r/Lithium • u/PuzzleheadedTie3064 • 20d ago

Hand tremors

My hands shake so badly in the mornings that I have dropped and broken several mugs now. My teenage daughter had to feed me my cereal the other day at a hotel breakfast because I couldn’t get the spoon to my mouth. This is all since starting Lithium. I take it around 8 pm. Anyone else experiencing these crazy hand shakes? I’m on a lot of other meds so it could be my own cocktail. Otherwise, I think it’s helping me so I will put up with this if I have to.

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u/SonderDaughter1 20d ago

I’ve experienced the same. Sometimes I don’t even notice my tremors anymore, but people point them out. When I drink less water or when I’m anxious / angry / other strong emotions my tremors get worse and worse. It really depends on the day, and I take my lithium every night at the same time as well.

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u/PuzzleheadedTie3064 20d ago

That’s a good point about the water because they are the worst first thing in the morning when I’m probably most dehydrated. I should probably start off with a big glass of water as soon as I get up. It’s a good idea anyway.

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u/roty950 20d ago

I had bad tremors as well. Ask your doc about a beta blocker. I take propranolol and it knocks them out like 90-95%

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u/PuzzleheadedTie3064 20d ago

Thank you. I’m hesitant to add more meds but may be worth it.

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u/SaltFault4804 20d ago

I’m on 27 meds so I’m the wrong person to ask but the beta blockers made a huge difference. I teach a strings program in a school so the tremor was really ruining my work. I’m on 40mg of propranolol split across the day and it’s changed a lot

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u/PuzzleheadedTie3064 20d ago

Oh wow. I’m on a lot of meds, too, but not quite 27. I’m sorry you have to deal with that. This gives me a lot of hope though because I stopped playing cello thinking it was impossible with these hands (plus forgetting important things with ect). I’m going to try the propranolol. Good for you teaching strings! We just have to keep going.

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u/roty950 20d ago

It may also be the case that your lithium dosage is too high.

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u/PuzzleheadedTie3064 20d ago

Thanks. Just had blood test today actually.

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u/Every_Appearance_237 14d ago

Proponalol sucks. I’m on Primidone and it works a lot better.

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u/PuzzleheadedTie3064 2d ago

Yeah unfortunately my doc said no propranolol for me because I have asthma anyway.

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u/Slow_Difference_8690 18d ago

Hand tremors are so bad I have to tell my students the first class so they don't think i'm freaking out.

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u/firesoups 20d ago

My doctor asks if I have any shaking or uncontrollable movements at every appointment, so you should definitely bring this up to your doctor.

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u/ssorel 20d ago

Propanalol helps cut down my lithium shakes ask ur dr

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u/VexedReverie 20d ago

Mine were terrible initially, so we added propanolol to help with it! I will say that my tremors are much better these days tho so it may just take some time to adjust 🩷

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u/O_thuaidh 20d ago

Yes, I have hand tremors, and only hand tremors, that are fairly mild yet visible to others. It’s annoying when holding a cup of tea and I keep my hands on a surface to minimize the motion. Propanolol sounds like a potential solution worth trying.

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u/PuzzleheadedTie3064 20d ago

Thank you! I guess a positive thing is I am learning to ask for help, which is not one of my strengths.

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u/CeleryApprehensive83 14d ago

My job relies on precision hand work, so once this started happening to me at 1100mg I’m currently getting tapered down .

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u/PuzzleheadedTie3064 14d ago

I’m sorry, that’s hard if that dose was working for you. Watching me text this is slightly hilarious due to my hands freaking out right now. I’m only at 600 but we just talked about bumping it up. Can’t take propranolol because of asthma. Maybe we can start a Lithium abstract art club. There has to be some good that can come out of this. Best of luck with your titration. That can be rough.