ExecutiveChronicles | 5 Things to Know About Essential Tremor | Essential tremor is a condition that causes involuntary shaking and trembling across your body. While the neurological disorder is not life threatening, it can greatly affect your quality of life.
If you or a loved one has recently been diagnosed with essential tremor, it is crucial that you learn more about the condition. In addition to helping you gain important knowledge regarding the disorder, this practice also lets you separate myths and facts about essential tremor.
To guide you through this learning curve, here are 5 things to know about essential tremor.
1. Its Effects Are Not Limited to Your Hands
Essential tremor is often associated with the trembling of hands, especially the palm and fingers. This concept is widespread to the point that when families are considering the benefits of senior living communities, they find it important to explore how involuntary movements of the hands could be managed in the facility.
But once you actually learn what tremors are, it does not take long for you to find out that while essential tremor usually starts in the hands, it can also affect your head and voice. Due to this reason, it stands out as a deeply troubling issue that needs targeted care and management.
2. It Can Worsen Without Treatment
Similar to many chronic conditions, essential tremor does not go away on its own. In fact, the symptoms may not only remain consistent, but also grow over time without treatments or interventions. That is why, whether you use a self-care app or regularly go to the doctor, it’s necessary to seek proper treatment for essential tremor.
There are many treatment approaches for the condition, where electronic or home-use devices often stand tall due to their convenience and efficacy. For active and hassle-free management of the condition, you can also look into these treatment methods with the help of your healthcare provider. This provides you with an efficient way to manage the disorder.
3. It Does Not Exclusively Affect the Elderly
Essential tremor is known to affect people of any age. With that being said, it does have a common occurrence in those who are aged 40 and above. This means that you cannot equate the management of essential tremor with finding the right diet for the elderly. Instead, you have to find an approach that manages the condition regardless of age.
This also calls for you to seek a proper diagnosis after feeling the symptoms of the disorder, no matter how old you are. These symptoms may include tremors that worsen with movement, begin at one side of the body, and mainly affect your hands at first.
4. It May Get Stronger With Caffeine
While caffeine can be healthy in small quantities, overdoing it can induce issues including but not limited to anxiety, restlessness, and bladder problems. Those who have essential tremor can also add stronger tremors to the list of caffeine side effects. The list of these problems is even longer for older adults.
Keeping this in mind, if you absolutely need to have coffee during the day, turn towards decaf coffee beans. This approach allows you to enjoy the rich taste of your cup of joe without experiencing the side effects that elevate your tremors. By exploring various options, you can find a solution that fits your needs and taste buds alike.
5. It Needs to Be Managed on an Ongoing Basis
While treatments such as electronic device applications can help you manage your essential tremor, such approaches need to be executed on a consistent basis. This means that in addition to effective treatments, you also need to make some lifestyle changes for your comfort.
From buying a wide grip pen to using specialized eating utensils, you can use different ergonomic and grip-friendly devices to make daily activities easier for yourself. You can discover these alternative management methods on your own. But you may also ask your healthcare provider for timely and specific advice on how to manage your essential tremor.
Being mindful of these points goes a long way towards helping you live with your essential tremor. This ensures that you can enjoy your life without resorting to invasive procedures such as surgery.
