Essential Tremor: All About the Prevalent Disorder that Affects 10 Million Americans

ET or Essential Tremor and it is one of 20 different kinds of tremor disorders affecting close to 10 million American lives and yet we seldom hear anything about it. For older adults, you may think it normal for your head or hand to shake occasionally.

However, before you just think you are just getting old, you might want to find out if what you are experiencing is a form of essential tremor, also known as familial tremor, benign essential tremor or hereditary tremor. By the way, the shaking can occur in any part of your body, including your voice, not just your hands or head.

Essential Tremor disorder is more common that Parkinson's disease. It is often mis-diagnosed when it first appears as being Parkinson's. My father died with Parkinson's and when it first showed up in me, I was afraid I was getting it too. I was only 55 at the time, so I wasn't looking forward to the diagnosis.

It turns out 10 out of 11 people that have shaking hands and look as if they have Parkinson's, usually don't have it but do have ET, so I was not alone.

This information was a surprise in part because funding for essential tremor is less than 10% of that for Parkinson's and ET is not as widely advertised. I had never heard of it, which is strange, since it is the most common movement disorder in the world. It hits four to forty people in every one thousands people around the entire world.

It usually comes on gradually and sometimes even begins in adolescence but more often appears during mid-life to old age. The tremors usually appear when you are doing something that requires using your hands. It could occur when your drinking a glass of water, putting on makeup, threading a needle, or writing a letter, anything that requires a motor skill.

This is one of the major differences between ET and Parkinson's, where your hands shake when they are is a resting position, at your side, and if you use your hands the shaking will slow down or stop. Also, Parkinson's does not effect the head or voice. The two diseases by the way, are not related. Katherine Hepburn was on of the people that had ET although many people thought was Parkinson's
Only a small percent of people with ET will need help and can continue to live normal lives. However, emotional or physical stress can cause it to become worse. There is also medication you can take that will lessen the tremors, but I'm fortunate that mine is not that bad so far.

What the cause of this problem has not yet been determined, although about half of the cases are autosomal genetic mutation, meaning it comes down through one parent. The other 50% are not determined but they do know it occurs within the brain circuit and the controls of our movement. More research is needed to understand and find a cure for essential tremor.

If you have someone with shaking going on, be sure to let them know about (ET) Essential Tremor and have them find out for sure. There are several test that can be run to determine the results.