By William
I am a retired ophthalmologist with essential tremor (ET) first diagnosed about 27 years ago. I was educated at UCLA Medical School and did my ophthalmology residency at the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute. I practiced ophthalmology for 30 years and did thousands of eye surgeries.
I developed ET in both hands and was forced to retire in 2002, never to do eye surgery again. Since then, my ET has progressed slowly but is still somewhat manageable. The ET increases with anxiety and arm muscle usage with exercise. Medications did not work for me, including propranolol. I had to take a very high dose of propranolol to achieve a significant reduction in my tremor, and this was impractical. Alcohol reduced the tremor initially, but the effect disappeared in my later years. Caffeine makes my tremor much worse.
I tried a few devices reported in the IETF newsletter, including the Steadi-3 Glove and VILIM Ball, with no reduction in tremor. Recently, I learned about the Fasikl Felix NeuroAI wristband through the IETF. Only available by prescription, I obtained my wristband two weeks ago, and the results have already been very promising. My writing has improved significantly; I can eat soup comfortably with a spoon, and my tremor is noticeably reduced overall. I have less anxiety and self-consciousness about the tremor. The wristband resembles an Apple watch, so I never receive questions about the device.
Thank you, IETF, for keeping me informed about ET and giving me hope.