What is Benign Essential Tremor?

Benign Essential Tremor is a movement disorder that causes parts of your body to shake. This kind of shaking isn’t controllable, and you can’t keep yourself from doing it. Benign Essential Tremor usually affects your hands and arms but can also affect your head, voice and other body parts.

In its advanced stages, this condition can severely disrupt some of the most basic tasks and parts of life, such as eating, drinking and dressing yourself. Many people also struggle with feelings of embarrassment or anxiety about the symptoms of this condition.

Symptoms of Benign Essential Tremor

The main Symptom of Benign Essential Tremor is trembling, particularly of the hands. The person cannot control this movement, which tends to have a rhythmic pattern. It may be an up-and-down or side-to-side motion.

Benign Essential Tremor usually affects both sides of the body, but it may be more noticeable on one side. A person may have the tremor in their:

• Face
• Head
• Neck
• Hands
• Arms
• Trunk
• Voice
• Legs and feet, less commonly

Benign Essential Tremor does not usually happen at rest. It can happen during activities such as eating and drinking, shaving, applying makeup, or writing. A person may also notice it when they hold out their hands.

The tremor is progressive, which means that it tends to become more severe over time. It can make daily activities, such as drinking from a glass, tying up shoelaces, or writing difficult.

A person with Benign Essential Tremor may also experience:

• Changes in the way they walk
• Changes in thinking
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Personality changes
• Ataxia, a reduced ability to coordinate voluntary movements
• A loss of hearing and the sense of smell, in some people
• Tremor that stops when the person is asleep
• Tremor may as well affect the voice, head, jaw, lips, and face

Causes of Benign Essential Tremor

Benign Essential Tremor is a neurological condition and a movement disorder. Tremors happen when there is faulty signaling between the nerves and the muscles they connect with, but the exact cause remains unclear.

The risk of developing Benign Essential Tremor increases with age, but anyone can have it, including children.

There may be links between essential tremor and:

• The use of some medications
• Exposure to toxins such as lead and mercury
• An overactive thyroid
• Parkinson’s disease
• Dystonia

Some experts have suggested that people with Benign Essential Tremor may have a higher risk of developing other neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease and hearing loss, especially if the tremor starts after the age of 65 years.

Diagnosis of Benign Essential Tremor

There is no test for essential tremor. Instead, a doctor tends to:

• Look at the person’s symptoms
• Ask about their personal and family medical histories
• Ask about any medications
• Perform a physical examination
• Do some tests, if appropriate, to rule out other conditions

To evaluate the tremor, the doctor may ask Trusted Source the individual to:

• Pour and drink water
• Touch their fingers to their nose
• Hold their hands out in front of them
• Write
• Draw a spiral

They will also assess the person’s:

• Muscle strength and tone
• Tendon reflexes
• Gait
• Posture and coordination
• Ability to feel certain sensations

Tests to rule out other conditions might include a blood test to check levels of thyroid hormones and an MRI scan of the brain.

Complications of Benign Essential Tremor

The possible complications and side effects of treatments for essential tremor depend on many factors, including the treatments themselves. Your healthcare provider is the best person to tell you what side effects or complications are possible in your specific situation, and what you can do to manage or avoid them.

How to Take Care of Myself?

A trained, qualified healthcare provider should be the one to diagnose and treat essential tremor. Essential tremor isn’t life-threatening or dangerous, but tremors can also be a part of other conditions, some of which are treatable if caught quickly. It’s important to call your healthcare provider and make an appointment if you start experiencing tremors that you can’t explain.

What can I Expect if I Have Benign Essential Tremor?

Benign Essential Tremor is usually progressive, meaning it gets worse over time. This is usually a slow process. The average rate that arm or hand tremors get worse is between 1.5% and 5% a year.

Benign Essential Tremor starts small and usually only affects your hands at first. Over time, usually many years, the tremors may spread to affect your arm and head. As the condition progresses, you may begin to struggle with certain activities and may need help to do them.

What’s the Outlook for Benign Essential Tremor?

In years past, the term “benign,” meaning “harmless,” was a standard part of its name, as in “benign essential tremor.” However, experts now recognize that while essential tremor isn’t harmful directly, it can cause severe disruptions in your life.

People with more severe tremors struggle with activities such as cooking, using kitchen utensils, drinking from a cup, hygiene activities, grooming and dressing. Some people who have essential tremor eventually can’t live independently and need to live with family or in an assisted living or skilled nursing facility setting.

Reference:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249214

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/11886-essential-tremor