Shake my Shakey Hand

August 28, 2005 12:06 PM

My hands shake, sometimes it's much much worse. (What can I do?)

I've had tremors for a while now, almost twenty years. I've seen a neurologist who said it was "familial tremors" meaning something genetic and nothing to worry about. Whatever. It can be a real problem and seems to be getting worse.
What can I do to to have better days? I know coffee and alcohol are not good for it, but what else? And what might make reduce the shaking?

posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat to health & fitness (13 comments total)

Go back to your neurologist or PCP--they'll probably be able to prescribe a beta blocker or other agent to help with the shaking.
posted by gramcracker at 12:09 PM on August 28, 2005

I also have a tremor that makes my hands shake. It's nothing debilitating; more of a constant annoyance than anything else. Especially when I'm trying to handle a delicate task. And of course people comment all the time, asking why I'm so shaky. I went to the doctor some years back and asked if there was anything that could be done about it, and he told me that I should quit smoking, stop drinking coffee, avoid stimulants (which do aggravate it quite a bit, and which I do avoid excesses of), and just drink a glass or two of red wine when it's bothering me.

Perhaps not the best or most satisfying answer, but he told me as well that it was nothing to worry about. It's definitely a huge pain in the ass, though.
posted by scallion at 4:05 PM on August 28, 2005

I too have this. And people make comments about it all the time, which I find rude. Very annoying.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 4:10 PM on August 28, 2005

I have familiar tremor as well - somedays it's light, others not - and I've taken betablockers and stopped after a week.

What works very well for me: no coffee, no alcohol, lots of exercise (strengthening the arms and hands in particular) and getting lots of sleep.

Yes, it's true that a glass of wine or two can help with the shakes one evening, but the next morning the shaking is far worse (rebound effect)

I can take photos without trembling, but writing by hand can be difficult somedays (thank goodness for keyboards!)

Betablockers caused me to become sluggish. I had the lowest dose possible - and at first I took them before specific events. Then I learned that in order to eradicate the tremor I would have to take these beta-blockers every single day for the rest of my life, and possibly increase the dosage as years went by.

So I tried this for a week, and my heart-rate went down (as it should - this is the original objective for these drugs). The tremor was reduced by half - but I found that I could not run as fast, or did I feel as sharp-minded as I used to.

So I stopped. Now, drinking lots of water, getting sleep at regular hours and eschewing coffee and alcohol will reduce the tremor significantly.

As for people telling me that I'm shaking, I'll just look back at them with an even gaze and ask 'so, you have a problem with this?' and just let it go...
posted by seawallrunner at 4:14 PM on August 28, 2005

you could listen to bob marley... might work
posted by Satapher at 4:39 PM on August 28, 2005

I see nothing rude about someone inquiring about a physical state that is abnormal, visible, and might be indicative of a more severe, immediate problem (seizure, low blood sugar, etc). My hands sometime shake as well, and I've never considered it rude when concerned friends ask about it.
posted by Zair TL at 4:40 PM on August 28, 2005

I'm taking beta-blockers right now for symptoms of hyperthyroidism, and have been told that the sluggishness caused by beta-blockers wears off for most people after one or two weeks of steady use. This has certainly been my experience -- I was really dragging for the first week but am back to normal now. I've also had hand tremors for as long as I can remember (so the odds seem decently good that they have nothing to do with my thyroid) and the beta-blockers have made them steadier, though not rock-steady.
posted by redfoxtail at 4:43 PM on August 28, 2005

I will have to agree with seawallrunner that proper sleep and water intake may help this. My hands shake when I am tired or dehydrated, and the condition gets worse the longer I go without sleep. I would try this before taking any drugs.
posted by Yorrick at 5:01 PM on August 28, 2005

My hands sometime shake as well, and I've never considered it rude when concerned friends ask about it.

I have this too. In my experience people only ask about it because most of the time they simply don't notice it, and when they do, they think you're upset about something or sick right then and there. This doesn't seem rude at all to ask about to me. I've had many people ask about it, but no one has ever asked about it in a "why is your face funny looking" kind of way.

As to the question, I only have anecdotal information. My father has this too, and while his seem to be worse than mine and have gotten worse as he's aged, they're still not bad enough to prevent him from doing very close in electronics work (surface mount soldering even, when needed). So it probably won't ever get debilitating.

Also, I presume you know this, but I've found that there's almost no task for which I can't find some way to steady my hands. I never try to do anything that requires detailed hand motions in mid-air, for instance. How to do this is probably highly specific to the task, I guess, so I'm not sure if I can give more detail here. I guess I've always taken these tremors for granted and thought of it as something I have to work around.
posted by advil at 6:17 PM on August 28, 2005

Thanks for the comments -- I have found sleep, water, and avoidance of certain foods and drinks is the best too. I have no desire to take medication, so I guess I will just stick to the habits recommended here. Thanks.
Gosh, though, was hoping someone had a magic recipe: eat turkey with peanut butter or something like that.

BTW, people typically assume I am nervous.
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 8:06 PM on August 28, 2005

If you have really good health insurance or a lot of money, you might want to investigate Gamma Knife surgery.

Why don't you want to take medication? This is not evidence of moral failing or weakness, after all, it's just a problem with your wiring. If taking a pill twice a day will stop the tremor, why not?
posted by acridrabbit at 9:02 PM on August 28, 2005

I guess I should have said i don't want to take any more medication. Just worrying about the mix.
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 4:30 AM on August 29, 2005

If you want to google for the familial sort of tremor your neurologist diagnosed, it's called 'essential tremor'. It's been called 'benign essential tremor' but as you eloquently point out, it's not particularly benign because of the problems it causes.

Propranolol is used to treat this. Ethanol, yes, calms it temporarily and makes it worse the next day when you withdraw. A drug that many people aren't aware of is primidone; it's broken down in the liver to phenobarbital and PEMA (phenylethylmalonic acid or some such unrememberable, untypable name of chemical longness) and the PEMA appears to have an anti-tremor effect.

I usually tell people to see a neurologist if they're troubled by their tremor, but if you don't want to take medication for it, there's not much else neurologists can do for you.
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:40 AM on August 29, 2005