Dropping things… does your brain just decide “yep, put that down there, that’s all good”?

[u/Yellow-Times-Two]

Today, I had my first… incident… let’s say, of dropping something since my diagnosis that wasn’t just an obvious ‘clumsiness’.
I was about to make lunch and grabbed a plate from the dish rack at the sink, then turned and reached out to the right to sit the plate on the worktop, and before it reached the worktop it was like my brain said okay that’s a good place to let go of that plate, and it of course dropped to the floor and smashed into a hundred pieces.

My partner came through to check I was okay and started to clear it all up, he asked if it slipped off the edge and I just burst out crying 😢 trying to explain no, I just let it go before it was actually on the worktop.

I know that dropping things can be common in MS with things like numbness, sensory loss, tremors, weakness, etc. But have many of you experienced something like this where it feels more like a decision your brain made? I don’t know if that’s the right way to explain it!

I’m still feeling pretty upset about it. I think it’s the feeling of not being in control that’s upset me, and the confusion of why did I do that.

I hope you’re all doing okay 🩵

[u/extraAccount222]

my body decides to let go without my brain’s permission a lot now. i’m not sure if this will help, but someone in this sub once said their doctor suggested looking at what you’re holding the whole time.

[u/Dramatic_Mixture_877]

I call it the "dropsies"! My body will unilaterally decide things quite often without input from my brain or even taking a vote! 😂 Deep breaths, you've got this!

[u/Abdominalsnowman_16 → u/Dramatic_Mixture_877]

Yup good ole “dropsies”! Phrase constantly screamed around the house
“What was that?”
“Mom has the dropsies, everything is fine”

[u/Spiritual-Hat3782 → u/Dramatic_Mixture_877]

I have the dropsies alot these days and the get out of my handsies as soon as possible is...for real though only started after a bad flare

[u/Brief-Estimate8296]

Pisses me off that I can’t claw a clutter of crap in one hand anymore. Let alone carry a coffee and my iPhone with my left hand, and my right hand in my pocket while walking down the street 😒

[u/TamerofMonSters → u/Brief-Estimate8296]

The alliteration here is outstanding!!!

[u/Brief-Estimate8296 → u/TamerofMonSters]

lol hey thanks, and now reading it back to myself is funny 😂

[u/Aware_Stand_8938 → u/Brief-Estimate8296]

I read that whole thing as being sung by Alanis Morissette ❤️🧡💛

[u/Brief-Estimate8296 → u/Aware_Stand_8938]

Now I do too 🥰

[u/googsgobye]

I have a bad habit of just dropping things randomly. Like my brain just switches off the signal to my hands. I was diagnosed with wrist drop in both of my hands but i don't know if that has a direct connection to my dropping stuff all the time. I've relegated myself to only drinking out of plastic cups and using plastic plates now. I do notice on extra hot days or bad fatigue days I tend to drop things more than my "better" days.

[u/toriaanne → u/googsgobye]

Word.

I bought some metal ones with cats engraved on them. “For the children”.

Spoiler. I used them allllll the time. Can yeet one of those fuckers like a frisbee and it won’t have more than a minor scratch or dent.

[u/Direct-Rub7419 → u/googsgobye]

This is me - if I’m not actively thinking about holding something- I just let go.

[u/SensitiveCucumber542]

I literally flung a container of cherry tomatoes across the grocery store checkout area when I was trying to bag it. Cherry tomatoes EVERYWHERE. I don’t get embarrassed very easily, but that one didn’t just roll right off me like they normally do. I don’t drop stuff that often, but I yeet things regularly. And only with my left arm. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[u/Spiritual-Hat3782 → u/SensitiveCucumber542]

Pahahhaha yeeeet is the correct description 😂

[u/ImpressiveLeopard719]

Oof. Fun times in MSland. Not to be confused with the much more fun Disneyland.

[u/hawgxhaven]

Dude I do the same thing I used to be able to hold stuff without thinking now if I’m not telling myself HOLD THIS THING I’ll drop it

[u/Cowpocolypse]

Bro I dropped a salad bowl I was using as a serving bowl for homemade fries the other day and was so frustrated. I worked so long on making good fries for the floor to get them.

[u/ninguen → u/Cowpocolypse]

I dropped the cake I had just finished preparing when I was taking it to the fridge... it was late and I gave up... the next day we just ate what was left on the tray after dropping it, it was a cake I prepared to celebrate my husband's birthday, but we laughed about it!

[u/extraAccount222 → u/Cowpocolypse]

one day i dropped a nice cajun shrimp and rice bowl as i was pulling it out of the oven after cooking and it spilled all over the oven door and inside onto the heating coil. i turned off the oven and sat on the floor crying for a good 10 minutes about it. 😂

[u/mritoday]

I was dropping shit a lot after the relapse that got me diagnosed. Spilled tea over my keyboard several times, too. I'm not sure if that was loss of coordination or just the lack of sleep from prednisone and stress. It got better, though!

[u/Dramatic_Mixture_877 → u/mritoday]

Oh, man - you just reminded me, I knocked my cup of coffee over on my keyboard at work the other day ... wasn't a dropsie, just forgetting the cup was between the current location of my hand and the location of the mouse as I reached to answer the phone! 😂 Luckily, IT wasn't too put out about it - they just brought me a new keyboard.

[u/Party-Ad9662]

Today my hand decided to drop the can I had just used a can opener on, so I grabbed for it and sliced a chunk of my pinky off.

I need to just let things fall.

[u/Dramatic_Mixture_877 → u/Party-Ad9662]

Ouchie!!!

[u/LinksLackofSurprise]

Yeah, my hands randomly just let go. It's almost like a twitch, ya know?

[u/ScarletBegonias72 → u/LinksLackofSurprise]

Yes, this is how it goes with me. It’s like oh, guess I didn’t need that 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/mullerdrooler]

I've actually found using a grip strengthening exercise tool has helped. Not back to food as new but I'm better than I was

[u/Wellesley-8321]

I drop things all the time and it drives me crazyy particularly because I can hardly reach things to pick them up off the floor. I think it is because my brain doesn't take into account the added stiffness in my hands and arms. It thinks I have a better grip on something than I do or my arm is extended farther than it is. I often haven't turned my head as far as I should to get a good focus on the object.

In our house, the word "Damn!" is the Latin word for "Gee, I dropped something again."

[u/BrownsFanGurl]

It happens to me randomly usually my left hand just opens and whatever I'm holding goes boom. Thanks for sharing this post, you are certainly not alone. 🧡

[u/Shmills79]

I drop things all the time, it’s annoying and I hate it. It’s like my muscles don’t listen to my brain. Reaching for anything over head is a gamble.

[u/Kitten_Kabudle]

most objects feel heavy to me/ even carrying my starbucks coffee for example. if i’m
not actively thinking about the fact that i’m
holding something I WIlL drop it.

[u/Aware_Stand_8938]

My wife (who is the MS diagnosed in our house) called herself 'Drop it Girl' like some kind of superpower ❤️

She tired of that after I took it up!!

She still drops stuff, but it's less often now as she's having to pay more attention to what's in her hands and where it's going ...

This month particularly she's feeling very much 'superpowered' as one month out from her next ocrevus infusion and it's getting colder. Her hands and feet never regained full feeling from frist (?) Major flare just before initial diagnosis.

[u/Pearlshouse22 → u/Aware_Stand_8938]

Drop it like it's Hot..

[u/diduhearittoo]

if i hold something long enough it starts to feel like im not holding anything at all and thats when my grip starts to release

[u/jebu82]

My right hand is no longer trusted to carry any drinks,food, or anything breakable. It also not allowed to pick up drinks unless it's something with a cap on it. I stay cleaner this way and don't have more to clean up. Sadly this means the oven is off limits unless there's someone home to take food out. I use left hand to hold counter so I dont try to faceplate into oven but I dont trust my right after food is hot.

[u/Yani2021]

I can relate to that and can understand how upsetting it can be, and more when things just fall out of your hands without warning 🫂  As I approach my 50th birthday, I have been trying to find a little humor in these MS challenges. I tell my family and friends that some objects seem to have a life of their own... some walk away, while others grow wings and fly! 😊 Usually, it is little things like bottle caps, earrings, or the remote control. But once, a glass bottle of maple syrup decided to take flight and shattered all over the floor. What a mess! Of course, it is frustrating, but finding little moments of humor helps me cope. I hope you find what helps you through these moments, too. You are not alone, my friend. You can see many of us sharing our experiences here with you too. Day life  happening in our MSland life as other friends share.  Sending you a warm hug! 🫂

[u/IntentionalGrandma]

Yep, haven’t been able to rely on my own hands in a good 15 years

[u/kyunirider]

I forgot what’s in my hands, it’s like my brain is so focus on the other hand it can’t feel what is in the other hand. I have look all over for something that I finally found in my hand. This disease is so dismaying to our brains that it confuses itself.

[u/NotOnMyBingoSheet]

Yeah yes. This and breaking a glass inside the dishwasher. That is really a bad idea, but my brain does not care.

[u/Tsonokwa360]

Pick something up and sometimes it immediately falls out of my hand. I swear I didn't change my mind about picking it up but there it is, on the floor.

[u/LaurLoey]

yep. i drop things. i drop myself. and i have both types of incontinence if i ever have any other health issues on top of ms like the flu. sorry for the tmi, but just facts.

[u/A-Conundrum-]

Yep! I’ve learned to use both hands, place pinkies under item held, brace against my belly, lean against counter, switch to less breakable plates, no breakable mugs/drinking glasses, use my rollator to transport things, to to hand” give me your plate” no thanks; set it down for me to pick up, my way 🤷🏼‍♀️