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Sometimes the subject of Essential Tremor comes up; I thought some listmembers might be interested in this story. ------------------------ April 14, 1998 BALTIMORE (Johns Hopkins) - Imagine not being able to drive a car, cook a meal, sew a button, write a note or even hold a spoon steady. Imagine living that way for more than 30 years. A Maryland woman, now in her late 70s, lived that way. She was one of about two million Americans afflicted with essential tremors, a mysterious neurological disorder that somehow overstimulates the thalamus, a part of the brain that controls movement. Surgeons from Johns Hopkins cured the woman recently, disconnecting a section of her brain to stop the shaking. It worked out fine, but this surgery carries some risk of permanent side effects. A better bet, says Hopkins neurosurgeon Dr. Frederick Lenz, is an electrical stimulator implanted deep within the brain. "When the stimulator is turned on, the activity of that area of the brain is jammed the same way as you might jam a radio signal," explains Lenz, "so that the tremor signal does not get out of the brain and the patient's tremor is relieved." Patients with essential tremors are treated with drugs first. But for those whom drugs don't help, surgery or the electrical stimulator offer relief no matter what the patient's age. -- Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD "Nutrition you can live with!" Medical nutrition therapy http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/ Tel: 970-493-6532 // Fax: 970-493-6538