I’m not really asking for advice, I just want to talk about tremors. My mother has noticeably shaky hands, which she says began when she was a child. It makes it hard for her to take good photographs, but doesn’t otherwise impair her. I’ve occasionally found my own hands a little unsteady as well, although not to the extent that hers are. I guess it might run in the family.
I could ask a doctor about this, but frankly I would rather just try to ignore it. Thinking about weird medical problems makes me freak out and start imagining all kinds of terrible things, and neurological symptoms are a particularly fertile soil for obsessive thinking. So I’m just going to muse about it here.
There are two things that trigger it for me: not eating properly and alcohol consumption. Sometimes they go hand-in-hand for me, as in I might just decide to skip supper after a few beers.
It’s much better if I eat decently and don’t drink any alcohol.
Hand tremors actually run in my family, passed down from my grandmother. That makes several generations who have been reassured by doctors all over the country that it’s just one of those things.
Although I’ll agree taking a good photo is a pain.
How do you define tremors? I would say I have an average steady hand but am terrible at taking photos, especially with digital cameras.
Many medications, like rescue asthma inhalers can cause slight tremors and that’s normal. Hyperthyroid issues can cause tremors but you usually have a lot of other signs to go with that.
There are basically to types of tremors, essential tremors that occur when you try to use a muscle and non-essential that occur when the muscle is at rest. (actually that’s a bit oversimplified).
Essential tremors are hard to cure, while non-essential ones are cured or moderated by finding the underlying cause of it.
If you’re mother’s had it all her life and it isn’t getting worse, it’s probably nothing to worry much about, though as always seek a doctor for a definitive answer.
Tremors run in my family too. My tremors have gotten so bad I can no longer write. And I fucking hate that.
A while back, I bought my GF a birthday card. I wanted to write something sweet in the card, but I couldn’t because of the fucking tremmors. So basically, all I could do was scribble my name on there and give it to her. Truly depressing.
I don’t have tremors yet, but I can reasonably expect them. My dad has them in his left hand while at rest, and I seem to be following pretty closely in his footsteps with things like that. I agree, it is sometimes something best not thought about to much, since hypertension and high blood pressure also run in the family and so far have dodged the bullet on those.
