u/Pumpkin-Away

I posted a few weeks ago on this subreddit because I was running into issues with my work in a research lab because of my tremor, and I just wanted to give a quick update because I am very happy with how things have been going since then. Here's the link to the past post if you wanna read:

https://www.reddit.com/r/EssentialTremor/comments/1syh29h/at_what_point_did_you_all_go_to_the_doctorotpt/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I got in to a PCP and was able to get a diagnosis and propanolol prescription. It's only been a few days on it but oh my god it's making my life a lot easier. As an example, for the past month in lab, I've been trying to learn a technique that's usually easy for beginners to pick up on. But because of my tremor it has been actually horrible to learn, and I almost thought it would be completely impossible for me to learn to do (trying to learn this basic technique is actually what made me make my original post lol). Over the past month, it's been a mess of stress breakdowns and constant trial and error to see what would help with my tremor the most (ie different ways to stabilize my hands, using wrist weights), and after all of that I could only barely manage the technique, but would still have to call for help on a bad tremor day.

But now with the propanolol making my tremors less pronounced, the same technique that's given me hell the past month feels so easy. It actually feels crazy to be able to do these things without my tremor getting in the way. I also knew there was no guarantee it would actually work for me, so I'm glad that it does help.

Anyway I just wanted to share that. Thank you to everyone on my initial post that commented and encouraged me to go to the doctor, I'm glad that I did.

Just a quick heads up in advance that I talk briefly about my work with mice as a research model in this post, so if you don't want to read about that you have been warned.

I wanted to ask a question here because I've been so on the fence about getting this checked out. I don't have a diagnosis but I'm pretty sure I have ET (inherited from my dad's side of the family, like half of them have a pretty bad tremor), and it's mostly in my left hand right now, but my right hand is less steady than the average person. I would say depending on the day and activity my left hand tremor ranges from mild to moderate, and I can still do most of my day-to-day stuff just fine (though I'm overly reliant on my right hand), but at work it's starting to become an issue.

For context, I'm a 23 yr old PhD student who's been trying to learn how to work in a mouse lab. A lot of the mouse work requires steady hands (surgeries, tissue extraction, injections, etc) and I have to be able to use both hands for all of these things. It's been taking me significantly longer than average to make any progress with these techniques, and like 95% of my issues are related to my left hand tremor and weakness. I have had some success adapting the techniques to the tremor, but it still hasn't been great.

It's been really frustrating for me, especially when I'm struggling on things that other people learn with ease, and recently I've been considering if trying to go to OT or something would benefit me at all. Honestly, part of me is just considering toughing it out and trying to BS my own solutions, but it might be better to actually get it checked out especially if it could get worse with age. Anyway I've been on the fence (and part of this post was just to complain lol) but I feel like hearing about other people's experiences might help guide my decision a little bit more.

At what point did all of you start to get this checked out, and how did it help you if at all? Did anyone else have issues with the ET getting in the way of their work or career and how did you handle it? Thanks, and any response is appreciated :)