Shaky hands

[Maj5109]

Hello,

My husband was diagnosed with CKD a few years ago and has been doing well since. However, recently he has very shaky hands. The shakiness has gotten worse over this past month. Has anyone experienced this? Is this a sign of lower kidney function? He is also on Lisinopril and tremors are a side effect of that, is there just a chance he might need to switch medications? Thanks for any help.

[Ladybug_05]

Some medications can cause tremors and Lisinopril is definitely one of them. If it's to where he can't manage his symptoms, there are other medications that he can take (I personally switched to Losartan). I personally had what is called myonic twitching due to my decreased kidney function, but it's different from tremors. My only recommendation is to talk to his doctors to see if switching medications might help. If not then it could be something that needs to be looked into. Unfortunately, there's only so much that can be done in the way of managing symptoms. It could be that his medical team can make them less frequent and not as severe through various avenues, but he'll still have them.

I hope this helps. I have medication-induced tremors now and unfortunately there's not a whole lot that can be done for mine. I manage them as best as I can, and I find that regular movement/activity like walking and tossing a ball helps. Sometimes it gets to where I have to lay down because my legs feel weak from them tremoring for hours. It's not the most pleasant feeling and can definitely make a decrease on the quality of life scale, so it's worth seeing if there's other medications out there that will do the job for him.

[JimVanHorn in reply to Ladybug_05]

There seems to be a reversal effect with Losartan in high doses. I was on 100 mg and my doctor lowered the dosage to 50 mg. My creatinin came down after that change, so check with your doctor.

[NoskieAJ]

I experience hand tremors as well. My doc noticed it during my last visit and but we got busy talking about something else and we didn't go back to it. I see him again in 3 weeks and will ask more about it. I've had them for the last few years and as my function has declined I've noticed they gotten worse - I am down to a 13 GFR now. It's not constant and to me is really minor that it doesn't affect what I do - that or I've just gotten used to it. I used to take Lisinopril but stopped because I couldn't handle the hot flashes any more, they would hit at the worst time and I was afraid I'd get one while driving.