Hi. I have ET (at the hands) and dysgraphia since i was a child. Here is my experience with ET shared with dysgraphia.

Because of my dysgraphia doing precise things with my hands is hard. ET obviously make things harder. Writing is almost impossible. My hands fail to form the letters correctly be because of dsgraphia and then get tired of writing and start to shake more than usual.

I got used to my usual shaking, it's not that big of a problem in my daily life. But stress/tireness make them shake way more. So much that i have to start using both hands to holds objects when it happens. (I am also autist so stress and tireness happens a lot)

I have been dropping objects since i was a child. You cant imagine the number of cheap phones i broke because of it :/

Though sometimes i can see good things. When i shake a lot i can ask servers at some restaurants or cafes to serve my food/drink for me directly at my table instead than having to put it there myself.

Yesterday i also asked people at the post office to write an adress for me since my hands were too tired with the writing of a letter and shook too much.

Sometimes i see some little benefits like this but 90% of the time i feel unable to do anything. I dropped music, drawing, embroidery, and much more because of this. I guess i am better at things that dont require hands 🤷🏻‍♂️ i focus on this at least.

Please share some experiences with ET or ET combined with other disabilities. I just discovered this subreddit and i am shocked at seeing people with the same disability as me.

I half exist off salads due to my adult ketogenic diet for epilepsy. Salad greens with every meal. But my hands have gotten to the point where i can’t pick up salad bits! I chase that arugula and then it falls off before I can eat it. Looking into surgeries but in the meantime got any recommendations? Maybe a salad wrap, filled with greens and some vinaigrette and wrapped in romaine? Is that a thing? Ugh, am I in for spinach smoothie with no fruit or sweetener? Ewww!! Anyone have ideas?

Hi everyone! I hope this is okay to ask, and I definitely don’t mean to be intrusive or rude.

My team and I are developers currently working on an application aimed at helping people with essential tremor, and we’re trying to understand the experience from the perspective of people who actually live with it.

If you’re comfortable sharing, we’d really appreciate hearing about things like:

• What are the biggest challenges you face in your everyday life because of ET?
• What is your experience like when visiting doctors or managing treatment?
• What do your doctors usually recommend to you?
• What do you wish was easier about tracking or managing your tremor?
• Is there anything you wish an app could help you with?

We’re not trying to diagnose or give medical advice—we want to listen and build something that is genuinely useful rather than making assumptions about what people need.

Even a small response about your experience would help us a lot. Thank you for taking the time to read this. 🙏

My hands shake all the time but does anyone else have a tremor in their legs? It happens only when I sit in certain positions or if I’m doing yoga or pilates

I'm 32, when it's super hot outside does anyone notice there hands are shaking more and it hard to work at your job

I’m pretty sure I’ve had essential tremor since I was around 16, but I only got properly diagnosed about a month ago.
I’m 24 now, and it took going to around 10 different doctors before I finally got a proper diagnosis.
It felt like almost everyone either blamed it on psychological issues or just didn’t really take me seriously.
Some even told me that essential tremor usually only starts showing up after 50. I know that’s complete bullshit, but who wants to argue with a doctor about it?

I’ve still got some more tests coming up. I already had an EMG done, and it showed a ton of muscle activity aorund my neck, my muscles were constantly active and you could hear it pretty clearly on the machine.
Same thing around my throat.

I also mentioned that I’ve been getting headaches pretty often lately, and the doctor said that it’s honestly not surprising considering how tense my muscles are all day.
I’m going to start Botox treatment soon. I’ve heard it doesn’t always work that well, but honestly, even if it only makes things a little bit easier, I’d be happy with that.

What I actually wanted to ask about is work.
How do you guys manage working with essential tremor?
Some days are worse than others, and I usually have to stay home 2–3 days a month because sometimes there’s just no other way.

How do you guys deal with that? Do you just push through on the bad days, take sick days, work from home, or have you had to make changes to your job? I’d really like to hear how other people handle it.

Would love constructive, respectful feedback from professionals in the dental field. 🩷

I am young, in college and currently work in cosmetology. I notice my hands shake, so l ditched my initial plan of being a hygienist and went to college for accounting for one year.
I want to switch my path this year back to pre-dental hygiene because I would miss using my hands at work. I also felt my work would be purposeless and I have a lot of interest in dental hygiene. I even shadowed a hygienist and loved it.

However, my tremor is holding me back. I have to avoid certain positions because of excessive shaking. It's hard for me to focus when my hand starts shaking and I make myself even more anxious. I've been in psychiatry for three years, and I've tried a lot of first-option medications. My anxiety is still very bad and it makes my tremor worse. I'm on Prozac and 20 mg Propranolol, but l still feel really shaky every day on the first client that I do. Sometimes, I improve throughout the day and feel much less anxiety but l have a small baseline tremor. I'm trying second-line medication options soon, using a grip trainer, going to start working out again and see a neurologist next month. Part of me thinks my tremor will never go away, but dental hygiene is what I want to do 100%. I just wish I never had this tremor. Is my body just not capable of it?

My dad suffered a gunshot wound to the head a few years ago and somehow survived. He was left with permanent neurological issues, including hearing loss, numbness in half of his tongue, and severe shaking in his hands. His hands shake uncontrollably and it significantly affects his everyday life.
His doctors are now recommending deep brain stimulation (DBS) to try to control the tremors. From what I understand, they would implant electrodes into a specific area of his brain and connect them to a stimulator implanted under the skin.
Most of what I can find about DBS is related to Parkinson’s disease or essential tremor, so I’m having a harder time finding people who have gone through it specifically for post-traumatic tremor after a brain injury.
Has anyone here had DBS for tremors caused by a traumatic brain injury, gunshot injury, stroke, or other structural brain damage?
If so:
How severe were your tremors beforehand?
How much did DBS actually reduce them?
Did it improve your ability to use your hands normally?
Did you experience problems with speech, balance, memory, sensation, or anything else afterward?
How difficult was the surgery and recovery?
Did you have neurological deficits before surgery, and did DBS affect any of them?
How long did it take to get the programming/settings right?
Knowing what you know now, would you do it again?
I’m especially interested in hearing from people with an injury similar to his because I realize his situation is very different from someone receiving DBS for Parkinson’s or typical essential tremor.
We’re trying to understand the realistic benefits versus risks before he makes such a major decision. Any firsthand experiences would be really appreciated.

What has anyone found that helps? Are there adaptive apps or tools?

What is that thing that you always wanted to do or want to do still (maybe hanging out with friends, asking out your crush) but you can't or couldn't do because of the embarrassing issue. Since I am going through same I would love to hear your stories.

I’ve been dealing with a tremor in my left hand since the summer of 2020, when I first noticed it. At the time, I was dealing with mental health issues, and my psychiatrist wanted me to try different anxiety medications until we found one that worked for me. While trying these medications, I started developing side effects, and one of them was severe shaking and tremors.
The shaking became so bad that I could barely pick up a pen to write, and I experienced shaking in other parts of my body as well. Once I stopped taking the medication, the widespread shaking stopped, but I continued to have a tremor in my left hand.
The tremor only happens when I hold my left hand out in front of me; that's when the shaking starts. My right hand isn't affected.
My concern is whether the medication could have somehow triggered or "activated" an essential tremor that I may have already been predisposed to, or whether the side effects from the medication could have caused some type of long-term damage. My neurologist doesn't think the medication caused it, but because the tremor started while I was taking the medication and has remained ever since, it's hard for me not to wonder if there could be a connection.

Another thing is that I am not sure if it's hereditary and when I asked my dad about it he could not recall anyone with tremors. I also do not know anyone on my mom's side of the family so that's another issue. As of right now it doesn't bother me but I am worried about what the future will hold when it comes to when and if this tremor will develop.

I'm so scared, my 3rd and 4th finger would slightly shake, not too much but it would shake that I don't know how to control it. Can somebody help me? What should I do? And sometimes during practicals (I'm a medtech student) my hands would shake so badly, I couldn't control it even at times when I'm not nervous.

Does it mean I lack iron? should I take vitamins with iron? or vitamins with vitamin B? What are your recommendations

Hello Reddit fam - posting this for those that have questions about essential tremors and symptoms. A lot of people come in here asking about relatable symptoms. I am not a doctor and not promoting diagnosis. I am promoting relatability and we are all in this together.

(33 M) I’ve had ET for 10+ years, every movement on the body. I’ve seen a neurologist (2021) and movement disorder specialist MDS (2026). I’ve had multiple test ran and don’t present as Parkinson’s, Parkinsonism, Dystonia, Multiple Sclerosis, or any other neurological disorder. However, I’ve had multiple symptoms that aren’t your standard ET tremors, despite being diagnosed with ET. Every case is different. Ask me anything!!

I work in telesales. Well, I actually work in financial consultation in an office but telesales is still part of it. Every time I need to call a client I want to avoid and pass it over to my colleagues. They find it strange and often remark how easy and quick it is, but talking to people I don't know in a high stake situation makes my tremors worsen. When I talk to my coworkers too, especially when I have to stand up for myself or request something. I always shake looking terrified and in tears. I'm 28 years old. I have a partner and we plan marrying next year but seeing how unfit I am at reacting to life, I feel I'm also unfit for her. One thing is coming home crying because I couldn't do something for myself without embarassing myself, another thing is embarassing myself while doing something for someone else. It's much more painful. It happened once. Someone disrespected my partner and not wanting to cry and shake, I stood by and she was the one that had to stand up. The list of regrets, poor functioning and humiliation goes on. I don't take any medication because I don't react well to them. I have autism lvl 2, which may play a part. I tried propranolol, atenolol (gave me insomnia), CBD (gave me even worse insomnia, mind race, rage, disorganized thinking) and antidepressant (gave euphoria, obsession, made emotions imbalanced). I'm this way since childhood, so I know there is nothing to do besides resting and hoping it will be better the next day, but I wish I was a proper adult, that I could perform my job okay and be a better partner and also man for myself. I'm not weak or frightened. I don't know why my body responds this way. In my "good days" where tremors are lessened, my voice gets lower, I look at people in the way and don't waver, but I look like a hurt child when tremors start. It even scares other people because it's not just tremors. It's a whole emotional reaction. Crying, fear, shakes, all into one. I will do my part and keep searching and hoping, but if you can give any advice in the meanwhile, I'm grateful.

I’m a 17 year old male. I’m Turkish and preparing for the upcoming university exam in 2027. As far as I can notice my hands are started shaking when Im studying 1 week ago. Now my hands are way more shaky. It’s not messing with my motor-controls and I can’t find out why is this happening. I don’t use any medicines nor drink coffee daily. My blood test results were near perfect and I don’t feel stress in general. I’m planning to see a doctor but still wanted to ask reddit for some ideas. It started bothering me not too much but still. And also I can’t be sure of anything but the shaking/trembling is uncontrollable and just out of curiosity my hands shaking can achieve a 6 cps per second when I tried it on my tablet holding my hand in a position when it shakes mu finger touched the screen.

Hi folks

I was diagnosed with ET over forty years ago. I’ve never taken medication to help me and as expected the tremor has got worse over the years. But it’s not completely debilitating.

I’m on holiday at the moment. A couple of days ago I’d done a lot of walking in a beautiful French city and stopped at a bar for a drink late afternoon.

It was table service so no problem there. No glass to carry.

I had a large beer and the glass was full. I tried lifting the glass to my mouth but realised that wasn’t going to work so moved the glass to the edge of the table and bent my head forward so that I could “take the top off” without lifting the glass.

Moments later a woman appeared at my side and lifted my glass. I was very confused. She said something that I didn’t understand. My French is basic. I then realised she was trying to help me. I hadn’t realised that she was sat next to me with another woman who explained in English that she wanted to help me.

Tbh I could have burst into tears but I managed to compose myself and knew enough French to say thank you and what a kind person she was.

Hope you guys don’t mind me sharing this story. After decades of living with ET this has never happened to me before. Just needed to share with people who will understand.

I’ve been thinking about revisiting my doctor. I now realise it’s time.

Thank you for reading.

I work in the plastic injection molding industry and will be having the Abbott device installed. My doctor mentioned that arc welding is off the table but I am wondering if I need to be weary of all strong sources of electromagnetism due to device interference or damage. Does anyone have this device and work in a similar field? M33 ET since I was a kid

On Friday I had Botox for the first time (NHS UK) in my neck for my head tremor. The very next morning I could feel a difference! Now, less than 3 days later, there is an about a 65% reduction. The relief is unbelievable. No side effects even though I’m sensitive to everything!! Just a bit of muscle stiffness. If you’re on the fence, I’d say give it a go!! I’ll keep updating. Obvs rest of my body still shaky!