Essential tremor vs Parkinson's disease

The involuntary shaking of any part of your body can be quite unnerving and lead you to scour the internet for answers to this question: could this be a sign of essential tremor or Parkinson’s disease? 

What is essential tremor? 

Essential tremor is a neurological disorder that causes a rhythmic shaking, or tremor, in a body part. It can impact arms, hands, the head, legs and even the voice. This condition can run in families; about 50% of the cases are hereditary. 

What essential tremors look like  

• Action tremors: If essential tremor is impacting your hand, you may notice a tremor or shaking when trying to eat or drink. The extra movement can turn something simple into a challenging task. 
• Progression: The symptoms of essential tremor can occur throughout life and slowly progress over time. If your tremors are intensifying over days or weeks, you are likely not dealing with essential tremor. 

Treatment 

• Weights are the best non-medication option to treat essential tremor. A person may wear weights on an impacted area, such as the wrist, to counter the tremor. Some people will use heavy eating utensils or pens to help as well. 
• Medication is also an option. Your doctor may prescribe propranolol or primidone to help control the constant tremor. 
• Focused ultrasound is a noninvasive, outpatient procedure that uses sound waves to target the disrupted brain circuits causing the tremor. Patients who have experienced tremors for years immediately feel a difference before they leave the procedural room. 
• Deep brain stimulation delivers electrical stimulation through electrode that are implanted in the brain.

What is Parkinson’s disease?  

Parkinson’s disease occurs when the cells that make dopamine in the brain start to die. As a result, the brain’s signals to control movement either become delayed or sometimes completely interrupted.  

How is Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor different?  

The tremor that comes with Parkinson’s disease occurs primarily when the hand or impacted body part is at rest or not moving. People with essential tremor experience the shaking when they are using their hand. 

Symptoms affect the body differently

There are four key symptoms of Parkinson’s disease: tremors that impact the head, jaw, legs, arms or hands; stiffness in movement; slowness of movement and difficulty maintaining balance. 

Fast progression instead of slowly over time 

Parkinson’s disease progresses much faster than essential tremor, and it is primarily a disease of people who are elderly. There are cases of young onset Parkinson’s, but those are not typical. 

Treatments to slow disease progression 

There is no cure for Parkinson’s. The goal is always to slow the progression of the symptoms. A combination of medication, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy will help accomplish that goal.  

Focused ultrasound and deep brain stimulation can also be helpful to Parkinson’s patients who have persistent tremors.