Mal's Gherkin Pram: Dizzy Fingers, Typos and Hand Numbness

► NOTE: This is not a "pity-party/woe-is-me" thing, as I'm simply sharing a very brief insight into some of the reasons why I may act so "up and down" from time to time.

Please excuse my occasional accidental typos... I have MS; which, among other things, affects my hands/fingers. It's permanent, too.

It's known as "Paresthesia".

Try picking up a wet cake of soap whilst wearing a wet plastic oven-mitt… that's what it feels like.

It's a challenge typing properly.

Sometimes I cannot feel the keyboard keys being pressed as I type, and sometimes they don't type (or double touch!), hence occasional typos and/or missed letters.

Sometimes, it makes it awkward to point and click and scroll my mouse accurately, too - sometimes, I miss!

It's also why I don't often leave a written reply comment on peoples' pages online sometimes, as often I'm only able to only make an emoji/smiley, post an image as a reply, or copy/paste stuff. Yes, it's frustrating.

I type using my laptop (a physical keyboard is much easier for me to use) - thank goodness for spell checkers (which find most of my "dizzy-fingers" typos!)

► My typos certainly make for some hilarious reading at times!

Thank goodness for spellchekerd [lol]

I now use a Bluetooth keyboard to type on my Android phone for SMS etc as well. The buttons on the Android are too small for me to hit accurately most of the time... actually using the touch screen on an Android device can be an absolute nightmare for me a lot of the time, as I simply can't feel the screen or hit the wrong spot and make too many frustrating mistakes. Hence why I much prefer a physical Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

Stylus Writing Pen: Why hadn't I got one of these bloody things before now? I guess I completely forgot about it, as it'd fallen off my 'Bucket List'. As it is, the one I got myself is really bloody easy for me to use on the mobile's touchscreen with my stoopid numb MS hands/fingers - yay!

I've purchased a Bluetooth Mouse to go with my Bluetooth keyboard, which I should be able to connect to and use with my two Android devices (phone and tablet)... why didn't I think of that before? D'oh! Works 100% great for me - yay!

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

15 March 2023

Well, I feel like a complete idiot. I have just figured out how to use voice-to-text and I'm using it right now to write this. It works brilliantly on both my laptop and my mobile phone and my tablet. No more worries about my MS "Dizzy Fingers". Why didn't I do this ages ago? It's so easy. Now I don't have to mess around with a USB mouse and a USB keyboard to send a text message on my mobile phone. People told me about this years ago, but it wasn't until just now that I actually thought, "Hmmm... let's do it!"

Stupid males! lolol

Note: It also means I am unable to play musical instruments any more. Argh.

(I used to be a semi-professional musician)

➽ Hand Numbness ("Paresthesia")

Try picking up a wet cake of soap whilst wearing a wet plastic oven-mitt… that is about the best way to describe how MS affects my hands.

It's not a loss of muscle strength, grip, or motor skills. It's not painful. It's a strange pins and needles/tingling/numbness/buzzing/vibrating/throbbing/slippery/spongy effect that makes it very difficult trying to: type, point, scroll and double-click a computer mouse; write by hand; picking up a dropped pen off the floor; use the buttons on an Android-style mobile phone; picking up soap in the shower; putting a key in a lock; doing up shirt buttons; tying shoelaces; pegging washing to a clothesline; sewing; turning the pages of a book; getting a pill out of a bottle; picking up a dropped credit card/piece of paper off the floor; wiping my backside (for example). I have to concentrate when using a sharp knife when chopping veggies etc - just ordinary day-to-day things like that. It’s a general clumsiness (more than normal, that is), especially when it is so easy to ‘forget’ after a lifetime lived without these bizarre sensations. I have the sensation of hot and cold (thankfully), but the effect makes things feel "slippery" or "spongy" to my touch (it's weird to try to explain it). I've had to stop playing the guitar completely now (which I used to do professionally).

It's hard to explain the feeling of...

Pins and needles
Numbness
Tingling
Buzzing
Vibrating
Throbbing
Slippery
Spongy

A good example... the first time I went swimming in a Pool after being diagnosed with MS, my hands literally felt like I was wading through thick glue or jelly! An amazing sensation... painless, just very bizarre! Guess those demyelinated nerves of mine just did not know what to do with that sensation, huh? [laffs]

➽ Article: "Altered Sensations"