Coping with Lateral Medullary Syndrome

Lateral medullary syndrome has some other names like Posterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery Syndrome and Wallenberg’s syndrome. A person who suffers from this disease has problems swallowing, speaking, or both. And mostly, this is due to infarcts, or dead tissues caused by the intermittent blood supply to some parts of the brain as a result of this syndrome.

Currently, lateral medullary syndrome is considered as a rare disease. Considering the entire U.S. population, the total number of affected people is still less than 200,000. The main cause of this disease is artery blockage either in the brain itself or in the vertebra.

This disease is first discovered and is described by a physician from Geneva named Gaspard Viesseux. It was in 1808 when he first rendered a definitive description of the disease, which consequently, was his own. Wallenberg, who the disease was named after, made his own clinical description in 1895. It was repeated in 1901 through an autopsy finding.

Symptoms of Lateral Medullary Syndrome
Lateral medullary syndrome’s symptoms include difficulties in swallowing coupled with nausea and vomiting. Both hoarseness of the voice and dizziness are also observed. Nystagmus, or the rapid and involuntary movement of the eyes, may also occur.

Some patients are also known to experience a certain degree of numbness on a side of their face, usually the right side. And the numbness could be so severe that it can be considered as paralysis. There are also instances of uncontrollable hiccup. And one side of the patient’s tongue may lose its ability to taste as well.

The loss of one’s sense of balance is also reported in several patients. Several patients attest that at some point, they feel their surroundings, and everything else in it for that matter, is titled in someway. And that makes it difficult for them to keep their sense of balance, especially when they are walking.

Treatment for Lateral Medullary Syndrome
The treatment of Lateral Medullary Syndrome depends entirely on the symptoms that are associated with it. If the patient has problems swallowing, a feeding tube may be required for him to eat. And for such, a clinical speech or swallowing therapy is going to be beneficial.

As for the pains brought about by the lateral medullary syndrome, certain drugs are prescribed to cure it or at least reduce its severity. The pains are usually referred as chronic pains because of their recurring nature. And anti-epileptic drugs like gabapentin treat them.

People with Lateral Medullary Syndrome experience recovery from the disease while undergoing therapy sessions. Some patients feel that the symptoms of this disease start to dissipate after several weeks of treatment. But it all depends as to how much the syndrome had accelerated in them and how effective the medical therapy their doctor has prescribed.

Lateral Medullary Syndrome is a type of stroke. And most of its complications depend upon the location and the mass of the brain stem damage the body had sustained. The decrease in symptoms would happen only after a week or even months of treatment and therapy. Take note that relief from symptoms won’t happen immediately.

It is then important for patients to follow religiously what their doctors had planned out from them. This would take patients to recovery or at least, problems like neurological disabilities are can be ruled out.

And right now, several researches are being done to fully treat, and eventually to prevent the disease. Currently, all treatments are directed only to address the symptoms. The patients’ full recovery from the disease is still pending research. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke or simply the NINDS is the one in charge of the advanced studies conducted towards the eradication of the Lateral Medullary Syndrome.