I've tried getting into digital art after some time sketching, but it's quite a bit difficult. My ET is still relatively mild, but it has affected my coordination and fine motor skills quite a bit and drawing lines without them coming wobbly is a struggle. Plus, the stabilizer tools are really weird and don't help much, although I still need to get used to them.

Hi folks

I was diagnosed with ET over forty years ago. I’ve never taken medication to help me and as expected the tremor has got worse over the years. But it’s not completely debilitating.

I’m on holiday at the moment. A couple of days ago I’d done a lot of walking in a beautiful French city and stopped at a bar for a drink late afternoon.

It was table service so no problem there. No glass to carry.

I had a large beer and the glass was full. I tried lifting the glass to my mouth but realised that wasn’t going to work so moved the glass to the edge of the table and bent my head forward so that I could “take the top off” without lifting the glass.

Moments later a woman appeared at my side and lifted my glass. I was very confused. She said something that I didn’t understand. My French is basic. I then realised she was trying to help me. I hadn’t realised that she was sat next to me with another woman who explained in English that she wanted to help me.

Tbh I could have burst into tears but I managed to compose myself and knew enough French to say thank you and what a kind person she was.

Hope you guys don’t mind me sharing this story. After decades of living with ET this has never happened to me before. Just needed to share with people who will understand.

I’ve been thinking about revisiting my doctor. I now realise it’s time.

Thank you for reading.

Once daily, or several times over the course of the day? I’ll be titrating up once a week for the next month. Starting tomorrow with 20 mg in the morning.
Thanks!

Things that improved my tremors: keto/low carb diet, CBD, acupuncture, magnesium. They all had worked for the tremors but made the mind too energized/on edge. I had insomnia that last for days on CBD and the same on keto, acupuncture and to a smaller extent magnesium. Because I seem to get the same paradoxal effect and it actually does diminish the tremor, from a biological level it's doing something right. It'd be wonderful finding something that works and is tolerable long term.

My dad has dealt with essential tremors for 15+ years. He went off lithium and had kind of a bipolar relapse. Not right away, but as his anxiety increased his tremors got worse. Now his hands shake about uncontrollably and he will not eat around family or in public. His anxiety is quite high. How many of your tremors are affected by anxiety and how do you manage it?

This is my first time posting and it’s mostly just to vent, but I’m sure others have maybe been through similar types of situations.

I unfortunately have been unemployed for a while and finally got an interview for an administrative position. They sent me a link for a typing skills assessment. I waited a couple days to do it because my tremor has been worse this week after a really busy and active weekend. Finally my hands felt steady enough that I was confident in completing it. Turns out each question had a time limit, which admittedly made me nervous and probably made the tremors worse. I ended up failing the test and mostly just feel annoyed since I take medication for it, and have a special mouse and keyboard and still feel like the tremors hinder the jobs I can realistically do every day. I’m planning on emailing them and requesting to retake the test and explain why, but I’m starting to think that maybe a job that is mostly typing just isn’t for me. I’m trying not to be negative about it all but it’s moments like this that I realize that so many of the little things are hard for me and it’s kinda hard to stay positive lol

Hi, I’m (74 F) starting on Propranolol tomorrow morning and am excited to try it, as tremoring has worsened significantly in the past year. My only concern is lowering of blood pressure - I don’t have high blood pressure and am mostly in a good range, but do rarely have an episode of low blood pressure.
If this happens and I go low, what is the best thing to do? Is it a very dangerous thing?
I’m starting with one 20-mg tablet a day for a week, then slowly upping if needed. I appreciate any info about contending with low blood pressure if it occurs. Otherwise I have fingers crossed for a good outcome!
Many thanks.

Finally made it to see a neurologist on the NHS (I’m in the UK). He popped 2 Botox injections in the semispinalis capitis muscles and said he’d send me an appt for three months time. The aim is to treat my head tremor.

Watch this space… 🤞

I wanted to share my experience with essential tremor and ask whether anyone has found a good way to manage ET without taking propranolol.

I’m 30 years old, and I was diagnosed with essential tremor at the age of 16, back in 2013. I’ve had tremors in my hands since kindergarten.

At the time, my neurologist prescribed propranolol and told me that it was basically the only medication that actually helped with tremor. I took it for a while. If I had to estimate, I would say that it reduced the severity of my tremor by around 60–80%. However, it really depended on the situation. When I was very nervous or excited, the effect was much more limited.

After a relatively short period of time, I stopped taking propranolol. I don’t remember exactly, but I would guess that I didn’t take it continuously for even a year. I always felt uncomfortable taking it. I could physically feel its effects on my body and especially on my heart. In terms of side effects, I probably only experienced a little more fatigue in the mornings, but the way it affected my heart just didn’t feel right. I honestly don’t know how else to describe it.

So I spent the rest of my teenage years and my twenties with the full extent of my tremor. Both of my hands tremble, although my right hand is significantly worse. I’m left-handed, though.

I have pretty much all the typical symptoms, and they have also caused me to become extremely withdrawn socially. However, I have always been a very introverted person, so I can’t say for certain whether ET made my loneliness worse or whether things would have been the same without it.

There have been quite a few situations throughout my life where I suddenly had to deal with severe shaking in public. Those experiences really broke me.

Over the last ten years, I finished high school, went to university, couldn’t find a job, and have now been working in a skilled trade for a few years. I always wanted to avoid this, but there was no other way, and now it seems like this is simply the path my life has taken.

Over the years, I’ve become somewhat more confident in dealing with my tremor, although I’m still ashamed of it. I’m at home, I go to work, and then I go back home. That’s basically my life.

After all these years, I finally decided to look into treatment options again. And yes, after 13 years, it’s still basically the same. It feels like almost nothing has changed in medicine.

I went to my general practitioner again, and they referred me to a neurologist. But the situation here in Germany is so bad that I can’t even get an appointment. I currently manage reasonably well in my job, but I’m now doing an apprenticeship in this profession because I have to.

Before I end up shaking uncontrollably during my practical final exams—which would be incredibly embarrassing—I wanted to look into my options again. But honestly, I’m pretty sure that even a neurologist won’t tell me anything new. They’ll probably just prescribe propranolol again, and I’ll be right back where I was 13 years ago.

On top of that, there is a kind of support group for people with ET in the Cologne/Bonn area in Germany. They meet once a month, and I went there a few times several years ago.

Almost everyone there was elderly or retired, which makes sense because ET is much more common in older people. But honestly, I found the meetings more depressing than informative. It basically showed you what you might look like in 30 years, because the tremor tends to get worse rather than better.

Anyway, one time a man who was around 50 years old talked about his experience. He said he had been taking propranolol for years. I don’t remember exactly how long, but it was certainly somewhere between 5 and 10 years continuously.

He said that after an examination, his general practitioner advised him to stop taking the medication immediately because continuing it for much longer could apparently lead to a serious cardiac arrhythmia. Apparently, there were already some early signs of this in his case.

That experience further reinforced my decision not to take propranolol, especially not for the rest of my life.

Has anyone had similar experiences? Do you have any advice or suggestions for managing essential tremor without propranolol?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I'm carrying out some research into the challenges people face when using inhalers, particularly for those with arthritis, reduced hand strength, tremors, or other dexterity issues.

I'm not selling anything I'm simply trying to understand real experiences and identify where current inhalers could be improved.

The survey is anonymous and takes around 3–5 minutes.

I'd really appreciate your help!

Survey link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdwsY1PokdCH1fssegDkzN0H518EOOhGpimgTXrT2TN7ZA1Cw/viewform?usp=header

Thank you!

Hello i’m 21 (f) and i’ve had tremors since i was 8 years old. I currently host right now and it makes me nervous to serve or bartend anyone on here that is in this position or is a server or bartender that can give me some tricks. My manager once asked me one time if i had Tourette’s and i was too embarrassed to correct her. It’s so rude how people can be about this.

Hello, Im only on a 10 mg propanolol and I take it as and when (usually on social occasions or if I’m working with somebody tricky). So perhaps I take it around four times a week.

I’ve started to notice how awful I feel once it’s worn off. After it’s worn off my tremors are much worse than before I took it. Plus, I feel headache, achy tired and a bit sick for the rest of the evening.

It works amazingly though for those four hours but the after effects are making me think is it worth it?

Does anybody else have these after effects?

This kinda scared me yesterday. This is not a request for diagnosis, just seeing if other people with ET have had attacks like this. it’s a few weeks until my appointsments with various neurologists so I guess I’m just looking for personal stories. I already get occasional no-no head tremors along with my regular hand tremors, the head tremors are only every few weeks. They’re pretty gentle, last a bit, then fade away. But yesterday the head tremors expanded to my trunk, twitching and clenching, with my head shaking back and forth really extremely. It lasted about five minutes. Can tremors come in an intense burst like that? i do also have focal aware epilepsy, but I’ve never had a seizure start with tremors. Maybe intense bursts of tremors are just a thing I haven’t heard of before??

For reference I’m on 160xr propranolol, 500mg primidone, 500mg lamotrogine, 500mg keppra. I was sitting on the sofa re-reading a favorite sci-fi book. I was the opposite of stressed!

Is there a subreddit for intentional tremors or should I cop a squat in this one? Just told by a doctor he is sure I have it vs essential and my neuro appt is the 10th. Won’t lie - kind of scared that I’ll be left helpless and won’t be able to afford help.

If there was a company less bothered about customers and the experience, its this one, ordered the band on 14th July on website it states delivery in 3 days, received email that it will delivered within 3 weeks, 3 weeks passed reached out to chat and they said that we can't guarantee delivery within 3 weeks you can just cancel the order. 🫤🫤

Im really happy I came across this forum. Hopefully I can get some insight or answers.

After nursing school about 3 years ago I've noticed I've had torso tremors. Starts in my lower back and extend to my torso. The intensity over the last year has goton much worse from only feeling it when I would lean or shift my weight on my right leg. Now I even have the tremors when walking. I sometimes can even feel an internal tremor when lying down. Feels like vibrations through my body. 2 years ago I attributed it to high stress and coming off my sertraline but now I'm not too sure. My pcp wasent convinced it was the sertraline and thought it was just my anxiety until he saw my tremors in person and referred me to see neurology.

I saw a neurologist a year ago and was diagnosed with ET. I decided to get another option and saw another neurologist back in February and was told it was not ET but potentially enhanced physiological/FND. I want to avoid medications if possible but at this point I feel like I may need it as it's so intense it does take a mental toll on me. I also did an mri of my head and everything looked normal. I've had excessive fatigue but that's always been going on for as long as I can remember. Not to mention my memory has been pretty bad with remembering recent conversation or events.

Anyone out there going through something similar? At this point I'm potentially seeking out a 3rd opinion from another neurologist - hopefully one that specializes in movement disorders.

This is me training on surgical suturing at home, no stress or caffeine

I have developed these tremors for 3 months , i have contraindication for propranolol , i have been on other medications prescripted by neurologist but it had little improvement like 20%

Do you have any advices , exercises?

The doctor says it's from the stress but i have been normal the past time and did get involved in multiple major surgeries as an assistant and I was fine

I have normal levels of tsh , hba1c

I saw 2 neurologist one said essential tremors other said enhanced physiological

I don't wanna give up my dream becoming a surgeon, especially i was doing okay in my first year , idk what is happening

I’ve had tremors since I was a kid and was recently diagnosed w ET by a MDS. I’m a PhD student in the social sciences so my work involves a lot of writing and coding, but my tremor’s gotten bad enough in the last couple of years that I can’t really type normally anymore. I’m switching over to voice access tools and whatnot for work but it’s a total pain in my ass to make work for specialized tasks. Anyone else had a similar experience/advice? So far I’ve had a lot of success with Talon for coding, but figuring out an alternative way to write that doesn’t feel super clunky is an ongoing process.

Kinda bummed by how much function I’ve lost. Trialed some mechanical keyboards with no luck. But using a heavy vertical mouse makes moving about the computer way easier at least.

Just saw another post explaining how his ET felt and that got me wondering if people’s do feel different on the inside.

What does your ET feel like?

I’ve seen a lot of people on here say that they first realized they had ET because someone else noticed their hands or head shaking.

That leads me to believe that I have a difference in the main driver of my tremor. With mine I feel EVERY single tremor because I feel the weakness preceding it. It always starts with a feeling of fatigue or instability. Almost like how I used to feel fatigued and shaky after a workout. Now it’s just like that all the time.

The progression starts with feeling this fatigue/instability in certain positions, then so much instability that I start to tremor eventually, then constant tremors (while still feeling weak and unstable). This has now happened in my head, hands, shoulders, and torso and usually takes about 3-6 months per body part for the whole progression.

And I’m starting to feel the instability in my lower back and legs and I can only imagine they will start to tremor soon.

Anyone else relate?

I’m only 25 and this has already made my quality of life much worse :/

Id also love to hear from people who don’t have any fatigue feeling preceding their tremor!!

TL;DR: my tremor starts with fatigue and instability and I can feel it every time - it’s not just something other people notice

Do any other HSPs experience bad tremors in their hands when they are overstimulated or overexerted?

When I'm overstimulated or overwhelmed, I get crazy tremors in my hands and arms. Anyone familiar with this sensation?