggested a sleep study for me. I'll probably see if getting rid of these bone spurs helps first and then go ahead with that if I'm still such a ridiculously light sleeper.

Oh, and no, I haven't tried sleeping aids. Frankly, the possible side effects scare me too much (might have to rethink that, though). I have tried muscle relaxers, but they've never really helped - just left me awake but no good for anything.

[Trace420]

A lot of random stuff, but definitely words that are similar in concept, not sound. For instance, I'll say "McDonald's" instead of "Wal-mart," or "expensive" instead of "rich." I don't even notice it a lot of times; my husband says it happens anywhere from two to six times in the six hours or so we have together after we both get home from work and before we go to bed..

I don't know if my spinal cord would be compressed with "minimal" canal stenosis. I hope something's going on; sure would be nice to have an explanation!

Thanks for responding.

[kay290]

You don't say whether the MRI shows spinal cord compression. A neurosurgeon can look at the MRI and tell you that. Yes, fasiculations are a sign of compression. The word switching is unusual. I had slurred speech when I was having alot of weakness. The neck does affect the brain. I had dizziness. Google Cervical Myelopathy with speech problems and see what comes up.What specific word switching are you doing?