Shaky hands

[T42]

Whether it's the effect of diabetes, handlebar vibration, age or something more insidious I do not know, but my hands are not just getting shakier these days but downright oscillating when I try to do anything precise, e.g. writing, playing the guitar - which I've given up in consequence - or soldering up a circuit.  My late doorbell venture was murder at times and it only involved 6 wires, and when I pilot the mouse onto a button I sometimes do three or four go-rounds before landing on it.  Typing is still halfway OK, maybe because I don't look at the KB very often.

I've looked up the causes of the more popular forms of tremor - intention, essential, etc. and some of them have causes I do not want to think about. Gloomy, that.

[Kim]

My gran had a severe essential tremor, and used all sorts of technology that you'd have otherwise expected her to disapprove of (dishwasher, microwave, electric tin opener, manual typewriter) for accessibility reasons.  Last thing I knew, my mum was starting to develop something similar.  She'd worked as a secretary in her youth and had embraced word-processing before it started to affect her handwriting.

If you don't know the cause, you probably ought to be assessed by a neuroquack...

You can get software to low-pass filter mouse movements that may help.  No experience.

[T42]

It'd have to be implemented at driver level, which is beyond me these days.  It's the least of my worries just now, though - I'm more bothered by the writing and other [im]precise [un]controlled movements.

The neuroquack is likely the best way to go, once our daily infection score gets back down into 5 sig figs instead of 6.

[Kim]

It'd have to be implemented at driver level, which is beyond me these days.

https://www.steadymouse.com/ looks easy enough to install.  There are others.

[mrcharly-YHT]

My mums side of the family had a hereditary benign tremor. Mum's was so bad I've seen her shake teacups out of saucers on a tray.
My hands always shook - a bit of a sod when I had ambitions for target pistol shooting.

My nephew has it as bad as Mum; to the extent they took him to the neuro when he was a young teen, concerned it could be a symptom of something more serious.

Mine improved markedly when I was doing a bit of something that was like a crossover of Thai Chi and Yoga. My general muscle control improved.

It is a pain though. Tasks like putting a nut on a small bolt, or threading something through a small hole can be nearly impossible.

[rafletcher]

My wife, who is 77, has started to get quite bad hand tremors too, enough to render her handwriting near-illegible, and last week discussed it (I made her write a lost this time!) with her (very good, but very busy) GP. She was assured it wasn't Parkinsons, but that was as far as they were able to go (she was in for a cortisone injection in her hip). It may be thyroid related  - she's had Iodine treatment and takes Thyroxine, but her heart rate seems ok (when she went into overdrive originally it was like holding a sparrow!) - or possibly related to the statins she was put on for prophylaxis of high cholesterol due to her age.  Anyway, she's had a full blood workup, and will discuss it next appointment.

[T42]

It'd have to be implemented at driver level, which is beyond me these days.

https://www.steadymouse.com/ looks easy enough to install.  There are others.

Thanks, Kim, I'll have a gander tomorrow.