2nd Bell's Palsy episode

I'm sorry I meant that I got it for the first time 6 years ago.

Yes I'm also having hearing issues. Affected side has tunnel hearing. This is new to me. What meds were you on the 2nd time? Did you try any other treatments? Facial exercises, massages, acupuncture etc?

Yes that's how my hearing was at first then it was very sensitive. my hearing is much better now. I took antiviral meds and steroids I can't remember the names but it's the most common ones that they usually prescribe. I didn't do anything else. I honestly believe that your body heals itself. I took all of the medication and it still got worse before it got better.

How is your eye? Do you have partial or full paralysis?

P.s sorry for all of the spelling error in my first post I was writing fast.

Full paralysis. When it first started I was having throbbing pain in the corner of jaw below the bone and under the ear. Pain is still there and sore on the unaffected side, feeling as if it's being over worked.

Eye won't close on its own. The worst part is being able to feel it all. The mouth and eye issues. Of course eating and drinking sucks too.

So you're saying it's been 7 months for you with your second BP episode and you're still not completely healed? I just want the mouth issues to go away. I can deal with the eye.

My appearance has gone back to normal but I wouldn't say that I'm completely healed because I can still feel tightness on the affected side. Also my smile is not completely the same on both sides but besides that I'm fine. At first I couldn't smile at all so I'm thankful even if my lip doesn't go all the way up, I can still make a complete smile It took me about a month to be able to feel a little movement on the affected side. After I was able to speak again it was still hard for me to pronounce certain words especially when I was exhausted but now I can speak just fine. I pray that you begin to heal soon. Have you seen any improvements yet?

It's been 5 days now. Completely steroids. Antivirals for another 2 days. Tried acupuncture on the 2nd day. Felt tingling on the forehead of the affected side during treatment, but no improvement afterwards. Been using heated gel pads throughout the day on the affected side. I feel the occasional twitch but it's been inconsistent. Yesterday my eye felt ok, still does not close all the way but was not tearing much. Today (day 5) it's been uncontrollably tearing and blurring my eye sight. Of course this doesn't help when that is my stronger of one of my eyes. My jaw on the side I had an extraction/bone graft has been in a lot of pain. I can pinpoint the exact area where pin is and I believe it is a nerve on that side. This puzzles me because dentist said nerves don't cross. I haven't been able to find anything online that says dental procedure on one side can cause Bell's palsy on the other side or where the nerves connect/if they're separate per side.

My affected side has been pretty sore. I massage it lightly after applying heat. Not sure if it's being over worked or not? Doctor didn't recommend anything. She said just be patient and follow up in two weeks if it's not better. I worry because this time around it is total facial paralysis on left side when 7 years ago it was partial paralysis on the right side which only lasted two weeks. I'm a little discouraged from what I'm reading online. It seems second time around takes much longer to recover I continue to be proactive and will continue with 2 more acupuncture sessions this week.

Well at least you feel some type of tingling that's a good sign It's going to be really hard not to but try not to speed up your recovery process because you will make the risidual affects worse. For example some people try to do facial exercises really early but I don't think that's a good idea because your nerves are damaged. When it happened to me for the second time I was working two jobs. I continued to work at one job for a week after the onset (bad idea)!and my condition got so bad! Once I took off of work, within a week I began to see improvements! People don't understand the power of simply resting.

During this time you MUST rest and try not to stress! When I was exhausted or stressed I could feel that my Bells Palsy was getting worse and not healing. You have to think positive even though that's easier said than done. I was so depressed about my appearance and that was just hindering my recover. I would research about Bells Palsy all day and see different stories about people that had Bells Palsy for years with no improvement and I would be discouraged and depressed thinking that would be me. After a while I stopped paying attention to the horror stories because that wasnt helping me. Also I stopped believing everything that the doctors told me because they barely know anything about this condition. Most of them seemed to treat me like a science experiment.

I do believe that you're over working the affected side. I'm not a doctor but I see it this way, imagine if you broke your foot and started to walk on it the next day imagine how it would feel. It's the same with your face, your muscle is seriously damaged enough to paralyze your face and you haven't given it enough time to heal. All I'm saying is don't try to many different things at one time when your nerves still need to heal. There are people who didn't do anything and still recovered so it just depends on your body.

I honestly think that either dental work or stress caused my Bells Palsy. I've always had dental problems because as a child/teen I didn't have healthcare and didn't go to the dentist. The fact that your Bells Palsy came back right after dental surgery is definitely a red flag but there's really no way to prove if that was the cause.

Your face will get better you just have to be patient. Even if it does take longer than the first time all that matters is your healing. When I stopped focusing on the time it was taking me to recover and just focused on the small improvements that I was making, I began to feel better about my situation. Remember that everyone is different so just because someone else didn't recover that doesn't mean that you won't! I wish I could show you before and after pics of my recovery to encourage you. If you have an email you can leave it here if you want or just look up successful recovery stories for encouragement If I recovered you can also. Any questions that you have you can ask me or if you just need to talk because I know how hard this is.

Many people talk about the physical pain but not the mental. People don't understand the emotional side of this condition. It's hard to go to sleep looking like yourself then wake up and your face is different. It will get better though.

I have heard about dental procedures on the unaffective side so, I DO believe it.  Could be the stress about having the dental work and that's what did it.  I believe stress can be a factor.  The nerves on both sides do not interact with each other.   I agree about not overdoing it.  Mild facial exercises but no massaging in the beginning.  Drs. don't have anymore ideas than we do.

Possibly. I believe we came to the conclusion stress caused the first episode. I have gotten extensive oral surgery done in the past on the same side I had BP before but did not have an episode. I don't normally stress over dental work. I'm wondering if it was pyshical stress/trauma that caused it

I think maybe the physical stress/trauma may have caused it. Mentally I wasn't too stressed as I've undergone multiple dental procedures. Odd it happens now when I've had much more work done at one time. Wondering if it's the bone graft. I really feel a nerve was hit especially where my pain was. But if dentists and doctors say it doesn't cross then oh well guess not. I'd say this second time another I'm much more self conscious and upset about it. How long did it take you during each episode to recover (basic recovery - smile, blinking, raising eyebrow)?

It's hard not to stress when you can actually feel that your face isn't working. Itd be easy to avoid a mirror so I don't have to see the symptoms but I can feel them and it makes it so much worse. I also have bipolar disorder and anxiety so that's not working for me either.

It's a guessing game.   Only 1 Dr. agreed with my cause 3 years ago.  I KNOW when it started because it was 48 hours after having a cold raw wind whistling in my ear.   I got an earache and then the paralysis.  I have seen probalby 14 Drs. about this BP.  13 disagreed and when I walked into a neurolgists office he totally agreed with the wind.  I have heard of having a fan blow on your face or a window open and blowing on you.  Both my Dad and brother got it from riding in the back of a pickup.

Yes, I have read that too. But I would of assumed it'd affect the same side. For me BP is on the opposite side of dental work. Of course, paralyzed on the good side and can't chew on other side due to stitches and swelling. Still woken from dental work. One side swollen, other side paralyzed