In some people, too much stress simply results in irritability. In other people, too much stress can cause or worsen health problems, including Essential Tremor. Learning to relax is the key to reducing stress. Below are a few relaxation exercises. Be sure that you have a quiet location that is free of distractions. Make sure that you are in a comfortable body position and a good state of mind. Try to block out worries and distracting thoughts.
WebMD Medical Reference http://www.webmd.com/brain/essential-tremor-relaxation SOURCES: Johns Hopkins Medicine: "Essential Tremor." Pal, P. Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, July 2011. Medscape: "Essential Tremor: A Clinical Review: Approaches to Treatment." Reviewed by Neil Lava, MD on September 20, 2014 ![]() My Journey with Essential Tremor I first noticed my right eye lid twitch at age 27.. As years progressed the head began to shake more visibly when I was angry or upset. I often wonder how big a part that stress adds to our nervous system. Over the years I had plenty of emotional and verbal and financial abuse, I am sure that did not help. One day I accidentally fell backwards down the stairs, held myself from somersaulting by grabbing the railing, in the process I felt my spine from the tailbone to the back of my skull twist. From that day forward, the head tremor has progressed. As I journeyed thru my 50’s, I am now tremoring more internally as well.. I recently have noticed in the morning my jaw wanting to chatter like I am cold. I do notice both my arms and hands tremor some when holding onto something or trying to be precise. Family History: My youngest son_ ET and dystonia Father’s Father- Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease Mothers Sister- Diagnosed with Parkinson's I did have a cousin on my Moms side that had essential tremor. He was in Vietnam War, and was beaten by his Dad when he was young, again, I wonder how all this plays into our nervous system. I do wonder back in the 60 and 70‘s if all that shook was classified as Parkinson. The need to educate is tremendous. The part that I dislike the most, is the bullying from other people. The stares, the laughs, the snide remarks, their cold hearted attitudes.. One day I prayed to God to lead me to how I was to handle this, I had been reclusive, did not go shopping or out to eat anymore with my husband or family. It was easier for me to deal with it.. But, at the same time, it seemed very unfair.. I was playing around on the computer and typed in Essential tremor support groups and found a few. I thought to myself, I wonder how many others have this? I thought, hmm, I have commercial advertising experience and I can run a free article, so I marched forward with that idea.. I needed to know I was not alone, and how they handled it, wondering perhaps we may get together one day, and make friends? Little did I know that I would have calls from several counties in upstate NY, one conversation led to another, others were interested to getting together as well, we planned a time and place to meet. How exciting, in public, and I didn't care as much, as I would not have to face this alone.. We decided as a group to educate and help others . We were added to a support group listing, the phone rang one day, several calls in fact from the NYS downstate area. From Brooklyn, Manhattan to the Long Island area. Our local support group kept coming up with more ideas, as we together in strength felt good about ourselves and we were making a difference, yes, it is empowering in a great way, turning a negative to a positive. AS a group we invited professional medical speakers, we set up at health fairs, in the bigger cities, we did educational seminar educated EMS and beyond, as well as doing fundraisers and distributing literature as we go.. I do not tell you this for glory, I share this with you for inspiration and empowerment. We did this for over 5 years, It was getting to a burn out stage, my life had grandchildren to babysit etc, to I needed to shelf the group for a while. My husband retired, we moved to Florida, thinking Ahh, this is great, finally bask in some sun. Little did we know the DMV is very strict about others with tremor, I was denied my driver’s license, I was just stripped of my independence. To find out I was not the only one singled out. By coincidence, my husband was out to breakfast and was sitting near 3 guys that were chatting about ET, one of the gentleman also had ET and had also been rudely, and humiliated by the employees of the DMV office. There is a great need for educating, how can we do this? Together, strength in numbers, lets put our thinking caps on and make a difference, we CAN do this for ourselves and for future generations to come...This can be part of our legacy. PLEASE contact the Diann Shaddox Essential Tremor Foundation for additional information. There are so many great programs, where they need our help. Once we return to NYS (Our home state) I still kept my driver’s license, that I have had for 52 years, and will again be independent, I will know when it is time to let them go… For myself, my plans .along with my husband and family support, is to start a support group again, and educate, I want to focus additionally on the bullying aspect, and work with legislation to try and educate the state and federal levels. It’s an uphill battle, BUT, it needs to be done.. Will you join me in this journey in your area? God Bless us all.. A wonderful Thank You to Diann Shaddox and her staff and all their hard work.. Proud to be part of a great Group and foundation.. Mary D. is an Essential Tremor support group facilitator and a member of DSF FUNDRAISING/SUPPORT GROUP ADVISORY BOARD ![]() Ten million people in the United States shake due to essential tremor. It is a syndrome with no cure yet. Medications and procedures can calm some tremors, but not all. Those of us with ET have to learn to live with it and find unique ways to deal with it. My essential tremor reared its ugly head during my freshman year at college. No insecure, very shy, introverted girl wants to hear a voice behind her say, “Hey, girl, what’s wrong with you? Are you scared?” No, I wasn’t scared, just having a tremor beginning from an unknown source and terribly embarrassed. As with most cases, my ET progressed. My head shivered back and forth as if I were constantly telling everyone, “No, no.” Nevertheless, I incorporated it into my life and prayed each day that IT wouldn’t be noticeable or IT would go away. I got married, had a daughter, taught school for twenty-seven years, and at the age of 48 retired early and enrolled in seminary. Not because I wanted to become a student again, but because God was calling me. After graduation I was ordained and pastored in six different churches in twenty-four years. Yes, I stood in front of classrooms and congregations to teach and preach. I explained ET, but didn’t dwell on it. Sixty years of tremors in my head and now it is starting in my hands. Many of you can relate to that. One of my most embarrassing ET moments was at age 75 sitting next to my 104-year-old mother-in-law at her assisted living home. We were listening to an older man entertaining the small crowd with music. After a short time he told everyone to lift their hands and sway them side to side. My mother-in-law and I chose not to follow the instructions. He looked at me, saw my essential tremor head indicating no, no, and he stopped singing. He said, “No, we can’t do that! She says no.” I tried to hold my head steadier with little success. Several more times he stopped and pointed at me, so everyone turned to stare and see who was “disobeying.” Embarrassment and a little bit of anger. After the performance I did talk to him quietly. It may have embarrassed him, but I hoped he would not do that with anyone else in his audiences. Ten years ago I would have kept quiet and told myself to “suck it up, cupcake.” Not anymore. Do you wonder why we don’t see many others with essential tremor in stores or on the sidewalk? Where are the other 9,999,999 of us? The best place to find others is in a support group. After my second retirement, I began in earnest to write fiction books. I have two fictional series, several stand-alone books, devotionals and Bible studies, and one children’s picture book.
![]() It took me 3 years and 7 doctors to figure out what was wrong with me. My name is Theresa McFadden and this is my ET Story I started with internal tremors, so I didn't know how to explain what was wrong with me (because I never heard of such a thing, no one in my family had it). I was diagnosed with anxiety (well who wouldn't have anxiety not knowing what was going on with your own body), depression (I wasn't depressed just worried) Went to see my 6th doctor who was trying really hard to find out what was wrong. My next visit I went because my voice started with a "quiver". So he was thinking MS (but that was questionable). He sent me to the RIGHT Neurologist. I lived on the couch for 3 years and thanks to my Neurologist I have some what of a life back. Our Stories Living with ET “No one knows Essential Tremors better than those who are living with it.” ![]() Tremor & Essential Tremor The International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society Contributed by Leo Verhagen, MD, PhD Associate Professor of Neurological Sciences Rush University Medical Center Chicago, Illinois USA Tremor is an unintentional, rhythmic, oscillation of a body part in a fixed plane. Tremor results from contractions of agonist and antagonist muscles entrained by a signal pattern originating from an oscillator in the CNS. Resting tremor occurs in a body part that is not activated and completely supported against gravity. Action tremor refers to tremor occurring with voluntary muscle contraction and is subdivided into postural tremor, isometric tremor and kinetic tremor. The latter is further subdivided into simple kinetic, intention tremor, and task specific tremor, such as writing tremor. The etiology of tremor is diverse, and includes hereditary, degenerative, and idiopathic disorders such as Wilson’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and essential tremor, respectively; metabolic diseases (such as thyroid-, parathyroid-, liver disease and hypoglycemia); peripheral neuropathies (associated with Charcot-Marie-Tooth, Roussy-Levy, diabetes mellitus, complex regional pain syndrome); toxins (nicotine, mercury, lead, CO, Manganese, arsenic, toluene); drug-induced (narcoleptics, tricyclics, lithium, cocaine, alcohol, adrenaline, bronchodilators, theophylline, caffeine, steroids, valproate, amiodarone, thyroid hormones, vincristine); and psychogenic disorders. Clinically tremor can be classified into physiologic tremor, enhanced physiologic tremor, essential tremor syndromes (including classical ET, primary orthostatic tremor, and task- and position-specific tremor), dystonic tremor, parkinsonian tremor, cerebellar tremor (often associated with multiple sclerosis), Holmes’ tremor (a.k.a. rubral tremor), palatal tremor, neuropathic tremor, toxic or drug-induced tremor, and psychogenic tremor. Essential Tremor Contributed by Hubert Fernandez, MD Head, Movement Disorders Department of Neurology Cleveland Clinic Cleveland, Ohio USA Essential tremor (ET) is the most common tremor syndrome seen in adults. The characteristic tremor seen in ET is postural and action tremors, with a frequency of 4-7 Hz. These tremors may begin insidiously early in life, with an increment in tremor severity over the years. The disability in ET is associated with impairment of voluntary activities that occur as a result of the tremor. Patients commonly complain of tremors when eating, drinking and writing, spilling over food and drinks and developing a progressively illegible handwriting. The most commonly affected body parts include hands, head and voice, but may also be seen in the legs, trunk and face. Despite being mainly a postural tremor, kinetic tremor may be present and sometimes a resting tremor of lesser severity may be appreciated. The tremor in ET is exacerbated by conditions as stress, exercise and fatigue, caffeine, certain medications and improves with relaxation and alcohol. Several tremor conditions are believed to be variants of essential tremors including: task-position specific tremor (primary writing tremor), isolated voice tremor, isolated chin tremor. The most common treatments for ET include: primidone, beta blockers such as proporanolol and benzodiazepines. Sometimes, in medication-refractory tremor, deep brain stimulation of the VIM nucleus of the thalamus is considered. https://www.movementdisorders.org/MDS/About/Movement-Disorder-Overviews/Tremor--Essential-Tremor.htm When You Travel with Essential Tremor
See your doctor before traveling. There are a number of very basic things you need to do to help your ET, and those things don’t change if you’re traveling. Seeing your doctor 3-6 weeks before traveling. This will give you enough time to adjust medications before traveling. Get a doctor’s letter and prescription. Get a prescription and letter (on your doctor’s letterhead) from your doctor to carry with you. The letter should outline that you have Essential Tremor and may need assistance. You also may need to carry certain medications and supplies with you. The prescription is important because you never know when you may become separated from your medications. Consider using a national pharmacy that is able to transfer your local prescription to wherever you are traveling. If you’re flying, it’s best to have all of your medication and supplies as they came from the pharmacy (with their labels on), as recommended by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In addition to packing your medications, you’ll want keep them with you at your seat. Take along a certificate from the DBS manufacturer if you had the surgery and applying for TSA pre-screening so you don't have to take off your jacket and shoes. Consider emergency identification. Many people with ET carry an ID bracelet, an “in case of emergency” contact (ICE) for their smartphone, or a portable electronic record. An ID bracelet needs to identify that you have Essential Tremor so that someone helping you in an emergency can understand what’s happening and why you are tremoring, even if you’re unable to communicate with the responder. The ICE contact should be someone who knows something about your health situation. Finally, consider a portable health record that gives a provider important aspects of your care history. Tell the airport, train station, etc. that you have Essential Tremor or are traveling with someone with Essential Tremor. Even if you don't normally use a cane, walker, or wheelchair, consider bringing or using one if it's convenient. Tell the airline that you need early boarding and help. Take stretch breaks and exercise breaks when you can. Pack thoughtfully. Extra planning can help make the trip run smoothly. When packing for travel pack your supplies in a carry-on, so they’re always available. Plan for time zone changes, since this can make your tremors worse. Keep your medicine in a separate bag so it’s easy to pull out if necessary. Have your information, important documents in pockets or small bag that is easily accessible. Don’t over due on your trip/vacation. That will make your tremors worse. Get plenty of rest, drink water, and don’t skip meals. Last, enjoy your travels and don’t worry what others think. ![]() Book signing, concert part of Aiken Wine & Sign event Stephanie Turner Apr 13 2016 6:20 pm Aiken Standard ![]() STAFF File PHOTO BY DEDE BILES Diann Shaddox is an author who founded the Diann has essential tremor and will have her books available at the During the upcoming Aiken Wine & Sign, guests will be able to mingle with authors during the day and enjoy live music during the evening. The Diann Shaddox Foundation for Essential Tremor is based in Aiken and was founded by Diann Shaddox, who has essential tremor. Book signing More than 30 authors will be scattered around the center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition to authors from Aiken and other parts of South Carolina, there will be writers coming from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. Various genres from children’s books and romances to thrillers and mysteries will be represented. ![]() Submitted Photo by Jay Armitage Brad Carter is an actor and singer who has essential tremor. He will perform as part of the upcoming Aiken Wine & Sign event. Shaddox’s books will be among those available. Admission is free. Food, wine and craft beer will be sold. The Diann Shaddox Foundation has held similar events before, but this will be its first in Aiken. “It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Randy Miles, executive director of the Diann Shaddox Foundation. Evening concert ![]() Submitted Photo Performer Brad Carter recently opened for Wynonna Judd and the Big Noise at its concert in Los Angeles. That night’s happenings will start at 7 p.m. and run to at least 9:30 p.m. Brad Carter, an actor and singer with essential tremor, will perform. Carter grew up around Macon, Georgia, and lives in Los Angeles. In addition to his music career, Carter has appeared in TV shows such as “Sons of Anarchy,” “True Detective,” “House,” “Dexter” and “Bones.” He also has been in movies such as “Black Mass,” which starred Johnny Depp and Benedict Cumberbatch. “But his first love will always be music,” states on his website. “After a debilitating disease threatened to rob Brad of his ability to play guitar, he made world news by playing his guitar during a brain surgery designed to give some relief to his condition known as essential tremor.” ![]() Submitted Photo One of Brad Carter’s acting roles was Charlie Lange in “True Detective,” which features Matthew McConaughey as Detective Rust Cohle and Woody Harrelson as Detective Marty Hart. Carter will be in Aiken later this month during the Aiken Wine & Sign event. In February, Carter opened for Wynonna Judd and The Big Noise at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. During his Aiken appearance, he will be joined by a couple singers and a keyboardist and will play songs from his debut EP, “FieldHand,” and from his full-length CD that’s scheduled to be released later this year. “I’m excited that (Diann) and Randy have taken on their own movement to raise (awareness),” Carter said. “I would love to see her foundation grow. ... I truly believe she wants to help people.” Jay Jefferies will emcee for the night portion of the Wine & Sign event. Admission is $75 for one ticket or $130 for two tickets. Each price level includes food, wine, craft beer and one signed copy of Carter’s EP. For more information on Carter, visit www.thebradcarter.com. Raffle A basket of items will be raffled off throughout the full event. One of those items is a flour sifter signed by Carter, who has utilized the appliance as an instrument. Each raffle ticket will be $5 or five tickets for $20. The winner will be revealed during the evening and doesn’t need to be present to win, according to Miles. Stephanie Turner graduated from Valdosta State University in 2012. She then signed on with the Aiken Standard, where she is now the features reporter. She primarily covers health topics, arts and entertainment, authors and restaurants. PHOTO CAPTION: The Diann Shaddox Foundation for Essential Tremor (DSF) is the recipient of the Holley Heating & Air's monthly Holley Community Fund donation for January. Pictured (left to right) are DSF executive director, Randy Miles; founder, Diann Shaddox; and Holley Heating & Air president, Lee Boylston. The Holley Community Fund is an ongoing program that donates to a different local nonprofit organization each month and is underwritten by Holley Heating & Air Conditioning, Aiken's leading provider of heating and air conditioning products. Millions of children and adults live each day with uncontrollable shakes from essential tremor (ET), the largest movement disorder in the world. It can begin at any age, from 1 to 100. DSF's mission is to educate and increase awareness about the people afflicted with ET — especially children — and provide medical research grants to find the cause and a cure for ET. Ten things to learn about Essential Tremor
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