Intention Tremor?

[emcelduff]

Hi,
I am just posting this in the hope someone has heard of or experienced something similar. It's a baffling problem that the experts here dont seem to be able to solve.
I'll give you some background, My brother is a 25 year old down syndrome male who, about 3 years ago started "shaking" when he would go to perform functions i.e. opening a door, picking up a fork etc. The tone of his voice also started to change in that it became lower and harder to comprehend. It’s very frustrating because it has slowed him down significantly in his day to day life. We went to a psychiatrist with him who diagnosed it as intention tremor. We then went to a neurologist for an MRI who stated that it was not a tremor but a body shake? He has also had a full battery of blood tests and they were all clear.
I get the impression that they really don’t know especially since he is a down syndrome. Have any of you heard of anything similar? We are all a bit lost really.
Regards

Enda.

[wrblack]

Sorry that I have no helpful information for your situation. I do have a couple of suggestions. First, if at all possible, I think it would be good to seek out an adult Down syndrome clinic and get your brother a thorough workup. There's an interesting essay at www.ds-health.com/adults.htm on Dr. Leshin's site.
Second, I'd suggest you send your post to the old Down syn list, listserv.nodak.edu/archives/down-syn.html You might cast a bit broader net there to find others who have dealt with similar situations--not intending any disrespect to Uno Mas. I think there's also a teens and older Ds group on Yahoo. Just covering all the bases.
Good luck,
Bob

[ALLISA]

Hi !

I wanted to respond, although I don't actually think my experience is the same as yours. My son is 6 (not DS) and his teachers commented to me that they noticed a tremor in his hand when he was writing, coloring, etc.

He has diabetes and at first thought he was experincing a low blood sugar (which will cause him to be shaky).

But it wasn't that and after an evaluation by an OT, they concluded it wasn't a medical issue or neurological, but said that when he is concentrated on a task he does it. They also concluded his upper arm srenght was lower than it should be and offered exercisaes to help that.

My apologies for a response that probably doesn't fit your situation, but I just wanted to say that upper arm strenght may be playing a part. Best of luck to you & your brother with this !

[steffipoo]

My husband has something called essential tremors which they give him neurontin. When he's tired or stressed or looks thru a different angle(like his neck is turned differently his arms neck and head shake pretty badly until the neurontin kicked in. Not sure if that helps good luck !!! Steff

[Jackie]

Emily who is 24 and DS has always had a slight hand tremor in both hands...but...it has never affected anything she does....I also have it on one hand under stress as did my dad and his mother....nothing to worry about I have been told. I DID notice that Emilys got much worse when she took Prozac for a while in her late teens...in fact...that is why it was discontinued...she noticed the increase and asked for it to be stopped.

Jackie