Is this a Speech Problem?

By: Jo Johnson - Updated: 25 Sep 2012 | *Discuss

 

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Q.

Something I have found that I have been doing a lot lately is saying the wrong words when I mean something else.

This is particularly related to colour. For instance, the other day I passed a friend a piece of paper that has some green colour on it and I said that it was red, and today when commenting on the shade of someone's blue top I began to say that the blue was orange.

. Would this indicate anything to you that i should be concerned about?

A.

First of all do not worry as this happens to all of us at one point or another.

Firstly the most obvious answer would be to suggest that you have currently been under a lot of stress that you are not used to and there is something playing on your mind meaning you are unable to concentrate on even the most basic tasks such as communication.

It is also possible that it could be related to headaches or migraines if you suffer from any of these.If stress isn’t the problem it may be worth going to see your GP who will be able to run amore detailed examination and assessment of your overall health.If you type in this problem into an internet search engine you will probably read some wild answers that suggest you may have had a stroke, brain tumour or have multiple sclerosis and yes, while these possibilities do sometimes cause this symptom, these illnesses are quite rare and are probably not the cause of your problem.

You may also find that the term aphasia is mentioned but this is more related to the effects that a stroke has on speech and is not generally associated with this type of problem that has been described as ‘verbal dyslexia’ which may seem quite fitting but isn’t an actual recognised condition.

If you are worried your doctor may arrange an MRI scan to rule out any possible neurological disorders but as this is not particularly likely this may not be offered in which case they can be arranged privately but are very costly.In most cases a lack of sleep, poor diet, new medication or stress are the most obvious solutions to the problem and usually these can be easily resolved or will lessen in severity over time.

You could try speaking more slowly to make sure you give your brain enough time to process information before it leaves your mouth but in many cases the people around you will probably not even notice you have said the wrong word.As far as can be gathered this problem doesn’t seem to have a recognised title.

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