My husband was just diagnosed with Bells Palsey.
Can anyone tell me what this is and what causes it.
I was scared to death, I thought my husband was having a stroke, he complained about his face and lips going numb, he couldn't close his left eye or blink with it, and when he smiled the left side of his mouth wouldn't curl up.
We took his blood pressure and it was fine.
We rushed him to the hospital and our doctor was on call thank goodness! He immediately diagnosed it as bells palsey, the doctor said it had something to do with the nerves between the 6th and 7th vertebrae in his back and my husband had surgery there about 3 years ago.
Any info about Bells Palsey would be great!
Thanks!

Yes, that can be very scarey. Imagine that on a 10 year old. My daughter had it 5 years ago when she was 10 and has had it 3 more times since. It seems to be when she is very stressed out and such. They do say that it is from pinched nerves that get irrated. Nothing much to do for it besides steriods, put an eye patch on when he sleeps and keep the eye lubricated.
Hope this helps
Bec :wave:

Facial weakness, Bells P, affects the 7th cranial nerve. Bell P. is a dx of exclussion. If the facial weakness is due to his back surgery, then the facial weakness would not be idiopathic. I'm sure the doctor ruled out the differentials...I'd suggest he follow up with an ent to check the nerves function. If that side is completely weak, they may want to test the facial nerve function.

Things may taste funny for a while. Make sure he protects the affected eye. He may carefully apply paper tape to the upper lid down to cheek to keep the lid closed while sleeping to prevent corneal erosion. Lacrilube gel may be applied to the affected eye prior to taping the lid to keep cornea moist throughout the night. He may need to manually close the lide (back of finger/knuckle) while showering to keep the soap away from eyes etc.

One use viles of preservative free otc eye drops will be handy throughout the day for when the eye gets dried from not being able to blink. An eye patch, use of sunglasses will help keep irritation from wind down substantially.

Make sure he has an ample supply of straws to help him drink (in the opposite corner of mouth of unaffected side and manually press lips together on the weak side, he'll understand that one). Avoid chewy foods, take smaller bites. Tilt head to help shift food to the unaffected side of mouth, so he can chew his food more effectively. The weak side makes it hard to chew so, rely on the other side to do the work until that side comes back. Allow more time for meals to avoid biting cheek, lip, tongue. He may need to hold the weak side of lips together while chewing so the food stays in his mouth. When he smiles or has an expression on his face, try not to look shocked or offended by what it looks like. Hope he's better soon. Take Care, Gemi

I can sympathize with your situation. In March of 2003, I had surgery to remove a deceased fetus. I became very ill afterwards. I somehow got coldsore-like things around my mouth, inside my mouth and throat. Then, out of the blue, I was getting these horrible stabbing like pains behind my left ear. Then, less than 2 hours later, my face looked and felt like I had just been to the dentist. I could not speak. I could not eat. I couldnt do anything. The pain was intense. It KILLED my self esteem. A majority get Bells on either one side of the face or the other. Lucky me, I got it bilaterally (both sides). Several MRI and CT scans, and spinal taps later....they said I had Bells. To this day, I still can't smile. I can not pucker up to kiss my son, and when I eat, I have to cover my mouth with a napkin because I am not able to chew with my mouth closed. I try, but it simply doesnt want to cooperate.
What helped me alot was seeing a physical therapist. I went to this electro shock therapy stuff a couple times a week. It is kinda painful. They basically try to shock the nerves that have been damaged into repairing or growing again. Odds are, your hubby will always have the effects of the Bells. But keep your head up, and tell him to do the same. I had never heard of it until I got it. And as a previous post said, stress does seem to bring it back, or at least, it seems to cause enough stress on the nerves which were already damaged, to bring back some of the symptoms or effects.

Good luck!!!