Paraphasic errors - mixing up my words-help

11-27-2019, 11:51 AM

Hello,
I'm new to this board. I am 49 and saw a neurologist this past summer for some problems I have been having. I performed low on the boston naming test but that's it. They told me to come back in six months. One of my most worrisome problems is that I am making errors in my speech. Like saying "seafish" instead of "seahorse." The errors suddenly increased a couple weeks ago. At the same time, I noticed my life long depression was suddenly bad. I was counting $20 bills the other day. I counted 20 of them and thought it was $2000 and of course it was only $400. I feel generally "off" and fuzzy. I have Sleep REM behavior disorder so risk of Parkinson's. I am terrified that I am getting dementia. Maybe PPA. Does anyone make language/speech errors like this? Could this be depression or just being tired and stressed? I feel like I suddenly have ADHD. I am constantly worried and looking up information and can't find anything helpful. Thank you.

11-27-2019, 11:59 AM

Hello,
I am a 49 year old woman who has been slowly having cognitive difficulties. Everything stresses me out and feels overwhelming. I have a lot of stress in my life and depression and anxiety disorders. I have REM sleep behavior disorder and worry about Parkinson's some day.
This past summer I decided to see a neurologist for some memory concerns and language/speech errors. I started making a few paraphasic errors like saying "Seafish" instead of "Seahorse" and mispronouncing words even in my head while reading. The tests were all ok except I scored low on a naming test. I missed a point on the MOCA for visiospatial, too. However, I hadn't slept the night before b/c of depression and worry. It's three months later and I started feeling really depressed. I noticed I was suddenly making more speech errors again like never before. Blending words, mispronouncing, etc. I also counted some money totally incorrectly. I feel cognitively slow. Am I getting dementia? Has anyone else experienced these things and it was just stress or sleep or something? I am constantly worried. I don't feel like this is normal but I know I am on the younger side for some dementias. Thank you.

11-28-2019, 07:06 AM

Stressing over what "might' be going on indeed can create the very symptoms you are worrying about. I am 70. Recently my family made a huge life change that of course produced a huge amount of stress that caused me some confusion.

I can tell you that stressing out only makes memory and cognition worse. But life-long depression is not helping you any. Nothing is worth ruining your peace and enjoyment of life.

Really, we all need hope and something to live for. Laugh at the silly mistakes, hon. Those things are common to everyone whether they admit it or not. Big deal. Don't make more of it than it is. Find some things to enjoy and get peace back in your life. It is the healthy thing to do.

An unhealthy outlook is well....unhealthy. So stop it.
Not saying it's easy to change our own mind.
I am saying you can choose what you dwell on.

11-28-2019, 09:52 AM

Hi YaYa,

Thank you for the reply! I know you are right. I long for peace of mind. I'm a single mom and my son is 20. He has some challenges and I worry about leaving him before he's ready. I've cause my own problems in a lot of ways. Wish I could go back in time so that now I'd be healthier! But that won't happen, lol. Dementia is just so scary to me b/c it's like you can have it and not really know for awhile. I just want my son to be okay.

Thanks again for the uplifting message!!

Peace for me :-)

Paraphasic errors - mixing up my words-help

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