Essential tremor is a disease that can affect everyone, young and old, in society and manifests itself with tremors in the hands, head or voice. It is usually familial in origin and there may be individuals with similar tremor in different generations of the family, even if not in the same generation. Sometimes the person whose hands are shaking may be the first member of the next generation to start the disease.
It is feared among the public that the hand tremors seen in essential tremor disease may be related to Parkinson's disease. However, the characteristics of hand tremors are very different and even opposite to each other. In Parkinson's disease, the hands tremble at rest, but the tremor decreases or disappears when the hand is moved. The hands of Parkinson's patients shake when the hands are free while sitting or walking. In essential tremor, the hand begins to shake while doing a task. These patients have problems with functions such as carrying a tray, holding a glass or using a spoon. However, the distinction is not always easy and evaluation of other accompanying findings is very important for diagnosis.
While tremors in essential tremor increase especially in situations such as excitement, stress, fatigue and hunger, they may disappear completely when the patient is on holiday, alone and relaxed. . It may progress over time, remain unchanged, or decrease significantly, but not completely.
In treatment, first of all, stress-reducing measures are very useful. Relaxing behavioral changes such as using heavy glasses, regular exercise and sports, sleeping well and eating well will be very useful. If there is no stress, there is no difficulty in daily living activities and the patient is comfortable in his own home or environment, medications are given only if necessary before situations that will obviously be stressful. These medications significantly reduce or almost completely correct the tremors in the hands for 5-6 hours after taking them. The patient uses this medication only when needed.
If the patient's daily living activities are disrupted and he/she is disturbed even in his/her daily work, he/she is switched to medications that need to be used regularly. This medicine starts at a very low dose and gradually increases, and it must be used regularly. As with any drug, starting with a low dose and increasing the dose over time, the drug should always be discontinued gradually.
Alk. Although taking OL may seem to reduce tremors at first, it is definitely not recommended to use it to reduce tremors, as it will cause an increase in tremors in the long run (and may even cause tremors to begin in non-shaking hands).
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