Get To Know The Signs Of Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA)

Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is genetic. This disease has many forms, but the most common is SCA3. Ladies, the gene mutations for it pass from parent to child. The good news is that many of you are asymptomatic. However, the signs can appear and get worse at any point! The symptoms vary depending on the type you have, of course. The common issues affect your vision, movement, and learning.

Unfortunately, there's no spinocerebellar ataxia cure. That said, you have many options for SCA treatment! All of them help your symptoms. Ladies, physical therapy for SCA is a great place to start. There are even fantastic assistive devices for SCA out there! Treatment is going to shift based on your symptoms, so make sure you know about all of them when you're talking about the best SCA treatments with your doctor.

Balance And Coordination Problems

Ladies, the first sign of this disorder is actually a pair of iconic signs. You will have balance and coordination problems! You're going to be very clumsy. Walking naturally is likely a struggle. Ladies, turning is especially difficult for you with this condition. It's because your cerebellum is affected. This is the part of your brain with control over movement!

This pair of symptoms happens for a few reasons. Ladies, it depends on the type of SCA you have! Most cases, though, come down to your cerebellum deteriorating. It will sometimes trigger a secondary cause, like episodic vertigo. This one means balance problems and dizziness in episodes. Those episodes can last a few minutes or up to a few hours!

Abnormal Speech

You have to watch for abnormal speech too. Ladies, this is another common symptom, especially as SCA progresses. Of course, it can set in at any point! Abnormal speech can mean many different things. It varies based on what type of SCA you have. Many of you have breathing problems. These can make it harder for you to get the respiration you need to sound natural!

Phonation issues are another big one, ladies. This means you will find it harder to produce some sounds, making it tougher for people to understand what you're trying to say. It often happens early on! Slurred speech typically happens when your SCA has gotten quite severe.

Vision Problems

Ladies, many of you are going to have vision problems because of SCA. It happens! A common one is less low contrast sensitivity. This means you will find it harder to see in low light, such as at night. Stereoacuity problems are another common vision issue with SCA. This means you will struggle to see differences in dimension and depth. The result is that even simple tasks get harder, like pouring a glass of water!

Double or blurred vision are 2 more common issues. Ladies, they happen because of eye movement issues. In fact, they happen from 2 common ones. The first is nystagmus. That's your uncontrolled, random eye movent! The second is, of course, distance esophoria, which means your eyes often turn inward when you're looking at something. This is sometimes the only issue with your vision that you will have. Others aren't always around!

Poor Hand-Eye Coordination

You will start seeing issues with your hand-eye coordination early on in SCA. It gets poor as the disorder progresses! Ladies, poor hand-eye coordination in SCA has a few triggers. They're things like cognitive impairment, vision issues, and movement problems, though a combo can trigger it too. You will often struggle with distance and depth perception. This includes judging the space between objects and remembering where they are in a room. That's going to make it hard for movement and repetition. Ladies, hand tremors are another big reason for poor hand-eye coordination. in fact, they're among the first things you will notice with this condition!

Difficulty Learning

Difficulty learning is another early sign of SCA, ladies. It will often be alongside other cognitive function troubles. That said, this one can also be a warning that your disorder is progressing. One of the things you will have trouble with is motor learning. Ladies, this is how you adapt the way you move to natural body changes. Of course, ladies, there are also going to be issues with your visuospatial learning. That's how you're supposed to analyze things based on distance and dimensions. Sadly, SCA makes it hard for you to figure out how far away something is. It makes driving a problem!

Implicit learning is often difficult too. Ladies, this is learning something without being aware of it! A major example is talking to someone and boosting your social skills during it. Difficulty with this type of learning makes many other things hard too, like speech development in young patients.