Essential tremor patient regains control: A closer look at innovative treatments
It's one of the most common movement disorders.
Essential tremors are 20 times more common than Parkinson's disease, affecting at least 10 million Americans.
Sometimes medications work.
When they don't, the quality of life can be horrible.
"I couldn't even brush my teeth," recalled 66-year-old Jean Nadeau.
She was diagnosed with essential tremor 30 years ago. At first, she felt them mostly internally.
"You feel jittery inside, you know like you're anxious," explained Nadeau.
Over time, they became outwardly noticeable, both hands would shake. It affected her head and jaw. A year ago, it got worse.
"I couldn't even hold a fork. Food would fall off my fork, couldn't brush my teeth. My jaw was always trembling internally. It was very debilitating," said Nadeau.
That's when she came to see Dr. Wael Asaad, a neurosurgeon at Rhode Island Hospital, in the Movement Disorders Program.
"This kind of tremor, essential tremor, often runs in families and it's most noticeable when you try to move, especially if you're concentrating or a little anxious, the tremor gets really severe," explained Asaad.
He presented Jean with two options.
The first, a newer, non-invasive procedure known as focused ultrasound, which targets the circuits in the brain responsible for the tremors.
"What it does is it basically disconnects that circuit and so we can do it without even a skin incision," said Asaad. "It's an MRI based procedure where we use ultrasound energy to heat up and disconnect the circuit."
But it has its limitations. It would not have been able to treat both of Jeans hands at the same time.
Her other option, the one she chose, was more invasive.
"Deep brain stimulation is just a method for stimulating brain circuits, basically it's a pacemaker like device, except for the electrodes going in to the heart, they go in to the brain," said Asaad.
For this procedure, Jean had to shave her head.
"I was just focused on the outcome that I didn't even care," said Nadeau.
The results were almost immediate.
"I felt 10 years younger," said Nadeau. "I can eat without my food falling off the fork and putting the plate up to my mouth to shovel it in."
It was a big game changer for Jean.
Asaad said as far as the two treatments, it's a personal choice. Both work, but it depends on how invasive the tremors are.