Stabilizing backfires?

In my most recent LD I realized I was dreaming and immediately thought to rub my hands together to stabilize it. However the dream was stable to begin with and this was more of a reflex. It took a while because I was holding something at the time, but i put it down and rubbed my hands together and lost lucidity. Also if this adds any value I tried to fly (and failed) a little before trying to stabilize.

So my question is can an unnecessary stabilizing technique do exactly the opposite of what it should?

Can and should are different... It can, but it shouldn't. Something else probably caused the end of the LD.

If you were holding an object, you could try feeling it instead. That's another stabilizing technique. Do whatever is most convenient at the time.

Unfortunately I've never had an LD with good logic so ,like I said, I was acting on instinct