Thursday, December 27, 2012

'Dystextia': Just communication or Stroke Symptom?

Hiya! Well, we're into the deep freeze and a snowstorm went through the area overnight like you know what through a goose! Nong and I are staying indoors today. That's the plan as we move into day two of our turkey-stuffed survival program. You'd better pull that lever on the coffee urn and fill your mug. Wait till it's full before you eye those virtual treats so you don't accidentally slosh your coffee all over your boots, eh. Say...y'know how everyone sends text messages these days - me, too! Well sometimes if the messages are beginning to get garbled, it could be a sign of a medical problem.

As his young wife's text messages became increasingly garbled, a Boston-area man grew alarmed — especially since she was 11-weeks pregnant:
Husband: So what's the deal?
Wife: every where thinging days nighing

Wife: Some is where!
Husband: What the hell does that mean?

Knowing the autocorrect function was disabled on his wife's phone only increased the man's concern. After he rushed her to a local emergency room, a series of tests including an MRI revealed the cause of the woman's "dystextia".

"The dystextia was the first clinical sign that we had that she was having a stroke," said Dr. Joshua Klein at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass.. After she was prescribed medication, her symptoms disappeared and there was no evidence of any harm to her unborn child.

Trouble with speech, reading or writing — known as dysphasia — is a common warning sign of a stroke, in which blood flow to the brain is blocked by blood clots or plaque buildup. Dysphasia can also be caused by a brain tumor, infection, head injury or dementia.

As text communication becomes more popular, doctors note that garbled or incoherent text messages may be the first warning sign of a stroke or other neurological disorder. Of course, walking, driving, drinking or other distractions can also induce dystextia, as can autocorrect functions on smartphones and tablets.

Another thing that'll do it is that keyboards are limited by the size of the phone so the faster you type, the better your chances are of increased garbleation (not sure if I spelt that correctly but then since I just thougth of the word, I guess I did, eh). What about garbilation? Sound better? Looks better. Let's take a vote. (A) garbelation  (B) garbilation  (C) anyone know what the heck Bob's talking about and who cares anyway! Since it's turkey season, maybe he's suffering from bird-braininess!

See ya, eh!

Bob

0 comments: