Table of contents:
- There are two types of tremors, essential and Parkinson's
- 1. The timing of symptoms
- 2. Caused by different things
- 3. The cure rate
- 4. Treatment
- 5. Lifestyle factors
Tremors, aka shaking hands, are often associated with Parkinson's disease. However, it turned out that the trembling hands could have been caused by something else, not just Parkinson's. These other tremors are called essential tremors. Then, how to know that tremors that occur due to Parkinson's or essential?
There are two types of tremors, essential and Parkinson's
Essential tremor is tremor that occurs in the absence of the underlying disease. This means that these tremors can occur even if you are not suffering from certain diseases.
Meanwhile, Parkinson's tremors occur because a person has Parkinson's disease. In Parkinson's patients, tremors can be an early symptom that may be accompanied by a variety of other symptoms.
In addition, there are several things that distinguish essential tremor and Parkinson's tremor, including the following.
1. The timing of symptoms
Although both of them make trembling hands, tremors due to Parkinson's and essential tremors will occur at different times.
Essential tremors usually appear when you are actively doing a certain activity. Therefore, this tremor is also called intention tremor.
Unlike the tremors in Parkinson's, symptoms will appear when you are still or resting.
2. Caused by different things
The main factor causing the emergence of essential tremor is genetic factors. This means that if a person has essential tremor, the offspring have a tendency to develop the same disease. This is also triggered by age, where the older a person is, the greater the risk for developing this disease.
Whereas in Parkinson's sufferers, the causative factor is the disruption of electrical signals (neurotransmitters) in the brain. This disorder triggers the onset of the four main symptoms of Parkinson's disease, namely tremor, rigidity or stiffness, bradykinesia or slow movement, and balance disorders.
3. The cure rate
Although it cannot be completely cured using drugs, essential tremor can be overcome by finding out the trigger of the appearance of this tremor. For example, if a patient often experiences tremors when panicking and grogginess, it is possible that tremors arise because he is faced with something that makes him nervous.
Psychic problems like this should be overcome. That way, the tremors you experience will decrease in intensity. However, essential tremors are not always bothersome, so not all of these conditions have to be treated.
Meanwhile, Parkinson's tremors may disappear, even though the patient is still suffering from the disease.
Unfortunately, even if Parkinson's tremors are treated successfully, this does not guarantee that they will not appear again in the future. These tremors can be treated with medication alone.
4. Treatment
If the essential tremor is at a stage that is enough to interfere with daily activities, you are allowed to use drugs.
Types of drugs that can be used to treat this condition are sedatives, drugs used to slow the heart rate or what is commonly referred to as beta blockers, to seizure drugs.
However, treatment with drugs also cannot completely eliminate essential tremors. It's just that, the symptoms of this disease have improved a lot after using the drugs that have been mentioned.
Meanwhile, Parkinson's tremor treatment must be treated with medication. The use of drugs for Parkinson's sufferers is light drugs with the smallest dose first.
This is because Parkinson's is incurable and is incurable slowly progressive. Parkinson's sufferers must take medication for life to help inhibit the progression of the disease itself.
The drugs used to treat Parkinson's symptoms vary depending on the most dominant symptom.
For example, if the most common symptom is tremors, then the drug that is suitable for treating this symptom is the levodopa class of drugs. How it works, levodopa will convert into dopamine in the brain to help control tremors that occur because the brain is deficient in dopamine.
However, if a person with Parkinson's experiences the four main symptoms simultaneously, levodopa can be used together with other drugs that can also treat other Parkinson's symptoms, such as dopamine agonists, MAO-B and COMT inhibitors, anticholine, and amantadine.
5. Lifestyle factors
Lifestyle can also trigger essential tremors. So, if a person already has genetic factors as a basic factor, a poor lifestyle increases the chance of essential tremor.
However, it does not mean that people who do not have genetic factors are unlikely to develop this disease. If the person has been accustomed to living a bad lifestyle for a long time, tremors may appear.
The lifestyle in question is the habit of consuming caffeine, alcohol and nicotine. Therefore, one way that can be done to reduce or overcome essential tremor is to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Essential tremors may go away completely if you improve your lifestyle over time and deal with other triggers such as diet and emotional maturity.
Meanwhile, Parkinson's tremors are not caused by lifestyle but rather a brain disorder. This disease that develops slowly in your body can only be inhibited by the use of drugs. If the drugs that have been used do not produce results, what can be done is to change the drug or increase the dose of the drug.
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