Essential Tremor Causes

What Is a Tremor?

Most of us have a light shake in our hands. We notice it when we hold our hands in front of our bodies. Tremors come in levels of severity. The severity level defines how noticeable the shake can be. Tremors often develop on their own. Those tremors usually signal an underlying health issue. Shaky hands are accompanied by difficulty in writing or holding tools and kitchen utensils. Tremors' main two categories are resting and action tremors. Resting tremors occur when the muscles are relaxed, while action tremors occur when the muscles contract because of voluntary movement.

What Causes Shaky Hands?

Tremors usually relate to brain issues as they often result from neurological conditions, movement disorders, or other health problems.

Neurological Conditions

Shaky hands that are caused by neurological conditions including:

• Stroke: An ischemic stroke happens when blood is prevented from reaching the brain due to a blood clot in the artery. The lasting damage to the neurological pathways can cause tremors.

• Multiple sclerosis (MS): People with MS usually experience a certain degree of tremor. This happens when there is damage in pathways of the central nervous system that controls the movement.

• Parkinson’s disease: More than a quarter of the people with Parkinson’s disease suffer from action tremors. Tremors usually begin on one side of the body and may spread to the other side. The shake can be more severe when there are stress and strong emotions involved.

• Traumatic brain injury: Tremors can occur when the nerves that play a role in coordinating movement get damaged. Specially hand tremors that happen when an injury affects specific nerves.

Movement Disorders

Below are some examples of movement disorders that can cause hand tremors:

• Essential tremor:

  
  

  It is one of the most common movement disorders. This type of tremor affects both sides of the body. ET is most dominant in the hands. It occurs when the person is moving as well as standing still. Genetics play a great role when it comes to essential tremor.

• Dystonic tremor:

  
  

  The brain sends the incorrect message that results in overactive muscles, abnormal postures and, undesired movement. People in middle-age tend to have dystonic tremors more than others. Those tremors can occur in any muscle.

What Can Cause Shaky Hands?

• Withdrawal of alcohol abuse.

• Mercury poisoning.

• Hereditary ataxia or fragile X syndrome is mainly an inherited degenerative disorder.

• An overactive thyroid causes hyperthyroidism.

• Panic or anxiety.

• Failure of the liver or kidney.

There are also certain drugs that when taken can cause hand tremors. Some examples of those drugs would be:

• Amphetamines.

• Caffeine.

• Corticosteroids.

• Medicines that are used to treat certain neurological and psychiatric disorders.

• Corticosteroids.
  
  

Lack of Sleep Can Cause Tremors

You cannot expect your brain to work properly and send messages to all the places it is supposed to without sleep. When you do not get enough sleep, your brain mistakenly tells your hands to tremble.

Low Blood Sugar

Blood sugar gives power to your nerves and muscles. They tend to tell your hands to shake when they do not get enough blood sugar. Diabetes, certain medications, not enough food, or too much alcohol can cause low blood sugar. Doctors can be a great help in such cases.

Smoking

Smoking eases stress and causes anxiety and as mentioned previously, anxiety is directly related to tremors. Nicotine gets into your bloodstream and makes your heart beats faster.

Lack of Vitamin B12

B12 is the vitamin that maintains the health of your nervous system. People who do not consume foods that contain vitamin B12 are more susceptible to hands shake, causing their arms and legs to feel numb and tingly. You can find this vitamin in meat, eggs, and milk.

Liver Disorder

Shaking can be a symptom of a few liver disorders, making the person feel tired and get jaundice.

The Steadi-Two

In case you are suffering from essential tremors or any other type of tremors, there might be a great solution for you. The Steadi-Two is an iconic glove that uses cutting-edge technology with a smart fluid that stiffens and works together with a counterweight that moves in the opposite direction of your tremor to reduce its effect. This glove helps in controlling your tremor and gives you the ease you have always wished for.