Designing Kitchens with Essential Tremor

October is National Movement Disorders Awareness Month.

October is also National Kitchen & Bath Month!

I am going to combine these two themes into one post, because that's the way I live my life every day.

Obviously I am a kitchen and bath designer. Not so obviously, I have been dealing with a movement disorder, Essential Tremor, since childhood.

"Well known people with tremor include: Samuel Adams, Magnus Berg, Oliver Cromwell, Katharine Hepburn, and Eugene O'Neill.

Recognized for centuries, essential tremor and tremor related neurological movement disorders afflict millions of children, adults, and next generations, yet little is known about the etiology."

I remember being a small child and watching my mother tie my shoes. Her hands always shook when doing such tasks. She was in her early thirties at the time. Essential tremor is often "familial". It runs in families. My Mom had it; I and both of my brothers have it; my oldest daughter has it; my younger daughter has escaped...So far.

My first inklings that I might have a problem occurred when I had to get up on stage as a child. I would shake uncontrollably, with my heart pounding; and soon was avoiding those days at school with "sore throats" or "headaches".

I was an artistic child, always doing some sort of art or craft project. I was so good with my hands that I took up sculpture and painting as I progressed through school. I dreamed of becoming an artist, and spent most of my free time improving my work.

Unfortunately I never found a way to make money at my artistic endeavors. So I became a surgical nurse (also hand-eye intensive work) to pay the bills, but I still continued my art for my own enjoyment.

As I went through my twenties and thirties I noticed more and more occasions that would cause my hands to shake. Stress exacerbated the problem.

I married, had children, and left the work world to care for them.

I began remodeling our home and building and installing cabinetry (handy me). Eventually I returned to work and became a kitchen and bath designer. Finally, I had found a way to make a living drawing!

In 1991 we were in a terrible recession, very much like today. I had no work and talked my employer into sending me to CAD training because the State would pay for it.

I purchased a computer and AutoCAD software and went through a six month training program. Thank YOU California!

Ever since 1991 I have done all of my drawing and drafting on the computer in AutoCAD. It's a good thing too, because I would have been out of commission as a kitchen designer by the mid-nineties because my tremor got worse.

I learned about Essential Tremor and was diagnosed by a movement disorder specialist. I take quite a bit of medication to keep my tremor under control.

It doesn't work any longer. I can no longer conceal my tremor from my clients. But I still want to continue with my work.

The tremor doesn't affect my mind; just my hands and head.

So, if you don't mind working with a shaky kitchen and bath designer...Give me a call. Just remember: When I shake my head, it may not really mean "no".

Peggy

Addendum: Essential Tremor is often confused with Parkinson's Disease. Here is an explanation of the differences between the two maladies by a cogent neurologist, Dr. Kieran.