Has anyone suffered from BELL PALSY?

[Atnie]

I woke up on the morning of 5th February and I felt my left eye is kind of sunken in and it felt dry, too. I jumped out of bed and looked into the mirror; I can actually see the left side of my face twitching and I couldn't seem to blink properly! I thought, well, perhaps I was too exhausted and I didn't think much of it. And then, another thing happened. I was in the shower and washing my face with cleanser and suddenly felt a sharp, stinging pain. How on earth did the cleanser get into my eyes when they were closed? I quickly ran my eyes under water, dried my face and went back to the mirror again.
And another shock awaited me. I couldn't smile; the left side of my mouth is jammed! It was assymetrical! My gorgeous smile was gone! Then, I tried doing other things using my lips - true, I couldn't purse my lips normally. Horrors, my first thought was - I have a minor stroke attack! The symptoms were there - I couldn't move/control the muscles on the left side of my face at all. I was unable to smile at all on the left side and I couldn't close my left eye all the way. Off and on, my glands and lymph nodes in my neck and face and under my jaw swelled painfully. And my facial nerves were inflamed as well.

It was the scariest day of my life.

[spongebobgamma]

That must of been really scary, I know my first thought would of been stroke also. How are you doing now?

[velvet48]

yes. this happened to me several years ago. i woke up and went to bruch my teeth and couldn't hold water in my mouth. i called my dr who had me go to the er, they didn't know what was wrong with me, but knew i did not have a stroke. so off to a neurologist i went and he said bells palsey. i had never heard of it before them. i was in tears i was so scared. he put me on prednesone right away.
is the dr doing anything for you. did you go to the er? you need to use fake tear drops so you do not get an ulcer in your eye, and you need to tape your eye shut when you go to bed. use the paper take. this is what the dr told me to do.
it was 7 long weeks before mine cleared up, but this verries with everyone.
you need to keep in tough with your neurologist while battling this as they tell you when you can start to try to move thing like eyebrow lifts etc.
hope you are feeling better.
oh, my bells palsey was caused by lyme disease. have they tested you with the western blot test? if not, then you should ask to be tested.
good luck and please let us know how things are going
karen

[Atnie]

Originally Posted by spongebobgamma

That must of been really scary, I know my first thought would of been stroke also. How are you doing now?

The day I realized what was going on, I scoured the Internet for information. I was particularly interested in what folks who actually had had Bell's palsy were saying. And most importantly, if this is curable.

I couldn't taste food. No matter what I ate or drank, everything had an extremely unappetizing flat, lead taste. My taste buds just gave out. I couldn't hold water in my mouth, especially when I gargled after brushing my teeth. It was exasperating.

When I went to see the doctor in a private clinic, I described to him what I had and he started to conduct a few tests to confirm the situation. He then concluded that I did have the symptoms of Bell's. He prescribed Prednizone, (a steroid) and sent me on my way. He also gave me a referral letter to get an EMG feedback from the hospital.

That night, I printed out a diagram of muscles which I got from the Net and asked my husband to help massage my face. Well, I need to start with some exercises to get my nerves healed other than wait for the drugs to cure me, right? This helps me learn to isolate muscle actions as well as coordinate multiple muscle movement. Regaining balanced, symmetrical movements is key to restoring the face as it was before. Also, I use my favourite Bel'Air aromatherapy Bois de Santal oil which helps to relieve tension and improves concentration of mind. PLUS, with lots and lots of prayers... It woke me up to the fact that I'm not invincible to rare things, as much as every person would like to believe think that they are.

[Atnie]

On the third day, my husband and I set off early morning to go to the polyclinic. And what a wait it was! After seeing the GP, I got my referral letter and we went to the Medical Centre. My appointment was at 3.20pm at the Neuroscience Clinic. As we walked through the long corridor, I saw info-posters of "stroke", "epilepsy", etc... My husband, sensing my edginess, held my hands a little tighter...

Dr. Yap attended to me. First, he listened to what I have got to say. After writing some points in my folder, he began a series of tests. He had me raise my eyebrows (only the right one lifted), whistle (ok but slightly), blink both eyes (my left would not), raise my hands and spread my fingers (seemed ok) and so on. He also did touch tests on the whites of my eyes with a tiny piece of tissue to see if I had some sort of reaction.

I was informed of the fact that this disorder can clear up in a couple of weeks, a few months, or it never go away. Also I was told that no one really knows what causes it or if the treatments were effective. I was also told to take care of my eye because blinking was not working. I was also told that my condition was in the early stages and it may be a good thing that I came in so early and could start treatment.

He didn't arrange for an EMG test, however, he upped my Predisone dosage, gave Acyclovir for the virus that may have attacked my 7th facial nerve and ointment for my eye. I have to complete these drugs in 10 days. My next appointment is on March 23.

I slept OK during the night, and to help me sleep, I sealed my left eye with Micropore. I also realized that my lips seems to be more numb, like a feeling when novacaine set in. It was bloody tricky to eat and I was biting my lips on the left side as I couldn?t open my mouth fully. The eye was still watering and my tongue was still tasteless. I couldn't ?pucker-up? for a kiss and I couldn't hold in the air when I inflated my cheeks.

My face did not look very different from normal while at rest, but when I smiled it really was noticeable.