By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-04-03 13:10:06 | Updated at 2025-04-04 08:13:53
19 hours ago
An elderly woman believed she was possessed by ghosts when she saw her arm move on its own before doctors discovered she was actually suffering from an extremely rare condition.
A 77-year-old woman was watching TV in her home when she suddenly noticed her left hand began to stroke her face and hair against her will.
Terrified, she attempted to control the left hand with her right but remained unsuccessful - forcing her to watch one of her hands move on its own for 30 minutes.
According to the case report, her husband rushed her to the hospital and noted that she was dragging her left leg while walking.
Suspecting that there may be a problem with the elderly woman's brain, responding doctors at the hospital asked her to undergo a CT and MRI scan.
The scans showed 'acute infarcts in both the parietal lobes' of her brain - also known as strokes in the part of the brain located behind the frontal lobe.
A parietal lobe stroke is caused by an interruption of the blood supply to that part of the brain and can lead to a loss of movements, language, reading, changes in behavior, and visual disturbances.
As the elderly woman gradually gained normal control of the left side over the span of six hours, doctors concluded that she was suffering from Alien Hand Syndrome.
A 77-year-old woman was watching TV in her own home when she suddenly noticed her left hand flinging as it began to stroke her face and hair without her will
Sounding like something out of a sci-fi movie, Alien Hand Syndrome (AHS) is a disorder in which a person's hand or hands are not under their control and move on their own.
Also referred to as Dr Strangelove syndrome, the patients see their hand, frequently the left one, move and perform actions without being aware.
Because of its independent movements, patients often feel like their hand is being controlled by another person and become disconnected from the body part.
The person also does not have sensation in the hand and cannot feel anything the hand touches.
Doctors from Texas wrote of the 2014 case study: 'Alien Hand Syndrome, or Dr. Strangelove syndrome, is an interesting situation in which a person loses control of his or her hand, which starts to act independently.
'The alien hand might grab onto things and the person might have to use the other limb to release the objects from it. At extremes, the alien hand has been reported to even suffocate the patient.'
Doctors believe the unnamed woman's AHS could have been brought on by a stroke in the parietal lobes after she stopped taking her blood clot medication in anticipation of spinal surgery.
They also noted that the development of AHS due to a stroke is extremely rare but can be terrifying to patients.
Furthermore, the case study stated that the extremely short duration of alien hand (30 minutes) in the woman's case made it the shortest reported duration of this phenomenon ever recorded.
The condition has been reported to last for several days to several years, according to the doctors.
Sounding like something out of a sci-fi movie, Alien Hand Syndrome (AHS) is a disorder in which a person's hand moves on its own and is not under their control
Experts also performed an ultrasound test of her heart to see its structure and check for blood clots.
Her results suggested that she had no problems with her heart and her blood vessels were free of clots.
It remains unclear if the doctors performed any other tests to diagnose the syndrome and there are no specific tests to diagnose AHS.
As the elderly woman regained full control of the left side of her body over the next six hours, she noted that her left upper limb was numb and slightly weak.
Doctors instructed her to restart her blood clot medication and she was sent home with no further symptoms or complications.
AHS can happen with several underlying conditions or trauma, as well as after some types of brain surgery and there is no treatment for it.
Due to its rarity, it remains unknown exactly how many Americans suffer from AHS however, a review in 2013 found just 150 cases in the medical journals.
