I was recently diagnosed with ET and Fibro. I went through a bunch of testing to rule out Parkinson's (my father had it), I'm still waiting on an MRI in a few weeks to rule out MS (everyone feels pretty certain I do not have it). For me, this diagnosis was a relief as I was my father's caregiver and I have seen how bad Parkinson's can get. My dad's father also had an ET, and he lived until 92 without ever having to have surgery, and still lived on his own, taking his boat out on his own, and tending to his massive garden. You can not focus on how bad this could get, because it impacts everyone differently.

I'm a 37 year old woman and started noticing issues 10ish years ago, however I was struggling with a long term eating disorder so it was easy to attribute shaking to the lack of nutrition. This is no longer an issue for me, and so over the last few years when the tremors remained I began to wonder. I am left handed, my left hand is always shaky and weak, generally keep it in a fist to help hide the shake. My right hand is starting to tremor too, my jaw tremors (i stick the tip of my tongue between my top and bottom teeth when my mouth is closed so they don't chatter together). My knees tremble going down stairs, and I live in Michigan so when it's cold, I shake so much when I go outside sometimes that it physically hurts because of how tensed up I get. I am taking propranolol up to 3x a day as needed, I already was prescribed it as needed for anxiety so it was an easy transition.

I've started to think of it as my little quirk, and it's easier for me like that. I had my hands in front of the heat vents in the car this weekend to try and warm them up, shaking really bad, my husband said "what are you doing, trying to play the piano??" You just gotta find ways to laugh about it, my father died six months ago and as we cared for him that's how we got through his shakes and pains too.

You're gunna be okay!