I’ve been talking to my doctor for several years about my medication options and in general I’m in favour of holding off as long as possible but this week is making me wonder if it’s getting close to time.
In the past I recall a few posters mentioning they have essential tremors and I’m wondering about personal experience. What convinced you to medicate (if you are) and how well has it worked for you.
I came back from a week long vacation to find that a major screwup by my substitue had created a horrible situation. I’ve spent the entire week justifying my plan, dealing with a program manager who has now escalated up to the sr.vp level and is conveniently forgetting well documented facts. Basically he’s used my absence to blame every problem the project is having (and there are a lot) on my team. As a result I’ve worked no less than 15hrs a day each day this week and I’m surviving on food I can eat with one hand when my daughter is home to deliver it to me at my desk.
Yesterday she arrived home at 6 and discovered I hadn’t eaten all day. I wasn’t hungry since stress makes me not eat but I was shaking so badly that I couldn’t hold the fork when she put food in front of me.
Now the stress won’t last. We actually had a decent conversation with the PM’s boss on Friday after he made an unreasonable and unnecessary request on Friday at 4pm, and we’ve received a ton of support now that I’ve been able to document our rebuttal to the accusations but in my line of work, stressful weeks are gonna happen so I’m wondering if I should just bite the bullet now before I’m in the position of making a presentation in person where I can’t hold a piece of paper.
I’ve suffered from ET pretty much all my life. (Hence my screen name. A name so lovingly given to me by my friends in college)
I’ve never felt the need to medicate for it until a few years ago. Old age is making it worse. I’m to the point now where I can’t even write a check any more. It sucks.
What’s unfortunate about my situation is I also suffer from anxiety issues. This just makes it even worse.
As far as medication goes, I tried Propanol. That helped a little but not nearly enough. I also tried colopin (SP?) with the same results. Now I’m currently on Lexapro and a 24hr release xanax. That seems to do the trick. At least well enough that I’m able to type on my computer at work.
Feel free to ask me any specific questions if you have any.
I’m pretty sure I’ve suffered from it most of my life but it’s been fairly mild til recently. When the doctor first diagnosed it he had to lay a sheet of paper over my hand to make the tremors noticeable enough for me to take him seriously.
How old is old age? I will be 44 in a couple months and it’s in the last 6 months or so that my husband has taken to repeatedly reminding me that the doctor will medicate if I want. I think it’s something to do with the nights that it starts when I’m cutting a steak that worry him.
I seem to be fine when resting and shake only when I’m doing somethings. It also seems worse in my dominant hand. For instance last night I had to eat with my left hand because the fork was shaking so badly I was distributing dinner everywhere but it’s intended target.
Also, do you find caffeine has any impact on your symptoms? I’ve had periods of a year or more when I couldn’t consume caffeine due to some migraine drugs I was taking but I went right back to it when they ended and I never noticed any difference in the tremors. Now that they’re getting worse I’m considering stopping caffeine again but I’m really going to miss it.
Some days worse than others, but the most annoying aspect is having other people always asking about it, or worse, pointing it out as if I wasn’t aware of it.
I agree with Shakes about the Lexapro being very helpful, but if you don’t want or need to medicate full time, you might consider the propanolol as a one off for the high stress days. The trick is to find the dosage that is just high enough to be effective (usually between 20-40mg). If you don’t have a medical contraindication (it really lowers your BP, which is why I avoid it full time), it might be the way to go if you don’t need the anti-anxiety effects of the Lexapro.
I have started to get them. Dad had them and Grandma had them for as long as I can remember.
Mine seem worse in the mornings and worse with caffeine and after I take a 5 hour energy shot.
I am not yet ready to take drugs for them, they aren’t bad enough and I seem particularly succeptable to side effects of drugs so I don’t want to take anything I don’t yet need. My doc wants to try me on beta blockers because they will treat both tremors and high BP, but since I have lost a significant amount of weight I am shooting to go off BP meds entirely. (She is not totally against but not totally for it either, since Verapamil will keep my heart beat regular as well.)
If the tremors get so bad as to impact my life, I will reconsider.
They run in my family, and I’ve had them pretty much all my life. I never felt a need to medicate until I was about 35 and noticed them getting worse. I’m on Inderal LA (propranolol) 80mg twice a day and I feel this is right for me. I’m now 48. I still shake some, particularly if I’m hungry, stressed, or tired, but I’m happy with where I’m at.
I would not want to try other medications unless Inderal absolutely stopped working for me in any fashion whatsoever. I’m not interested in the stronger stuff, I’m a nurse and I’ve heard too much about the side effects…and I tend to have side effects, I’m sensitive to a lot of meds. According to my neuro, I’m not topped out on the dose yet - I could go as high at 120mg twice a day, so I’m still good for a while yet, probably.
A note on Inderal - don’t try taking this as a just ‘as needed’ medication for the tremor; it doesn’t work that way. My neurologist worked me up to the dose I’m on at a rate of a 5mg increase a week to allow my body time to adjust. Every now and then I skip a dose, particularly if I’m planning on spending the day outside in hot weather (it messes with my heat tolerance something awful), but I take it mostly all the time.
I already have low BP so I’ll have to remember to remind him of that when we’re discussing meds.
Oh and hungry. That could mean that stress is a double whammy for me since I stop eating when I’m stressed.
So if I want to hold off longer on medication my next steps are to reduce stress, give up caffeine, eat regular meals and stop trying to eat rice w/chopsticks
I’ll start with that and schedule another appointment to talk about as needed drugs for now and to get some ideas of what is available for the future when I’m ready to medicate all the time.
It’s worth it to find a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders. (Essential tremor and Parkinson’s, among others) My GP tried to mess around with medicating my tremor initially and had me on medication that was completely inappropriate and made me feel awful! The right doctor makes a difference. I, too, had low BP even before starting medication, but my neuro worked me up on the Inderal dose veeeery slowly and I adjusted just fine. Low initial BP is not necessarily a barrier to taking the medication if your doctor manages it correctly…I’m a great example.
Caffeine doesn’t bother my tremor much unless I get waay too much way too fast. I can feel when I’m hitting my limit, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of three servings of cola a day. This depends on how sensitive you are, but cutting out caffeine completely may not be necessary for you.
