Distorted text message may signal stroke
Mar 21, 2013, 3:41 PM | Updated: 3:41 pm
A new report has indicated that gibberish text messages may be a sign of a stroke.
According to NBC News, Dr. Omran Kaskar, a Henry Ford Hospital neurologist, discussed the recent case of “dystextia” in the report during the annual American Academy of Neurology conference in San Diego on Wednesday.
Kaskar describes a second case in the new report: It’s after midnight and a woman gets a series of strange text messages from her 40-year-old husband, who’s on a business trip to Detroit. “Oh baby your;” And then: “I am happy.” Two minutes later: “I am out of it, just woke up, can’t make sense, I can’t even type, call if ur awake, love you.”
The following day, doctors met with the man but were unable to find any symptoms of a stroke other than minor facial weaknesses on his right side. However, that diagnosis soon changed after giving the patient a smartphone.
NBC News reported that the man was asked to type: “the doctor needs a new blackberry.” He instead typed: “Tjhe Doctor nddds a new bb.” These results essentially indicated that the man was indeed displaying neurological complications.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that strokes have killed nearly 130,000 Americans per year based on their most recent figures.
