Tremor medication 

Medical treatment

The currently available medical treatments for essential tremor are symptomatic and not curative. This means that the severity of essential tremor can be decreased by medication but that the tremor will not be cured. There is no medication that will permanently remove essential tremor from a person who is affected by it. 

Initial treatment

Initially many patients prefer to receive treatment for essential tremor intermittently and not regularly.

The occasional use of alcohol, propranalol, primidone or benzodiazepines (clonazepam) for high stress situations, such as  social events or work engagements, is common.

Continuous treatment

There are a number of option available for continuous treatment. People could be prescribed with:

1. propranolol
2. Primidone
3. Topiramate
4. Gabapentin
5. Clonazepam
6. Atenolol
7. Sotalo
8. Clonazepam
9. Nadolol
10. Diazepam

Botulinum toxin treatment is sometimes considered for head or voice tremors.

Can I drink alcohol?

Alcohol will temporarily improve the tremor in 50% of people. Typically 2 units of alcohol (roughly one pint or one small glass of wine) will suppress essential tremor for about 4 hours. However, there is often a rebound that worsens the tremor the next morning.