Tremor Definition, Reason, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention
Definition
Tremor is a movement disorder characterized by vibrating body parts. The most commonly affected body part is the hands.
In general, there are two types of tremors, namely:
- Resting tremor, which is a tremor that occurs when the muscles are relaxing or resting. In this tremor, the vibration of the limbs, especially the hands or feet, is more pronounced at rest.
- Action tremor, which is a tremor that is seen when the muscles contract and move. For example, when someone is walking, the body’s imbalance due to new tremors is seen.
Based on the cause, tremor can also be divided into essential tremor (tremor with no clear cause) and tremor that occurs as a symptom of another disease. In this article, what will be discussed is essential tremor.
The incidence of essential tremors increases with age. Studies show that people aged 65 and over experience it most often. Sufferers are more women than men.
Tremor is not a life-threatening disease, but it greatly interferes with the sufferer’s quality of life.
Symptoms
Tremors can occur anywhere in the body. However, in most cases of essential tremor, tremor symptoms start in the arms and hands. Can only one side, can also on both sides of the arm and hand. Not infrequently, over time tremors are also experienced by the legs and feet.
The vibrations that occur with essential tremor generally occur intermittently at first, especially when the sufferer is experiencing emotion, stress, or fatigue. But over time, tremors can occur at any time, except during sleep.
In about 30 percent of cases, tremors can occur in the muscles in the head and neck area, such as in the muscles of the face, jaw, or vocal cords.
Reason
The cause of essential tremors is not clearly known. However, it is known that genetic factors play a role in the occurrence of tremors. It is known that in about 50-70 percent of cases of essential tremor, there are family members who experience it too.
Diagnosis
In the early stages, the doctor will conduct a thorough interview and complete physical examination, including a neurological examination. If the results of a neurological examination clearly show symptoms of essential tremor and there is a family history of having the same disease, generally no other additional tests are needed to confirm essential tremor.
However, if the physical examination and family history of essential tremor are not very clear, then several tests are generally needed to confirm the disease.
These inspections include:
- Blood tests, especially checking levels of electrolytes, urea, creatinine, and thyroid function (SGOT, SGPT).
- A CT scan or MRI ( magnetic resonance imaging ) of the head is sometimes needed to make sure that the tremor is not caused by another problem in the brain.
Treatment
Cases of essential tremors are treated by neurologists. Generally, administration of drugs, such as primidone or propranolol, can help reduce tremors. The duration of taking the drug depends on the condition of the patient.
If tremors are only experienced in certain situations, then the drug is only consumed when the tremor occurs. However, if tremors occur continuously, then the drug is consumed continuously to prevent tremor symptoms from appearing.
In conditions like this, sometimes surgery is needed. The type of surgery performed is thalamotomy ( thalamotomy ), which is the act of destroying the small part of the thalamus in the brain that is responsible for causing the stimulus for tremors to occur.
Another alternative to surgery is deep brain stimulation. In this action, the doctor will place a device called a neurostimulator in the brain. Neurostimulator functions to regulate the presence of abnormal electrical signals in the brain. If there is an abnormal electrical signal that causes the tremor, the neurostimulator will control it.
Prevention
Until now, there is nothing that can be done to prevent essential tremors.