{"id":8661,"date":"2019-07-24T05:35:04","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T05:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/?p=8661"},"modified":"2021-04-21T15:44:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T15:44:01","slug":"14-possible-causes-of-pure-alexia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/14-possible-causes-of-pure-alexia\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Possible Causes of Pure Alexia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pure Alexia or word blindness can be something that affects one individual in a profoundly different way to how it might affect another individual. The causes of the condition are many and varied, and whilst there is no known cure, there are lots of things that a person and the people around them can do to make the condition a little more bearable for everyone involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracing the root cause of an illness or injury is something that doctors will always try to do as establishing the reason for the presence of something can often dictate or at least inform the best and most appropriate path of treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This lost looks at 8 of the possible causes for alexia and expands upon them just enough so that you might be able to consider whether or not it is relevant to you. No opinion from the internet is worth as much as a doctor\u2019s opinion though, remember that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Stroke<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the potential causes of alexia is stroke. A stroke <\/a>is best described as a very serious and life-threatening medical condition that happens when part of the brain finds that its blood supply is cut off or partially inhibited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every stroke should be treated as an emergency, as in all cases urgent treatment is absolutely essential and should be the first and foremost priority for any caregiver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is certainly true that the earlier a person receives treatment for a stroke or is assessed for a suspected stroke, the less damage there is likely to be left over after the stroke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the long term implications or consequences of a stroke can be alexia, but given the seriousness of stroke, as it is happening, it is very unlikely that anyone would pay any mind to the possibility of alexia forming during the course of the stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

2. Sudden head injury<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Any kind of head injury<\/a> has the potential for brain damage to be part of the consequences, but a sudden and severe head injury is probably the most common type of head injury to worry a person over whether or not they could end up with brain damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any kind of brain damage has the potential to lead a person to develop alexia, and so here are some of the things to look out for when it comes to sudden and severe head injuries. Symptoms of a head injury of this seriousness and severity can include things like unconsciousness, which is a state that sees a person becoming collapsed and unresponsive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if a person is unconscious only for a short period of time, there is the potential for long term problems. A concussion is another serious symptom of this type of head injury, and this is defined as the sudden and short-lived mental function that occurs after an injury to the head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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3. Repeated head injury<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It follows that if a sudden and severe head injury has the potential to cause alexia in the long term, then repeated but less severe head injuries built up over a long time could have the same effect, and there is science to back this up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outcome of multiple negligible and minor head injuries over a prolonged period of time, for decades even, has not yet been well studied and is therefore not that well understood yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data assessing the impact of these repetitive head injuries on short- and long-term neurologic performance has been focused on the sports of boxing and soccer, with American football taken into consideration as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many studies of professional boxers found that repeated brain injury can lead to chronic brain problems down the road, with alexia being one of those along with things like dementia and Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>. Much more research is needed in this area though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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4. Tumor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is possible that a brain tumor could also be a potential cause for alexia, especially when that tumor <\/a>is found in the brain, and more specifically in the part of the brain that affects how a person reads the written word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tumors are obviously incredibly scary things for people to experience, and often, it is not the long term implications of developing a tumor that worries someone, but the short term threat to life and potential diagnoses that the person may receive, together with any of the initial treatment options they might have to go through. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When all of the work in terms of shrinking or removing the tumor is said and done though, there can be lingering remnants of damage caused by its initial growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of these lingering remnants could be the development of alexia at some point down the line, and it is a safe bet to assume that a brain tumor will have had more than a minor role in the development of this condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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5. Occipital lobectomy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Any surgical intervention with removes part of the brain <\/a>has to be something that is taken seriously in the extreme and perhaps only considered as a last resort or when all other conservative and noninvasive methods have been ruled out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When an Occipital lobectomy is deemed to be absolutely necessary, alexia is likely to be a consequence of the removal of this part of the brain as the person simply doesn\u2019t have the hardware needed to be able to decipher and understand the written word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can be a hard thing for a lot of people to deal with but it is also true that the vast majority of people would much prefer to be alive and unable to read than dead with their ability to read left intact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a bit of a no brainer if you\u2019ll pardon the pun, but sometimes preservation of life is the most important thing that a patient and a doctor have to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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6. Arteriovenous malformations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An arteriovenous malformation otherwise referred to as AVM, is a distinctly abnormal tangle or mess of blood vessels that connect arteries and veins<\/a>, which disrupts optimal and normal blood flow and oxygen circulation as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arteries are solely responsible for taking oxygen heavy blood from the heart, all the way to the brain. Veins, on the other hand, carry the oxygen-depleted blood back to the lungs and heart after it has visited the brain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When an AVM disrupts this critical cycle, the surrounding tissues may not get the oxygen that they need in order to function, meaning that the affected arteries and veins can weaken and even rupture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If an AVM is in the brain and it happens to rupture, it can cause bleeding in the brain, a stroke or even brain damage. When these immediate complications of an AVM are considered, it isn\u2019t hard to see how alexia could become an issue later on down the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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7. Alzheimer’s disease<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common types of dementia <\/a>in the whole world, unfortunately. It is particularly unfortunate because of just how much of a distressing disease it can be for the people affected with it themselves, as well as for the people surrounding them too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dementia is a complex syndrome (a group of related symptoms) that is associated with an ongoing and never stopping the decline of brain function. It can affect memory, a person\u2019s thinking skills, and other mental abilities besides. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further down the course of the development of the disease, alexia is something that is commonly observed in patients, although when the disease reaches this stage, it is unlikely that a person would gain much from reading the written word even if they still had the ability to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who has watched a loved one go through Alzheimer’s disease will attest to just how horrible the disease is and will confirm that alexia is usually the least of a person’s worries with this awful disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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8. Congenital<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now that 7 of the possible causes for alexia <\/a>have been detailed and explored, the final one to mention is one that is perhaps overlooked somewhat, due to the comparable severity of the others in the list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A congenital development of alexia is rare but perfectly possible, given predisposed changes and weaknesses in the brain that could ultimately cause a decline in brain function at some point down the line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It isn’t the most obvious cause of alexia and can even be mistaken for one of the other causes. I think the take away from this article about the possible causes of alexia should be that as long as a doctor or medical professional is able to access the accurate root cause of the condition, they will be able to advise upon or facilitate and appropriate plan of action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a lot of people with alexia though, there are often more pressing concerns at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\r\n

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