February 17, 2026
When words go rogue, comments go wild
'My Words Are Like an Uncontrollable Dog': On Life with Nonfluent Aphasia
Readers share chills, call out bad analogies, and drop a life-saving PSA
TLDR: A young woman’s stroke left her with severe aphasia, turning everyday speech into a battle. Commenters clashed over harmful comparisons, shared personal stories, and pushed the FAST stroke test, making this both a gut-punch read and a public-service moment that could help someone spot a stroke fast.
Faye’s harrowing stroke story—misread as a migraine, dismissed by a doctor, and even mistaken by paramedics for drug use—left her with nonfluent aphasia, where words bolt like an uncontrollable dog. The community read in stunned silence… then erupted. One reader, dmd, shared a brief but haunting brush with aphasia, while another, refulgentis, admitted the piece felt “disturbing,” hinting the cognitive fog lingered longer than the story let on.
Then came the flamewar over language: ggm blasted writers for comparing relearning speech to a “French accent,” declaring, it’s a brain injury, not a quirky voice. Cue totetsu, who drew a controversial parallel to second-language learning: speaking words you can’t even understand as they come out—“disorientating” and weirdly relatable. The thread split between don’t trivialize neurotrauma and we’re using metaphors to cope, and yes, everyone had feelings.
Amid the drama, the PSA brigade showed up: mcapodici dropped stroke.org’s FAST guide (Face, Arms, Speech, Time), turning the comments into an impromptu lifesaving lesson. Humor popped up too: “French accent” jokes got a hard ban, “word gremlins” became a meme, and the vibe swung from tears to teachable moments. Raw, messy, human—just like language itself.
Key Points
- •Faye experienced a severe stroke at age 21 after initial symptoms of double vision and later tunnel vision and paresthesia.
- •A general practitioner initially attributed her symptoms to a bad headache, delaying appropriate treatment.
- •She awoke the next morning unable to speak, collapsed when family arrived, and paramedics initially suspected drug use.
- •In intensive care, doctors identified a widespread stroke causing gaze problems, left-sided paralysis, loss of speech and swallow, and calculation and handwriting difficulties; a feeding tube was placed.
- •No clear cause was found, though oral contraceptives and smoking were considered relevant; early rehabilitation included using an alphabet chart for communication despite spelling difficulties.