Bill Clinton And Tremors

I was catching up on the “news” this morning when my I spotted this little gem “Bill Clinton’s Hand Tremble Raises Health Questions”. First, I think they meant “Tremor” not “Tremble”. Second, Mr. Clinton has said in the past his hands tremor as a simple condition of aging. He also denied having Parkinson’s Disease.

Let me tell you why this annoys me. This subject shouldn’t even be a headline and has nothing to do with the state of his cognitive skills. He’s still an intelligent, competent man.

As people get older, many develop tremors. There is a genetic disorder that happens to many called Essential Tremors. Essential Tremors typically involve the arms, hands, head, vocal chords, and sometimes other body parts during voluntary movements like eating, writing, or dressing. It’s often misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s Disease.

One of the main differences between the two is with Parkinson’s the tremor is usually constant even when the affected muscle is at rest. With Essential Tremors the tremor only worsens with your intent to use that affected muscle. The more stress, fatigue, low blood sugar, caffeine and other outside influences in your life you have the worse they will get.

I was diagnosed with Essential Tremors at the age of 37. That is extremely young for an Essential Tremors diagnosis. The other problem was no one else in my family had them.

A few years went by and I received another diagnosis of Conversion Disorder. Supposedly that was causing the tremors and a newly developed stutter.

Since these diagnoses my father who is 72 has started to have tremors. We never thought about his side of the family. His father had passed away at an early age so we wouldn’t have known if he would’ve developed tremors. Essential Tremors usually do not start until you are in your mid 60’s or later.

I have also learned that Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disease not an allergy, can cause early onset tremors. I have Celiac Disease. Which if people looked at it like an autoimmune disease NOT AN ALLERGY we would all be a lot better off.

I thing the media needs to educate itself before writing an article specifically dealing with medical issues. Do you not have to take journalism classes anymore to be hired by a well known publication? Rolling Stone did have Sean Penn write his story so I guess not.

So as not to be a hypocrite this is a blog. I do not get paid for my thoughts and opinions. No one takes what I say as fact because a well known publication is sponsoring me. I am not a journalist. I don’t know what I am. I do know I am sick and tired of the lying and scheming and self-righteousness I keep seeing everyday. So I ramble and spew until I feel better.