The Obvious Warning Signs Of Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA)

You know about spinocerebellar ataxia, men. It's SCA, and it's a genetic condition! This one's got many, many types. The most common, though, is SCA3. The mutations in genes you've got to watch for with this condition are passed from parent to child. Men, many of you won't show symptoms. But hold up, the symptoms can appear at any point. Don't let your guard down! The warning signs change between the types of SCA. Obviously, everyone knows that. The most common, though, involved vision, learning, and movement problems.

Men, there's no spinocerebellar ataxia cure. There isn't! But don't worry, you've got hope here. There are many, many options for SCA treatment! A huge, huge start is physical therapy for SCA. Yes! Assistive devices for SCA are so good too, so good! This means wheelchairs, walkers, and many, many other things. Men, your treatment for SCA depends on your symptoms. That's why you need to know all your symptoms first and then tell your doc about them. This lets you get the best SCA treatments!

Balance And Coordination Problems

Men, you know the first signs of SCA. They're the hallmark symptoms: balance and coordination problems! It doesn't matter what type of SCA you've got. These symptoms happen with all of them! Yes, they do. Men, you'll be very, very clumsy here. So clumsy. Many of you are going to struggle to walk naturally. Sad. Turns are very, very hard with this symptom and condition. Why? You know the reason! Your cerebellium is damaged in SCA. That's the part of your brain that helps control your movement!

The type of SCA you've got dictates how bad your balance and coordination problems are going to be. In most cases, men, you know the leading cause: your cerebellum deteriorating! But hold your horses. There are also some secondary causes, like episodic vertigo! That's when you get episodes of dizziness or balance problems that last from a few minutes up to a few hours.

Abnormal Speech

Abnormal speech is another huge, huge symptom of SCA. So huge. It gets more and more common as your condition progresses. Men, you know that your speech issues vary with this condition. They do! Some of you have trouble breathing. The result? You'll have trouble getting the respiration you need to sound natural to other people!

Phonation is a huge problem with SCA too. Men, that's the skill that lets you make certain sounds. When you've got problems with this skill, you'll find it harder, so much harder, to sound out words and letters. Other people will find it difficult to understand what you're trying to say! This issue is often one of the first signs of speech problems in SCA. When your condition's gotten severe? Expect slurred speech, men!

Vision Problems

Many, many men with SCA have vision problems. Sad. A common one to expect? Reduced low contrast sensitivity. You know what this means, men! Driving at night's going to be harder. You can't see as well in low light. No, not well at all. Men, you'll have issues with stereoacuity too. That makes dimensions and the differences in them very, very hard for you to see. So hard! The result? Pouring water or walking up stairs becomes challenging.

It's so, so common to have double or blurry vision too, men. These ones come from 2 eye movement problems. Men, you know the first one: nystagmus. Yes. That's talking about random, uncontrolled eye movement, obviously. The second one's distance esophoria. Men, this one's when your eyes turn inward when you're looking at something! Some of you only get this one. Win.

Poor Hand-Eye Coordination

Men, keep your guard up high. So high! You'll see poor hand-eye coordination a lot with SCA. Yes, a lot. The changes start happening early on, so early on. Men, your hand-eye coordination just gets worse over time with SCA! This symptom happens for a few reasons, like vision issues, physical movement problems, and cognitive impairment. A combo of these can trigger your poor hand-eye coordination too! Men, you'll have huge, huge problems with the distance of objects, the space between them, and yes, even where they're at in a room. That's going to make things like repetition and moving physically hard for you. Sad. Don't be surprised with the hand tremors here, men. They're actually an early, early sign of SCA and its hand-eye coordination problems.

Difficulty Learning

So many men with SCA get difficulty learning and trouble with other cognitive functions as early symptoms of this condition. So early! But men, hold your horses. Hold them! They can also mean your condition's getting worse. You know what's coming here. Your motor learning is tougher with SCA. It is. That means it'll be harder for you to adapt how you move to natural changes in your body! Visuospatial learning is also a lot harder with SCA. Yes, a lot harder. Men, you know this means your ability to judge objects on distance and dimension is affected. That's why you've got trouble figuring out how far away something is. The best example? You'll have a tough, tough time driving a car well.

But wait, there's more here. Men, your implicit learning is hard, so hard, with SCA. This is the learning you do without knowing you're doing it! A huge, huge example? Boosting your social skills while having a normal convo. This is a big deal when you're young. Men, it means speech development problems!