Increased Hand Tremor: Worried!

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usysparawl

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I have posted about this in the past, but I need some reassurance. I was diagnosed with an essential tremor in my hands several years ago that comes and goes. A few months ago, I noticed an increase in finger movement. When I hold my hands in front of me, the fingers wag or shake from side to side. It's worst on the left side and worse in my pinkie finger and ring finger -- pinkie is always bobbing around.

My fingers do not shake at rest nor do my tremors really get in the way. I would consider them mild as I can hold a fork or coffee cup with minimal shaking.

I've become fixated on the pinkie finger and really need to just get on with it. I am going to assume none of this resembles PD.

Does anyone else have this problem?
 
Peg, my friend:

You're concerned about a waggle in your left pinkie and ring finger. My opinion is that this is not something to worry about, and here's why:

I've got "credentials" of good finger dexterity (play boogie woogie & ragtime, type really fast). Even with that decades-long history, my weaker fingers (ring finger especially) waggle...and always have waggled.

P.S. I don't want to be pesky, but if you want to say anything about your PG, we'd love to hear! I am SO sympathetic, having had troubles myself. (Hmm, autoimmune-related?)

--alyLeoNCali
 
Well, I figured either my esstential tremor was causing the "weaker" fingers in my weaker hand to waggle, or maybe this is just a postural tremor in those fingers since it only happens when they are flexed? I know in my head not to worry, but my OCD has kicker in overtime of late. :crying:
Hearing others have it as well (and for years to boot) makes me feel ALOT better! :)

My pregnancy is going just fine. I will be 17 weeks soon! My only complaint is that I have gained more than enough weight already! My OB did approve klonopin only when needed and I put a self-imposed limit on myself to .25 1-2X a week. Not enough to control tremors or twitching. I save it for REALLY bad twitching days. Just wish I could get past all this anxiety stuff and really enjoy it!

Thanks for asking!

Peg
 
StephG22,

No it really isn't -- other than the fact I am not on Klonopin 24/7.

I am not worried about weakness -- I'm worried about Parkinson's. :(

Peg
 
I had ET emerge alongside the BFS in the first few months of 2004.

I sometimes have the sideways finger waggle (worst in little fingers) as welll as the more classic ET high frequency postural hand tremor. I'm sure if you e-mailed an ET group you'd find it was common

It can all add to the paranoia - PD on the one hand, MS (cerebellar tremor) on the other. Since both my mother (now 69) and maternal grandfather (lived to 87) had ET emerge in early middle age with no progession to Parkinson's or even ET in other body parts, I am reassured that I have familial ET (if one parent has it there's a 50% chance of inheritance; but there's also sporadic ET, so absence of family history doesn't mean it isn't ET).

These days I find the ET more annoying than the BFS, but have got to grips with both.

In another ten years or so Deep Brain Stimulation will probably be fairly trivial and offers a lasting cure. In the meantime there's beta blockers (and alcohol!).
 
AL C,

Thanks for your reassurance about the "side-ways pinkie waggle" being common to ET. I also have the classic postural tremor and sometimes an internal head/neck tremor as well. I did visit an ET site and several of them had the BFS/ET combo. What fun! My Dad has a tremor that tends to come and go. I've had this tremor for 7-8 years now and really learned to ignore it until I started twitching and then read about Michael J. Foxx. That brought back my paranoia from years ago. I suffer from health anxiety as well.

Peg
 

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