What is Tremors?
Tremors is the medical term for trembling or shaking. Most often it affects the hands or head but can affect any part of the body. Tremors can be a disease on its own, or they can be a symptom of another disease.
There are several types of tremors:
- Rest tremors – occur when the affected body part is relaxed and reduces or stops on moving that body part.
- Action tremors – occur on moving the affected body part and are absent at rest.
- Functional tremors – can have features of rest and action tremors and tend to decrease when the patient is distracted or does an activity with another part of the body.
What causes Tremors?
According to specialist doctors and Top Neurologist in Ahmedabad main causes:
The most common cause of rest tremors is Parkinson’s disease. Damage to certain parts of the brain and a rare condition called Wilson’s disease (which causes copper to build up in the body), can also cause rest tremors.
The most common cause of action tremors is something called ‘physiological tremors’. It is normal and not noticeable till it is aggravated by certain medicines ( of asthma/depression), coffee, cigarettes, anxiety, fear, excitement, fatigue, drugs/alcohol withdrawal, overactive thyroid gland, fever, etc.
Essential tremors is a nervous system problem that causes action tremors but has no cause for it. It can be passed on in families. People with this disorder shake when they hold their arms out straight or when they do activities like writing, drinking from a glass, eating with a spoon, etc. It can sometimes affect the head – nodding ‘yes-yes’ or shaking ‘no-no’.
Treatment
Most patients are diagnosed by clinical evaluation. Occasionally a brain scan or blood tests are required for diagnosis.
If tremors are caused by another medical disorder, treating that disease may reduce the tremors. There are a few medicines that can reduce a person’s tremors. If the medicines are not effective enough and the tremors are severely disabling, it is even possible to have a device (DBS)implanted in the brain that can help control the tremors.