Advice about my Mum

[FTMaz]

Hi all

sorry if this sounds a little strange but I don’t feel comfortable talking to anyone in my family about this so wondering if anyone has gone through similar.

My mum is 65 - in good health, active, etc. She has never had any underlying health issues that she’s aware of anyway.

over the last year or so I’ve noticed that she is starting to shake - I only notice that this is her head not the rest of her body or her hands. I noticed it a while ago and was concerned but it seemed to stop, however past couple of weeks I have noticed it again. I haven’t spoken to anyone in my family as my mum and I are very close and I wouldn’t want her to think I was discussing things about her behind her back. Has anyone experienced this with someone of a similar age?

thank you

No experience of this, sorry but I would ask her to make a GP appointment to check it out. It maybe nothing and could reassure you both.

It could be something harmless called essential tremor, it can be made worse by stress, tiredness etc. But obviously she does need to see her GP to rule out any other causes. You say you are close, can you not just gently ask if she is aware of the shaking and suggests she goes to the doctor.

Thanks for the reply I’d not heard of that before, she did say she hadn’t been sleeping well recently. We are close but she is mindful she is aging and if she hasn’t noticed which I’m assuming she hasn’t as she would say I feel really terrible bringing it to her attention.

I’m a little older than your mum. If she’s otherwise in good health I suspect she’s already aware of it. She might be glad of you gently mentioning it. She might be worrying about it hence the poor sleep pattern.

I worked alongside a woman years ago in her 50’s who had a diagnosis of essential tremor as mentioned by CrankyCatz.
It affected mainly her head. It was slight and in the years I knew her it didn’t worsen.

My mum had essential tremor in both hands. It was inconvenient but she lived with it and it got worse over a period of about ten years. She died at 88 of something completely different. It does need an investigation though and don’t be fobbed off as hard as that is.