Phenobarbitone in essential tremor.

We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of phenobarbitone on a fixed-dose regimen in 12 patients with essential tremor. The drug was better than placebo on accelerometric measurement and clinical assessment, but not according to patient self-assessment or measures of manual performance. Phenobarbitone may be an alternative to beta-adrenoreceptor antagonists in treating essential tremor.