It started about a week ago. I noticed a sticky feeling on my hands so I washed them (as I do regularly). Unfortunately it wasn’t long before the feeling came back. I’ve started noticing it on everything I frequently touch - mouse/keyboard, Xbox controller, phone, on and on. I tried household cleaner, rubbing alcohol, water/soap on these surfaces and it seems to help for a short while, but it comes back within hours. Just now I gave my phone a good wipe with soapy water and as soon as it dried it feels sticky again.

I’m not sure what else to try or how to get rid of it.

Possible culprits I can guess at: -pollen? the cars around here have been covered in greenish yellow powder which I have seen before, but never experienced this stickyness. I don’t use my car / touch the door handles very often.

-some sort of plastic or rubber is degrading, maybe my phone case? It’s an Otterbox that’s over 6 years old.

-a little weed container I bought around the same time this started, maybe the store had vape juice spilled on it? But I don’t touch it often enough to warrant the spread of this profound stickyness.

Any ideas are welcome. It’s driving me nuts.

  • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
    8·
    1 month ago

    Elevated adrenaline levels make your palms and fingertips sweat.

    If you have access to some propranolol, try taking some.

    If you don’t, ask a doctor for some.

    Propranolol is a “beta blocker”, meaning it acts as an adrenaline antagonist.

    A single dose or a few doses can break a cycle of adrenaline release.

    This is what solved it when I suddenly had sticky hands all the time. My sticky hands lasted weeks until I did a bunch of deep dive reading on it. I don’t remember the research but I remember the solution: 20 mg propranolol, a few times.

  • southsamurai@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    8·
    1 month ago

    I’d almost bet money it’s the otterbox. If it’s one of their older models, I would bet a small amount that’s what it is if it could be an anonymous bet and a good way to confirm. I’ve had a few otterbox cases over the years, and the older ones always degrade and get sticky, and it transfers. Their newer ones and colored ones don’t (or haven’t yet anyway), but I’ve stopped buying them because of it.

    You can’t fix it, you just have to toss the damn things.

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    82·
    1 month ago

    some sort of plastic or rubber is degrading, maybe my phone case?

    There’s this type of coating – I commented on it a while back, will link to my comment in a sec – that was put on a lot of consumer electronics that over time, breaks down to become sticky.

    kagis

    https://lemmy.world/comment/12199022

    TPE, thermoplastic elastomers. They (some?) break down over time into really sticky goo.

    I haven’t seen it in some years – was a real problem maybe, I dunno, ten years ago? If your thing is only six years old, I dunno if it’s that.

    But isopropyl alcohol and enough elbow grease will get it off, if it’s just a coating on plastic.

    I don’t see anything when searching for “sticky otterbox”, though, so I don’t know if that’s the factor, even if that’s what’s going on here. My experience that the source is pretty obvious, since it’s a “grippy” rubberized thing that becomes increasingly-sticky over time.

  • Fermion@feddit.nlEnglish
    4·
    1 month ago

    Likely unrelated, but after I’ve cut raw garlic cloves everything feels weird, almost sticky, no matter how much I wash my hands.

  • FiveMacs@lemmy.caEnglish
    41·
    1 month ago

    I find my cat does this to my hands randomly. She gets this odd weirdness with her fur and my hands get sticky. I assume it’s her anus juice after she cleans herself or whatever. 2 days later, she won’t make my hands sticky. It’s very weird.