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Gracie

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Oct 28, 2007
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Diagnosis
09/2007
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US
State
PA
City
Altoona
My husband was diagnosed with PLS 5yrs. ago. He had all the tests that they put one through and he had a brain MRI at that time. His symptoms started in his right leg with his knee kicking back when he walked. Since then he has weakness in both legs, clonus in both feet, weakness in both his arms and hands. He has lost the fine motor movements in his hands. Slight incontinence (I think because he can't get to the bathroom fast enough) as his mobility is terrible but still manages to walk with 2 canes. In the past several months he has almost lost his speaking ability and he coughs a lot. He slurrs his words so bad that he is hard to understand. His neuro ordered a new MRI last week and this is the results. No strokes or tumors in the brain. Brain Atrophy is present. I read up on this and it states that he could be a candidate for dementia and epilepsy. Does anyone else have Brain Atrophy? I figured the worst would happen with his progression but I never expected dementia. Isn't it enough that you lose your partner to this disease because of the physical losses but for them to also get dementia and not know you is so difficult for me to wrap my head around after 46yrs of marriage. Any help would be appreciated:(
 
Unfortunately, 40% of PLSers tested showed at least some sign of front temporal lobe cognitive impairment. FTD is rare but not unheard of in PLSers. It must be hard to hear. Sometimes I think living with these diseases is easier than being the people who love us in the midst of them.

For what it's worth, I've found the edge of that cognitive impairment that I experience is held at bay by Provigil. I don't know if that is because fatigue exascerbates it, if it is a happy side effect, or if what the drug does actually helps that region.
 
Hi gracie,i have had declining cognitive dysfunction for some years and as beckie said its due to front temporal lobe.
I have found some bits of information to help.

Firstly how umn's work in the brain and where they are shows how it can effect cognitive function.........

The somas of upper motor neurons reside in the brain, where they control the activity of lower motor neurons. Second-order motor neurons can be distinguished from higher-order motor neurons. Second-order motor neurons are upper motor neurons whose cell bodies reside primarily in the precentral gyrus or the primary motor cortex of the frontal lobe. They send fibers that directly connect to lower motor neurons in the brain stem that innervate the muscles of the face, pharynx, and larynx or to lower motor neurons in the spinal cord that innervate the limb, trunk, and respiratory muscles.

Third- and higher-order motor neurons are located in the frontal lobes of the brain anterior to the precentral gyrus (ie, the prefrontal cortex). These neurons are involved in planning and organizing motor activity and direct the second-order motor neurons. The somas of these third- and higher-order motor neurons reside in the brain, and their axons form associative or commissural projections within the brain.

This article is good ....
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...QWhsYGYDA&ved=0CFQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
It puts you on page 186,you need to scroll back up a few pages for the pls section.
Hope this info helps.
 
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Yikes - something else to worry about. I was unaware that brain atrophy was that prevalent with PLS. Good information--something to discuss with my neuro.
 
I found p183 "oral and written language" very intresting.
I could read before i started school,always excelled in english lit and was a good speller.
Now i find spelling a problem,finding words but substituting them with others is something i have found i ofton do.............being tired ,more pain or more imobile i have noticed effects this.
Now i know why,very intresting article.
 
I have bumped my head several times with a mild concussion recently; I fear that this may affect my cognictive abilities (like spelling).

But hey, I will never know...lol.
 
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