Headmice may not be suitable for Ataxians

I got the Headmouse Extreme dropped off last Friday, it came with laptop mount so connected it to Macbook.

Ideally that was the one I would want it for, as idea was to use that when pain is really bad in which case I am usually laid in bed. I don't have a phone point in there so can only get online with wireless from bedroom.

However since that day I lost my network it took me two days to get back online and soon as I reconnected Headmouse for another practice Sunday I lost it again.

I've managed to get it back this morning but daren't reconnect headmouse again.

The Headmouse works by you wearing a reflective dot on your forehead which the laser inside the headmouse is able to track as you move your head and moves the cursor in the appropriate direction. (in theory! )

I had some difficulty centering it and not sure it will work best for me from laying in bed. I seemed to need to move head quite a bit to get it to move.

I thought my head movements were fairly stable but even when I thought I was still, the cursor is still bopping up and down on the screen and if get muscle twitch it kinda shoots off, whereas if I'm using joystick I can just take my hand of it if its gonna twitch and cursor will stay there till I stiffen arm to try again. As you are actually wearing the dot this isn't as easy to do and as I only get a fraction of a seconds notice, its impossible and impractical to keep removing the dot and putting it back.

If you have a constant tremor that affects your head you may also find an Headmouse impossible to control.

For now I won the trackball version of my joystick off ebay for £68 and I can manage that on laptop as its a smaller screen to get across.

I decided to try some Thermoskin gloves to relieve pain in hands so I can keep using them to type and they aren't as restrictive as spints which stops your wrist bending. Hopefully they will arrive this week or next, I will let you know how I get on with them.

I maybe able to use trackball version better with splints as wrist isnt at an angle upwards to grasp joystick handle, or it would also sit better under ball of foot cos of its shape with keyguard removed I think I would be able to press buttons with toe's without fitting switches but then I also might end up hitting them alot unintentionally.

I'm not entirely sure what my future solution would be but for now I want to keep using hands as much as possible.

The Headmouse can be difficult to use if you have tremor or involuntary movements