

Speechless: Dilbert Creator's Struggle to Regain His Voice - navanit
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-08/ff_adams?currentPage=all

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trafficlight
I first read about Adams' problem a few years ago. It was an enlightening to
find because I had (and continue) to have a similar kind of issue, not with
speech but with handwriting.

For the last few years I've been unable to write out the letters M, W, and 8.
I absolutely can not make my hand move to draw the letters. Every other
letter/character is no problem. My brain knows how the movement should go, but
it's as if there is no connection between the part of the brain that can
visualize the action and the part that puts it in motion. When it first
started happening, I was really embarrassed. My first name is Matthew and it's
really hard to sign your name on a check or credit card receipt when you can't
make your hand draw an M or W.

I eventually found that I could write an 8 by drawing two circles rather than
as one continuous line. Likewise I can now write my Ms and Ws in reverse
starting at the end of the letter.

I'm not really sure how to describe the feeling. It's as if your brain has
been on autopilot for so long that you don't actually know the muscle
movements that make up writing an M.

I've also found stories of seasoned athletes who, all of a sudden, were unable
to perform a common task in their sport. Such as a golfer who had to try for
15 seconds before he could start his backswing. Or the competitive swimmer who
couldn't dive off the platform without several false starts.

I know these examples aren't scientific studies, but they fall in the same
vein as Adams' vocal problems. It's amazing the things that brain can do (or
won't do in this case).

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sjf
That is a really intriguing problem. It looks like you never got a diagnosis
for it, but weren't you worried when it first appeared that it might be a sign
of something serious?

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trafficlight
I guess it never occurred to me that it might be serious.

To be honest though, I don't have a lot of faith in the healthcare system to
solve a problem like that. Or the money.

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biohacker42
If you read his personal blog, there's a lot more detail.

There's also seemingly unrelated detail, how he's paralyzed from anxiety by
something as simple as having to ask another person if they are in line.

Also seemingly unrelated he can watch the worst, most tragic news and not be
affected by it, yet a sad movie movie, even a sad kids movie, will mess him up
big time.

And then there's the curious nature of his condition where the voice still
works if he's singing, or rhyming, or doing _public_ speaking.

So I'm not saying his problem is all in his head... but I am thinking there's
more to it then surgery can touch.

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thras
You use different nerves for different types of speech. It's possible that
it's entirely physiological. Certain triggers cause a particular nerve spasm,
and this disables his voice for a bit. Apparently, whatever the triggers are,
don't involve the seldom used parts of his voice box: vocal performance,
apparently.

EDIT:

If this were a hand, everyone would assume the problem was physiological, not
psychological. If someone's hand hurts doing particular things and not other
things, then you go to an orthopedic surgeon, not a psychologist.

Well, the vocal system is one the most mechanically complicated parts of the
anatomy.

~~~
biohacker42
Here:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_...](http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html)
is V.S. Ramachandran talking about hand amputees who feel their ghost hand in
a painful fist. Using a mirror and their remaining hand they fool their brain
into opening the fist.

Here's hand pain that's clearly in not in the hand.

~~~
tetha
One problem I see with such discussion is the lack of distinction between
'there is a cause for pain in the hand' and 'the brain senses pain in the
hand'. One can see this nicely if you simply think of pain as light, the pain
sensors as light sensors and the brain as a microprocessor, connected to the
sensors. Certainly, if light is there, then the sensors will sense light, and
thus, the two statements are equal in this case. However, if the sensor only
senses light, one strictly does not know if there is light or not, as the
sensor might malfunction.

If one realizes this distinction between the existance of a state and the
recognition of a state, things grow much clearer and one does realize that
whatever is going on, one must consider a malfunction of the brain and nerves.

------
ars
Just because it's all in his head, does _not_ mean it's not real.

~~~
benmathes
One of the more unintuitive but real ideas to come out of science and
psychology is that _everything_ in your head is very real. You are your brain.

~~~
tetha
Indeed, I found it highly fascinating when it was published that introverts
and extroverts differ in some path-finding on ones brain. It just baffles me:
some neurons are routed a bit different, and you turn from a geek who is happy
to work on some complicated problem into a party going person who is depressed
once there are less than 5 people around him (and vice versa)

~~~
adame54
Nice way to think of the introvert/extrovert divide. :-) Makes me feel a bit
better about being the former...

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phugoid
I stutter, and I've had similar experiences.

I had a bout of stuttering in early childhood, which therapy seemed to have
cured. It came back when I was twenty years old, standing in line to buy movie
tickets.

I can't recall which movie, but it had a single word in the title. As the long
line moved forward, I kept going over the movie title in my mind - the single
word I would have to speak once I get to the ticket booth. Something happened
in that moment, and I've been stuttering for the 13 years since. I guess you
could say that movie changed my life.

The constant portrayal of stutterers as half-wits in popular media doesn't
help one bit.

I am just thankful that I didn't suffer this affliction while in high school.

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endtime
I wonder if a throat mic would be useful for this...sounds like
subvocalization wouldn't be affected. Anyone know more than me about this?

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trickjarrett
I remember reading the stories about how his rhyming was able to circumvent
his issues, and was very interesting to read this follow up.

I think it speaks to his nature that not only did he reject any opinion which
went against his desired outcome, but also that he continued to be a father,
business owner, cartoonist and so much more given his issues.

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crux
_not only did he reject any opinion which went against his desired outcome_

The issue here is: if the surgery had not been successful---or if he lacked
the resources to pursue this so thoroughly and still be productive and
successful---we might very well be looking at that same trait as a lamentable
irrationality and out-of-touchnesss. We might even look at it as the least
hackerlike of traits. Right now we can view it as an admirably entrepreneurial
spirit.

~~~
phugoid
To be fair, he rejected only the opinion that there was no cure. It looks to
me like he did lots of research and explored his options with an open mind.

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Mz
I've done a lot of reading on medical stuff and I've run into some folks who
know the most amazing things. Like when I began stuttering last year, I was
able to ask around for what supplements would help and get a list of
suggestions. I had never had a stutter before and I knew there had to be a
cause, it didn't "just happen". The supplements cleared it up. When I start
reversing too many letters again when I type, it's a clue that I need to up my
supplements (or restart ones I've stopped taking).

I've heard lots of similar stories, but you they don't usually get told in
"normal" circles to avoid being booed down as "nutty". :-)

