Unknown Speech Disorder 27 year old male

[Coledg]

I’M I THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD THAT CAN WRITE DOWN WHAT I WANT TO SAY AND SAY IT, BUT CAN’T TALK.

I was poisoned with heavy metals at my job where my symptoms were stroke-like. One key symptom was that I developed a terrible stutter that lead to complete loss of the ablity to speak due to severe spasms of the vocal cords.

I was taken to the hospital were my CT scan and MRI were both clear. Not clear if heavy metals show on the scans

My diagnosis as we speak right now by my Earth Metals Specialist MD is that I have Aphasia due to heavy metal poisoning, that’s what my medical form says. With That MD I’m doing kelation therapy there; however this is almost two years after the accident.

My certified speech language pathologist after a year of visiting has no idea what I have, but at the end was treating me for Adductor spasmodic dysphonia, and tells me there’s no way I have Aphasia because I’m able to write.

I was transferred to the SLP after I was appointed to the Stuttering Center, where they had no idea what I had.

I’ve been told by a doctor I have a psychosomatic disorder. I've been told everything.

I’ve had a work up at the neurophysiology center at the major hospital in my area, they have no idea because my cognitive processing abilities are in the 95th percentile and if the problem was chemically related that would have been lowed apparently (test was done after I recovered from the stroke-like symptoms now just having the speech disorder - 6 months after).

I’m 27 years old. University educated and used to be a university athlete, with a history of concussions. Right now I work as a carpenter. Married, and excepting a baby

My symptoms are now after I recovered from the accident is:

No spontaneous speech, sounds like a severe stutter
Able to repeat only a certain length though, lenght of my working memory
Able to recall rote speech
Able to sing
Able to produce short comprehensible sentences if I have the time to plan out the order and pitch, takes a while
Can mouth everything I want to say. But as soon as I add sound no speech all garbled.

I’M I THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD THAT CAN WRITE DOWN WHAT I WANT TO SAY AND SAY IT, BUT CAN’T TALK.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
Inability to speak spontaneously is also a type of aphasia. The symptoms of aphasia depend on the region of brain involved and the extent of damage. So you may be able to read, write, sing etc but not speak spontaneously. The sad part is that there is no successful treatment for any kind of aphasia. Still discuss with a psychotherapist, speech therapist and neurologist. Take care!

[RockRose]

This is very interesting,  coledg.

I don't believe,  though,  that you're the only person who can write down what you want to say and then say it,  but you can't talk otherwise.   What you are describing is not terribly unusual in people with severe stuttering (disfluency).  

I think there are  many others like you.  I have known people with severe dysfluency (stuttering) who can sing,  or read aloud,  but have extreme difficulty with fluid,  unplanned discussions - to the point they can't carry on conversations.

I also don't think your stuttering is due to damage to your vocal chords.  What you are describing is  a brain injury,  not injured vocal chords.  If you were stuttering due to vocal chord injuries,  you wouldn't be able to sing or read what you've written.    Your vocal chords sounds completely fine.

Stuttering commonly occurs in adults after a TBI.  This is really something a cognitive therapist who specializes in adults with brain injury could help you most with.

Have they actually tested your blood to determine that you did in fact have an exposure to a toxic heavy metal?  Which one or ones,  do you recall?

You're obviously otherwise functioning at a normal level.  You're married,  have a baby on the way,  can write and think clearly,  and are working in a physically demanding job.

At your young age I think there is real hope that you will be able to advance and recover some more of your speech with the right therapist.

Best wishes.