Primary Progressive Aphasia

Watching a male friend die with this diagnosis. He has been moved to hospice. He is snoring heavily. I asked his wife if he always snored. She said he has snored heavily for years.

I don't think she has any idea that snoring is a symptom of sleep apnea. I wonder if the diagnosis is a missing of the real problem - obstructive sleep apnea???

Tears.

I usually associate Aphasia with strokes.

Sleep apnea can lead to heart problems so it is possible there is a link.

Pulse oximetry may be a reasonable first step.

HoseCrusher wrote:I usually associate Aphasia with strokes.

Not according to Mayo Clinic website:

Primary progressive aphasia is caused by a shrinking (atrophy) of the frontal and temporal lobes in the brain, primarily on the left side of the brain. Primary progressive aphasia affects the language center in your brain. Scar tissue and abnormal proteins also may be present, and brain activity is often reduced.

When I see "scar tissue" and "atrophy", I am reminded of the UCLA scans of apnea patients.

Huh? wrote: I wonder if the diagnosis is a missing of the real problem - obstructive sleep apnea???

It certainly could be, given the heavy snoring reported.

Perhaps progressive aphasia is different from aphasia. I only know 2 people that suffered from aphasia and both suffered that condition as a result of a stroke.

The Mayo explanation seems to be more related to dementia and or Alzheimers.

And 'Primary' does usually mean a condition has originated on its own, not as an offshoot of something else... e.g. a primary tumor (anywhere) vs metasases.

HoseCrusher wrote:The Mayo explanation seems to be more related to dementia and or Alzheimers.

Well yes, that is the point. It is a type of dementia.

Julie wrote:And 'Primary' does usually mean a condition has originated on its own, not as an offshoot of something else... e.g. a primary tumor (anywhere) vs metasases.

Again yes, but they called it primary because they failed for years to recognize and treat his sleep apnea.

To put a "fine point" on this...

Julie's interpretation of "primary" seems to discount that the cause was sleep apnea...

If untreated sleep apnea was the cause then the diagnosis would be something like secondary progressive aphasia.

OK, now the original post makes more sense now.

The question is can this be reversed like the stroke induced aphasia has been in some cases. I still think a pulse oximetry study could shed some light on this.

I did not discount anything because it is unclear if the cause IS apnea, and I use the word primary exactly as doctors use it, from long experience of working with them and seeing test/lab results.

HoseCrusher wrote:Julie's interpretation of "primary" seems to discount that the cause was sleep apnea...

If untreated sleep apnea was the cause then the diagnosis would be something like secondary progressive aphasia.

Just to keep things in order, let's remember that no one has identified sleep apnea as a cause of the poor fellow's aphasia.

But some of us have a strong suspicion.

It appears that the "current state" of medicine doesn't consider sleep apnea as a possible cause. A strong suspicion would get a little more consideration if it had a little anecdotal evidence to offer some support...

We already know that untreated apnea can lead to dementia.

The "current state of medicine" often fails to look at underlying causes because the focus is treatment of symptoms. Aphasia in this case is a symptom of cerebral atrophy in the speech center of the brain. The symptom of aphasia may be "primary" because it's the first symptom recognized, but aphasia itself does not cause cerebral atrophy and lead to death any more than coughing causes smoking.

Oxygen deprivation is a good possibility, metabolic dysfunction too. But conventional medicine does not look for zebras in horse country.

Janknitz wrote:but aphasia itself does not cause cerebral atrophy

Why would you even write this? Just to take a slap at doctors? Have you ever heard or read of a doctor saying aphasia causes atrophy? I haven't and I have talked to many of them and read many articles. If you just google the term you get thousands of articles by doctors saying frontal atrophy causes aphasia.

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is caused by degeneration in the parts of the brain that control speech and language (the left, or ‘dominant,’ side of the brain in the frontal, temporal and parietal regions).

Janknitz wrote:The "current state of medicine" often fails to look at underlying causes because the focus is treatment of symptoms.

Bulldrops. You are just repeating phrases you read on bunk "natural" web pages.

I fault the guy's doctors for failing to ask the family if he snored. The doctor should have treated the symptom of snoring ...
with CPAP.

"Janknitz wrote:
but aphasia itself does not cause cerebral atrophy" (my [Julie] italics).

HF said - "Why would you even write this? Just to take a slap" at doctors? Have you ever heard or read of a doctor saying aphasia causes atrophy? I haven't and I have talked to many of them and read many articles. If you just google the term you get thousands of articles by doctors saying frontal atrophy causes aphasia."

HF - you're not making much sense - 'frontal "atrophy causes aphasia", which is likely often correct, and Janknitz did not contradict that.

Julie, Not to speak for Hang Fire, but I think the problem is the way Jan worded this phrase ->

Janknitz wrote:but aphasia itself does not cause cerebral atrophy

I don't think any doctor believes aphasia causes atrophy. So why does Jan even make this statement? It seems to imply that at least some in the medical profession do believe this.

We have enough legitimate bashing of doctors. Let's not invent or repeat generalizations to smear them. Be specific about your complaints.

This is an untrue generalization ->

The "current state of medicine" often fails to look at underlying causes because the focus is treatment of symptoms.

I have been to a fair number of doctors over the years and everyone of them looked for the cause of any problem not just treatment. So I say this type of negative generalization of the medical profession is untrue and is not productive.