A Simple Guide to Benign Tremors, Diagnosis, Treatment and Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

This book describes Benign Tremors, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases

I have a patient who develops a mild tremor of his right hand.
The tremor becomes until he was unable to write with a pen or hold a cup.
He was seen by a neurologist who diagnosed him as having benign tremor.
Later he developed a headache which was caused by a small benign tumor of his brain.
This was diagnosed with a CT scan of his brain.
Even after the operation to remove his benign brain tumor relieved him of the headache, his right hand tremor remains without improvement.
This is benign or essential tremor.

Benign tremor (also called essential tremor) is an involuntary muscle movement, trembling, or shaking of the limbs.

It can affect almost any part of the body, but the trembling happens most often in the hands especially when the patient do simple tasks, such as drinking from a glass or tying shoelaces.

Benign tremor is normally not a serious disorder but it normally becomes worse over time and can be severe in some people.

Other disorders do not cause benign tremor, even though benign or essential tremor is occasionally confused with Parkinson's disease.

Benign tremor can happen at any age but is most frequent in people age 40 and older.

Tremor is the most frequent of all movement disorders, and benign tremor is the most common neurological cause of postural or action tremor.

It normally manifests as a bilateral postural 6 to 12 Hz tremor of the hands, accompanied by a active and resting component.

The upper limbs are often symmetrically affected, but with disease progression, the head and voice (less often legs, jaw, face, and trunk) may be affected.

Tremor most accurately indicates a small, rhythmic shaking movement that happens in a back-and-forth pattern.

Everyone has a small occasionally undetectable shake when they move their hands or legs known as physiological tremor.

Fatigue, stress, feelings of anger or fear, caffeine, and smoking can make this a physiological tremor more outstanding.

A tremor is a repetitive movement of a part of the body and is involuntary which is generally not controllable and happens without the patient deciding to move that body part.

It is often felt as a trembling or shaking sensation.

The word 'essential' means that there is no linked disease that produces the tremor.

It is different from physiological tremor

The tremors can become quite serious so that everyday activities like holding a cup can be difficult.

Benign tremor can happen at any age but often happens in middle-aged older men and women.

The only symptom present in benign or essential tremor is the mild shaking of the hands (tremor).

If the person has other symptoms then he or she may have a different disorder (shuffling of feet, rigidity of the arms, legs in Parkinson).

In benign or essential tremor, the tremor normally begins in one hand or arm.

In the space of 1-2 years, the other hand or arm tends to be affected.

Very occasionally, it may spread to involve the legs.

The voice, jaw or face may also be involved.

To evaluate the tremor itself, the doctor may ask the patient to:
Drink from a glass
Hold the arms outstretched
Write
Draw a spiral

Benign tremor does not need treatment if symptoms are mild and do not cause embarrassment

Propranolol and primidone are given initially for benign tremor

Surgical methods are:
Deep brain stimulation
Focused ultrasound, or
Gamma knife thalamotomy
Botulinum toxin injections

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Benign Tremors
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Hyperthyroidism
Chapter 8 Parkinson Disease
Epilogue

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Nov 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005449353

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

A

Simple

Guide

To

Benign Tremors,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2021 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Benign Tremors, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Benign Tremors)

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog: http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiography account of my journey as a medical student to family doctor on my other blog: http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiography account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

My diagnosis and treatment capability has improved tremendously from my continued education.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Benign tremor

I have a patient who develops a mild tremor of his right hand.

The tremor becomes until he was unable to write with a pen or hold a cup.

He was seen by a neurologist who diagnosed him as having benign tremor.

Later he developed a headache which was caused by a small benign tumor of his brain.

This was diagnosed with a CT scan of his brain.

Even after the operation to remove his benign brain tumor relieved him of the headache, his right hand tremor remains without improvement.

This is benign or essential tremor.

What is Benign tremor?

Benign tremor (also called essential tremor) is an involuntary muscle movement, trembling, or shaking of the limbs.

Benign or essential tremor is a nervous system (neurological) disorder that causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking.

It can affect almost any part of the body, but the trembling happens most often in the hands especially when the patient do simple tasks, such as drinking from a glass or tying shoelaces.

Benign tremor is normally not a serious disorder but it normally becomes worse over time and can be severe in some people.

Other disorders do not cause benign tremor, even though benign or essential tremor is occasionally confused with Parkinson's disease.

Benign tremor can happen at any age but is most frequent in people age 40 and older.

Tremor is the most frequent of all movement disorders, and benign tremor is the most common neurological cause of postural or action tremor.

It normally manifests as a bilateral postural 6 to 12 Hz tremor of the hands, accompanied by a active and resting component.

The upper limbs are often symmetrically affected, but with disease