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There is no known cure of Essential Tremor, but there is Essential Tremor treatment that can help decrease the symptoms for the sufferer and help improve function. Various medications are available, but most of them are not developed specifically for Essential Tremor, so they may or may not positively impact symptoms. Only about 50 percent of patients experience significant relief of their symptoms from medication. 90 percent of patients with Essential Tremor report that they have significant functional impairment. Essential Tremor treatment is meant to improve life for the patient, not to cure it. Because many Essential Tremor treatments are available, it may seem like an easy thing to treat. But, most treatments are not backed by much evidence of effectiveness, and most treatments are used on a trial and error basis.
Surgical interventions for ET are available, but it is hard for doctors to determine a clear-cut guideline when it comes to timing and when to consider surgery and for what patients. It’s not a last resort like for other different neurological issues. DBS(deep brain stimulation) is an Essential Tremor treatment that can be highly successful for some patients. DBS may work best for patients that are in the early part of the disease, just like it works for Parkinson’s. Through DBS, patients can see suppression of limb tremor with about 70 to 90 percent effectiveness. DBS also is known to have fewer adverse side-effects than thalamotomy does, so it may provide long-term benefits to the patient.
Medications that are commonly used as first options for an Essential Tremor Treatment are Propranolol and Primidone. Propranolol is used as a beta blocker, and this medication may provide improvement by blocking spindles in the muscles. Younger patients tend to respond the best to Propranolol. Primidone is a barbiturate that generally is used to treat seizure disorders and is an anticonvulsant. But in small doses, it can effectively treat the rhythmic shaking that can plague ET patients. A second string of medications that can be used to treat Essential Tremor but are less popular in use are Gabapentin, Pregabalin and Topiramate.
Natural Remedies are also popular when treating Essential Tremor. Muscle exercises and physical therapy can retrain muscles to function properly and without as many tremors. Many herbs and a balanced Mediterranean diet can also help to manage the symptoms. There are even those with ET who said that going gluten-free completely changed their life and ridded them of ET symptoms completely.
While we know that a cure for ET is not known, we also know that the cause of ET is not known exactly either. This means that treatment plans should be created by consulting a medical professional, and may include a mixture of treatments mentioned above. One treatment may significantly help one person, while making no difference with another. There may be a lot of trial and error involved in creating a treatment plan, but a plan should be constructed carefully and with other physical and mental factors.