Benign Essential Tremor: Living with Uncontrollable Shaking

A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with Benign Essential Tremor. My first thought was, "Wonderful - just what I need. Another illness to add to my growing list that includes Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Interstitial Cystitis. When I first went to visit the neurologist, he thought I might possibly have Parkinson's Disease since I have a family member who had that. I was relieved when I found out that I have Benign Essential Tremor (BET). Both Parkinson's Disease and Benign Essential Tremor share some of the same symptoms and they are both classified as movement disorders. The difference is in Parkinson's Disease the hands and body shake while at rest. In Benign Essential Tremor, the shaking occurs when the hands and affected body parts are moving. Parkinson's patients also have other symptoms that do not occur in Benign Essential Tremor: balance problems, shuffling, lack of facial expression and at times an inability to move.

My symptoms began mildly and at first I didn't think a lot about it. At first, my index finger of my right hand would shake uncontrollably. Then slowly the shaking spread to my thumb, whole hand, then to my other hand. I was embarrassed more than anything by the shaking because I would drop things and I even had trouble holding a glass or a fork when eating. That was really embarrassing when we went out to eat. I was dropping food all of the time.

BET is a progressive disorder where shaking typically occurs in the head, hands, jaw and legs. My hands are the only body part that has been affected so I consider myself lucky in that respect. I think the worst body part to have affected by BET would be the head shaking.

Benign Essential Tremor is believed to be caused by a defective gene and it is an inherited disorder. According to the Benign Essential Tremor website, research has shown that another possible cause could be a dysfunction in the cerebellum. The cerebellum is the part of the brain that controls fine movement coordination and balance.

Once I was diagnosed, I was instructed to take the prescription medication, Primidone. Primidone is an anti-convulsant drug that helped my symptoms tremendously. Almost immediately my symptoms subsided and my shaking was minimal. I took Primidone for approximately one year when I wanted to see if my symptoms had went into remission. I stopped taking Primidone and my shaking did not come back for a long time.

The shaking is starting to come back pretty bad again so I need to make another trip to the neurologist for medication. Benign Essential Tremor is a disorder that will go into remission then flare again. Factors that can cause BET flares are stress, ingesting too much caffeine, fatigue, anxiety, hunger, and temperature changes. It is also believed that Restless Legs Syndrome and Benign Essential Tremor are related. Many people with Benign Essential Tremor suffer from Restless Legs Syndrome. Restless Legs Syndrome causes an uncontrollable, nerve tingling urge to move the legs while they are at rest.

Fortunately, the symptoms of BET do not lead to further life-threatening illnesses. For some patients the shaking is so severe they are disabled and cannot perform normal daily tasks. For others the social embarrassment of shaking is the hardest part of the illness to deal with.