Hi Tornado2,
You didn't mention if the person diagnosed with anomia has had a
brain injury or has some form of dementia. Anomia is often a prelude
to Alzheimers. Your doctor should have referred this patient to a
speech therapist, if other medical conditions don't rule out such
therapy. If the patient has Alzheimers/dememtia, some of the newer
drugs such as Aricept, Reminyl and Excelon may also help the anomia.
http://www.enlmedical.com/article/000760.htm
"Patients with AD most commonly present with insidiously progressive
memory loss, to which other spheres of cognitive impairment are added
over several years. After memory loss occurs, patients may also have
language disorders (eg, anomia, progressive aphasia) and impairment in
their visuospatial skills and executive functions."
http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic13.htm
Common causes of memory deficit, including anomia may be caused by:
* alcohol intoxication
* low blood sugar
* head trauma or head injury
* concussion
* fluid and electrolyte imbalance
* nutritional deficiencies, particularly niacin deficiency,
thiamine deficiency, vitamin C deficiency, or vitamin B-12 deficiency
* hyperthermia (fever)
* hypothermia (drop in body temperature can cause sudden confusion)
* hypoxemia (chronic pulmonary disorders can produce persistent confusion)
* environmental (such as heat stroke, heavy metal poisoning,
hypothermia, or methanol intoxication)
* drugs such as atropine, chloroquine, cimetidine, CNS depressants
in large doses, cycloserine, digitalis medicines - oral, indomethacin,
lidocaine, withdrawal from narcotics and barbiturates.
Medications that may be considered for use include:
* anti-psychotics, given at night
* serotonin-affecting drugs( trazodone, buspirone)
* dopamine blockers (such as haloperidol, risperidol, olanzapine, clozapine)
* cholinesterase inhibitors (donepezil) in Alzheimers-type dementia
* fluoxetine, imipramine, celexa may help to stabilize mood
* stimulant drugs (such as methylphenidate), may increase activity
and spontaneity.
* vitamin E
Has your doctor checked this patient for prescription drugs and/or
supplements that may precipitate this patient's condtion? HAs this
patient been tested for thyroid or glucose disorders? Depression?
http://www.rwjhamilton.org/Atoz/encyclopedia/article/003205.asp
" * Laboratory tests may include the following:
o Evaluation of the complete blood cell count and cobalamin
levels: Abnormalities in these measurements require further workup to
rule out hematologic disease.
o Screening of liver enzyme levels: Abnormalities in these
measurements require further workup to rule out hepatic disease.
o Assessment of blood cortisol level: Abnormalities in this
measurement require further workup to rule out adrenal system disease.
o Analysis of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels:
Abnormalities in this measurement require further workup to rule out
thyroid disease.
o Rapid plasma reagent (RPR) test: Abnormalities require
further workup to rule out syphilis."
http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic13.htm
"Anomia, a third form of Expressive Aphasia, renders a person
completely unable to name familiar objects, almost as if he or she
were suddenly required to converse in a foreign language.
A lesser form of this problem is Dysnomia, which causes you to grope
for words that you know but simply can't think of. "It's on the tip of
my tongue", and "You know, the whaddayacallit' are statements
characteristic of people with word-retreival problems."
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/3468/tbi.html#Anomia
"Methods & Procedures: We used a single case design, employing
multiple baselines across behaviours to control for possible
spontaneous recovery. The participant was MB, a 79 year old client who
was anomic subsequent to a stroke. Therapy sessions required MB to
name a set of pictures. Instead of cues, she was required to describe
and 'talk around' each picture for as long as it took until the name
came to her. We termed this therapy 'Circumlocutioninduced naming'
(CIN). Nonparametric statistical analysis was performed on pre and
post test results."
"Our results suggest that CIN may effect a generalized improvement on
the phonological output lexicon. We hypothesize that the therapy
'exercises' the impaired link between semantics and phonology to a
greater degree than do other methods (e.g. phonemic cueing,
repetition). This suggests that clients with moderate to mild anomia
might benefit from therapy that requires them to take a more active
and independent part in accessing words. We discuss some difficulties
in the interpretation of our results, including the possible existence
of spontaneous recovery, and the issue of exactly what our therapy
targeted."
http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?wasp=824ed385cbe24b89b400a8961c52c082&referrer=parent&backto=issue,1,6;journal,32,64;linkingpublicationresults,1:102428,1
"In addition to evidence in favour of interactive word-production
models, the studies of Laine and Martin (1996) and Martin and Laine
(2000) have suggested that the procedure, known as contextual priming,
might facilitate target naming in anomic patients at least in some
naming conditions."
"Conclusions: The results indicate that the contextual priming
technique can provide long-term facilitation of target naming in
anomia and induce some generalisation to untreated items."
http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?wasp=410464b09ed14ee1ae2d799ccbdb1653&referrer=parent&backto=issue,6,6;journal,23,64;linkingpublicationresults,1:102428,1
Groups (Hard to find that are expressly for anomia):
====================================================
http://neuro-mancer.mgh.harvard.edu/ubb/Forum107/HTML/008271.html
http://neuro-mancer.mgh.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number=89&forum=Speech+Disorders&DaysPrune=1000&startpoint=70
Support groups in CA, near the end of the page
http://isis.csueastbay.edu/dbsw/commsci/ATP%20website%201-4.htm
Therapies and Extra Information
=================================
Something can that be done at home is to stumulate the patient's
memory by encouraging her/him to do crossword puzzles, word find
games, and the old Concentration card game. Try to present these
'brain teasers' in a non-stressful environment, and don't point out
mistakes, but do praise when the patient remembers. Physical exercise
helps too, such as walking and swimming.
" * Exercise. Exercise has beneficial effects on and cognitive
functioning and well-being in older people.
o Exercisers show significant improvements in reaction time,
memory span, and measures of well-being when compared with
non-exercisers.
o Going for walks may be enough to modify the usual
age-related decline in reaction time.
o Women with higher levels of physical activity were less
likely to develop cognitive decline. For every one mile walked per
week, a woman can reduce her risk of significant loss of mental
function by 13%.
* Linguistic ability. Low linguistic ability in early life was a
strong predictor of poor cognitive function and Alzheimer's disease in
late life."
" * Healthy diet. A healthy diet is associated with better
cognitive performance in the elderly.
* Fiber intake. A diet high in fruits, vegetables, and fiber was
found to be associated with less age-related brain-function
impairment. The greatest benefit was found to be associated with high
fiber consumption.
* Fat intake. High intake of monounsaturated fatty acids (e.g.,
olive oil) has been associated with protection against age-related
cognitive decline.
* Antioxidants. Diets high in antioxidant-rich foods, such as
spinach and strawberries (and most other fruits and vegetables), may
be beneficial in slowing age-related cognitive decline."
There are many vitamins and supplements recommended on this page. I
would advise having this patient eat a healthy diet, along with a
multi-vitamin and mineral tablet each day. Discuss with your doctor
any other supplements you may try. The doctor knows this patient's
medical history best and may find some supplements contraindicated for
her/him.
http://www.connecticutcenterforhealth.com/memory-loss.html
"A number of other treatments, including Vitamin E, oestrogen and
anti-inflammatory drugs have shown some promising associations, but
are not yet proven for routine use. Nootropics, such as Ginkgo Biloba,
are available in many countries. Ginkgo seems to improve cerebral
blood flow, but consistent improved outcomes with it have not yet been
clinically demonstrated.
There is increasing evidence that diet and cholesterol may play a role
in the development of the plaques which are characteristic of the
pathology in Alzheimer's disease. Research is underway into the use of
cholesterol lowering drugs, statins, in the treatment of Alzheimer's
disease. Controlled trials of statins are assessing whether the rate
of decline in Alzheimer's disease can be modified or slowed by these
medications.
Other kinds of drugs are sometimes useful for controlling some of the
symptoms of dementia, such as sleeplessness and agitation. In general,
however, the use of drugs such as sleeping pills or tranquillisers
should be kept to a minimum if someone has dementia, as they can cause
increased confusion."
http://www.alz.co.uk/alzheimers/drugs.html
"An increasing number of clinical studies demonstrate that
cholinesterase inhibition can have modest but detectable effects, such
as improvement in cognitive performance, as measured by tools such as
the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale
(ADAS-cog). More recent evidence indicates that ChEIs may also
alleviate the noncognitive manifestations of AD. For example, they can
ameliorate behavioral manifestations, as assessed by using tools such
as the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, and they may improve the
performance of activities of daily living, as evaluated by using the
Progressive Deterioration Scale."
http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic13.htm
This page, while somewhat hard to read, offers some tips as to useful therapies:
http://webpages.marshall.edu/~staple11/body.html
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:NaLDbqhJbP0J:aphasiology.pitt.edu/archive/00001562/01/e8d78f6604edcfca58a04a07fb48.pdf+anomia+therapy&hl=en
Group Therapy
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2443951&dopt=Citation
http://medinfo.ufl.edu/cme/geri/glossary.html
http://www.alzheimer.ca/cgi-bin/care-archive.cgi?forum=care_2003&lang=&read=003643-000000.msg
http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/4/1/64
Pages 2 and 4 have some tips:
http://www.sma.org/smj2001/julysmj01/cme-5.pdf
This site sells resources for people with recall problems:
http://www.learning-apodixis.com/dysnomia.asp
Memory Games
============
http://www.queendom.com/mindgames/
http://www.funbrain.com/match/
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/stm0.html
http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/java/conc/Memory.html
There you go. To summarize, find a good speech therapist in your area.
Have the patient exercise and eat well. Discsuss this problem with the
doctor to find any organic causes. Practice memory games. I do wish
the patient all the best.
If this is not the information you are seeking,or if anything is
unclear, please request an Answer Clarification, before rating. This
will allow me to assist you further, if possible.
Sincerely, Crabcakes
Search Terms
============
anomia therapy
dysnomia therapy
treating memory problems |
