Bell's Palsy

you are very lucky that ur bells palsy recoverd. but i am bad luck in this matter. i am suffering in this disease from last 22 years. many time i send email here but no one replies me except 1 member he just told me about the site where i can get any guidness i send many emails msgs on their FB or gmail id but no one replies me.

i want to cry loudly and wana tells the people about my pain but no one is ready to listen me. all are cruel no one tries to help any helpless person.

i am crying while typing this msg. cant write more   

I just developed Bells Palsy on 10/22. i am assuming my face is starting to come back as I feel like someone punched me in the face. (soreness and pain on whole right side of face) Although my eye doesn't sag much, it also doesn't blink yet. Hard to remember something your body does on its own. Eating can be a challenge for sure. I just started experiencing strong pain on right side at night..is this a good thing?

Have you tried accupuncture. My mother tried this the second time she had it and she swears her recovery time was reduced.

Thanks,

Becky

Hello Sharon1981,

This is one day after my 7th month with pain associated with BP. It began April 13, 2015. Thank you for your thorough update. Even though this 'disease' sucks! I appreciate your long and detailed report to us who are out there wondering if anyone else is going through this.

I have now seen my regular doc (who's husband had BP with some pain but has now recovered) - she has only prescribed me meds used for diabetic pain. This 'rounded' out the sharp pains in my face, but now I do not take it any longer as since then (about 3 months ago) the symptoms are sporatic. Today though I am writing you with much pain in my face, waking with a bad headache, jaw and ear area, like with TMJ pain. I need ibuprofen pain releaver at least 2-4 times a week. For now I can sleep on my left side of my face if I punch my pillow down where my cheek/jaw touches it.

I have feeling now for months on this left side with occasional pain. Definately, stress aggravates it more. And with someone below in the comments said, I now have recently began having trouble eating as my affected eye wants to get involved during my biting/chewing with squinting and 'chewing' along with my efforts to eat. I still 'squirrel' away food in the affected side and I have to push it out as I eat. I still leak liquids as my lip pressure never seems to be adequate to prevent that.

I first saw my eye doc, as I was having blurriness. She said I was the third to see her that WEEK with BP. i am a STILL having blurriness, as I can now see that my eyes are not in synch with each other anymore. I am a little better now but after 7 months, I cannot see long distance without blurriness in the affected eye, when I could before.

I have seen a dentist to get a panarex (whole view exray) because I thought there might be a connection to having a molar extracted 2 years ago. He highly recommended I see a ear, nose and throat specialist because of my condition at that time with pain/numbness, etc., but said he didn't see anything unusual except large sinus cavities (no infection).

I then saw a ENT specialist who did NOTHING but blame me for having the BP. He pushed hard on my tonsils which were still enlarged. He said that if I had continued more antiviral and steroid meds, that I would have more likely gotten more healing. (at this time it was 3 or so months in) He said that my chances for it working now was less than 10 %. What a waste of time and money there!

Then the long awaited neurologist in Sept. He checked my balance/how I walked, stood, my hearing (of which he discovered hearing loss on the affected side) He was very thorough but would not make a diagnosis until I had another MRI to have a comparrison. I got another (with great cost) and the result was nothing. He saw nothing but offered to help me cope with the symptoms with meds. No thank you. Got that already with my regular doctor, who only cares about my cholesterol. I give up on doctors.

The only healing (and so thankful!) I got was about 3 weeks in and a couple of friends prayed over me. I instantly felt relief and warmth on my whole left side of my face. The pain subsided and I quickly regained the ability to smile on that side and to again sing in my church choir. (which was the first thing I thought of when I woke with this BP in April - the fact that I could not sing).

I have since heard of many other cases. Some good. some bad and still struggling with it. If you had asked me in the beginning, could you survive this 7 months I would have screamed and said no way. But here I am, still hoping and praying for it to get back to normal. Oh, and I got married too a month ago! He is very supportive, but not much for giving advise. But then who is? Each case seems to be different in some ways.

God bless you Sharon and all BP sufferers! Let's keep up the support for one another!

I'm a little over a week into my diagnosis of Bell's Palsy. It started with some amplified hearing in my left ear... Then I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something as it felt like my lip had swollen and I couldn't use it too well. I took a Benadryl and went to bed. The next morning I still had some issues with my lips. Spitting when brushing my teeth was difficult. I decided I should go to the doctor.

I thought she would tell me it was sinusitis or something along those lines, and I freaked when she gave the prognosis. She wanted me to take away that it's supposed to be temporary, and ordered some labs. My blood pressure was really high so she put me on a blood pressure medication as well as a steroid for treatment of the Bell's Palsy.

It's been 8 days since I was diagnosed, and already I'm seeing some improvement. My bottom lip on the left side is now starting to get some more movement, and when I try to raise both my eyebrows, there is the slightest twitch in the left-hand one.

I also have a large amount of pain in my face that feels like soreness. Nothing shooting or stabbing, but just... Soreness and exhaustion. It is so exhausting having this condition. I'm constantly noticing that I'm very aware of how my jaw is lined up, and between the soreness in my jaw and cheek bones, coupled with the inability to properly blink my eye, I'm just more tired than usual.

From what I've read, the best thing you can do is realize that you are not well. While they don't know exactly what triggers Bell's Palsy, something does. Remember that in most cases it is temporary and only lasts a month, and that you need to stay calm and positive. My high blood pressure may have been a cause of it, so I'm taking steps to exercise more, relax more, and not let stress get to me. I want to be well and I want to not have to deal with this again, so I really examined my life. My stress has been crazy high lately, so I am making sure to keep my health as the priority.

I'm really ready for this to all end, and I don't expect it to for at least a week or two, but any improvement is welcomed. Please everyone, take care of yourselves. Do whatever you can to be calm and well. Don't let stress affect you like it has to me. This has been a huge awakening. I want to live a long and happy and healthy life. Please listen to your body and know that you need to make changes.

And most importantly, remember that there are others out there going through the same thing. Before I had this, I hadn't ever even heard about it. I've been very candid with people at work about my situation, and it seems most of them know someone who has had it. It's helpful to know that this is happening sll the time, because that shows me that there's hope for recovery.

Hang in there, and take care of yourselves. Talk about it openly and don't be embarrassed. Get it off your chest. It's been the greatest thing I e been able to do for myself during this whole thing.

Just stumbled on this and thought I would related my own experience.   I had BP about twenty years ago on the left side which recovered completely after four weeks.   Then six months later I got it again but this time on the right side!  Again took about four weeks to recover and then I have been completely fine although every once in a while I get a funny twinge or ache which makes me think it is coming again.   I had very little treatment but I did have regular and extremely painful massages especially pushing hard on the area just below the ear/jaw bone.  

It has now been almost 2 months and most everything is back to normal except for my right eye. It is close to being good but nervous about not wearing the patch on my eye at night. I still feel twinges now and then. This is just the weirdest thing I have ever experienced and it's most frustrating because you can't just take medicine to make it go away quickly. 

Hi there. My name is Priscilla and I am on day 7 of having this BP stuff. My symptoms started on New Years eve 2015, I had a slight pain behind my left ear. Having a history of migraines, I thought this to be nothing more than just that. New Years Day my family and I headed up to San Antonio to six flags for the day. Still having the pain in my head I took ibuprofen and a pain medicine that I take for other health issues before now. Still never thinking any more than a migraine we proceeded with the day. It wasn't until night time that my kids noticed that my blinking was a little off. In pictured inwas taking, my smile seemed a little gofy. But still continued back to Houston and thinking nothing really was wrong. For the next 4 hours, drive home, I did some research about what could cause these symptom and kept coming across STROKE SYMPTOMS...I was certain I was not having a stroke but now became concerned with my selfie taking self was not looking quite right in pictures anymore. We got home late and not wanting to deal with something else being wrong I just went to bed. January 2nd I woke up and the left side of my face was droopy, right side swollen and the pain behind my ear was much more intensified. I went to the ER and they diagnosed me with Bells Palsy and gave me 10 days worth of steroids and said have a gr ea t day. I have had to research and call my primary care to find out more. I have been told it could be a side effect to my chemo, high blood pressure, being diabetic and tons of other stuff... i have just done face messages and prayers and hoping for the best but even after days 7 I am still waking with symptoms worsening and not bettering. Just hope this is over soon. I have used a tens unit to try and stimulate the nerves and some days THINK it will get better but other days NOPE...anyway please get attention immediately if something seems "off" maybe it could make a difference. .. ~~Pris

I was diagnosed with bp today after 3 days of a runny eye and the feeling in my lip like I just left the dentists office. The dr put me in an antiviral med and prednisone along with eye drops and eye ointment. I'm hoping I caught it early enough because I am having no pain at all except the feeling of having something in my left eye. This is probably the worst feeling I have ever had

It's infuriating how litle information you get from the people you expect to help you ie. the NHS and the Dr.  I think the minimum should be an information sheet but they seem to take the attitude that because they can't really help you, they can just forget about you!

I got BP very suddenly and shockingly exactly 21 weeks ago tomorrow; the GP has been useless and unsympathetic; fortunately the hospital has been very good compared with what I have read from others, in that they have monitored my eye very carefully. 

In the last 2 weeks only I have begun to get a tiny bit of uplift to my mouth - but it comes at a price!  It frequently cramps up and hurts like hell!  At the same time my upper eyelid attempts a feeble half blink.  The lower lid has been held up by a self-administered 'steri-strip' (which the consultant thought a brilliant idea) and over only the past few days I have been able to dispense with this.

My speech is improving ( I can say those difficult letters with venom, but a fair bit of dribble - F***Bell's Palsy!) ; I still have to lick my lips a lot because the salivary glands were affected; I can drink carefully without spilling too much - eating not so bad.

The lack of blink the most vital as it inhibits so much activity but these recent improvements have bolstered my hopes of a full recovery soon.

It is hard to stay positive but it will get better (I get sick of people saying that actually, it doesn't seem to help, so - sorry)

The stand out feature from your experience seems to be the dizziness you experience a night.  My advice is - be a nuisance - book a GP appt now - even if it's for weeks in advance (you can always cancel) and if you still have that problem insist they investigate it thoroughly.  The virus can cause labrynthitis as well as BP.  

Good luck!

Woody 337

 ; \   (this is my BP 'smiley'

LOOKING FR ADVICES

I WAS diagnosed WITH BELL PALSY ON 12 DEC 2014

AND again on 3 sep 16 i felt something wrng with my face and neck was feeling tightened i went to GP he diagnosed me with a neck infection and again next day i feel weakness in body and dizziness. I went to another GP by whom i was diagnosed 1st time . he done some physical checkups and said me its bell again in left side ( last time was right ) and asked me fr a CT scan and then he diagnosed me with Bell . i told him about weakness too he just gave me some medicines as symptoms in my face were mild hardly noticeable by others. Now its 3rd day aftr being diagnosed my weakness is less now but sometime pain in ear a very little pain nothing hard. But sometime i feel a little pain in my right ear and headache also. I think i m suffering from B12 difficiency. Or is this normal ? I feel more tired than usual even sitting i got tired sometime. Feel my muscles of body weak is this vitamins deficiency or all my fear of bell palsy led to this ? I sometimes starts beating fast ( heart beats ) like when we do in a little fear or excitement i m thin boy 17 yr old 49kg weight. And usally gets fever and cold . looking forward for suggestion's

Hi

It helps to read others stories. My husband has had bell's palsy on the left side for over 6 months started as a ear ache then something popped then next morning it started and progressed throughout the day. It started to get a little better NOT MUCH. Then right ear started hurting next day full blown bell's palsy on thr right side. To me seems like worse than before on left side. Hurts so bad every day. Headache and jaw pain. We have rubbed and massaged. He's diabetic so they wont give him prednisone. Just antibiotics and pain relievers. That hasnt helped at all. PLEASE any help any ideas what to do. Dr says well it will go away in time.