TouchScreen Goes Crazy After I Unlock My Phone

Hi all - new here. Thanks for the forum.
I have a problem that I am pretty sure that I've had since I got my Thunderbolt in October. I noticed that when I go to unlock my phone (sometimes I have to swipe it a few times to get it to unlock) the screen will just start going crazy like pressing buttons and selecting options without any user intervention.

I have tried a couple of basic things like removing the battery and doing a calibration but that did not help. I am pretty sure that I did a hard reset of the software when I first got the phone in like early November because I figured I hadn't done much with it and I would have no problems losing contacts, etc. I have pretty much just "dealt" with this problem and hoped that by doing updates it would go away. I don't think its related to any apps that I have installed because at one point I uninstalled all of them to see if it would make any difference.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Sadly, I opted out of the insurance for my phone and I dont want to pay like $100 for a replacement and/or repairs. What are some alternatives. I mean, if I HAVE to, I will pay the fee......but I'm here looking for options.

**Let me add that I don't use a lot of apps, but someone told me to use a task killer.  I use "Advanced Task Killer" and it's free.  My thunderbolt is not rooted and I believe it is fully updated at the moment.**

Thanks in advance,

JG

OK... I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and get my Thunderbolt repaired or replaced...it just sucks that I paid so much for a phone and now I'm looking at paying another $100 or so to get it fixed.  My bad for not getting the insurance - lesson learned I guess. I'll post here after I visit a sprint repair shop to let you know what they say - just in case anyone out there is having a similar problem.
Thanks for the replies!
JG

I had the same problem and brought it back to verizon, they replaced the handset and all seems to be fine now.

Anyone else having this problem?

By the way, how come I see 7 replies but I only can see the original messages from the OP?

Thank you.

For those of you with screen going crazy issues, make sure (if you have one) that the screen protector and/or case you are using is not covering the bottom buttons (home, menu, arrow, etc.) and possible interfering.