Losing nouns can have many causes

DEAR DR. GOTT: My loved one has primary progressive aphasia. He cannot remember anyone’s name, including his own. All nouns are forgotten, and even 30 seconds after you remind him, he has forgotten again. This is a horrible disease.

DEAR READER: Primary progressive aphasia (also known as frontotemporal dementia or Pick’s disease) is a rare neurological condition that affects a person’s ability to speak. Language capabilities become increasingly impaired over time. The condition may be acquired because of brain damage such as occurs from stroke, tumor or head injury, but the diagnosis is usually one of exclusion.

Symptoms vary from person to person and include difficulty identifying objects, failure to understand written words, the misuse of grammar and pauses in speech when searching for words. Oddly, those pauses generally do not occur when making small talk.

Symptoms usually begin between 55 and 60 years of age and worsen over time. Risk does not increase with age, and it is unusual for FTD to present after the age of 75. The condition is more common in men than in women, and several gene mutations have been linked to the disorder.

There is no specific testing for diagnosis, nor is there any specific medication for control. Some physicians have been known to prescribe drugs geared toward Alzheimer’s patients; however, their effectiveness has not been documented through research. Because of a lack of testing for the specific disorder, Alzheimer’s, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and related disorders should be ruled out before diagnosis can be made.

Speech therapy is often helpful if symptoms present in stroke or head-injury cases, but may not be successful for aphasia patients. Nonverbal communication and communicative assistive devices from the National Aphasia Association may be beneficial. Call the NAA at 800-922-4622 or visit them on the Web at aphasia.org.

Peter Gott practiced medicine in Lakeville for 40 years.