@marie03

We aren't medical professionals here on Mayo Clinic Connect so we cannot provide medical advice. I just wanted to make sure you know that. I asked you all those questions because I was trying to help you figure out where to go and who to see to get some answers to your word finding (aphasia) problems.

Thank you for all the information in your reply. You provided a good description of what happens when you have that tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon but can't quite say the word. That tells me a lot in getting a word out because it means that you can retrieve the word (it's on the tip of your tongue) but it gets stuck during the very last stage of actually saying the word.

I can imagine how terrible it feels to have these word finding problems when you were so fluent with all things English not long ago. Would it help to let the person you are talking to know that your difficulty in speaking is due to a medical condition? I know someone at work who speaks slowly and pauses often to find a word. She let us know from the very beginning that she had a serious TBI many years ago and that this affected her speaking ability. So no one interrupts her or tries to fill in words for her and we give her plenty of time to talk. She's a valued colleague and a lovely person to work with.

When your doctor suggested you see a psychologist, did you get the impression that this mean the aphasia is due to anxiety? I wondered about that because I saw that some of your medications are for anxiety. I'm going to tell you that it really irks me when a doctor hasn't problem solved with a patient and leaps to the conclusion that it's "psychological". You are being treated for other medical conditions and take medications. It only makes sense to tease this apart and figure out where the aphasia is coming from. The aphasia could be from years of taking topomax or from the seizure activity itself or from something else. Only a doctor can answer those questions and a neuropsychologist can figure out what's anxiety/depression vs. actual changes in the brain.

Will you talk with your doctor about where to go next to get this figured out?