Speech Therapy For Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a challenging medical condition.

If you’ve been recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, things may seem scary and uncertain.

But they don’t have to be.

Modern medical advancements have helped drastically increase the outlook for people living with this condition.

Thanks to those advancements, there are a variety of treatments and therapies available to help people with multiple sclerosis manage their symptoms and slow the progression of the disease.

For instance, this 2023 review by Amin and Hersh discusses the increased efficacy and safety surrounding multiple sclerosis treatment.

Ultimately, early intervention therapy for multiple sclerosis can help improve your quality of life.

Speech therapy plays an important role in multiple sclerosis intervention.

As a Washington DC speech therapy clinic, today we’re going to show you some aspects of multiple sclerosis related to speech and swallowing, and how a speech therapy for adults can help.

Keep reading to learn more.

What Is Multiple Sclerosis?

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune condition.

It primarily affects your central nervous system (your brain and spinal cord).

Your nerve fibers are covered with a protective sheath known as “myelin”.

Multiple sclerosis prompts your immune system to attack this protective layer.

As a result, your nerve fibers begin deteriorating and ultimately lose their ability to send communication between your brain and body.

At the present time, there is no known cure for multiple sclerosis.

However, there’s hope for the near future.

A 2024 article by University of California San Francisco claims that a cure for multiple sclerosis might come within our lifetime.

Until then, there are steps you can take to help keep your symptoms under control, manage the condition, and help prevent future relapse.

RELATED PODCAST: Overcoming TBI: Exploring How The STEP System And Speech Therapy Are Aligned

What Causes Multiple Sclerosis?

At this point in time, the exact cause of multiple sclerosis is unknown.

However, research has indicated several potential risk factors.

These include:

• Sex: women are more likely to develop the condition than men
• Genetic history: individuals with a parent or sibling with multiple sclerosis are at an increased risk
• Age: onset is typically between the ages of twenty and forty
• Certain infections and viruses, such as the Epstein Barr virus
• Climate: multiple sclerosis is more common in people who live in temperate climates
• Low levels of vitamin D
• Smoking
• Ethnicity: white people are most diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
• Presence of other autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s

RELATED ARTICLE: How Does Smoking Affect Your Voice?

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Symptoms Of Multiple Sclerosis

The presentation and severity of multiple sclerosis can vary widely from person to person.

Symptoms may differ depending on the location of nerve deterioration.

Additionally, your unique symptoms may differ depending on other contributing factors, such as age and other health conditions.

However, some of the most common symptoms include:

• Tiredness and fatigue which may interfere with the ability to complete tasks
• Pain which may be acute or chronic
• Tremors
• Difficulty sleeping
• Bladder control issues
• Trouble chewing and swallowing
• Brain fog and concentration issues

Additionally, people with multiple sclerosis may experience vision symptoms, which can include:

• Blindness
• Involuntary eye movements
• Double vision
• Pain in the eyes
• Blurred vision

And they may also experience trouble walking, due to:

• Muscle spasms
• Problems with balance
• Numbness in feet and legs
• Muscle weakness

Multiple sclerosis can also impact your speech and swallowing abilities.

The next section will further explore these symptoms.

How Does Multiple Sclerosis Affect Speech?

People with multiple sclerosis sometimes experience dysarthria.

Dysarthria affects the various muscles necessary for clear speech.

As a result, people with this condition commonly slur their words.

Other people with multiple sclerosis live with dysphonia.

This speech disorder affects your vocal cords.

For instance, dysphonia may cause:

• Vocal cord inflammation
• Vocal cord growths, such as nodules or polyps
• Vocal cord scarring
• Vocal cord paralysis

People with dysphonia often speak in a hoarse, or otherwise atypical, voice.

For instance, they may experience breathiness, difficulty with vocal quality, and nasal sounding speech.

Muscle weakness and poor muscle coordination, especially for muscles which control speech such as the tongue and laryngeal muscles, play a significant role in both conditions.

Speech therapy for dysarthria addresses many of these symptoms, including:

• Long pauses during speech
• Slurring words
• Difficulty regulating the volume of speech

How Does Multiple Sclerosis Affect Swallowing?

Many people with multiple sclerosis experience swallowing related symptoms.

These symptoms frequently lead to a dysphagia diagnosis.

Dysphagia results in various swallowing difficulties.

RELATED ARTICLE: Getting Familiar With Speech Disorders: Pediatric Dysphagia

Swallowing often takes longer than expected and may sometimes even cause pain.

Some people with dysphagia are completely unable to swallow.

Swallowing is controlled by the same muscles responsible for speech, so individuals with dysarthria and dysphonia may also experience dysphagia.

For people with multiple sclerosis, these symptoms may occur intermittently and can sometimes appear mild.

Without intervention, these swallowing difficulties can eventually lead to nutrition deficiencies and dehydration.

Therefore, early identification and intervention is incredibly important.

At District Speech and Language Therapy, we can help diagnosis and provide intervention for people living with dysarthria, dysphonia, and dysphagia.

How Can A Speech Therapist For Multiple Sclerosis Help?

If you or your child has speech and swallowing issues related to multiple sclerosis, a speech therapist can help provide interventions and symptom management.

Speech therapy for multiple sclerosis typically focuses on the adult population.

This is because pediatric multiple sclerosis is very rare.

However, this doesn’t mean that the condition is nonexistent.

According to the National MS Society, approximately 5,000 children in the United States are living with multiple sclerosis.

Thus, at District Speech and Language Therapy, our pediatric speech therapy programs cover this field as well.

So, what exactly can you expect during your first speech therapy appointment?

First, your speech therapist will need to do an evaluation to learn more about how much control you have over the muscles required for speech and swallowing.

This will generally include assessments of speed and timing, accuracy, range, coordination, and strength.

They will also examine how you breathe and the way you pronounce words.

Once this examination is complete, your speech therapist can make recommendations for intervention options which can help manage the specific issues you’re facing.

These may include:

• Exercises designed to strengthen the muscles associated with speaking and swallowing
• Exercises to improve articulation
• Suggesting modifications to food to help make it easier to swallow, including adjusting the viscosity, temperature, texture, and portion sizes
• Therapies aimed at stimulating the lips, tongue, jaw, soft palate, pharynx, and larynx

Book Your Appointment With Our Speech Therapy Clinic Today

If you have multiple sclerosis related speech and swallowing difficulties, you might feel anxious or frightened.

These symptoms can certainly be scary.

When symptoms begin, you might worry about your ability to communicate with others, or to enjoy food.

Thankfully, there is help.

We’re District Speech and Language Therapy, and we have speech therapists serving the Washington DC area, as well as Arlington Virginia and surrounding area.

We provide a variety of high quality speech therapy services for you to get started with.

Book your appointment with District Speech and Language Therapy today to find out more about how we can help you.