Essential Tremors?

[TheresaCurley]

I know I have Parkinson's Disease but I was wondering if ET has inner tremulousness like PD does? I'm thinking if not it could be a good way to differentiate the two.

[ronn]

It seems that ET is caused by faulty electrical signals from the brain to the body. Though it usually shows up in the hands it may sometimes affect other areas such as the jaw. In my case it was used by my GP, when tremor was discussed late in my allotted appointment time, to put off the diagnosis of Parkinson's until more definite symptoms might appear.

[Hikoi]

I'll be interested to see if anyone here knows. I haven't seen anything in the literature about this.

Generalising here but also in differentiating ET from PD

The tremor of PD is a resting tremor and is almost always on one side to begin. The tremor of Essential tremor is an action tremor so not there when resting but happens when doing something with the hands such as drinking. It is both sides . So they are quite different.

ET symptoms can also be depression, anxiety, walking problems (Gait) and cognitive problems.

From Update on Essential Tremor.

"over the past 10 years, a growing body of evidence indicates that this is a progressive condition ..... and may be associated with a variety of different features such as gait abnormalities, parkinsonism, cognitive impairment, dementia, personality disturbances, depressive symptoms, and sensory abnormalities (e.g., mild olfactory dysfunction and hearing impairment). ....."l

The similarities are obvious aren't they, but they are different conditions and mis diagnosis happens. It becomes more obvious over time when ET progression will be minor compared to PD. This is why neuros all say that curing or reversing PD calls into question the original diagnosis .

[silvestrov]

Did you lose your sense of smell?

[TheresaCurley in reply to silvestrov]

Yes I have a real problem now with smelling things and it is disappointing because I use to have an extremely sensitive sense of smell. Last Christmas when I could not smell the Christmas tree it put a damper on Christmas for me. And when I found out my dog pooped in my laundry room and I didn't smell it I was shocked!

I'm not questioning if I have PD. I know I do. What I am questioning is if people with ET have internal tremors as us PD people do. I know one person with ET and she has it very bad, but walks fine and has good balance. I never talked to her about her tremors and we are not close and I feel uncomfortable asking.

[lempa_nik]

Theresa, this is my sweeping generalization, but I doubt that most Parkees have internal tremors. Or, if they do, that it is of much concern. A few months ago, an agitated Parkee raised the subject on this forum, and there were only a few scattered responses. So I don't think it is a common symptom. I personally had a brief spell of such internal tremors--jumpiness in my chest I connected to heart palpitations (and I suspected overdose of my thyroid medication as the cause) --near the start of my diagnosis with PD. But they went away for some reason, and never came back.

[TheresaCurley in reply to lempa_nik]

Interesting. I've heard a lot of people on this forum say they have it when they are having an "off" time. You can see for yourself in the thread "Does this sound familiar" I find them much more annoying than the visible ones.

[Hikoi in reply to lempa_nik]

If you put Internal tremor in the search box, there are many threads come up from over the years.

[lempa_nik in reply to Hikoi]

OK, thank you--that's good to know. Just another illustration why sample sizes of one are not encouraged in statistics.

[AmyLindy in reply to lempa_nik]

Dumblelkin I am thyroid challenged, too,and used to attribute jumpiness, jitters and more to it. Only recently to discover it was building up into PD. Tried KRATOM today 3 GM and my tremors abated. Feeling calm and cool. Ever try it?

[lempa_nik in reply to AmyLindy]

AmyLindy, No, have not tried it, and because of info in the link below, I do not plan to. Please be very careful: Kratom is addictive and can bring some very nasty side effects. You may end up paying a higher price than you want to pay for the relief it brings.

narconon.org/drug-abuse/kra...