Hello,
I am a relatively healthy and in shape 27 year old male. I teach high school English, and had a incident recently occur at work this past Thursday. I was teaching a class when I suddenly was unable to pronounce any words. I felt the side of my mouth sagging, and also felt extremely weak and dizzy. I left my class suddenly to go to the restroom and regain my composure. I then came back in the class, and was still unable to speak properly. Obviously.. I was thinking "stroke" at this point. I left the class again, and found the school nurse, who took my blood pressure and found it to be very high (I forget the exact reading). It was decided that I should go to the ER, and I didn't think I could drive, so a colleague took me.
Long story short... upon arrival at the ER was given a variety of tests to see if my life was in danger, and whether or not I was having a stroke. The immediate physical tests, and CT scans in the ER seemed to show that I did not have a stroke.
When I spoke with the doctor I told him that I had been undergoing a great deal of stress lately. I am a first year teacher at an urban school for at risk youth, and have been fairly stressed from the nature of the job. I also had not been sleeping too well. I had significant difficulty speaking with the doctors in the ER, but it seemed to come and go, so that at one point i was able to converse naturally. In short.. it was very strange and disorienting.
That night I was admitted to the hospital and had an MRI done to show more detail. The MRI also came back all clear. I spoke to a number of people on the phone that night, and my speech was seeming to improve, even back to normal at times. However after I woke up the next day, my speech had seemed to regress to being very slurred. I also could not move parts of the left side of my face.
After all the neurology tests (and a EKG heart exam) all came back normal, the doctor basically told me that I did not have a stroke, and everything seemed neurologically and physically normal with me. It was suggested that my symptoms were possibly due to anxiety and stress. The doctor referred me to a psychiatrist and speech therapist, and wrote prescriptions for anti-anxiety meds.
It is now Saturday (2 days later) and my speech has not improved at all. I can positively say that my slurred speech is due to the one side of my mouth/face not functioning properly. I am basically speaking out of the side of my mouth now, and not able to fully form or enunciate words.
I acknowledge that the stressful conditions that I was working and living in could have been very conducive to some type of extreme panic/anxiety attack, and I know that the brain can do crazy things to the body. Yet, I am having a very difficult time accepting my diagnosis. The fact that some of my facial muscles are not responding makes me feel like it is an organic problem rather than a mental one.
Does anyone else have any experience with similar symptoms? Could a severe panic attack result in slurred speech/weakened facial muscles, that last for sometimes after to incident? I am not able to work in my current condition, since I speak all day long for a living. I am hoping this will get better soon. Any advice or input is greatly appreciated. Thank you.