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Health and Social Consequences
I will share with you a few of the many stories that taught me the advantages of Unplugging The
Thumb… some of what I learned came as a complete surprise to me. I am very thankful that
these patients came to me and shared their medical histories. It enabled me to show others
the health and social consequences of this habit.
Headaches – I remember Michelle, a five-year-old thumb sucker whose father brought her to
my clinic to eliminate a sucking habit and a lisp. While I was taking the medical history, he
said that Michelle had been diagnosed as having migraine headaches. The headaches
occurred almost daily, and they were accompanied by bouts of throwing up. She had seen
several medical professionals, but no one could find any reason for her headaches. I started
her on Unplugging The Thumb program. She phoned me the next day to report that she had
quit sucking her thumb the first day. This continued for 5 more days and then she came in for
her scheduled appointment.
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Her father reported that the migraines had completely stopped and that she was symptom free. He said there had been no
other changes in her life, only the cessation of her sucking habit. He stated that there was no doubt in his mind that stopping
the sucking habit had led to relief from the migraines.
• Nutritional deficiencies and extreme pickiness- Brett, age 9 years, was diagnosed with anorexia. They called me for
chewing and swallowing consultation because a nutritionist he had been seeing was not making any headway. I discovered
that Brett had such a strong thumb sucking habit that his parents had given up on trying to eliminate it. The years of thumb
sucking had caused a severe open bite malocclusion and chewing was extremely difficult for him. When he did eat, it was
only selective foods and very small amounts. When I examined him, I found that he was unable to chew his food effectively
and ended up swallowing large pieces of food as well as a lot of air. This caused him stomach distress. It was so difficult
for Brett to maneuver many foods such as meats that he ended up avoiding much of the chewing process. Although not
consciously aware of it, he began to eat less and less over time, eventually putting himself at risk. Our first target was to
implement Unplugging The Thumb. He stopped on the first day and completed the program perfectly. We then were in a
good position to provide therapy to help him improve his tongue, jaw, and lips so that chewing and swallowing could be
achieved more easily. Orthodontic treatment was provided and the combination of factors led to a successful ending to his
difficulties.
• Germs – Joey, four years old, was known as a little terror. Not too many kids have been kicked out of two preschools
by the age of four! I was called in to evaluate and treat him in his home. He was a smiling, sweet boy with a devilish look
about him and I immediately liked him a lot. After some probing, I learned that he had frequently missed going to school due
to colds, ear infections, and other respiratory infections. He was an ardent thumb sucker as well as an active little boy.
Because I treated him in his home, I took the opportunity to observe him playing, interacting with his cat and dog, and even
playing outdoors. What I saw was Joey moving from thumb inside the mouth to picking up a dirty rubber ball and throwing it
to the dog. Then he sat in his sandbox for awhile, thumb in mouth….a thumb covered with germs galore by then! This was
repeated over and over throughout his day.....touching “germy” items, thumb inside mouth, touching and sucking thumb. I
provided Unplugging The Thumb immediately since his speech problems were directly related to his sucking habit and
subsequent malpositioned tongue and jaw. I never expected the extreme changes that occurred. Joey’s behavior
improved tremendously and his self-esteem soared from having conquered his sucking habit. He was enrolled in a new
preschool and functioned well. He responded well to speech therapy and progressed quickly. But it was approximately 6
months later that his parents and I realized that he had not had any respiratory infections, ear infections or colds. In short, if
we remind ourselves that a thumb or finger is often attached to a little girl or boy who forgets to wash after potty, plays with
dirty outdoor toys, crawls around on floors, etc. , then it is no surprise to us that eliminating the sucking habit will be very
beneficial.
Studies have found that interaction in class as well as participation is affected and limited by sucking behaviors. Some
children enter an almost trace-like state while sucking their thumbs or fingers. In such a state, they are not able to
concentrate on subject matter being presented. Another study found that thumb suckers in first grade were considered less
attractive, less happy, and less likable. And the other children were less likely to choose a thumb sucker for a friend.
(Friman and Schmitt, Thumb Sucking: Pediatricians Guidelines. Clinical Pediatrics 1989) When this is how a first grader is
perceived, it is hard to imagine the damage it can do to the self-esteem of an 8 or 10 year old….or an adult who never
eliminated the problem!
Adult sufferers - Last, I would like to share stories of adults who have emailed or phoned me, asking for help to eliminate
sucking habits. Since they usually lived far from me, and since they were too old to benefit from Unplugging The Thumb, I
created programs as well as I could and worked with them via internet….. Each of them wished with all their hearts that
someone had helped them when they were younger, before the habit became so entrenched that it invaded every aspect of
their lives.
• Mandy is a high school teacher who was in her first year of teaching when she contacted me. She found it difficult to
get through an entire class without sucking her thumb. She became a clock watcher, waiting for each class to end so she
could go hide somewhere “safe” and suck on her thumb. She said she had no other addictive tendencies and that thumb
sucking was her only bad habit. It interfered with her ability to date and mingle socially. No one had tried to help her when
she was a child and now she was feeling very hopeless about ever being able to stop.
• Katie was a 16 year old who had recently tried to stop sucking her thumb at the encouragement of her youth counselor,
who was a good friend of the family. The counselor contacted me first because she was very concerned about Katie. She
said that Katie’s behavior had changed, she was unhappy, not sleeping well, and more. I told her to have Katie contact me
directly, which she did. Being a young lady now, Katie had decided that she must stop her sucking habit if she was going to
“fit in” socially and lead a normal life. She did not know where to seek guidance and had spent the last two weeks trying to
stop “cold turkey” on her own. She ended up staying awake nearly every night, so as to avoid sucking her thumb while
asleep. She had done some research online and realized that she had an abnormal tongue resting posture from the
sucking habit. Katie also worried about that bit of new information. In all other ways, she was a model child who had never
had any other bad habits. Her mother also ended up writing to me, begging me to help her if I could. I was able to refer her
to a colleague who lived near her and she was able to finally combat her problem. They all agreed that this could have been
avoided if the adults in her life had known years ago that there was a kind method to eliminate her habit.
• Jessica contacted me because the crevice at the base of her thumb began to peel and was very sore. Also, she said
her teeth were “getting worse” and she was becoming very worried. She was a college graduate in her twenties and had a
good job at a bank. She admitted that she sucked her thumb around her friends, her family, and her boyfriend in spite of a
lot of negative attention from them. She said she’d been allowed to suck her thumb wherever and whenever she wanted
during her childhood, but as an adult her family became intolerant. Now that she was experiencing pain and dental
problems, she was very scared and wanted help. I am not sure about the ending of this story. I sent a suggested plan of
action to Jessica, but never heard back. With some adults, the habit has been ongoing for so many years and has become
so entrenched that perhaps it cannot be eliminated.
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