Sweetie - I wish I had a solution for you but I don't. Just emotional support. I can't take any antihistamines so I have no experience with them. It's frustrating not to be able to make sense of how and why meds work or don't work.

There are some exciting things happening in PD research and soon we will all be cured! This was not the answer you were looking for but I hope it helped.

Hi CM,

Your post is very interesting. I remember a post from TeeCee about benadryl and will share it here:
Reply #2 - 11/30/11 8:02pm
" I have been experiencing more and more dyskinesia and after several visits to the ER because, after 4 hours, it was no going away, I was given Benadryl as a treatment. 50 mg usually is the dose that seems to work for me. "

Isn't Zyrtec the same sort of med as Benadryl? I looked this up in the WebMD med description for Benadryl and found this:

Diphenhydramine [ingredient in Benadryl] is also used alone or with other medications to treat shaking (tremor) and muscle stiffness caused by Parkinson's disease. It may also be used to treat side effects of certain psychiatric drugs such as involuntary movements and muscle stiffness (e.g., EPS). It works by blocking acetylcholine.

I think this is all good stuff to know and thanks for your share.

Sorry, forgot to add that if you want a professional answer to your question you can go to the NPF website. They have a pharmacist that answers questions as well as a doctor and nutritionist. Please let me know if you find anything else out. Tx.

Hiya CM,

My tremor has really increased over the last few weeks, I'm going to try this, thanks. I wonder why the dr's haven't mentioned this to me. It's amazing what you learn on this site.

Julie

Be careful Julie - check with your doctor. I just noticed that it helped me somewhat, but I don't know why and have found it doesn't last. I have been taking it 4 days in a row and the tremors were less the first 2 days but then started back up. I am wondering if it has to do with the drug making me tired, which effect also lessoned after 2 days. Who knows!!!!

CM... I just recently had a cold or flu bug or something that lasted 2 weeks toward the end i took Benedryl and noticed my tremors diminishing thought i was imagining it ... maybe it's all related... paula

This is all very interesting!!! I do not have the tremors like some of you do, but what you have discovered here is really interesting. Please keep us informed on what's going on with this. Sure would be great if something so simple could help so many. Guess you would just want to be sure that it's not doing any harm. I hope anyone who finds out any more about this, lets us know.
Joanee

Update: I went off the antihistamine for a week and the first two days the tremors seemed to ramp up, but then calmed down the rest of the week. When I went back on it, I really didn't notice a difference. And during the week on it, I had calm days and not so calm days. So I think it was just a fluke in that I happened to take it what would have been a good day anyways, and the bad days when I went off of it would have been bad anyways.

Oh well! Back to the drawing board! lol

My neurologist has prescribed Benedryl OTC fo r me as a PRN during high stress to lessen the tremors and has also asked me to take high doses of vitamin E for the same reason if i need to.

peace

bp

I too have found out, by chance, that Cetirizine 10mg per day reduces my tremors very considerably. The effect has lasted several months. I also take daily Sinemet and Azilect.

this is very interesting!!!!!! thanks all for sharing!!!!!

Yes, Very interesting. The pharmacist to me I could only take the plain Claritin with the PD Meds. Thanks I will check it out. Anything that helps.

When my family D.O. first gave me choices (which is why I adore him) he read them off his hand held pdr type thing, and he read beandryl as one of the choices. I chose Amantadine for six years or so.????

Can I propose a very simple experiment which might just possibly encourage some neurologist to investigate our findings properly, if we should find anything interesting?

I suggest we should take the non-prescription anti allergy drugs like Cetirizine (5 or 10mg per day) for three weeks, then stop for ten days, then take the cetirizine or equivalent again for three weeks.

Each day we might record a diary entry of our symptoms in three categories
1 Worse than usual
2 As usual
3 Better than usual.

If you feel you are prepared to spend some time and effort
joining this amateur experiment, and if we can collectively find, say, a total of 20 people who will do the same, please post your agreement. If anyone with a statistical background would like to help or take charge, please get in touch. Failing that, I will collate and post the results myself.

Many diseases are caused or made worse by inflammatory or 'immune response' reactions. It may be possible that moderating these, along with the usual treatments intended to replace our missing levodopa, may help with our symptoms in an unexpected way?

Hi CM! My PCP initially put me on blood pressure meds (Atenolol) when he dx me as having familial essential tremors. My neuro has kept me on this med with my PD dx. It really has helped with those awful "inner" tremors & the tremors I was experiencing with my head, arm, and hand. I still get them - just not as frequently or noticeable as before.

(And - if anything I have inherited my Grandmother's LOW blood pressure!)

Just a thought....