Since the end of October i have been experiencing perceived weakness in my upper arms and shoulders. The symptoms first occured at a very stressful time in my life. I had a 13 month old baby and just gave birth to twins. I was returning to work from maternity leave and for the first time, I had to take them to daycare(they were cared for in-home prev.). after a very bad morning of going to the sitter for my 13 month old, I woke up the following morning with horrible arm shakes. I chalked it up to anxiety and ignored it. It felt as if my arms were weak, however, I could do everything I needed to do like carrying the babies, etc. We quit daycare and found in home care again & my anxiety seemed to be going away, however the perceived arm weakness was not. I even started having hand tremors quite strongly in the mornings and whenever I had to use them. I visited my dr. who told me it was all due to the anxiety and stress of my busy life. He sent me to a neurologist to ease my mind of serious diseases (I was sure I had one) and he diagnosed me with essential tremor. HOWEVER, when researching essential tremor, I really have a hard time believing this is my problem, especially since I am only 26 and it is not in my family and I do not have trouble perforning fine motor skills. My handwriting is not shaking the least bit, etc. I have been reading self-help books on anxiety and really feel that my anxiety is so, so much better and I am off of the fear of a serious disease however the symptoms are quite annoying. The hand tremors in the morning have stopped but not the shoulder tension and weakness when I use them or my upper arms. I occasionally get a numb feeling in my pinkies and little jerky movements in my hands and feet, but these are minimal and rare. Also hand pain and sore thumb joints on days where I am picking the kids up a lot.No MRI or test were performed by my neurologists who gave me the essential tremor diagonosis. In fact, he spend a total of 3 minutes with me. Had me to touch my finger to my nose, and other small tests to rule out Parkinsons, etc. He also seemed uninterested in any anxiety/stress I was dealing with.
Could these symptoms be caused by any back/ pinched nerve problems? I have been having sharp shoulder pains and occassional back pain. After having 3 babies in 13 months, I'm sure some things could have gotten pinched and moved! I am visiting a chiropractor this week and getting a massage also to see if it is tension related. Even though I have a handle on the anxiety, I still have a lot of everyday stress with the 3 children, work and school.
Sorry so long! Just having a hard time accepting this diagnosis and wondering what this could really be.