My tremors started in my right leg, and over time I noticed them in my right hand, then in my left leg, and finally in my left hand. Initially, they would only happen when I was mildly stressed – like when I was in a hurry to do something. Later, I started noticing them when I was at rest as well. I don’t wear nail polish, but I had a terrible time with mascara, and the eye liner was even worse. I always seem to be running late, so getting ready to go anywhere was enough stress to cause the tremors.
My tremors were always worse on my right side. I also had eyelid retraction only in my right eye, and I have a couple of pink spots on my right leg that I believe to be pretibial myxedema. I asked my endo if it meant anything that all my symptoms seemed to be on the right side of my body. She said it was just a coincidence. My right side is definitely dominant, though. I’m right handed, my right eye is dominant, and even my right calf is larger than my left.
I was already on a beta blocker for my blood pressure when I was diagnosed. My doctor increased my dosage, but it didn’t really affect my tremors. After I started taking methimazole, my tremors gradually became less severe and less frequent until one day I noticed that I wasn’t really having them any more. It took several months for my T3 and T4 to get into the normal range, but the tremors were gone long before that – I think it was just a month or two.
