New Symptoms - Confusion related

[LornaDoone]

My pals has a few new symptoms I've noticed.

She does have classic EL in that she laughs inappropriately at times.

However, she also gets irritable more easily. She has always been a bit of a drama queen though. She is now complaining on not being able to find the right word to say. Has to think harder. She also gets confused much easier and loses track of conversations.

Does this mean anything to you guys?

 

[LizT]

I cant comment on the dimentia aspect, but I do know that alot of PALS without dimentia have some concentration issues- like shorter attention spans. Irritability can be part of EL as well, but also depression and also dimentia (but not all by itself).
I can hardly ever find the right words myself...
Sorry. This probably didnt help at all.

 

[Katie C]

It could be depression. It could be beginning signs of dementia. I would keep a written record of what you're noticing.. time of day, more before or after meals, etc. Then definitly consult the neuro about it.

 

[Jellycat]

Yes. This rings bells with me. My pals has difficulty with spelling, finding words and lately stringing a sentence together. Takes about 30m to get a simple sentence together on her speech machine. She has bulbar als & I've been told by her speech therapist that some cognitive changes around thinking & concentration are to be expected at her stage of progression. No particular irritability with her. She's very lucid about what's happening & hates it. Researched it & found out a small percentage of bulbar folks get this symptom which may progress or may just stop at what we've got.

All that said if it's come on suddenly perhaps it's something else in your case. Has she started on any new medication lately? Is the difficulty with words all the time or only when fatique sets in? I would think keeping note of what's happening & chatting to your neuro might shed light on the situation. Good luck.