My mom is only 79. Last year we found out that she had pancreatic cancer. Thank-God we found it in the first stages of stage one. Her surgery was successful, however ever since, her health has steadily declined, she also lost 60 pounds and we had to get her all new clothes. The only positive thing was the weight loss because she was way too heavy. She already had type 2 diabetes, heart problems, a "dead" brain anyourism, high blood pressure and has always been a manic depressive person. Now she is on so many new medications that she has uncontrollable leg tremors and falls. I got her a wheeler walker that I can push her in and that she can also walk herself and then if she feels her legs going she can sit down. I have done some research about orthostatic tremors and found that is is very difficult to diagnose it properly. Needless to say that before the cancer my mom was a very vibrant, busy independent person, and now she cannot even drive. It is very stressful to my mom that she is loosing control of her life and her body because she is still very sharp and coherent. Thus it is very stressful to me to watch her be so sad and even more depressed. We just moved into a new house in Amityville long Island New York. It is our dream home. We live right across the street from a beautiful lake/park with wildlife all over and we have a huge deck with a yard as big as a football field for my dog. I thank the lord everyday and night for all the blessings we do have. Sometimes I have to remember to let us enjoy the house and location. It's difficult to get my mom to be positive about anything, givin that she has been a pessimist all her life. I am trying. I also have panic stress disorder syndrome and I still keep it together for us. Does ANYBODY know anything about uncontrollable leg tremors? If so, your feed back would be greatly appreciated. God bless us all and be strong.
I suspect Ativan, Haldol, or Risperdal caused it, because he was on those drugs when he started getting fidgety in the hospital. The neurologist agreed that these are likely candidates. It took a bit over a year after he stopped all mood-stabilizing drugs for it to go away. For a while, he took a Parkinson's drug to help control the fidgetting.
This is what the advertisements mean by "Call your doctor if you experience uncontrollable muscle movements as these may become permanent."
I'm so sorry both you and your mother are going through this. But you are SO VERY fortunate to still have your mother. Catching it that early was such a blessing, I'm just sorry she's now having to go through the problems such surgery causes, especially losing her pancreas which like has been stated above, results in becoming diabetic. Hopefully, low dose Metformin is working for her. It is by far the healthiest of the diabetes prescriptions on the market and seems to have the fewest side effects. Several of the diabetes medicines have bad side effects and Actos in particular is one I'd recommend running from if at all possible.
God bless YOU for caring for your Mom and your diligence in caring for her shows in the fact you caught her disease so early. Stay strong and don't forget to keep us informed. And, on those days where you're just overwhelmed, come on here and vent, we're all good listeners and we've been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale. We're with you!
Lots of things can cause tremor and unstable walking, becoming weak and deconditioned from illness can cause a person to be unstable when walking. My mother had a compressed disc in her back that caused her to have tremors in her legs when walking and several falls. How did you determine it to be orthostatic tremor?
I googled orthostatic leg tremors and found Mayo Clinic's site. They say Clonazepam can be used to lessen the tremors and helps in about 30% of patients.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-edge-newspaper-2010/feb-26a.html
You certainly can't make your mom change her life-long negative personality. When she gets negative, get away from her. That negativity permeates everything around it and will bring you down too. Good luck...
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