Zen Peddler Posted August 15, 2011 (edited) My wife's grand dad has a severe hand tremor. its not a pill rolling or parkinson-type intention tremor, most just a constant essential tremor. He is 89 so quite old and puts the hand tremors down to alcoholism in his youth. He also suffers from very low blood pressure and the dickhead doctor put him on some outrageous amount of beta blockers. Sure they cut out the sympathetic activity and reduce the tremor, but it lowers his BP to the point where he is nearly falling over and the low BP makes him shake even more... Im worried he might have a fall and break a hip or some such. i was thinking Eucommia might help as a relatively benign beta blocker alternative. Anything else people can think of? thanks! Edited August 15, 2011 by Zen Peddler BlueGreenie Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justler Posted August 15, 2011 Hi Zen, I'm sorry to hear about the condition of your wife's grandfather. I'm only in my 20's and I was diagnosed last year with ET (which was previously known as familial tremor, because it has a tendency to run in family lines), so I'm not to sure its related to alcoholism, it appears more genetic. I don't have much knowledge of beta blockers or Eucommia so I can't help you out there; however I do have a book called "Beating Essential Tremor", which is based on diet, and since I've adopted the principles in the book it appears to have helped my condition tremendously. I'm not sure how much help it would be for your wife's grandfather; given the fact that it is a progressive disorder and he's quite a lot older than I am, I can only assume his condition is worse than my own. Though if you would like a copy of the book, I have a PDF file of it on my comp and would be more than happy to send it to you. If you're interested, just PM me your email address. All the best, Justler 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thelema Posted August 15, 2011 I'd use something GABA based, perhaps skullcap? Or maybe try kava? Other than that, benzo's tend to stop my hand tremors in their tracks. The list of available medicines is endless, for a nice importable one, try etifoxine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zen Peddler Posted August 16, 2011 importable as in non presciption? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thelema Posted August 16, 2011 yes, non prescription. it's not listed as s4 in australia, I think the french are the only ones using it. I got mine at goldpharma. Also worth considering is the fact that as we age we DO lose a lot of neuron connections in the dopaminergic/substantia negra region, so it could simply be dopamine related. So of course, you've got the mucuna pruriens (L-DOPA) or milder phenylalanine...there are plenty of herbs out there that modify dopamine. Dang Shen contains a partial benzo agonist, fo-ti root modifies MAOI-B I think, or you could give him 1 hbwr to munch on every day, probably not good for his heart though... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted August 16, 2011 you really need to work out which transmitter system has the greatest positive or negative effect on it. it might be as simple as eliminating caffeine or as easy to fix as taking lo dose benzos. Not that benzos are a solution, but they are a great diagnostic tool. It's best to see if benzos work before trying stuff like kava etc as it migh be quite dose dependent. If benzos work then there is a huge list of herbs that would help, including some that don't sedate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zen Peddler Posted August 17, 2011 Yeah its regarded as the sympathetic system driving it, so which are the non sedating herbs? thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted August 17, 2011 like I said, unless you confirm that potent GABAergic drugs such as benzos work I think it is a waste of time to experiment with herbs. It will be a matter of deciding the desirable binding duration for example. Lemon balm is not really sedating, but finding a potent extract can be a chore especially if you don't even know if that system will work. There are also theanine and picamillon which are herb derived or semisynth, neithe rof which are sedating. Kava is also not sedating in many people at non-inebriating dose... in fact it can be quite a stimulant for some. But what dose would you start on for the herbs. If you don't know whether it is fixable via that system then you could be upping the dose again and again and then stop just before you reach what might be the effective dose. Or you might be barking up the wrong tree entirely. using a stronger gabaergic as a diagnostic will save you lots of time, money and frustration. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
