What causes your hands to shake and what to do about it. Doctor answers

M.D., pediatrician, nutritionist, integrative medicine specialist

What causes the hands to shake? What diseases can this indicate?

With tremor (that’s what they call involuntary rhythmic oscillatory movements in various parts of the body) hands, many have faced at least once in their lives. The tremor can be caused by many factors, from overwork, excitement, fright and Parkinson’s disease.

What can cause hands to shake

Tremor can be physiological: for example, with physical exertion, high temperature, smoking, excessive consumption of tea and coffee. Physiological tremor in the hands can appear when taking certain medications – neuroleptics, antiepileptics, antidepressants. Physiologic tremor passes with the elimination of the causes that cause it.

Pathologic tremor can be primary (independent neurological disease) and secondary (develops against the background of serious pathologies). In both cases, the help of a specialist is required.

One of the most common neurological pathologies – essential tremor, it is a hereditary disease of the nervous system, which is characterized by a slight tremor of the hands that occurs when moving. It can manifest in young or middle age, with the condition worsening over time. Trembling in the hands is noticeable when performing any actions (for example, when you need to write or hold an object).

Often essential tremor is confused with Parkinson’s disease. But in her hand tremor occurs at rest and is accompanied by increased muscle tone. Essential tremor is characterized by hand tremor exactly when moving. Such a disease has one peculiarity – the intake of small doses of alcohol almost completely removes the tremor in the hands. Specialists call this feature “alcohol test”.

What does the tremor in the hands say?

Pathological trembling in the hands can be a symptom of many serious diseases.

Neurological pathologies. Hand tremor is one of the first symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. This progressive neurological disease is more common in the elderly. In this case, hand tremor may eventually be joined by head tremor. With physical activity, excitement, tremor increases. In addition to these symptoms, Parkinson’s disease is accompanied by weakness in the muscles, depression, memory loss, reduced mental abilities.

Hands can also tremble when the cerebellum is affected as a result of trauma, stroke, encephalitis, oncology. With such conditions, large tremors and coordination disorders usually occur.

Autoimmune pathologies. Hand tremor is one of the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. In this disease, tremors also occur in other parts of the body.

Diseases of the cardiovascular system. Most often with tremors are faced by people suffering from hypertension – it happens with a sharp increase in pressure.

Diabetes mellitus. In diabetes mellitus, hand tremor occurs against the background of a sharp decrease in blood glucose. With this disease, you can not skip meals, you need to constantly monitor sugar levels.

Wilson-Konovalov disease. Hand tremor is a companion of one of the forms of a rare hereditary disease, Wilson-Konovalov disease. It is caused by a disorder in the metabolism of copper in the body. It accumulates in the liver, cornea of the eyes, brain, kidneys and causes their intoxication.

Poisoning. Another reason for the appearance of trembling in the hands – poisoning with toxic substances (carbon monoxide, salts of heavy metals). This condition requires urgent medical attention.

The treatment scheme for pathological tremor is selected individually and depends on the disease that provoked it. Do not self-diagnose – consult a doctor.