Kevin's Watch

Disease Silenced Dilbert Author But He's Better

DUBLIN, Calif. -- For a while, Scott Adams could only speak in rhyme. Or while pinching his nose. The man behind the "Dilbert" cartoon strip says he suffers from spasmodic dysphonia, an ailment in which the parts of the brain controlling speech don't work properly. Those with the disorder can speak in unique circumstances -- while reading poetry, in exaggerated falsetto or right after sneezing -- but they can't talk in their normal voices. Adams developed the disease in 2005. Treatments involved injecting Botox into muscles around the larynx in order to quell spasms. Adams, who hated the injections, began reciting nursery rhymes in order to re-map his brain. He can talk now, but his voice is a bit raspy, as if he's getting over the flu.

dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/10/good_news_day.html

When I began reading your post, I assumed it was a joke. Monty Python has a sketch much like it. But I guess it's not a joke?

Very bizarre...

The Botox injections sound like a complete waste. Is it not obvious that the problem does not lie in the vocal cords? They work perfectly well, you just can't make them say what you want.

I need to ask my sister-in-law about this. Maaaany years ago, she told me about a woman who went through something that may have been this. IIRC, the woman first told her that something was going wrong with her speaking. When she saw the woman some weeks or months later, she could no longer speak at all.

Fist and Faith wrote:When I began reading your post, I assumed it was a joke. Monty Python has a sketch much like it. But I guess it's not a joke?

Very bizarre...

The Botox injections sound like a complete waste. Is it not obvious that the problem does not lie in the vocal cords? They work perfectly well, you just can't make them say what you want.

That's not necessarily true... if indeed the problem is brain-induced spasms, then Botox injections would help stop the spasms, thereby circumventing the "spasm" commands sent by the brain.

not a joke. i had thought it was as well.

Xar wrote:

Fist and Faith wrote:The Botox injections sound like a complete waste. Is it not obvious that the problem does not lie in the vocal cords? They work perfectly well, you just can't make them say what you want.

That's not necessarily true... if indeed the problem is brain-induced spasms, then Botox injections would help stop the spasms, thereby circumventing the "spasm" commands sent by the brain.

Perhaps "complete waste" was going a bit too far. My point is simply that, since the problem does not manifest during all attempts to work the vocal cords, the problem does not lie with the vocal cords, but with the brain. Stopping the cords from spasming in this way seems like taking pain killers for severe abdominal pains. Yeah, you might feel better after each treatment, but you're not addressing the problem. Better to find out why the spasms occur at the specific times they do, and see what can be done about that.