Sudden garbled language a sign of stroke

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DALLAS, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Unclear text messages, jumbled emails, garbled language -- a phenomenon known as dystextia -- may be a sign of stroke, a U.S. researcher says.

Dr. Mark J. Alberts, a vascular neurologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said digital records left by texts and e-mails can be a warning sign of possible strokes and other brain disorders.

"What we're looking for -- whether it's speaking, emailing, or texting -- are real errors in terms of using the wrong words in the wrong way at the wrong time," Alberts said in a statement. "Saying "I took my car out for a walk' instead of 'I took my dog out for a walk,' could be indicative of a language problem, and that can tell us that something is going on in the brain."

Harvard University researchers recently wrote in the journal Archives of Neurology wrote about a case in which the garbled text messages of a 25-year-old pregnant woman were the first apparent signs that she had suffered an acute ischemic stroke.

Her texts, which included such nonsensical phrases as "every where thinging days nighing" and "Some is where!" alerted her husband to the potential problem, the researchers said.