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Nervous and shaky hands

  • 24-11-2009 10:19pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭


    Hi, this is a weird one but it really gets down me down. I have no problem talking to people, I have no problem in interviews , i would appear overall quite a confident person. I can speak out in a group of people even though I am probably a bit of a quieter than normal person. But the truth is im a bag of nerves from time to time and it hits me very hard sometimes out of nowhere. You see no one would even notice any of this except for the type of job im in. It doesnt help that I want to make an impression in this job.

    Im a technician that uses small tools, and assists in wiring etc. Sometimes Ive to work at awkward positioned bolts etc, and sometimes its frustrating, this causes my hands to get really shaky. Its 20 times worse if someone is watching. Im mostly on my own while working so I dont think ive been fully "found out". But the odd time there are incidents where I might be helping someone and theyre watching me and im in one of those nervous moods and it can be a horrible experience. Its gets very bad if i have to pull or drag at something small and they can see how shaky my hand is due to a combination of frustration and then embarrassment and nervousness.

    I wish it was possible not be like this, sometimes Im in a very very relaxed mood and I could be working away and no one would notice.
    This is really getting me down and I have a feeling its gonna affect how people judge me and my work.
    i just have this tendency to work myself up extremely quickly, it can come out of nowhere if something is even slightly awkward to work with.
    If anyone knows anything deeper about the psychology of this it would be great. I dont think its physical.


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 183 ✭✭TragicJohnson


    Hi OP,

    I have shaky hands, I have had them for around 15 years. I always thought I was just nervous, but it turned out my nervous system can’t deal with the normal levels of nervousness/adrenalin/ anxiety that you experience in day to day situations. Situations such as using small tools/pens/holding a glass/cup would really have highlighted my shakes.

    My advice would be go to a GP, I went to a GP around 18 months and it has been more or less fine since, I really wish I went to a GP years ago when it started, for years people either thought I was an alcoholic or a nervous wreck.

    Good luck


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,980 ✭✭✭Kevster


    Hi,

    I wonder has this progressed to being a purely psychological issue? - i mean, the more you have worried/focussed on this problem, the worse it has become. As such, it should be manageable. What i think would help is if you can imagine yourself in a situation where you are being watched using one of these tools, and imagine your hand not shaking while you are doing this. Then, maybe do a few practice runs at home and try to imagine as if you are being watched again. This might help you to build up your confidence, such that you can then operate in 'real time' without shaking your hand.

    Kevin


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    Thanks for the replies,
    TragicJohnson, were your symptoms similar to mine? Were they always a bit shaky or are they sometimes ok and sometimes bad. For instance, as I write this my hands are solid as a rock because i am just relaxing at home on the laptop, but if im in a potentially stressful situation they get shaky, especially if I am using them intensively.
    If I am in a relaxed mood they dont get shaky, but thats rarely the case.
    If you were similar to me it would be a big relief and I will be straight to the GP. I always thought it was something psychological but perhaps its physical. What you say about the nervous system makes sense to me.

    Kevster, thats not a bad idea, the only thing is, its not always definitely when someone is watching. Sometimes I can be on my own when it happens, especially if its a really awkard tough job,but if its a stressful situation like if im in a rush to do it, it can worsen.
    So its very hard to see if its just psychological or not, perhaps a mixture of the two.

    It is really embarrassing when people do see it, and im very self conscious of it. But its only ever in work, with one exception recently (this might sound cheesy), but during the second Ireland France match, me and a friend went out for a cigarette at half time,and I was very very excited(in my own head), and I noticed my hands were like that also. This makes me think that nervous system suggestion could be true.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 245 ✭✭otwb


    I find it kicks in when I'm eating soup...generally at business lunches! I have gone hungry a few times and I'm at the stage where, when I'm in a situation where it may happen, I become super conscious of it - guaranteed that this makes it worse.

    Am just hoping that I grow out of it at some point :o


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 932 ✭✭✭PaulieD


    Hi OP,

    Do you smoke?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,400 ✭✭✭Vyse


    Do you drink a lot of caffinated drinks or eat a lot of choclate bars? I find that I can be very nervous/ jumpy and have shaky hands if I drink a lot of coke (I was drinking close to 2litres a day for a while).

    You're as well to visit your GP just to check it out, if only for peace of mind.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    PaulieD wrote: »
    Hi OP,

    Do you smoke?

    Yes while drinking, and 2 or 3 cigs during the week also. I have considered that it could be a big factor in this, but sometimes Ive gone weeks without smoking and it happens, and vice versa, I could be grand even though Im after smoking a few that day.
    But I certainly wont write it off as being a factor.

    As for caffeine, I know that feeling and as a result I pretty much gave it up, I drink maybe one cup of coffee at the weekend but thats it, I rarely have coke or anything like that.
    It might have helped a bit but not too much tbh.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    Oh my God bagofnerves, I too have that problem!
    I thought I was the only one.
    When I try to sign anything in front of someone I shake uncontrollably, very very embarrassing.
    I recently had to sign a few things in front of a commissioner for oaths and was a wreck just thinking about it.
    Now I`m a middle aged man with my own business for many years and am well used to dealing with the public on a day to day basis but when I`m in a situation like signing in a bank etc I go to pieces so i try to avoid it as much as possible. I do as much banking etc online as i can to avoid having to face the ordeal.
    I will watch this thread for anyone who can shine a light on what might be causing it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,035 ✭✭✭Sir Ophiuchus


    Is it just shaky hands and a sense of nervousness or are you feeling anything else?

    Seconding the advice to see a GP, by the way. The relief of talking to someone about symptoms like that is immense.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,403 ✭✭✭daisybelle2008


    OP you could check out a condition called essential tremor. It causes shakes and can be excacerbated by nerves but it is more physical then physchological.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    Thanks daisybelle, after looking that up on wiki and reading the symptoms I think I will be definitely taking a visit to the GP.


    "From Wiki (I know its not fact but its a decent enough reference)
    Symptoms

    Essential tremor generally presents as a rhythmic tremor (4–12 Hz) that is present only when the affected muscle is exerting effort (in other words, it is not present at rest). Any sort of physical or mental stress will tend to make the tremor worse, often creating the false impression that the tremor is of psychosomatic origin.

    Tremor intensity can worsen in response to fatigue, strong emotions, low blood sugar, cold, caffeine, lithium salts, some antidepressants or other factors. It is typical for the tremor to worsen in "performance" situations, such as when making out a check at a checkout stand."

    The part about it being present when the muscle is exerted and when under physical or mental stress really stands out to me.

    @metoo! : you can even see how it makes reference to writing checks


    Thanks everyone for the help,


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 183 ✭✭TragicJohnson


    Hi OP, Essential Tremor is what I have, it was such a relief when I was told it was a physical condition that was causing my shakes, and it is more or less harmless except the embarrassment it causes. Get yourself off to a GP, my treatment has helped so much. The medication I am on hasn’t totally eradicated my shakes, it more or less regulates them, so in a performance situation where I usually would have been all over the place is now just a manageable tremor.

    For me the worst part was feeling the shakes coming on and then becoming over conscious about them, which always inadvertently made my shakes way worse, well that situation doesn’t arise any more, yippeeee!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,241 ✭✭✭Auldloon


    Hi OP another one here with essential tremor. Also work with my hands, as an aircraft engineer. Used have to sometimes use 2 hands to simply take a screw out with a screwdriver!
    Never bothered me much tbh and always told folk it was hereditary which was total bs:)
    On suggestion from my missus and while there for something else I mentioned it to my doc. He prescribed some meds for me to try and the effect was fairly immediate, almost rock steady.
    It has helped immensely at work, everything is so much easier and completed much faster.
    So go speak to the doc and hopefully you will get sorted as easily as I have.
    Good luck and please let us know how you get on.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    Hey chuilleog, im in the same industry as an electrician, so i guess you know exactly how it feels. Im the same with the 2 hands, when Im a bit stressed out I need to direct a screw driver with a second hand which is ridiculous. This isnt always the case though, only now and again.
    Its very embarrassing because Im not there long so it looks like im really nervous, and then when that happens I actually do start getting nervous.

    I even tested it yesterday in work, Id to take off 3 awkward clamps, I knew for a fact I would be on my own doing them(no room for 2 people) and I was in a very relaxed mood, after the first one which was a very finicky awkward one jn a hard to reach position I looked at my hands and even though I was relaxed they were still slightly shaking.

    Just one question, are the meds a permanent thing for the rest of your life? or temporary?

    Cheers


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,102 ✭✭✭RossFixxxed


    This happens me all the time. In my case it's psychological. If people are looking or I get conscious then WOoooOOooble go my hands. Carrying pints, coffee etc. Normally NO bother, but the second I think 'better not spill it' or even people are looking off I go!

    I just work around it at this point, and often just saying it helps. Woah there go the trembles haha etc... And keep moving. If you fixate it escalates.

    Maybe the doc will help, but google around. Breathing, progressive muscle relaxation etc are good techniques! As is less caffeine, smokes, etc etc!


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