Article title: NINDS Tremor Information Page: NINDS
Main condition: Tremor
Conditions: Tremor
Is there any
treatment?
There are some treatment options available for tremor;
the appropriate treatment depends on accurate diagnosis of the cause. Some
tremors respond to treatment of the underlying condition, for example in
some cases of hysterical tremor treating the patient's underlying mental
problem may cause the tremor to disappear. Also, patients with tremor due
to Parkinson's disease may be treated with Levodopa drug therapy.
Symptomatic drug therapy is available for several other tremors as well.
For those cases of tremor in which there is no effective drug treatment,
physical measures such as teaching the patient to brace the affected limb
during the tremor are sometimes useful. Surgical intervention such as
thalamotomy may be useful in certain cases.
What is the
prognosis?
There are many types of tremor and several ways in which
tremor is classified. The most common classification is by behavioral
context or position. There are five categories of tremor within this
classification: resting, postural, kinetic, task-specific, and hysterical.
Resting or static tremor occurs when the muscle is at rest, for example
when the hands are lying on the lap. This type of tremor is often seen in
patients with Parkinson's disease. Postural tremor occurs when a patient
attempts to maintain posture, such as holding the hands outstretched.
Postural tremors include physiological tremor, essential tremor, tremor
with basal ganglia disease (also seen in patients with Parkinson's
disease), cerebellar postural tremor, tremor with peripheral neuropathy,
post-traumatic tremor, and alcoholic tremor. Kinetic or intention (action)
tremor occurs during purposeful movement, for example during
finger-to-nose testing. Task-specific tremor appears when performing
goal-oriented tasks such as handwriting, speaking, or standing. This group
consists of primary writing tremor, vocal tremor, and orthostatic tremor.
Hysterical tremor (also called psychogenic tremor) occurs in both older
and younger patients. The key feature of this tremor is that it
dramatically lessens or disappears when the patient is distracted.
What research is being
done?
NINDS investigators are currently conducting physiological
studies of patients with tremors. These studies include classifying the
tremor and providing appropriate therapy.
International Tremor Foundation
7046 West 105th Street
Overland Park, KS 66212-1803
staff@essentialtremor.org
http://www.essentialtremor.org/
Tel:
913-341-3880 888-387-3667
Fax: 913-341-1296
Western Essential Tremor Network
P.O. Box 284
Orinda, CA
94563
etadvocate@yahoo.com
http://www.west-net.org/
Tel:
510-559-4669
Fax: 510-253-7635
Related NINDS Publications and Information
Lay-language descriptions of new program
announcements and clinical trials seeking patient volunteers.
This fact sheet is in the public domain. You may copy it.Provided
by:
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD
20892
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