When Jeffrey Eagle was just 12 years old, he was told by doctors that he would face a lifetime of disability—and there was nothing they could do to help him.

The uncontrolled shaking in his hands was caused by a neurological condition known as essential tremor (ET), which affects approximately one in 300 people. They told the young teen there were two things he would never be able to do in life.

“You’re not going to be a heart surgeon and you’re not going to be a watch repairman,” he recalls doctors telling him. Worse still, he was told he would simply have to adapt to the tremors, which would become progressively worse as he grew older.

For the next 62 years, that is exactly what Mr. Eagle tried to do. But adapting to ET is a monumental task. The condition gradually robbed the 74-year-old West Palm Beach financial planner of the simple joys of life, turning everyday actions into embarrassing moments and any type of social event into a self-conscious struggle.

That all changed when Mr. Eagle learned about a simple, non-invasive procedure performed by Timothy Miller, M.D., director of functional neurosurgery with Marcus Neuroscience Institute, part of Baptist Health, at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. The procedure typically offers instant and permanent relief for people who suffer from ET.

What is Essential Tremor (ET)?

According to Dr. Miller, essential tremor is a progressive neurological disease that worsens over time. It causes miscommunication between different parts of the brain, leading to uncontrollable tremors in the hands and sometimes also the head or legs.

Unlike Parkinson’s disease, which causes tremors even when one’s muscles are at rest, ET primarily affects the ability to control movement in your hands while performing a task.

“With ET, trying to make your hands do what you want them to do triggers uncontrollable tremors,” says Dr. Miller. “These can make simple tasks frustrating, if not impossible.” Pouring, holding or sipping a cup of coffee; eating; writing; typing; even daily hygiene is a problem for people with ET, he says. “ET impacts daily living in many ways, every single day.”

Physical Challenges, an Emotional Toll

For Mr. Eagle, the physical limitations seeped into every aspect of his daily life. As a financial advisor for more than four decades, he faced major hurdles with modern technology. His assistant could no longer read his handwriting. Typing on a keyboard meant hitting the same key numerous times by accident. Trying to use a touch screen on a cell phone was nearly impossible.

The physical challenges quickly created an emotional toll. The harder he tried to control his hands, the more they rebelled.

“The more you get frustrated that you can’t do something, the worse it gets,” he explains. “It made me feel self-conscious and angry for not being able to do something about it.”

Social Isolation Common with Essential Tremor

Beyond the physical and emotional hurdles, ET carries a deep social stigma. Many patients isolate themselves to avoid public embarrassment. For Mr. Eagle, dining out with friends and trying new restaurants in the area became a source of deep anxiety. “In my head, other diners were always looking at me. With ET, you tend to go back to the places that are familiar with you so you don’t have to explain,” he says.

Social events were also a challenge. “I hadn’t eaten hors d’oeuvres in more than 50 years because I couldn’t pick one up off the plate. Eating at a buffet meant risking spilling food everywhere. I couldn’t have soup without spilling it,” he admits. He routinely turned down social invitations because, he says, “I just didn’t want to be put in that position anymore.”

Dr. Miller sees this social withdrawal frequently and says the social impact can be devastating.

“Essential tremor is something that affects patients emotionally and socially,” Dr. Miller explains. “A lot of the problems that people with ET deal with is apprehension to go out and eat with folks. Not being able to do that really limits their ability to have friends and interact with the people they love.”

How Does HIFU Help Cure Essential Tremor?

Mr. Eagle’s life took a dramatic turn when he saw the term “HIFU” in an online story about a new procedure that was proving to be highly effective in eliminating the tremors that come with ET. He did further research and learned that this innovative treatment was available right in his backyard at Marcus Neuroscience Institute.

Mr. Eagle booked an appointment and met with Dr. Miller, who has performed scores of HIFU procedures over the past two years and helped patients regain their quality of life. He immediately felt at ease. “The immediate impression was one of calmness,” Mr. Eagle recalls. “I felt very comfortable talking with him.”

Dr. Miller explained the options. While deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a common surgical treatment for ET, it requires drilling into the skull and placing wires in the brain. Many patients, including Mr. Eagle, hesitate at the thought of invasive surgery. HIFU, however, offers a completely different and non-invasive approach.

“High-intensity focused ultrasound (HiFU) is an incisionless, painless outpatient procedure that sends more than a thousand beams of ultrasound waves all focused on one very small spot in the brain’s thalamus about the size of a pea,” Dr. Miller explains. “That area in the brain heats up during the ultrasound treatment and inactivates the neurons responsible for disrupting the brain’s normal circuits and causing the essential tremor.”

The treatment is done in one session and the results are immediate, according to Dr. Miller. “We’re able to improve the patient’s quality of life right away.”

Real-Time Results Without Surgery

The beauty of the HIFU procedure lies in its simplicity for the patient. It is performed entirely within an MRI scanner as an outpatient procedure. There are no incisions.

Doctors place the patient in a rigid head frame to prevent even a millimeter of movement. Then, they guide the ultrasound waves to a specific target in the brain called the VIM nucleus of the thalamus. Because the team monitors the procedure live, they can evaluate the patient’s tremor in real time.

“We stop and have them draw spirals, write their name and perform a number of other tasks to evaluate both the tremor as well as for potential side effects,” Dr. Miller says. “When they’re able to complete the tasks and we see that the tremor has stabilized or gone away, then we know we’ve done the job.”

The procedure takes about an hour. Patients can go home the same day and many resume normal activities immediately, often stopping for lunch on the way home.

A Life Restored in an Instant

Dr. Miller treated both of Mr. Eagle’s hands in two separate sessions spaced nine months apart, per FDA requirements. The results were nothing short of miraculous; he reported almost 100% tremor relief in both hands.

“The very first thing I did when I got home after the procedure is I filled a glass with water,” Mr. Eagle shares. “For the first time in 60 years, I didn’t spill the water. I cried, and my wife cried.”

For Dr. Miller, delivering this kind of immediate relief is deeply rewarding.

“This is the quintessential example of the reason that a lot of us thought we would go into medicine — the ability to help someone and see instantaneous results,” Dr. Miller says. “Patients are often emotional because the tremor is gone and it’s something they’ve dealt with for so long.”

Today, Mr. Eagle is reclaiming the simple joys he lost over the last six decades. He confidently enjoys soup, salads and drinks without fear. He even eats sushi with chopsticks, he says with obvious delight. 

Mr. Eagle urges anyone suffering from essential tremor in silence to seek help. “This is what medical care should be about. From start to finish, it beat my expectations,” he says of his experience with the team at Marcus Neuroscience Institute—particularly Dr. Miller and the Institute’s nurse navigator, Talia Adoni, BSN, RN, CNRN. “Take the first step: pick up the phone and call them.”

Click here for more information about the diagnosis and treatment of essential tremor (ET) and other movement disorders at Baptist Health Brain & Spine Care.