Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about benign essential tremor.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash essential tremor

or in the neurology section of the second edition of the Zero to Finals Medicine book.

And you can find flashcards and questions to train your knowledge on this content

and help you remember the information for longer at members.0 tofinals.com.

So let's get straight into it.

Benign Essential Tremor is a relatively common condition associated with older age.

It's characterized by a fine tremor affecting all the voluntary muscles.

It's most notable in the hands, but it can affect other areas, for example, causing a head tremor,

a jaw tremor, and a vocal tremor.

Let's talk about the features of benign essential tremor.

It's a fine tremor with a 6 to 12 hertz frequency, meaning that it cycles at 6 to 12 per second.

It's symmetrical affecting both sides of the body. It's more prominent on voluntary movement,

so when the patient reaches their hand out trying to do something, it makes the tremor more obvious.

The tremor gets worse when the patient

is tired, stressed, or has taken some caffeine. It tends to improve with alcohol consumption,

and the tremor is absent during sleep. Let's talk about the differential diagnosis of a tremor.

Benign Essential Tremor is diagnosed clinically based on the presenting features

after excluding other causes of a tremor.

Other important causes of a tremor include Parkinson's disease,

multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, hyperthyroidism,

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