Bell's Palsy

[Legendary_roxy_girL]

Wednesday I had started getting a pain in my ear and my head felt like it had been beaten a million times. The ear ache progressed in pain over the next couple days. Friday was my first day of work and my tongue had went numb. I wasn't really sure why, but I just ignored it.

This morning I had woken around 6:30am because my mother came into my room to get the keys and I couldn't get back to sleep. I did regular stuff to wake myself up, and I noticed my tongue was still numb. I eventually went and sat on the computer to check my email. I squeezed my eyes shut to wake them up, and that's when I noticed my right eye was not shutting all the way. I thought it was odd, and repeated doing it a couple more times to make sure. I ran over to the mirror to see what was up, and I played around with my face. It was only when I went to smile I knew what was wrong.

My right side of my face was paralyzed and
I could not make it smile. I freaked out and called my mother crying and she told me to get ready to go to the ER.

After about 30mins of waiting on my mother to take a shower, put her make-up on, and blow-dry her hair--I wasn't dying or anything--we left. ER check-in went pretty fast, and then I got into the room. I was checked by two doctors, the second was just for another opinion requested by the first doctor. They then concluded I had Bell's Palsy. Which is basically inflammation on the muscle nerve on one side of your face which inevitably results in muscle paralysis.

I made sure to tell them I also had been having serious head pains on my right side and they ordered a CTscan. I just finished that up, and I am just waiting on the results now, just to see if there is anything more serious wrong with me, involving the brain.

This should clear-up in 2 weeks- 1month. Very few are unfortunately left with permanent paralysis and/or uncontrollable muscle spasms such as twitching and watery/dry eyes. I am looking on the positive side, and hoping everything turns out for the good! I have work tonight, and I just hope this doesn't interfere.

My younger sister has already dubbed me "Two Face", my mother insist I don't look at her, smile at her, or talk to her while looking at her--we laugh about it. And my older sister just said it didn't look to serious, my face.

I am taking 6 pills atm, my Prednisone, and then I start my antibiotics tomorrow.

[sunlight]

* sunlight prays for Krista...

I'm glad its not more serious, but I know it will probably be hard for you for a few weeks...  I will definitely be praying for you.

[Sis]

That's something that usually happens to older people.

When my dad had it, he was scared he was having a stroke. His did clear up and no after effects. As a matter of fact, I've known many people who have had Bell's Palsy and they all got better inside a month. Some took a bit longer than two weeks, but after a couple of months, you couldn't tell they had any problem there at all.

It IS scary, though, especially if you have no idea what's happening. We'll pray for ya.

[Chseeads]

Wednesday I had started getting a pain in my ear

When I first started to read that I thought it said "a pain in my rear".....lol.....

Not making light of your situation, just being my regular ignorant self.  

Hope all continues to go well and you have a swift recovery from it.

[Legendary_roxy_girL]

Wednesday I had started getting a pain in my ear

When I first started to read that I thought it said "a pain in my rear".....lol.....

Not making light of your situation, just being my regular ignorant self.  

Hope all continues to go well and you have a swift recovery from it.

haha, that's pretty funny, I probably would have read the same thing. 

And thanks to you all for the nice words! Things are good right now, I made it through the day alright. I think the biggest adjustment is not being able to smile. I smile A LOT probably more than anyone I know. That's just how I am with everyone. So it's def. the hardest thing to control when working with people at work It's hard when something like this happens over night, expectantly. I should be fine, unless the CTscans come back with any thing bad on them, but I won't think about that. I now have to go tape my eyelid shut so I can sleep haha. Night everyone

[Sis]

[EricShane]

I feel sooo sorry for you, my brother had it a couple years back... he was SO misrable

[Envelope]

oh girl.............I feel for ya!!!!!

I've been through some HORRID medical problems the past week................so I will be praying EXTRA hard for you!!!

I am a nurse, and YES, almost ALL cases Of Bell's palsey are temporary..............................thankfully

praying your symptoms will ease faster than normal, and you can get back to your smiling self!!!!!!!

Also, it's kind of hard for "strangers" because if they don't know you, they may think something is really bad "wrong" and want to say something or offer sympathy........................it can be akward for them and you.

I'd just say something like, Thankfully the dr's say it's temporary and I should be back to my normal self in a few weeks.............if anyone DOES ask.

Some people WON'T ask..........because they don't wanna be nosey...........but some parts of the country people are just more "open and concerned" about others..........................

sharon

[*~Trina~*]

O wow, im SO sorry that this has happened to you!

I know EXACTLY how you feel, I have had it 3 times on the right side of my face and 2 on the left.  It started when I was just a baby

Stress is part of what causes it!

I am praying for you!!

[nicolejoy]

I remembered this thread - I came down with Bell's Palsy after my daughter was born a week and a half ago. Actually, since then, I've found out about another 3 people who also came down with it after child birth. It was this thread that made me think "Oh, this is probably Bell's Palsy" and sure enough, I went to the doc and that's what they said.

At the moment, it's day 9 from when I first had symptoms. My taste is returning (at first, I couldn't taste)... my eyelid now pretty much completely closes... but my mouth is still the same, no movement at all...

The worst thing is not being able to smile - because I've got SUCH an expressive face, I feel really self-conscious about it all... the doc said my case is worse on the lower half of my face than the upper - which is bad for the smile, but it's good because my eye is protected... sometimes people get permanent damage to their eyes from not being able to blink... at least I don't have that problem!!

I'm trying to stay positive about it all - and trying to get enough rest (which is hard with a 12 day old baby!!) - I know that the prognosis is good, generally speaking. It's gotta be one of the hardest things I've been through though... but that's probably coz I'm vain

[The Purple Fuzzy]

* The Purple Fuzzy hugs Nicole

Wow, that's must be hard.  I've never heard of that happening after childbirth.  Hope it clears up soon.

[MelodyB]

It happened to my SIL 13 years ago when she had my neice.

I have ONLY heard of it happening after childbirth...I thought it was something to do with that. When I first read this thread months ago, I thought it was odd that she DIDNT have a child and she got it.

[Sis]

The child birth one is new to me. I only knew of people in their 50's who got it, so I assumed (wrongly) that it was something that happened to older people. My dad was in his late 60's when he got it, and my boss was somewhere in her mid 50's when she got it.

[nicolejoy]

There was a guy at my school who got it when he was only 15 or 16 - it affects people of all ages. The recovery is MUCH better for younger people though. People who are older have less chance of recovering 100% from it...

I think I'm gonna be scared of it happening again when I have my 2nd child!!!

I'm starting to see some small improvements already though - baby steps... it takes time to recover from this though, but the chances for complete recovery are pretty good!! At least for my age and my situation - I'm fairly sure I'll be much better in a couple of weeks!!

[Sis]

Well it was news to me. Learn something every day. The two I know who had it recovered 100%, too. Even if they were ancient of days.

[nicolejoy]

I thought I'd post an update - it's been a month since I first noticed any symptoms and I am now probably 70-80% recovered. I can smile and I look "normal" but if you look hard, you can tell that my right side is still not as strong as my left side. I'm happy to know that I'm recovering "on schedule" - my neurologist said that if I'm about 80% recovered by next week, then he doesn't need to see me again and chances are I'll make a full recovery etc... So I'm happy about that!!