Drugs can help treat essential tremor

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A study shows that drugs which are used for high blood pressure and seizures can also help relieve essential tremor.
People who have essential tremor experience shaking of the hands, head and voice which can be very disabling. The condition is actually three times more common than Parkinson's disease. A team of experts in the USA has looked at clinical evidence and learned that essential tremor can be managed, if not eliminated, by medication.

Propanolol, a drug used for high blood pressure, and primidone, which is used to treat seizures, were found to be particularly effective in reducing limb tremors. There are other similar drugs that could be used as alternatives. If drug therapy, which should be tried first, surgery could be an option for treating essential tremor, the experts say.

Source
Neurology online 22nd June 2005

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