Anxiety, nervous excitement, emotional strain, frailty are common causes of shakiness in hands and trembling of the fingers. Even if you are in excellent health, you may notice slight tremors from time to time. One of the conditions associated with rhythmic shaking is known as essential tremor. ET is one of the hereditary disorders of the nervous system in which there is moderate intensity of hand tremors that occur during movement and may gradually progress. Age is one of the significant risk factors. Although vibration can occur at any age, it is more likely in elderly people.
How hand tremors can affect life
Tension, fatigue, consumption of excess caffeine can make the situation worse, deteriorating your well-being. At some point, simple daily tasks we do with our hands become more challenging. It can be both a physiological reaction of the body to overwork, hypothermia, alcohol intoxication and a symptom of an array of serious diseases. And even if mostly ET is not life-threatening and doesn’t require intensive care and tremors hands treatment, it can get worse over time, notifying us about the following health issues, such as:
- Endocrine disorders. With an overactive thyroid gland, a person often experiences tremors. In addition, there may be weight loss with increased appetite, muscle weakness, increased heart rate, and the patient becomes hot-tempered and overly emotional.
- Autoimmune diseases. Multiple sclerosis is another shaky hands cause. With such a diagnosis, tremors can occur not only in the hands but also in other parts of the body.
- Parkinson’s disease. A progressive disease of the nervous system affects mostly middle-aged and elderly patients. It is marked by tremor as one of the first symptoms that appear even at rest with the occurrence of a head tremor over time, muscular rigidity, and slow poorly controlled movement. Tremor elevates and intensifies with excitement, physical exertion, in addition, there is a sensation of dizziness and imbalance, muscle weakness, gradual impairment of cognitive abilities, memory loss, depression.
- Metabolic disorders. Being diagnosed with a rare hereditary Wilson-Konovalov disease, hand tremors may already appear at a young age. The cause of the disease is an impaired exchange of copper in the body, it begins to be deposited in the tissues of organs, disrupting their work.
Proven ways to deal with essential tremor
The tactics of tremors hands treatment depend on the trigger that caused it. Physiological tremors can be eliminated by dealing with the provoking factor. Pathological tremors require active therapy. If you think that shaking is caused by chronic stress or lack of sleep, change your mindset and lifestyle to boost your quality of life. If the episodes continue, then therapy with drugs (beta-blockers, anti-seizure, and antiepileptic drugs) that inhibit the progression of ET and reduce severity must be designed by a qualified specialist after a comprehensive medical checkup, several tests (electroencephalogram (EEG) or electromyography (EMG)), and obtaining an accurate diagnosis.
The first specialist whom patients turn to when trembling in their hands appears is a neurologist. If necessary, you may need to consult a cardiologist, endocrinologist, psychotherapist. The tasks of medical health care specialists are to determine what provokes such trembling and the key triggers to develop the efficient tremors hands treatment.
Adequate diagnosis and early management of shaking hands are pivotal to repair normal body function, relieve symptoms, and maintain good health.
