Thumb Weakness & Self-Testing

EnlgishBirder

Well-known member
My thumb has been playing up again and I have been self testing. I got my husband to push my thumb down on my right hand compared to left and it seems weaker. I'm freaking out. Also when he squeezes all fingers together my resistance is overcome. Is this normal? I can resist but not for long. He is stronger than I am so i would expect that but all the literature says you should be able to not let the examiner squeeze your fingers together or push your thumb down.I'm panicking. Any thoughts?
 
None of us have symmetrical strength. Your grip strength will out-power resistance hand strength. That's the way we're built so your husband should easily be able to grip your extended fingers back together. Stop testing yourself. The sort of weakness you are looking for is pronounced, like, sh1t I can't pick up a book, or I can't lift my arm up. Don't look for something you don't have, it will just make you paranoid and increase your BFS symptoms.SM
 
Quit selftesting please. You know you have no limits on that and can damage yourself.Weakness is not inability to resist a strong man. clinically weak person can not do what a baby can, remember this.
 
My anxiety is sky high. I do actually think I have weakness in my right hand / thumb. I was so frightened that I went to my GP who did a basic neuro exam and my reflexes are normal and basic grip test fine. I still find it harder to pick things up a certain way with my dominant right hand compare to my left although weirdly my husband found the same. Eg I can hold a wine glass comfortably between my thumb and little finger with my left hand yet I can't with my right hand that tenses up and becomes stiff. My thumb and right hand is also hurting as well as my whole right arm.At the gym today (1st time after op) i found it harder to lift with my right than left. I'm so down:(
 
I'm the same with my right hand/arm. And, I think my right thenar is less bulky than my left (I know it is).This is what I suspect. It's right hand/arm overuse. Or repetitive motion/strain that causes it to be this way.I've been twitching for two years and three months (possibly longer) if that helps.Mitra
 
I HAVE WEAKNESSI can't hold things as well in my left hand as I can in my right. I am right hand dominant. Up until now I believe I had BFS but now I'm really really scared.
 
having weaknes smeans NOT HOLDING AT ALL. at all. zero. no movement, no posession of fingers or hands anymore.what you have is perceived weakness, we all have it here.We even drop things!
 
It's definitely not perceived. I'm right hand dominant and my right hand feels weird and is not as dexterous as my left. I was scrabbling around for popcorn at the cinema with my right yet could scoop up with no problem with my left. Went to pick up a cushion with my right and it slipped through. Left hand no problem. Shut the car boot with my right - harder than left. It's happening. I've been twitching 9 months and I've been praying for no weakness. Now it's starting. I'm terrified.
 
I went through this same scenario a few weeks ago, and now I don't think about it anymore. I truly felt like my left arm was getting weaker. Anxiety can make all of your muscles act up. At least that was the case with me. Try to get your mind off of this stuff. It's toxic.
 
I probably need to go back to a neuroligist. When I open and clise my hand and time how many times in 10 seconds i can do this i can do more with m left hand. The same whwn I noce my fingers against my thumb in a repetetive way. Also I can pinch open a bulldog clip with my left hand fingers (starting with thumb and index, then middle, ring finger and pinky) no problem with the left but i struggle with my ring and little fingers on my right)I really Ann crapping myself now. As one poster said its not loss if strength but loss of dexterity. I have loss of dexterity on my right hand for sure. I tried picking up my sons mini nuts in his meccano and do more in 10 secs with right thsn left and I'm right hand dominant.Someone calm me down please......
 
Long time no post.I have atrophy in my left hand, no I am not just saying that, it is clinically verified, and do you know what? It is not getting any better. It is a right nuisance when I am peeling vegetables as it my grip that is the problem as well as diminished feeling. It also does other wierd things from time to time such as sieze up completly so that the fingers have to be prized open. I have not thought nor worried about neuromuscular diseases in a long time, but then I noticed a dent in my face on the same side as my bad hand. I started the old anxiety trip again and then thought perhaps it is just that I have lost weight, or it is ageing. I started thinking about my left hand though, and wondering whether Multiple Sclerosis would feel just the same, and I suppose it would. Thing is I am pretty certain I don't have MS. I do have damaged nerves though, good old fashioned mechanical damage, as with my joints.I don't self test anymore, that was part of an obsessive compulsive ritual, I don't stick my tongue out and watch it twitch. When I slur my speech (and I do) I think it is because I am either tired or anxious, which are good enough reasons for anybody to do that. It's not that I have not had sever bouts of anxiety since I last posted to this list, but it has to be said that the focus of that anxiety has shifted, to somewhat more realistic concerns, such as mounting debt, finishing my PhD, not being ripped off by the garage. Now here's the thing, your car develops a problem, you take it to the garage and unlike Dr's they start out by telling you the worst it could be, and suggesting what it will cost for them to fix it. You don't believe them though do you, because they have an investment in charging you as much as they can get away with.The moral of the tale is, that even if the weakness is genuine, and in most cases it won't be, the likelihood of it being the worst you fear is astronomically remote, just like the possibility I might be struck by lightning before I get to press the ........
 
Thank you PlayfulPants. I'm so sorry to everyone that I'm completely losing it. I'm terrified and can't seem to "get a grip" (no pun intended.I've just flicked the muscle between my thumb and foregoing on my right hand and watched it flicker. No such reaction on my left. Why? Is it because my right hand has been aggravated more by all the testing?I do need to stop self testing but I'm obsessed. I was doing so well. My left knee is playing up agsin and twitching. Right hand, left knee. When will all this stop? I'm so sorry :(
 
Nothing to be sorry about, this forum exists for support and reassurance. I have been through that long journey myself, I only drop in here very occasionaly now when I am alerted to a late reply to a long past post.When I was at he height of my anxieties it was a very dark period indeed, I had started post graduate University studies and the stress of it all nearly put an end to that.
 

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