Jennings-Siena, Debbie wrote:
> How can you distinguish between "Essential Tremor" and "Parkinson >Tremor"?
Essential Tremor is at once the most common (although no one knows
for sure how common) and least understood of adult movement disorders.
Perhaps it has had less study because it is not so seriously disabling
as the others, I don't know. Conventional wisdom (or folklore) about
distinction from PD tremor once held that the drugs
Propranolol (Inderal)
Primidone (Mysoline) and
Alcohol
will subdue Essential Tremor but not PD tremor, while PD drugs such as
Levodopa/carbidopa (Sinemet)
Various dopamine agonists
Will control PD tremor but not Essential Tremor. I've heard countless
contradictions to that, and it's really impossible to test, because
anyone can have PD and ET at the same time. I personally think there
are at least four kinds of tremor relevant here:
1. Resting tremor, usually a rather gentle rotary oscillation of the
hand or forearm, easily subdued if the subject notices it but
quick to reappear when he forgets.
2. Intention tremor, of a limb when resisting a force, as when making
a fist or carrying something (not controllable by subject)
3. Action tremor, of a limb in motion; neurologists call it "cogwheel
rigidity" because of the ratchet-like feeling when they move a
patient's limb that also has muscular stiffness.
4. Dyskinetic tremor, which unlike resting tremor can become a violent
pounding of hand or foot, also not controllable by subject.
Cheers,
Joe
--
J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694
3527 Cody Road
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013
