Well, I’m back from the neurologist, and what fun! It appears I have a new diagnosis (and another on the way) to add to my collection.
First, I was born with cataracts.
Then they figured out I was color-blind.
Then the cataract surgery (circa 1975) left scar tissue that had to be corrected with subsequent surgeries.
Then, around eleven, I became intensely withdrawn and moderately paranoid. It went unaddressed until twenty years later, when it was diagnosed as social anxiety disorder.
When I was in third grade, I noticed that my hands would shake whenever I held a pencil. Over the last few years, it grew progressively worse… gripping a glass of milk would cause my hands to shake pretty strongly, and intense emotional situations would result in wild, uncontrollable spasms. The wife says the tremors happen even when I’m not aware of it… I tend to make dining tables in restaurants vibrate when I place my hands on them. Most of the time, reaching for a receipt from a cashier is an adventure in embarrassment, and god help anyone who has to shake hands with me if I’m at all nervous.
(Which, thanks to the social anxiety, is pretty much all the time.)
So the doctor tested me, and concluded: essential tremor. She prescribed something called “Propranolol”“Primodone”, which a little online research says helps 60% of people like me. Time will tell on that front.
And to cap it off, I’m going back for lab work next week. Since I was five or so, my fingertips have been overwhelmingly sensitive… having anything touch them would send chills down my spine, and in extreme cases, cause pain. The result is that I hated cutting my fingernails, which led my father to charmingly conclude that I was a pre-school homosexual. He basically mocked and harassed me about it for the next fifteen years, again making the ol’ social anxiety dig in that much deeper.
The doctor seems to think she knows what it is, but isn’t making an actual diagnosis until she gets the blood work back. There’s apparently a treatment for it, whatever it is.
Again, time will tell.