ET, phone 911.
Imagine sitting at home on your couch when one of your hands begins to move of its own accord — and you’re powerless to stop it.
That’s what happened to one unidentified 77-year-old woman, whom doctors diagnosed with “alien hand syndrome.”
The woman had been watching TV when she noticed that her left hand was moving on its own, as if possessed.
“Her left hand stroked her face and hair without her will. She got terrified,” the authors of the bizarre 2014 case study, which was published in the journal Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, wrote.
“Her attempts to control the left hand with the right hand were unsuccessful. She did not have any control of the left hand for almost 30 minutes as it continued to make purposeful movements.”
“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,” they wrote.
“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.”
The condition is typically caused by brain trauma, stroke or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
There is no cure, although the condition can be managed through behavioral therapy like keeping the rogue hand occupied with a task.
Symptoms can last for days — or years.
In the case of this elderly lady, this shocking phenomenon only lasted 30 minutes — the shortest recorded duration — although her left arm felt weak and numb afterwards.
Her husband helped her get to the hospital — which is when she noticed she was dragging her left leg as she walked.
Doctors believe her alien hand syndrome could have been brought on by a stroke after she took a break from taking her blood clot medication in anticipation of spinal surgery.
She gradually regained control of the left side of her body over the next six hours and was sent home.
The first known case of alien hand syndrome was reported by German neurologist Kurt Goldstein in 1908.
AHS is sometimes called Dr. Strangelove syndrome, after the classic Stanley Kubrick film character whose uncontrollable hand repeatedly attempts to perform a Nazi salute.
One famous case involved a woman who would try to button her shirt with her right hand, while her left hand unbuttoned it.
Her left hand would also sometimes stub out her cigarette without her permission and slap her in the face.
