Do your hands shake when you write? You may be lacking in vitamin B12

Do your hands tremble whenever you write, and only when you’re writing? According to an Archives of Medicine article, it may be an indication that you’re suffering from low levels of vitamin B12.

Spanish researchers came across a patient whose right hand shook whenever he started writing. They documented the successful treatment of his uncontrollable shaking using cyanocobalamin, a man-made form of vitamin B12.

The study authors recorded the patient as a male, aged 80, who had been experiencing trembling on his right hand for three months. The shaking only became visible whenever he was writing. (Related: 6 Weird Signs of Vitamin Deficiencies and What to Do.)

Aside from his advanced age, the patient was also a diabetic and suffered from hypertension. His family had no previous record of his disorder and he was not undergoing dopaminergic-block drug treatment.

Patient with writing tremors recovered after taking vitamin B12 supplements

The researchers performed a neurological examination on the patient. About the only thing they found of note was that his hands would start shaking in a small but rapid manner once he started writing.

Likewise, laboratory testing produced normal results save for one. His serum vitamin B12 level was only 132 nanograms per liter, whereas the minimum level that is considered healthy is 222 ng/L.

The researchers performed a Schilling test, which gauged the ability of a person’s intestinal tract to absorb vitamin B12. The result showed that the patient was unable to absorb enough of the nutrient. An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan of the brain detected nothing abnormal, but a surface electromyogram (SEMG) session showed that the patient’s forearm muscles would tremble at seven Hz during writing. The tremor did not appear during other actions. Finally, the patient also exhibited a mild case of sensory axonal polyneuropathy, a progressive disease that damages nerve cells.

The patient was injected with 1,000 ?g (microgram) of cyanocobalamin. The vitamin B12 supplement was administered once a day for two weeks, then once a week for two months, and every month afterwards. The tremor did not recur during treatment.

A follow-up conducted 12 months after discharge produced a clean bill of health.

Writing tremors may be linked with vitamin B12 deficiency

Writing tremors are the most common form of task-specific tremors. It’s an action tremor that only takes place during the task of writing. The trembling normally occurs at a frequency of five to seven Hz. It can turn into another task-specific tremor or a rest tremor.

The results of this study suggest a connection between writing tremors and lack of vitamin B12. In a similar vein, a case of postural and kinetic tremor due to vitamin B12 deficiency was successfully treated in the same way. The researchers therefore suggest that vitamin B12 deficiency may be considered a potential cause of writing tremors, and one that can be easily amended.

Find out more ways that vitamin B12 supplements can preserve your health at SupplementsReport.com.

Sources include:

ArchivesOfMedicine.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov