Aphasia is a language disorder that affects how you communicate. It is caused by damage to the language centres of the brain, usually in the left side of the brain, that control understanding, speaking, and using signed languages. It is most often caused by a stroke. However, any change to the brain can cause aphasia. This may include traumatic brain injury. Other causes may include brain infections, brain tumours, and other brain disorders that may worsen over time. If the brain damage is mild, it's possible to recover language skills without treatment. However, most people undergo speech and language therapy to rehabilitate their language skills and supplement their communication experiences. Researchers are investigating the use of medications, alone or in combination with speech therapy, to help people with aphasia.
Treatment
The recommended treatment for aphasia is usually speech and language therapy. Sometimes aphasia improves on its own without treatment. Having aphasia does not make you less smart or cause problems with the way you think. However, it may affect your ability to communicate your thoughts easily.
Aphasia may also make it hard for you to understand, read, or write. It affects people in different ways, and no two people will have the same changes or recovery. The severity and recovery of aphasia depend on a number of things—including the cause, the extent of damage to the brain, family support, and treatment. A speech-language pathologist (SLP) can complete a comprehensive language assessment to confirm the presence of aphasia and determine the appropriate course of language treatment.
Read and write Speech and language rehabilitation recovery of language skills is usually a slow process. Although most people make significant progress, few people regain full pre-injury communication levels. Speech and language therapy aims to improve the ability to communicate. The therapy helps by restoring as much language as possible, teaching how to make up for lost language skills and finding other methods of communicating. Therapy:
What to do
● Carry a card explaining that you have aphasia and what aphasia is
● Carry identification and information on how to contact significant others
● Carry a pencil and a small pad of paper with you at all times
● Use drawings, diagrams or photos as shortcuts
● Use gestures or point to objects
There is no medicine for aphasia, even though drugs are being studied for the treatment of aphasia. These include drugs that may improve blood flow to the brain, enhance the brain's recovery ability or help replace depleted chemicals in the brain (neurotransmitters). But more research is needed before these treatments can be recommended.
Alternate therapy
However, one can safely try acupressure as an alternative source of healing. Stimulate the acupressure points (see figure). You can also paste yellow side of Byol magnets on Meridian points H 5, CV 23, and K 6. The point CV 23 eases the throat and promotes speech. It resolves phlegm and opens the orifices. The point H 5 of the heart meridian controls the tongue and speech, while K 6 benefits the throat. Therefore, sedate all the three meridian points and the problem will be resolved slowly.
(For more treatments, visit the website artofselfhealing.in)
