r/EssentialTremor

Hey everyone!

Had an interaction yesterday that left me more aware/self conscious. Got to work, get all my things sorted away, and go to take a drink. My coworker's eyes go huge and she got worried and asked if I was ok. Took me a minute for it to click it was just my tremors, and explained to her I'm all good, just shake due to tremors. A kind gesture, but just made me more self conscious about them.

I talked with my wife after and she pointed out it was a caring move that my coworker was just worried about me, but to me in a managerial position it comes off.. differently? Like I'm shaking and nervous, not very confident in myself and my work. I know it's something I should work on, and am trying to, but..

Screw tremors!

Hi everyone.

I turned out 16 last week and posted here a few weeks ago asking if my symptoms pointed to essential tremor.

So, I just went to the doctor and he did some tests and blood analysis and all turned to essential tremor.

He said that, for now, I won't need propanolol and he just gave me anxiety pills called valeriana.

I'm kinda lost and scared, I see online how this diesease progresses and I'm scared.

I don't know, can you people tell me how it is?

Thx 🙏

24M. In 2018 I cold turkey stopped psychiatric meds after about a week of use:

• Aripiprazole (Zedan)
• SSRI (Flux)
• Alprazolam (ALP)

After that I developed minor body jerks, but over the years I started having head shaking/tremor issues.

My symptoms:

• Head shakes in a “no-no” direction in certain positions
• Worse when sitting straight with my back against a chair
• When slowly turning my head right/left and returning to neutral, my head shakes noticeably even when alone
• Tremor gets MUCH worse when nervous/anxious or in public/social situations
• Lip trembling when smiling + pressure/tension in lips
• Neck/back of neck pressure and shoulder tension, especially when sitting straight

What confuses me is that I’ve seen multiple neurologists and got completely different opinions:

1. (online consultation) He said its Psychogenic Tremor.
2. (online) He said it's Dystonic Tremor.
3. (online w/ Movement Disorder specialist) She said it's all functional movement disorder/somatic.
4. (On-site appointments) He also said it's functional and prescribed me SSRI (which I didn’t take).
5. (Online Neurologist with 35+ years experience) He said it's Essential Tremor.

But it’s not persistent all the time, which is why I’m confused.

I honestly don’t know what to believe anymore because all of these overlap in some ways with my symptoms.

Has anyone dealt with something similar or received conflicting diagnoses like this? I need help thanks.

Hi y’all, I’m posting here because I was just diagnosed with ET earlier today, and I’m really struggling with worrying about it and its (possible) progression.

A little context:
I’ve had very minor tremors in my hands for as long as I can remember. I was also born with Cerebral Palsy, which has greatly affected my ability to use and control the left side of my body, which I think has greatly contributed to the severity of my symptoms on that side of my body. I’ve noticed over the past few years that they seem to have gotten worse. I am an artist, animator, and photographer, and I’ve been noticing that I’m unable to keep my hand still enough to draw a straight line, nor hold a camera still for long enough to get a clear shot. My only saving grace is the fact that I’m trained in digital art, so I’m used to drawing on a tablet and having access to pen stabilizers to smooth everything out while I’m working. Traditional drawing is a completely other story and where those issues I mentioned earlier come into play. But I digress.

Fast forward to today:
I finally got in with a motion disorder specialist, and was diagnosed with ET. My symptoms are still not horrible, but are annoying enough to impact me and my work. However, she was leaning into how it gets worse. I’m an extremely anxious person who also has OCD and MDD (life really nerfed me, lol) so I’m currently stressing about my future and worrying about my career already, when my symptoms aren’t even that bad.

What is the best way to cope with this news, and calm myself about the future? Also, what resources and treatments are available to me? My doctor is having me take Propranolol as needed to make my craft easier, but what else can I do if that does work for me??

Edit: 21 y/o if that matters here

1 thing that makes my anxiety and tremor out of control is having to slide my debit card into its slot and then trying to press the 4 digit pin. I obsess about it.

Having essential tremor + a fear of trembling in front of others might be the worst combo possible.

It's become a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point the fear triggers the tremors, the tremors deepen the fear, and the cycle never stops. Even something as simple as sipping water on a date feels impossible.

It's held me back from showing up in areas where I know I'm capable. But the part that hurts most is how much it's affected my ability to connect with women. I've attached so much weight to it that it's become my biggest insecurity and it's quietly building a wall between me and the relationships I actually want.

Anyone else dealing with this?

I really want to overcome this!!

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.

Family history of essential tremor. Mum and grandad have it. I have it too (teenager). My grandad takes primidone and propranolol. My GP said primidone is not an option and propranolol she will have to run by cardiology. I have many heart issue so I’m already on bisoprolol for rate/rhythm control. Hopefully some IR propranolol can be added on top? Any other meds? Are there anybody who is on beta blockers for cardiac reasons like me who also take propranolol?

I am 23 with many diagnoses including major depressive disorder, anxiety, ocd, adhd etc

I'm seeing a neurologist in a week for my problems related to tourettes and tremors but obviously this is about the tremors lol

I've always had unstable hands and it wasnt too bad or unusual considering the severity of my anxiety. People would sometimes point it out and I'd just shrug it off since it didn't concern me at the time. Since at least a year ago my hands for the most part have been entirely unstable and i can't do things at times. Sometimes i struggle holding utensils and making small adjustments with my fingers/ hands feels impossible. It often is just there already but i found that when i have my hand/ fingers/ or even other body parts in specific positions it completely sets it off in the most extreme way. I was repairing my computer mouse and with the tiny screws it took over an hour for 10 screws and i was getting really frustrated. I'm still adjusting to living with this I'm just really afraid of what it could lead to in the future :/ i seem to have been born into the world with every possible debuff

• something i forgot that i wanted to add is that in the past year or so I've also started experiencing some form of vertigo especially with moving my head and eyes, not sure what that's about

Hello!

I am in search of (particularly sandals) that would be great for my ataxia. I lose footing and fall a lot, but the only thing comfortable for me to wear have been flip-flops from Crocs. I can walk miles in them. However, I think the time has come that I need something sturdier. These would be used around the house, my yard, and sometimes in public. I've looked all over and can't find the "right" type of shoe.

Side note: I REALLY don't like wearing shoes or socks to begin with, they're foot prisons. So the comfier the better.

Does anyone have any suggestions or resources?

I am on propranolol but it doesn’t do much. My ET gets worse in public with anxiety. Any recommendations of something to take on top of propranolol to help anxiety tremors that you can take daily that are not benzos?

Hi I'm in the process of developing a paint app for tremors, you can try it here

https://santhoshl2312.github.io/StablePaint/

Please let me know if there are any issues or if anything feels off about the smoothing.

Just curious if anyone with hand ET can do a free standing handstand? I've been trying for a few years at yoga. I think it might be my ET causing an extra challenge ;) but I wanted to hear from my ET people. I described it the other day like a normal person trying to do a handstand on a moving floor - it's doable but it takes a lot more practice. I can do a supported handstand with my feet up on a wall. Are handstands not in the card for us?

Hello everyone I’ve posted in here once before but I’m 23M with et (I think) I was diagnosed at 20 by my neurologist and all she did was have me press my hand against her hand and said yep you have ET I did also get an ct scan and nothing popped up. She has me on a yearly appointment basis now and when I just went in there a month ago I told her I was struggling with the 10mg propranolol so she upped it to 20 mg with no difference. I’ve asked about primidone I think was the name and she came across as adamant that it wouldn’t be any better for me

I guess I’ll get to the point, do you guys think I should maybe try to find a different neuro or is a movement disorder specialist a better option? I’m not sure if they’re the same profession or not. My career needs a better option to get better treatment.

Thanks in advance for any advice or help on the matter

I’m building a macOS app that tries to reduce typing errors caused by hand tremors.

The current focus is detecting unintended repeated keystrokes and accidental inputs that can happen while typing.

It’s still an early beta, but I’d really like to hear from people dealing with tremor-related typing issues — especially what kinds of keyboard problems are most frustrating in daily use.

If anyone is interested in testing it or sharing feedback, feel free to comment or DM me.

I used to exercise normally. However, When October of 2025 started I joined a judo classes group. I was there for about four or five weeks. But during those weeks I didn't exercise, since I was tired from it I stopped working out. And it continued for the following months until the start of 2026 (have to clarify, I live in a south america country, Where on Christmas and holidays we eat a lot. A LOT. Of junky, Tasty, But junky food. Cake, ayacas, Coca-cola or other stuff. And no, during those months I did not lose muscle somehow)

But anyways, During about mid of January I started to exercise again. (Mainly because my mom death-threaths me into doing it) During the first week was pretty normal. I'm doing exercise normally 4 days a week with cardio on Friday. But I've noticed my arms or legs shake when carrying weights. Doesn't matter if it's a weight I can easily carry or usually use to exercise. Same with legs or other muscles. I can do up to 15 pullups yet my arms shake at 3 even though I'm not tired.

Idk why since even when I was barely 7 and my mom started to tell me to exercise, I never shaked before. Yet now by some reason my body shakes. Any ideas on what's causing the problem, or how can I fix it? Yes I am a minor. And it has been months yet nothing has changed

I'm a graphic designer who has to use the mouse for delicate moves. After 4 tries to find a mouse that I could use as my tremor gets worse....success!! The Protoarc Ergonomic mouse works for me. Hopefully that suggestion will help others with ET who are searching for ways to make life better and work more efficient. Another plus, on Amazon, this mouse is under $30.

I've had ET and mental health problems since I was 16 (53 now). I'm finally at a good place with my depression and psychosis, but I am still having problems with extreme anxiety. I know psychotropic medications can worsten tremors, but without them, I'd be back to frequent mental health hospitalizations. I take Ativan for anxiety, but it doesn't always help enough. I'm on high dose propranolol (also for hbp), primidone, and have a DBS system. It helps to where I can function for the most part, but eating, writing, typing, putting adhesive in my dentures, preparing food, etc. is still difficult and only adds to my depression and anxiety. It's a vicious cycle of my tremors causing me anxiety and depression, and the anxiety making my tremors worse, and so on. My DBS is pretty much at the highest level it can be and I don't think raising my primidone would help. I can't raise my propranolol because it makes my BP get too low and I have dizziness and pass out and fall. I don't like dining out or being around strangers because my tremors are embarrassing. I have to take Ativan and a muscle relaxer at bedtime or my tremors, which worsten at night because I turn off my DBS at night, will trigger a panic attack. Even still, I can have 2-3 panic attacks a week because I lie in bed and just feel my whole body trembling. I try deep breathing and relaxation but it doesn't always help.

Does anyone have any ideas I can try to help?