About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staff
Some people with essential tremor may not require treatment if their symptoms are mild. But if your essential tremor is making it difficult to work or perform daily activities, you may want to discuss treatment options with your doctor.
Medications
- Beta blockers. Normally used to treat high blood pressure, beta blockers — such as propranolol (Inderal), atenolol, metoprolol and nadolol — help relieve tremors in some people. They may not be an option if you also have asthma, diabetes or certain heart problems.
- Anti-seizure medications. Epilepsy drugs — including primidone (Mysoline), gabapentin (Neurontin) and topiramate (Topamax) — may be effective in people who don't respond to beta blockers. The main side effects are drowsiness and flu-like symptoms, which usually disappear within a short time.
- Tranquilizers. Doctors sometimes use drugs such as diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax) to treat people whose tremors are made much worse by tension or anxiety. Side effects can include confusion and memory loss. Additionally, these medications should be used with caution because they can be habit-forming.
- OnabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) injections. You're probably familiar with Botox as a treatment for facial wrinkles, but it can also be useful in treating some types of tremors, especially of the head and voice. Botox injections can improve problems for up to three months at a time. But if it's used to treat hand tremors, it can sometimes cause weakness in your fingers.
Therapy
Physical therapy exercises can sometimes reduce tremor and improve coordination and muscle control. Occupational therapists may suggest some of the following adaptive devices to reduce the effect of your tremors on your daily activities:
- Heavier plates, glasses and utensils
- Wrist weights
- Wider writing implements
Surgery
Surgery may be an option for people whose tremors are severely disabling and who don't respond to medications. The type of surgery performed is known as deep brain stimulation.
Deep brain stimulation involves inserting a long, thin electrical probe into your thalamus — the portion of your brain responsible for causing your tremors. A wire from the probe is tunneled under your skin to your chest, where a pacemaker-like device has been inserted. This device transmits painless electrical pulses to interrupt signals from your thalamus that may be causing your tremors.
Side effects of surgery may include problems with motor control or speech, problems with balance and temporary or permanent cognitive impairment, such as learning difficulties, or problems with your vision. Deep brain stimulation, however, is very effective for severe essential tremor, and these side effects are rare.
- Essential tremor. Genetics Home Reference. http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/essential-tremor/show/print. Accessed June 12, 2010.
- Tarsy D. Overview of tremor. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 14, 2010.
- Eidelberg D, et al. Tremor. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec16/ch221/ch221i.html?qt=essential%20tremor&alt=sh. Accessed Aug. 8, 2010.
- Tarsy D. Pharmacologic treatment of essential tremor. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 14, 2010.
- Tarsy D. Surgical treatment of essential tremor. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 14, 2010.
- Tremor fact sheet. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tremor/detail_tremor.htm?css=print. Accessed June 12, 2010.
- Louis ED. Essential tremors: A family of neurodegenerative disorders? Archives of Neurology. 2009;66:1202.
Find Mayo Clinic on