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| By Mayo Clinic staff |
Although usually not a dangerous condition, essential tremor worsens over time and can be severe in some people. It isn't caused by other diseases, although it's sometimes confused with Parkinson's disease. Essential tremor can occur at any age but is most common in people age 40 and older.
Symptoms
Essential tremor signs and symptoms:
- Begin gradually
- Worsen with movement
- Usually occur in the hands first, affecting one hand or both hands
- Can include a "yes-yes" or "no-no" motion of the head
- May be aggravated by emotional stress, fatigue, caffeine or extremes of temperature.
Many people associate tremors with Parkinson's disease, but the two conditions differ in key ways:
- Timing of tremors. Essential tremor of the hands usually occurs when you use your hands. Tremors from Parkinson's disease are most prominent when your hands are at your sides or resting in your lap.
- Associated conditions. Essential tremor doesn't cause other health problems, but Parkinson's disease is associated with a stooped posture, slow movement and a shuffling gait. However, people with essential tremor may sometimes develop other neurological signs and symptoms, such as an unsteady gait (ataxia).
- Parts of body affected. Essential tremor mainly involves your hands, head and voice. Parkinson's disease tremors usually start in your hands, and may affect your legs, chin and other parts of your body.
About half of essential tremor cases appear to result from a genetic mutation. This form is referred to as familial tremor.
It isn't clear what causes essential tremor in people without a known genetic mutation. Research has found that changes in specific areas of the brain may contribute to essential tremor. The inherited variety of essential tremor (familial tremor) is an autosomal dominant disorder. A defective gene from just one parent is needed to pass on the condition. If you have a parent with a genetic mutation for essential tremor, you have a 50 percent chance of developing the disorder yourself.
What Can Help?
There is no recognized cure for
essential tremor. Many of the treatments available are to lower the severity of the condition. These may include:
Supplements
Taking folic acid, vitamin b-2
with riboflavin which is all found in the basic B-Complex supplement will help
tremendously with the symptoms. Read more here.Tests and diagnosis [By Mayo Clinic staff]
Lifestyle and home remedies
The following actions may reduce or relieve tremors:
- Avoid caffeine. Avoid caffeine and other stimulants because they can increase your tremors.
- Use alcohol sparingly or not at all. Some people notice that their tremors improve slightly after they drink alcohol, but drinking isn't a good solution for people with essential tremor. Tremors tend to worsen once the effects of alcohol wear off. Also, larger amounts of alcohol eventually are needed to relieve tremors, which can lead to chronic alcoholism.
- Learn to relax. Stress and anxiety tend to make tremors worse, and being relaxed may improve tremors. Although you can't eliminate all stress from your life, you can change how you react to stressful situations using a range of relaxation techniques, such as massage or meditation.
- Make lifestyle changes. Use the hand less affected by tremor more often. Find ways to avoid writing with the hand affected by tremor, such as using online banking and debit cards instead of writing checks. Try using voice-activated dialing on your cellphone and speech-recognition software on your computer. Therapists may offer you other suggestions to adapt to essential tremor in your daily life.
Treatments and drugs [by Mayo Clinic staff]
WebMD explanation:
Benign Essential Tremor is a neurologic movement disorder characterized by involuntary fine rhythmic tremor of a body part or parts, primarily the hands and arms (upper limbs). In many affected individuals, upper limb tremor may occur as an isolated finding. However, in others, tremor may gradually involve other anatomic regions, such as the head, voice, tongue, or roof of the mouth (palate), leading to difficulties articulating speech (dysarthria). Less commonly, tremor may affect muscles of the trunk or legs.
In individuals with the condition, tremor tends to occur while voluntarily maintaining a fixed posture against gravity ("postural tremor") or while performing certain goal-directed movements ("kinetic intention tremor"). Although tremor is typically absent with rest--i.e., when the affected muscle is not voluntary activated--some individuals with advanced disease may develop resting tremors.
Although symptom onset may occur during childhood or adolescence, the condition most commonly becomes apparent during adulthood, at an average age of 45 years. Benign Essential Tremor is generally considered a slowly progressive disorder. Disease progression is characterized by an increase in tremor amplitude, causing difficulties in performing fine motor skills and varying degrees of functional disability. For example, hand tremor may gradually cause difficulties with manipulating small objects, drinking fluids from a glass, eating, writing, or dressing. (As mentioned above, in some affected individuals, disease progression may also include extension of tremor to other muscle groups.)
Assistive Devices
Active stabilization systems have been shown to provide assistance for common tasks like eating, drinking, and applying makeup. These devices cancel the effect of the person's tremor on the object they are trying to hold. Modified weighted utensils, writing implements, or the use of wrist weights may be helpful.
Support groups
The International Essential TremorFoundation (IETF) provides information, services and support to individuals and families affected by essential tremor (ET). The organization encourages and promotes research in an effort to determine the causes, treatment and ultimately the cure for ET. The IETF is a worldwide organization dedicated to meeting the needs of those whose daily lives are challenged by ET. IETF, an international non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that derives its support entirely from its membership and the general public, was founded in 1988 and is guided by a board of directors and a medical advisory council. The organization's membership consists of patients, physicians, educators, parents, relatives and volunteers who provide education, community services and funding to help support tremor research.
The National Tremor Foundation (NTF), founded in 1992, is a British friendly organization based in Essex, England, and is an affiliate of the International Tremor Foundation. The organization's primary work is production of a quarterly informational newsletter. The NTF also maintains a list of ITF medical advisors, and facilitates the formation of self-help groups. NTF was granted charitable status in 1994.
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