Essential Tremor?

[Malerin]

I have a slight tremor in my hand when I move it back and forth, fingers extended, without moving my arm (both hands). I also see a slight tremor in my fingers when I make a fist. No resting tremor and I have no problems (or shaking) typing or pressing small things like buttons.

Essential tremor (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000762.htm), maybe? Anyone have similar? Something to see a doc about?

[mike81]

I'm 29 years old now and when I was 15 or 16 I went to see a neurologist about my hands shaking. I only ever went to one doctor about it and he told me to get a thyroid test and it came back fine. He took a look at me and diagnosed me. He to me I have Benign Essential Tremors. He said that it is nothing that will affect my health in any other way. It's a condition, not a disease.

I took a beta blocker called Propranolol for it and I think it worked. I forgot to take it one morning and someone told me they could tell a big difference. They said I was stuttering and seemed more shaky than before I stated taking the medicine. I stopped taking it after taking it for maybe 1 year. I don't know why I stopped.

I first went to the doctor because for years I noticed my hands would shake for really no reason. People would ask me if I was scared or nervous. It would happen when pouring something to drink or just doing anything with my hands. I'm an amateur magician, so it affected my close up magic.

I still don't take anything for it. It seems to not be as bad now. Though sometimes I still notice it. It seems that when I get a little excited about something or maybe a little nervous that it gets amplified more than it should (if that makes sense). I come across as being more nervous than I am because my hands and sometimes arms and legs shake. It seems that sometimes it affects my speech. Like I stumble over my words. Though not too often anymore.

Not sure if any of this helps you. You should probably go see a doctor about it, but there are probably things that I should see one about but don't.

[Shoogar]

I've been diagnosed with essential tremor. Both hands shake with the right slightly worse. Sometimes if I hold the the thumb of my right hand lightly against the third or fourth finger of that hand it will badly oscillate.

I was given a prescription for "Primidone", which does control the tremor but I didn't like the side affects so stopped taking it.

I first noticed issues with shaking hands in my late 20s, I'm now almost 50.

The most noticeable affect it has on my life is really atrocious handwriting. I work in a technical job requiring the use of many different tools and I manage okay.

One of the diagnostic tools the neurologist used was having my eyes track a moving object, they don't track quite normally. Once when pulled over during a dui sweep the cop had me follow a lighted pen and I had difficulty. When breathalized I was way under the legal limit.

All-in-all, for me, it's just been an minor inconvenience.

[Malerin]

Thanks, Shoogar and Mike81. that eases my mind a lot. I'm a hypochondriac, so when I first started noticing this, it scared the hell out of me. I guess I should still go see my doc (who happens to be my sister-in-law. Small world).

[leon_heller]

My hands are normally steady when I stretch them out, but when I've been seriously ill with Crohn's Disease, and doctors have performed a test for tremor, they have remarked on it. Following major surgery for the disease (I was quite close to dying from it), my hands were shaking so badly that I had difficulty eating and drinking, and writing was impossible. It took about a month before the tremor disappeared. My handwriting has always been very bad, but I don't have problems doing electronic assembly with very small components, under a microscope.

[Dancing David]

I have a fine resting tremor, it gradually has increased over my life, it does not interfere with my use of my hands. It gets stronger as the day progresses.

[EvilSmurf]

I've been diagnosed with essential tremor. Both hands shake with the right slightly worse. Sometimes if I hold the the thumb of my right hand lightly against the third or fourth finger of that hand it will badly oscillate.

I was given a prescription for "Primidone", which does control the tremor but I didn't like the side affects so stopped taking it.

I've been diagnosed with an essential tremor as well (although a few of my symptoms don't fit). Propanolol didn't work for me, Primadone didn't either and had some freaking nasty side effects. My Doc now has me on Gabapentin. Was only prescribed a couple of weeks ago, so not sure if it's working yet.

[HistoryGal]

I have a slight tremor in my hand when I move it back and forth, fingers extended, without moving my arm (both hands). I also see a slight tremor in my fingers when I make a fist. No resting tremor and I have no problems (or shaking) typing or pressing small things like buttons.

Essential tremor (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000762.htm), maybe? Anyone have similar? Something to see a doc about?

My father has benign essential tremor - he's had it since he was a teenager, and he's now 75. His hands shake - sometimes very badly - when he's holding an object. They do not shake when he's just holding them out in a flat hand position. IOW, it's sort of the opposite of Parkinson's in terms of when shaking happens.

You should get yourself checked out by a doctor to make sure it's BET and not something else.

If it is BET, remember what the word benign means!

[noreligion]

If it is BET, remember what the word benign means!

Benign means one less then Bten :D

My favorite vanity plate was one I saw on an oncologist's car. It said ITSB9.

[CelticRose]

As others have said, just to be safe, go to a doctor and make sure it's not a symptom of something else.

Benign essential tremors run in my family. So far, I only notice it when I'm fatigued and/or hungry, and I take it as a cue that I need to rest and eat something.

My grandmother had it so bad that her hands would shake so much that she couldn't carry a tray with a beverage on it without spilling it. However, she could still do intricate needlework.

It gets worse with age, so I figure when I get old I'll just use travel mugs. :D

[Smackety]

I have a slight tremor in my hand when I move it back and forth, fingers extended, without moving my arm (both hands). I also see a slight tremor in my fingers when I make a fist. No resting tremor and I have no problems (or shaking) typing or pressing small things like buttons.

Essential tremor (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000762.htm), maybe? Anyone have similar? Something to see a doc about?

How much coffee do you drink a day?

[Malerin]

I hate coffee. But I was drinking lots of caffeinated soda. I stopped a month ago, thinking it would help. I feel better without the caffeine, but it didn't make any difference with my hands.

I keep thinking I have a brain tumor (no headaches or any other symptoms besides the hand tremors) and my wife just rolls her eyes. It runs in my family ( the hypochondria, not brain tumors).

I also noticed if I fully extend my leg, and then bend it, there's a bit of tremor as well.

[Gilmar]

Would malign essential tremor be like Tourette Syndrome, except you involuntarily hit people?

[Skeptic Ginger]

It's a bummer to get older when these medical things start developing. I've always been relatively healthy. Last Feb I developed some kind of inflammatory arthritis and now it also has a skin rash component. I get sick if I go out in the Sun. And I have decreasing exercise tolerance.

But, oh well. There are drugs and denial helps quite a bit. I still believe I'm healthy. Also, since other people are worse off, I feel fine compared to what it could be.

It's interesting though. This may motivate me to do something more fun than just working and responsibly saving for retirement. I might just retire early even if I don't have enough money. Suppose I put it off and this thing gets worse? That'd be a waste.

[Skeptic Ginger]

Here's a good resource for intention tremor:

Tremor Fact Sheet; NIH (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tremor/detail_tremor.htm)

[Modified]

I just tried it and had no tremor when moving my hand side-to-side or up, but noticeable tremor or at least inability to move smoothly when moving it down and when making a fist. After four or five times moving my hand down, it completely went away. Then I tried moving the left hand down and there was no tremor. Then I moved my right hand side to side again, then down, and the tremor (or jerky movement) was back. It happens every time. Moving either hand vigorously from side-to-side makes it impossible for me to move that hand down or make a fist smoothly, for ten seconds or so. Never noticed that before.

[deadrose]

I have progressive BET. It first appeared after an illness 16 years ago and gradually increased to the point where it was really affecting my life - including my voice. Propanalol was no help even when it was mild, so I went without medication until last year, when I saw a specialist for it and was started on Primidone. I've adjusted to the side effects pretty well, but my reflexes are definitely slowed. I need to go back and get my meds adjusted upwards again, though, as they're no longer controlling the tremor well enough.

Apparently, the deep brain surgery they use for Parkinsons can also be used for BET if it gets severe enough. In the meantime, I just whine that if I'm going to shake like Katharine Hepburn, I could have at least gotten some of her wit or beauty as well :)

[HistoryGal]

Benign means one less then Bten :D

Groan. To the Btenth degree.

[Skeptic Ginger]

I just tried it and had no tremor when moving my hand side-to-side or up, but noticeable tremor or at least inability to move smoothly when moving it down and when making a fist. After four or five times moving my hand down, it completely went away. Then I tried moving the left hand down and there was no tremor. Then I moved my right hand side to side again, then down, and the tremor (or jerky movement) was back. It happens every time. Moving either hand vigorously from side-to-side makes it impossible for me to move that hand down or make a fist smoothly, for ten seconds or so. Never noticed that before.

This is fascinating. I don't know what it means but I find it fascinating. I wonder if there is anything in the medical literature that can give you any information about the specific movements affected by intention tremor.

Trouble is I can't think of any search terms which result in studies that might reveal anything pertinent.

[Modified]

This is fascinating. I don't know what it means but I find it fascinating.

I couldn't find anything with a web search, but someday I'll probably come across something by accident, or somebody who notices the same thing will find this post, sign up for the forum, and revive this thread just to say "Hey, me too".

Some more experimentation reveals that rotating my hand vigorously back and forth also causes the effect. That's really an elbow movement rather than a wrist movement, so maybe that gives a clue.

[noreligion]

I couldn't find anything with a web search, but someday I'll probably come across something by accident, or somebody who notices the same thing will find this post, sign up for the forum, and revive this thread just to say "Hey, me too".

Some more experimentation reveals that rotating my hand vigorously back and forth also causes the effect. That's really an elbow movement rather than a wrist movement, so maybe that gives a clue.

Rotating your hand back and forth is not an elbow movement either. You are crossing the two forearm bones whenever you rotate your hand.

[Modified]

Rotating your hand back and forth is not an elbow movement either. You are crossing the two forearm bones whenever you rotate your hand.

If I have to name some joint that's moving, I'd call it the elbow though.

[Skeptic Ginger]

I couldn't find anything with a web search, but someday I'll probably come across something by accident, or somebody who notices the same thing will find this post, sign up for the forum, and revive this thread just to say "Hey, me too".

Some more experimentation reveals that rotating my hand vigorously back and forth also causes the effect. That's really an elbow movement rather than a wrist movement, so maybe that gives a clue.The Net's limits come into view when one is looking for specific things, especially in regards to medical diagnoses. I found lots of puzzle pieces covering my symptoms but absolutely nothing that put the pieces into any kind of picture.

Maybe one of the doctors on the forum is familiar with intention tremor.

[SRW]

I was diagnosed with essential tremor a few years ago. It gets so bad without medication that I cannot even control a mouse. Primidone works very well for me and I do not have any side effects from it. However I also have peripheral neuropathology which has become more pronounced in the last year or so. My Neurologist suspects the tremors may have something to do with that, so she is sending me to Stanford for further tests.