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February 10, 2022, 09:18 PM | #1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: January 14, 2015
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 102
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Essential tremor. What can I do?
My family has a hereditary essential tremor that the males get around 50. At 56 I am noticing I am having trouble keeping steady at the line. Any tips to help ? Grip changes, exercises to help to steady my site picture?
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February 11, 2022, 01:02 AM | #2 |
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Join Date: February 12, 2001
Location: DFW Area
Posts: 24,975
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There are some treatments that may help.
But believe it or not, you can still shoot well with the tremor. It doesn't seem like it, but I've seen it done. Everyone has some wobble when they shoot and they have to deal with it. Your wobble may just be a bit more of an issue than most. Don't fight it, that's not productive. Learn to work with it. Just shoot and don't be afraid of the wobble when you're working the trigger. If you don't let it get into your head, I think you'll surprise yourself.
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February 12, 2022, 01:35 PM | #3 |
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Join Date: May 29, 2010
Location: Hampstead NC
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There are some beta blockers that will stop a tremor but that isn't their intended purpose and they aren't allowed in some competition.
I shot two points shy of perfect on the USMC pistol qual while I was taking atenolol, makes it physically impossible (well, improbable) to shake/tremor/flinch. |
February 13, 2022, 05:01 PM | #4 |
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Join Date: August 25, 2008
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Primary treatments:
Beta blockers - but they'll lower your blood pressure and may cause other undesirable side effects. Weights - arm and wrist weights can dampen the tremors and help a bit. Alcohol - guns and booze don't mix, but one beer might help. I was diagnosed in my 20s. I have good days and bad, with some in between. On bad days, I have to just give up and put the firearms away. Beta blockers were a no-go. Weights don't help for me, they make it worse. My diagnosing physician gave USAF pilots their flight physicals. He talked to me about how one of his patients drank a beer before every flight, to reduce the tremors. Worked great until he got caught. One of those, "I'm not telling you to do this, but these words are coming out of my mouth for a reason" stories. I tried it about 10 years ago. I drank a (5.3%) beer before going to the range. No tremors. Smooth shooting. Felt good. Not really a viable solution for every shooting session, or any hunting situation, though. Practice is usually a suggestion for shooting deficiencies. But I don't believe it applies here. I have tried for almost 20 years and can't get "practice" to stop my body from being a pain in the butt.
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February 13, 2022, 06:04 PM | #5 | |
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February 19, 2022, 05:09 PM | #6 |
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Location: Michigan
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watch your caffeine use. a monopod shooting stick can help too.
v-fib
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February 20, 2022, 06:15 PM | #7 |
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Join Date: August 25, 2008
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Caffeine is a good point.
I accidentally stopped consuming caffeine about 13 years ago, and never went back. Definitely helped the tremors.
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Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe. |
February 21, 2022, 07:56 PM | #8 |
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Join Date: April 19, 2013
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 232
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Light and crisp trigger becomes even more important.
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February 22, 2022, 05:38 PM | #9 |
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Join Date: May 8, 2009
Location: Florida
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I started a beta blocker for essential tremor a little over a month ago (prescribed by a doctor, of course). It has helped noticeably.
While the immediate effective of a small quantity of alcohol can be positive, higher amounts and chronic overuse are detrimental, according to everything I have read. I'm down to one cup of coffee in the morning. Not sure I am going to give that up. |
April 13, 2022, 03:30 PM | #10 | |
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