Change in handedness

SusanEL

My husband is right-handed. Recently I noticed he is using his left hand and not his right. Has anyone else seen this happen? I was curious why he is doing that now. He is in the later part of the middle stage. I tried looking it up but could not find an answer.

M1

Susan my only thought is whether he could have injured the right hand somehow that you haven’t detected? Or perhaps a small stroke?

Quilting brings calm

If it’s not injury or a stroke:

If I remember correctly, hand dominance is associated with the opposite side of the brain being dominant. Since dementia is a brain disease, maybe the non dominant side of his brain is now handling more things than the dominant side of his brain?

ButterflyWings

My DH does that too. Fairly recent development (maybe later Stage 6 - definitely within the last year). I never posted about it because he hasn't switched, but just uses either hand now. Whereas he ONLY used his dominant hand in the past.

I did notice it, and thought it interesting because he is just as good with that one as the other. But, as I think about this, he's not writing or doing anything handy or requiring much precision so he just seems to reach out and pick up (the spoon or toothbrush or whatever), with his non-dominant hand as often as the other one, and does what he needs to do without noticing a difference.

frankay

DH does this also. Has always been right handed but now picks up fork and spoon with either hand. Has just as much ability using left hand as right. He also tries to button his shirt with his left hand but with difficulty. The difficulty could be due to the task rather than his handedness, but it is strange when his left hand is his first choice. He's been doing this for about a year now and probably in late stage 6.

harshedbuzz

This is a fascinating observation.

Cobbling off what @M1 mentioned about handedness, I wonder if this might be an example of retrogenisis in dementia.

The same Reisberg who gave us FAST, posits that “the process by which degenerative mechanisms in dementia reverse those of normal human development”.

DS attended a therapeutic reading school for dyslexics whose founder believed that handedness and mixed dominance (eye, hand, foot) was predictive of learning differences. Before DS was admitted to the program, she had him evaluated by a developmental neurologist who did identify him as having mixed dominance at age 7. At the time I was quite skeptical, but I wanted him in the program and he did really well there, so I nodded politely as the results were explained.

Babies start to show a consistent preference around 10 months of age. By age 3, most will have what is a dominant hand although this can be fluid until about 9. Folks also have, I am told, a dominant eye and foot. Said eye would be the one you use for a single lens microscope and the foot would be the one you lead with stepping onto an escalator. They should be on the same side of the body.

If Reisberg is correct, then it makes sense that as a person regresses they might return to a state in which their hand dominance is more fluid. Additionally, the generation old enough to have dementia is one in which left-handed individuals were sometimes forcibly taught to be right-handed. This typically happened in the primary grades if parents didn't already start working on this, so surfacing in stage 6 makes sense. Often natural southpaws who have been "cured" of left-handedness will feel more comfortable batting or golfing left-handed.

HB

terei

It might also be that the left side of his brain that controls his right hand is becoming damaged/compromised of to the point that the right side of the brain (controlling the left hand)is taking over some some duties of the left brain. It is a very. interesting occurance.