Essential Tremors
- Thread starter cuenut
- Start date
I'm 67. About 7 years ago, my handwriting became poor, and I noticed some tremor playing pool. For my essential tremor, my doctor prescribed generic propranolol tablets. Initially was prescribed 10mg daily; now, my current dosage is 40mg twice per day. My side effects are lowered heartrate and lowered blood pressure. Talk to your doctor.
If you wish to experiment with herbal pills/capsules (no prescription), some recommendations are:
-Valerian Root with Passion Flower
-Suntheanine
-Relax-All with Venetron
On days that I play pool, I'll take an herbal capsule 1-1/2 hours before the pool session, and another capsule during the session. One or two beers seem to help also. Avoid caffeine.
Keep track of the time that you ate your last meal before playing pool, and relate the severity of your pool tremor to that. You might discover the optimum eating time for you, that minimizes your tremor.
Good luck!
If you wish to experiment with herbal pills/capsules (no prescription), some recommendations are:
-Valerian Root with Passion Flower
-Suntheanine
-Relax-All with Venetron
On days that I play pool, I'll take an herbal capsule 1-1/2 hours before the pool session, and another capsule during the session. One or two beers seem to help also. Avoid caffeine.
Keep track of the time that you ate your last meal before playing pool, and relate the severity of your pool tremor to that. You might discover the optimum eating time for you, that minimizes your tremor.
Good luck!
I have been treated for tremors for several years. I take propranolol. I take one 80 mg time release capsule per day. There is not much that can be done. It is incurable a
but treatable. There are some new surgical techniques that are being performed on extreme cases with some success. I believe they are being performed outside the USA. The only other thing that helps besides medication is having a drink or two. The problem with that is the alcohol has negative effects on your pool game. Kind of a no win scenario. I am 66 BTW...
but treatable. There are some new surgical techniques that are being performed on extreme cases with some success. I believe they are being performed outside the USA. The only other thing that helps besides medication is having a drink or two. The problem with that is the alcohol has negative effects on your pool game. Kind of a no win scenario. I am 66 BTW...
CBD oil?
Black cumin seed oil?
Black cumin seed oil?
Try alprazolam, .5 mg. You will need a prescription.
My tremors have gotten slowly but steadily worse over the last 10 years or so. It's gotten so bad in my left hand that playing pool is starting to lose its appeal as I have no soft touch at times. And forget about being jacked up. :frown: Alcohol works decent to a point but then my game goes downhill as I get drunker. My niece the pharmacist says propanol is the answer but I'm not thrilled about lowering my perfect blood pressure. Some friends have me extremely curious about CBD oil as it seems to have no side effects. I'm going to see my doctor next week. I'll report back his diagnosis and any progress I have.
Hello Jeff,
I feel your pain regarding shots with a soft touch! That is where the tremors seem to hurt you the most.
Everyone persons level of tremors is different and my first doctor did not treat me correctly at all. The propranolol he prescribed was not a time release so after a while it had no effect. IMO the time release is the best option as the effect of the medication last a full 24 hours.
My second doctor who told me about that situation was Dr. Christopher Goetz at Rush. He is the director of The Movement Disorder clinic and a great guy and doctor. When he and his staff did my initial assessment they did an exam along with a video taping of my issues.
https://www.rushu.rush.edu/faculty/christopher-g-goetz-md
The good news for me is I have not needed a higher dosage than he prescribed four years ago. My tremors have remained in check and I still play at a fairly high level. If you can get in to see him I'd highly recommend him.
Good Luck, wish you all the best!
Thank you for the advice. I'll see how it goes with my doctor but Rush is a possibility. I'm to the point where I have to do something or consider not playing. Let's face it, having to time your stroke between shakes isn't exactly fun.
Here's a thread about a new surgery for it, if anyone wants to take it that far:
https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?117468&p=1471677#post1471677
I've dealt with it for decades. The best long-term help for me is by using a good B complex vitamin, not a cheap one! The balance of b vitamins seems to be the key here. Cheap versions simply overload the cheap Bs and leave out the expensive ones, from my experience.
I've recently found that yoga stretches that I'm using for my shoulders seem to have reduced the incidents of shaking at the table.
Finally, when I get the shakes, I treat them as I treat my spots and floaters: I ignore them. Practice this just like any other pool skill and then you'll be able to ignore the tremors and shoot in spite of them, with pretty good results. It works for me, maybe not you. But if your punkster opponent sees you shaking and you still pot balls better than he, you pwn him from then on....hee hee hee.....old folks rule!!!!!!
Jeff Livingston
https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?117468&p=1471677#post1471677
I've dealt with it for decades. The best long-term help for me is by using a good B complex vitamin, not a cheap one! The balance of b vitamins seems to be the key here. Cheap versions simply overload the cheap Bs and leave out the expensive ones, from my experience.
I've recently found that yoga stretches that I'm using for my shoulders seem to have reduced the incidents of shaking at the table.
Finally, when I get the shakes, I treat them as I treat my spots and floaters: I ignore them. Practice this just like any other pool skill and then you'll be able to ignore the tremors and shoot in spite of them, with pretty good results. It works for me, maybe not you. But if your punkster opponent sees you shaking and you still pot balls better than he, you pwn him from then on....hee hee hee.....old folks rule!!!!!!
Jeff Livingston
I have dealt with this problem for a number of years. I also take Propranolol ER 160 MG once a day and nothing has really stopped my tremors. Once I asked this same question on here and someone told me to try using a longer cue. I thought, well why not nothing else has worked.
I now use a 70 in. cue and even though my tremors are still there, in my grip hand not my bridge hand, with the cue being so long I never see the tip shake like I used to. My grip hand still shakes, but since it doesn't shake at the tip my game has really improved. A longer cue may be something to look at since it worked for me.
I now use a 70 in. cue and even though my tremors are still there, in my grip hand not my bridge hand, with the cue being so long I never see the tip shake like I used to. My grip hand still shakes, but since it doesn't shake at the tip my game has really improved. A longer cue may be something to look at since it worked for me.
Thank you for the advice. I'll see how it goes with my doctor but Rush is a possibility. I'm to the point where I have to do something or consider not playing. Let's face it, having to time your stroke between shakes isn't exactly fun.
Speaking of shooting between the shakes. I ran into Mike Coltrain a couple weeks ago. He was fooling around on a table and shooting some. His right arm still shakes and he was also shooting left handed. His left arm does not shake. His issues were not essential tremors but focal point tremors. It took years for him to get the correct diagnosis which was arrived at by a Duke Hospital specialist.
While we all suffer from tremors I think Mike's loss may have been the most tragic in the pool community. From playing on the Mosconi Cup team to not being competitive must have been unbelievable. To his credit he takes it in stride and works a regular job to this day.
One other footnote which some may find useful. My insurer had my Propranolol as a tier 1 drug. I contacted them and asked for a review based on the fact there is almost nothing else for treating tremors. After a few days they got back to me, agreed and changed it to a tier 4 which now costs me about $4.00 every three months. Prior to that it was about $60.00 every three months. That helped the pocket book, tremors remain!
My wife has Parkinson's and she says Ashwagandha helps her some. She takes a bunch of other med's though too. I've been taking Ashwagandha for a little over a year now, it takes the edge off and relaxes you. It may help.