Miserable because of strange hand syndrome

An operation to treat epilepsy caused Karen Byrne, an American, to lose control of her left hand and was often attacked by this hand herself.

Having a strange disease, Byrne was constantly slapped in the face by her left hand.(Photo: BBC)

Karen Byrne, 55, from New Jersey, USA was diagnosed with strange hand syndrome. Byrne's left and sometimes left hand acted as if they were under the control of a brain outside her body.

Imagine Byrne's condition: she was constantly attacked by her left hand, slapped or slapped into her body. And when Byrne entered a shop and wanted to turn right, one of her legs decided the opposite and turned left, causing her to swing around.

Byrne's disease is remarkable, not only because it is strange but also because it shows some amazing things about how our brain works. Byrne began having strange hand syndrome after undergoing surgery to treat epilepsy at 27 years old.

Surgery to treat epilepsy usually involves identifying and then removing a small part of the brain, which triggers abnormal electrical signals. When this is ineffective or unrecognizable to the injured brain area, doctors will recommend to patients more drastic treatment. In Byrne's case, the surgeon had removed the bottle of the brain, a strand of nerve fibers that kept the two parts of the brain constantly connected.

Removing the bottle on the brain helped Byrne escape the epilepsy but pushed her into a completely different disease.

According to the BBC news agency, the cause of Byrne's problem is thought to be due to a power struggle within her head. A normal brain consists of two hemispheres that communicate with each other through the corpus luteum. The left hemisphere, which controls the right arm and leg, tends to become the residence of language skills. The right hemisphere, which controls the left arm and leg, is mainly responsible for spatial awareness and identification of patterns.

Normally, the left hemisphere will prevail, having a final say on the actions we take.

Most people who have been removed from the bottle can become normal after surgery. However, Byrne is not so lucky. After surgery, her right brain part refused to be under the dominance of the left hemisphere.

After 18 years of experiencing strange hand syndrome, Byrne finally had the hope of escaping from the disease when the doctors had now found a drug to help " control " her right hemisphere.