Re: PD. Essential Tremors and Disorder's Movements

Posted By CCF Neuro MD on June 24, 1997 at 08:48:44:

In Reply to: PD. Essential Tremors and Disorder's Movements posted by ivan A. Molina on June 16, 1997 at 17:26:02:







: My mother-in-law (age 75)in northen Brazil (Amazonia) is experiencing tremors in her hands.  Her family neurologist has assured her that she doesn't have Parkinson Disease (PD).  We're looking to obtain another evaluation/opinion here in the States because of her strong family history of PD.  The follwoing members of her family have or had PD: her older sister (age 86), her younger brother (age 65), a paternal uncle (died at age 75), a paternal cousin (died at age 81 & son of the uncle with PD)
We want her to be examined in the States to rule out PD.  We have been told by friends with PD not to see "just a neurologist" but to see one that specializes in PD or in "Essential Tremors and/or Dosorder's Movements.
Could you tell us what type specialist handles "Essential Tremors and Disorder's Movements"??
We live in San Antonio, Texas and would like for you to recommend a clinic or specialist in the San Antonio area that could evaluate her and if none are available in this area then clinics/specialists is in the Houston and Dallas areas.
Thank you.



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Mr. Molina:
I understand your concerns about having your mother-in-law's condition correctly diagnosed. The two relatively common conditions that can be confused in this situation are Essential tremor and Parkinson's disease. The treatments differ, and hence a diagnosis is important. The diagnosis is made only on clinical grounds, and this can be reliably done by a neurologist with some experience or expertise in the subspeciality of movement disorders. The fact that there is such a strong family history may actually favor the diagnosis of essential tremor. There are numerous other rarer conditions that can run in families and can present as a tremor, and seeing an expert in movement disorders can help sort those out too.
San Antonio must have a neurologist interested in movement disorders. However, I would like to suggest that you see Dr. Joseph Jancovic at Baylor, Houston, who is a world-renowned expert on tremors.