13 responses for this post

1. El Gato on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 11:05 am

   I’ve always been fascinated by strange medical syndromes, but I haven’t come across this one before. I must admit that I thought, at first, this was an elaborate put-on.

2. GeekBoy on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 11:27 am

   Chuck, in your research, did you find any relationship between AHS and Jimmy Legs Syndrome?

3. Susie on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 11:56 am

   Wow! Kudos, Chuck.

4. Melonie on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 12:51 pm

   Congrats Chuck !

   I think I have the-involuntarily stuffing of food in the mouth LOL

5. Michael on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 1:14 pm

   Mazel tov, Chuck. Loved it! I can’t wait to read more of your stuff. And I can’t believe I’ve never even heard of Alien Hand before.

   I’m gonna have to watch that “Angel” episode again. Any excuse, really. And Buffy had that mummy hand attack her over and over again.

   If only I’d known about Alien Hand that time when my mom caught me with Timmy Barlage in 7th grade.

6. Emilie on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 1:40 pm

   I’m so proud of my husband.

7. ken on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 2:33 pm

   It’s only a matter of time before the pharmacutecal industry comes up with a drug for this, though maybe the same stuff they use for restless legs syndrome will work.

   Congrats Chuck, them seems like a super cool gig. I’m jealous.

8. freakgirl on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 3:04 pm

   I’m jealous, too.

9. patrick on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 3:19 pm

   Congrats– nice article on a classic “weirdo” systems neuroscience/neuropsychiatric disorder, which I guess is sorta my gig now. I could (and would) nerd out about this for days, but I don’t think it’s quite the venue. I will, however, recommend a great popular science book called “Phantoms in the Brain” by V.S. Ramachandran, which contains a bunch of great case studies about stuff like this. (Including one “Strangelove” patient.)

   Unfortunately, this isn’t really the sort of thing that drugs can fix, beyond paralyzing the rogue arm; it’s a total (or at least major) loss of connectivity between the hemispheres. If we could fix this, we could also create people like Kim Peek, the real-life Rain Man, who has supernormal connectivity between hemispheres.

   Fun side note: I think Ramachandran says something about the left hand most commonly being the destructive one– it’s controlled by the right motor strip, and the right side of the brain tends to be the more emotionally fragile/illogical one.

   See? That was only nerding out for several minutes, and not days.

10. freakgirl on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 4:04 pm

    Interesting stuff, patrick. Nerding out is always welcome here, by the way.

11. chuckb123 on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 4:06 pm

    Thanks, everybody! I know it’s not exactly a hot commodity screenplay, but it’s my first paid writing gig and I’m VERY happy at work for once in my life. I’ll continue to share links for the good ones - not so much on um… How Catalytic Converters Works.

    It’s a way cool site too if you’re into random knowledge. We get 8 million hits a month!

12. Maggie on Friday, September 14, 2007 at 1:33 am

    I often look stuff up there!

    Nice job, Chuck! Congratulations!

    Oh, and if you get bored, write us up a little something on the ol’ jimmy legs that Geekboy mentioned earlier. Jeremy twitches like a crazy man itching to steal something when it gets late at night. It’s different from everything I’ve read about Reckless Leg Syndrome, which acts up when you lay down to try to sleep. With Jeremy, the legs go all jimmy on him when he’s sitting up watching tv, and he gets relief when he lays down for sleep. It’s all very weird.

13. Greater Czarina on Friday, September 14, 2007 at 8:56 pm

    Chuck, that’s so cool! Congrats on the fascinating article!

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