BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)

Subject: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: frogprince
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:41 AM

Don't start a major sympathy, support, and condolence thread, folks. It's just a petty annoyance, at least if not more severe than what I have. I woke up (on vacation, at a bread and breakfast) with symptoms Thursday morning. I was just noticing that I was having a hard time drinking coffee without slobbering, when my wife looked at me and announced that I didn't look right. (Even more than usual).
I was pretty sure what it was, so I didn't panic. But I'm no expert, so we headed for a doctor for confirmation. He just diagnosed me and, as we were coming home that day, told me to see my regular doc right away. I'm on a week of methylprednidolone and famciclovir, which both docs said might or might not make any difference.

Have any of you enjoyed this experience? Did you recover fully? How long did it take?
                     Dean

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:42 AM

(((Yikes, Dean.)))

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: kendall
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:49 AM

Yes, I had Bell's palsy a few years ago. Not serious, just annoying.Had to wear an eye patch for a week.

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: SINSULL
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:53 AM

I have had several friends suffer from Bell's Palsy. It goes away but not fast enough. One to two months, usually. So sorry, FP.

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: s&r
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:55 AM

Had a dose of this some years ago.Almost complete recovery in six weeks, completely normal in 2 - 3 months. Keep the muscles working: grin, yawn, say things like lollipop and apple pie. Be careful you don't chew the inside of your cheek when eating.

My consultant was quite laid back about it, and said like yours that the treatments might help (or might not).

Apparently it has been called 'Lorry drivers palsy' since one of the triggers is thought to be prolonged draught on the facial nerves.

It's unlikely to happen twice I was told.

Good luck

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: s&r
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:58 AM

Kendall's post reminded me that the droopy eye can lead to incomplete cosure of the lids, giving dry mucosae(?) and at wors ulcers. Get someone to check when you're asleep.

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: Cllr
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 12:10 PM

frogprince

My stepfather had this- it does go away but exercise is the key as was said earlier keep the muscles working!

Cllr

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: jacqui.c
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 12:27 PM

Get your doctor to check you out for Lyme disease - that was what caused my bout of palsy.

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: frogprince
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 01:03 PM

Minimal chance of Lyme disease, I think; We haven't really been in a "ticky" environment since last year. We had just been on a carriage ride around Mackinac Island, in a really damp, chilly breeze; the doctors had said that can be a trigger.

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: maeve
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 01:18 PM

FYI: Vectors for Lyme also include some flies and mosquitoes.
Best wishes for a full recovery.
maeve

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 02:17 PM

Hmmm frogprince - you ain't been catching some dodgy flies have you?

Only knew 2 people with condition. Both recovered. The teenager much faster than the 65 year old. But she responded well to the meds and therapy.

Make faces in the mirror. I do when I need a laugh. And laughter has got to be good for any condition.

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: Tinker
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 07:46 AM

My husband has gone two rounds of this twenty odd years apart. The exercises are crucial. Last time the Doctor suggested acupuncture and the recovery time was markedly faster...

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: open mike
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 03:15 PM

i have known two who had this.
one was from Lyme disease,
the other, a young girl,
unknown cause.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_palsy

http://www.bellspalsy.ws/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: Deckman
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 04:26 PM

This can be a very nasty problem. I've also known two people who suffered it:

One was a long haul truck driver. The constant wind from the rolled down window triggured it. He recovered completly.

Another is a lady who contracted it in her mid fifties. At that time she had a GREAT amount of stress in her life. After years a medicine, she has mostly recovered, but when she is fatigued, the symptoms are there.

I just remember a third: a neighborhood cop who got it last summer from driving with his window down. He's also recovered well. Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: mouldy
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 05:08 AM

My husband got a bout of it some years ago. They gave him the steroid/antiviral treatment as a matter of routine, but he was also told that the cold blast he got whilst up a hill in Siberia could have been the cause. There are two schools of thought. One goes with the cold theory, the other an unspecified virus. Both agree that the result is an inflammation of the nerves, which causes the familiar droop. He did say he felt a little bit as if he had a virus on the day of diagnosis.

However, once he got used to sleeping in an eyepatch, using artificial tears, and was happy he hadn't had a stroke, he cheered up no end....especially when he worked out how to drink beer without spilling much! It lasted only about a fortnight in total, and he was much improved, even after a week.

There is a surgical procedure that can be done to improve the facial appearance a bit if it doesn't settle down, but they don't, I believe, start looking at going down that path until at least a year has passed.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: RangerSteve
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 07:07 AM

I had it. My doctor said it could go away in a week, or I could have it for life. Fortunately, I had it for a week. It was kind of scary, since I play harmonica. I also couldn't close my right eye. I had to sleep by lying on my right side with the right side of my face pushed into the pillow to keep my eye shut. Expect people to make fun of the way you talk for a while.

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 09:25 AM

My brother had it when he was a kid after a bout of shingles. He's recovered fully now. We have a friend who has had bells palsy for a couple of years now, she is improving but it's a slow process for her.

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: frogprince
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 12:49 PM

Just ran into a friend who didn't know; I spoke to her for a few moments and she said "You've just been to the dentist". I'm not surprised, my upper lip has felt just like novocain hasn't quite worn off since the onset. I think I'm already seeing the first traces of recovery, but it's so subtle so far that I may just be wishful. It's not that severe. My wife had to tell me that my eye doesn't quite close; it will close enough to shut off all vision, so I didn't know. I can drink semi-normally, but it's easier to avoid dribbling by using a straw stuck to one side. If this was the worst thing to befall me in life, I wouldn't have much to bellyache about.

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: JHW
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 05:53 PM

When I was less than 1yr in pram, caused by a loudspeaker van going by. Face was all twisted. Those days they stuck my head between electrodes each day for weeks. (So I'm told} And I reckon I survived the problem and the treatment albeit one eyebrow rather sags.

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: John J
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 04:28 AM

Lymes Disease can lie dormant for 3 years.

JJ

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: GUEST,JP2
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 07:06 AM

Imagine the scene,the back room of the (unspoilt)Rose and Lion,Bromyard Folk Festival 1994 at the Friday afternoon session when suddenly I'm dribbling beer everywhere and I've lost control of the left hand side of my face.
We eventually got to see the local GP at about 18-00 and he told us that I'd had a stroke and had better go to the A & E where we lived some 105 miles distant.
So after playing in the Torchlight procession off we set back home to our local hospital.
When we arrived there was much prodding and poking and eventually I was held all weekend in a stroke ward only to be told on Monday morning,of all times, that I'd got Bells Palsy and would I kindly vacate the bed to make room for someone who was really ill!
That was 15 years ago and despite the steroids and the exercises I reckon I've still got about 10% of the symptoms particularly when it's cold and damp or when I'm tired.
I have met other sufferers who have fully recovered inside three months so I guess it's the luck of the draw.
It certainly put paid to singing career for which my friends and family have been eternally grateful.LOL.
Best wishes for speedy and complete recovery.
JP2

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: Rog Peek
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 10:37 AM

My brother in law recently suffered one. He told me on the phone it had caused an involuntary wink. I rather unsympathetically suggested he avoided looking in the direction of young ladies to avoid arrest. (I knew I was on safe ground, He is noted for his sense of humour.)

Rog

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: frogprince
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 01:45 PM

So far mine has just caused no wink at all on that side. The more I feel like smiling, the weirder I look.   ; /

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: Cllr
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 05:10 PM

hmmm thats got to be weird. and a que for wide mouth frog jokes.
keep gurning i mean smiling

and hugs from champagne carol as well

Cllr

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: Mr Red
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 07:46 AM

as British comedian Grhaeme Gardiner (a non practising doctor) put it when he had BP. It is cruel sadism to name an affliction like that when you can't pronounce when you have the condition.

dyslexia must rank simil... smile... er "the same".

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: frogprince
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 02:43 PM

Been meaning to pick this up again, to say that I've just about totally recovered. If I wink my right eye, there's a little "hitch" in the action; nothing I would even notice myself if the whole sequence hadn't made me conscious of it. A few days of adaptive eating and drinking,looking a little like "happy Halloween, and sounding a little like Daffy Duck, was enough.
                               Dean

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: s&r
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 03:06 PM

Keep exercising the facial muscles to get them back to their former tone. You may find for a while that they droop a bit when you're tired.

But good news!

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: My face just fell off. (Bell's Palsy)
From: Paul Burke
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 04:46 PM

Hope you make a full recovery, and next time if it's got to be anything choose a single malt palsy. Islay perhaps.