Alien hand syndrome!

1 Anyone dealt or heard of "alien hand syndrome"? Had a patient post-stroke that has this and I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it. Her hand was like it was possessed. It had a "mind of its own". Her hand has now become known as "THE HAND" to her, as in "help me, THE HAND keeps touching me". She has completely depersonalized her hand. She kept hitting herself in the face repetitively, hard, and nearly broke her glasses. Also ended up bloodying her knuckles from hitting things. The worst part was when she grabbed her good hand with the bad hand and when she tried to pull her good hand out of her bad hand's grasp it ripped all of her skin off her hand. The hand has also tried to rip out her IV and midline.

We all had to do some research on the internet once the neurologist told us what was going on. I just feel bad for her because she can't control it and its scaring her. It doesn't help that its being so mean to her! I've read that it is quite rare. It also depends on where the stroke was at on what abilities the hand has, such as flailing, grasping, pinching, or movements that seem even more purposeful. Wondering if anyone has any stories for me on this topic?
Wow how intresting! I have never heard of that. This one patient I had, after his stroke he was able to spell and count backwards, even talk backwards.Poor lady, how scary it must be for her!

Yeah, we really thought at first that it was a psych issue. This was before the stroke was found. Someone came out of the room and said "that poor lady is crazy...she just pulled all the skin off her own hand!

Wow, sounds like a Bruce Campell movie.

Have heard of it- my aunt had a simular relationship with her hand after her stroke- it was just much better behaved. Her chief complaint was that someone kept putting thier arm in bed with her.... My heart goes out to your poor lady- please re-post if you learn the outcome of this poor souls rehab. How frightening it must be for her.

I once took care of a patient who just couldn't seem to get the idea that the right side of his body was weakened - he just ignored it and kept falling. The brain is so complex, isn't it?

I cared for a patient who was being treated on our cardiac tele unit for subacute endocarditis from an unknown source. He also had brain abscesses (apparently related to the endocarditis) resulting in stroke-like symptoms. When he would fall asleep one of his arms would rise straight up over his head and his hand would slowly wave in the air. The neurologist treated it with Keppra.

Quote from cebollitaWow, sounds like a Bruce Campell movie.

i wonder if placing the bad hand in a mitten would help.

Yes, I've seen this. My patient's "alien hand" would wander around her face and body, picking at her lips (and food, if she was eating), running through her hair, knocking off her glasses. That stupid hand just would not leave her alone; she hated it. She said it really was as if someone were standing there, constantly touching her, rather than her own hand. It was horribly annoying and distracting for her.We finally restrained it (at her request). When in bed or in the chair we used a soft limb restraint. When she was up walking around, we'd wrap the hand in ace bandages and put the entire arm in a sling, as if she had a broken arm. That would usually keep the hand quiet.

One of our dearest patients has cortical basal ganglionic degeneration, and a phantom hand. Since the phantom hand is the only one that works (paralyzed on the other side), it is especially tragic. The hand waves in the air, gets in the way of feeding and other care, and generally drives her nuts. Fortunately, it isn't an "evil" hand - hasn't tried to hurt her. But she was an RN for 40 years and is such a nice lady that it really is sad. She's got most of her wits about her and can see her decline.

I have never heard of anything like this and it is so interesting! I looked it up and was just amazed at what our body does to us when things aren't connected right. I am so sorry that people are going through this kind of thing. I hope someone comes up with a cure soon.

Does she also have heianopsia? This is common with Right hemisphereic stroke affecting the left side of the body. They completely ignore the side affected and even believe someone is on bed with them. I think we see it less becasue of the interventional medicine like the thrombolytics being utilized. Unfortunately they cannot help themselves and there really is no "cure" so to speak. Therapy helps sometimes and sometimes it lessens in severity over time.A great informational site.http://www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=EFFECT