Primidone in essential tremor.

Essential tremor, with its senile and familial varieties, is a common disorder (Marshall, 1968; Critchley, 1949; Rautakorpi et al., this volume, chapter 14) which, although usually prefixed with the adjective ‘benign’, frequently produces significant disability. As yet there is no satisfactory drug available that can predictably control essential tremor. Alcohol can be effective in reducing or abolishing the tremor in some patients (Growdon et al., 1975). However, this is an impracticable therapy and the effect is not specific to essential tremor. At present beta-adrenoceptor antagonists, in particular propranolol, have proven to have the most therapeutic benefit in attenuating the tremor (Morgan et al., 1973; Winkler and Young, 1974; Tolosa and Loewenson, 1975; McAllister et al., 1977; Calzetti et al., 1982).