Got another little question. Am wondering if having neuropathy in one's hands can make one more clumsy than usual? Things like dropping stuff on the floor, poor control over utensils, whacking knuckles on things, etc.

fanfaire,
who has a major case of the clumsies today

I definitely think mine does...and also makes me clumsy in my walk. Am not sure if its the PN itself or if its the neurontin, but I have certainly noticed changes ... to the point that I am consciously more careful when I am walking, carrying, picking up, etc.

I'm certainly living proof.

It's pretty obvious that if one has neuropathy affecting one's motor nerves one will lose strength and function and this will have all sorts of effects. But even if one's condition is entirely sensory, one can still have them. The disruption in proper sensory feedback, both fine and gross, can cause you to have the dropsies, the tripsies, the bangintothingsies . . .

The degrees of this vary person to person and day to day, but I've had plenty of days when things are just jumping out of my hands, and when stationary objects are mysteriously moving into my path.

I have diabetic neuropathy. Don't know exactly how long I have had it but I was diagnosed two years ago.

I've been diabetic for 20 years and I drop stuff all the time.

It's like I think I have it in my hands and poof, it's on the floor. Doesn't happen a lot, but it happens.

Oh, and if I type 145 words a minute (like I used to and I do it without thinking??), well, my fingers start buzzing like crazy, and I have to immediately stop, shake my hands and start typing slower.

Now how do you get a super sonic speed typist to type slowly??? lol

Melody

When I'd my 'onset'? It took two hands to hold let alone drink from any cup or mug...could not do 'it' one-handed....no way/how!
Had the 'coordination' from OUTER SPACE! Where feet thought they were going...was a far cry from where they went?
Changing channels on the 'remote' for the TV was often a challenge...had to LOOK at all the buttons to be SURE my digits were in the rite place?
Let's not even DISCUSS those attempts to make TOAST? Lots of burnt bread around the place for a while...

Housecleaning? Adventures in spilt/knocked over/missed stuff done? Hey! I do not worry about that sort of thing any more! I do what I can and I do not have four feet of trash in my house! I think that's doing pretty good considering....Could be heaps worse for sure.

THIS is when you really LEARN who your friends truly ARE! You ARE here true?'s - j

Yup--absolutely! Like I was telling someone the other day, I had a bottle of water and I went to put the cap back on, just as I got it to the top of the bottle, the cap flew across the room. My daughter laughed at me, telling me I missed her by a mile, but, honest, I had no intention of sending that cap through the air, yet fly it did. Sometimes at work, I drop the phone receiver long before I should above the phone! Sometimes I can't hang onto a pen, I drop my keys, my phone has gone across my sidewalk, several times--yup, you aren't alone!

I know for me my legs seem very clumsy and will trip or run into things. I try to be super careful but it happens. For me I feel its from the pain and lack of cordination. I think it happens more when I am less consistent in activity or higher pain days.

I had a high "breakage rate" for glasses and dishes. For years my kids knew that as soon as I dropped something and they heard the crash, to come running to help out and minimize my upset over it.

I have not broken a glass in ages. Things can improve, and if you can't see it on the EMG/NCS, you might see it in your glass count.

I'm forever dropping things I transfer from one place to another. Like from the microwave to the counter (over-the-counter microwave shelf) top.
Last weekend I was slicing some watermelon and hit the plate with the 10" knife so hard, that it cracked. (one chip went somewhere, still haven't found it- I'll probably do so by stepping on it and cutting my foot ) One less plate to the supply of the mismatched that we use everyday.
I feel thankful that my wife doesn't act like I'm an incorrigible 'klutz'. She just helps me clean the messes up and tells me to go more slowly and try to be more methodically careful.

Ah, thanks for this. I've been having increased tinglies in my right hand, and noticed yesterday that I was consistently dropping or flinging stuff held in that hand. And I've got some scraped knuckles from "bangintothingsies" (excellent term, by the way ).

Am going to my primary care doc this afternoon to ask if she will refer me to the Mayo Clinic for a "second opinion" on the Sjogren's/neuropathy diagnoses. Not that I have any reason to believe my docs in Denver were wrong, but the docs in Sioux Falls don't seem to have any respect for the previous findings. I am thinking if this stuff is confirmed at the Mayo Clinic I might get more cooperation from whatever rheumatologist I end up with.

I am very, very nervous about this. I actually feel traumatized by how the three rheumys in Sioux Falls belittled me earlier this year, and the last thing I want is to undergo more tests that may or may not be helpful (not to mention that my insurance won't cover it and I could go bankrupt paying for it all). But I'm pretty much at a dead end for treatment unless I can get someone to believe I have autoimmune disease causing nerve damage and not "just" fibromyalgia going on.

Wish me luck.

Oh, and I just thought of a bad pun: I guess misery loves "clumsy", right?

fanfaire,
who deals with nervousness by being silly