My Mum, although a calm person, has started having trembling hands and wide staring eyes....

[frankie3]

... so much so that I sometimes find it hard to look at her face when she is speaking. Could this be some sort of anxiety disorder or could it be the onset of Parkinsons? Does anyone have any ideas? She is not like this all the time, at times she is perfectly 'normal', but then other times she seems totally on edge.

Do her eyes appear to be wide and bulging? If so then I would suggest overactive thyroid. An overactive thyroid would make her jittery and appear full of nervous energy.

yep, I thought thyroid too when I read the thread title.

Thyroid - or excitement that New Moon is out soon - my mum is positively hyperactive at the mention!

Thyroid

Yep - another vote for overactive thyroid. Hope she gets better soon.

yep,agree hyperthyroid all round

other symptoms include weight loss, over emotional behaviour, insomnia, heart palpitations, sweating, mood swings, big appetite.

I had this when I was a child (which is very rare in children). By the time I was about 25 it had righted itself.

Thanks for all this, I am sure that she has once had a blood test to check for this but maybe I will mention it to her. But how to mention that I worried about her nervousness without her getting upset?

I have also noticed that her memory is getting really bad (she is only in her 60's). We sometimes bump into old friends or neighbours that we haven't seen for a while and she doesn't have a clue who they are!

If the test she had was >3 months ago it needs to be repeated even if it was normal.

Thyroid problems can affect memory too esp if there are other psychiatric symptoms like anxiety. Having said that all the symptoms would resolve once treated so if she doesn't get completely better once diagnosed (assuming it is her thyroid) and treated make sure she gets reviewed to check there is nothing else going on.