Anyone had Bell's Palsy?

[aran]

I'm almost entirely certain I have Bell's Palsy. The right side of my face is partially paralyzed. I can't fully blink my right eye, purse my lips straight, and the right side of my tongue can't taste. I can raise my right eyebrow with some effort, though it's tough. Very odd. Thankfully, it's only partial, which means I should be back to normal in 10 days or less.

The real annoyance is that my right eye is my good eye. My left eye is very weak (like 20/100 with glasses). I need my right eye open to get around and do anything productive, so I've got to manually blink my eye and irrigate it with eye drops occasionally.

Anyone else go through this? And tricks for keeping the eye irrigated without going insane manually blinking it and putting drops in every hour or less?

[JPhillips]

I'd go to a doctor before I'd ask us idiots.

[Axxon]

I've had it once. I was out of work for a month because I could be and because talking was a big part of my job. It was the right side of my face as well but luckily it really didn't affect the eye much so I can't help much there. I did have to manually blink it and wore a patch at night to keep it closed, but my eye doesn't open that much naturally ( giving me a sleepy look ) I didn't have to do it that often as it never got that dry.

[Axxon]

dola, I can't do drops so I was really lucky I didn't need to. I have a weird eye paranoia and can't really put stuff in them. All I ever get is a wet cheek.

[aran]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I'd go to a doctor before I'd ask us idiots.

Yeah. I'm doing that tomorrow.

I've had it once. I was out of work for a month because I could be and because talking was a big part of my job. It was the right side of my face as well but luckily it really didn't affect the eye much so I can't help much there. I did have to manually blink it and wore a patch at night to keep it closed, but my eye doesn't open that much naturally ( giving me a sleepy look ) I didn't have to do it that often as it never got that dry.

How long did it take to clear up?

[Axxon]

After about two weeks it was mostly gone but it took another week to be fully cleared up. That was longer than most people have it I recall reading.

[Oilers9911]

My wife woke up on April 1st with the entire right side of her face paralyzed. I was worried it was a stroke but we took her to the hospital and it was Bell's. She is about 95% recovered but the corner of her mouth still isn't back to normal...strange and scary shit.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Damn. Get to a doc & get better.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I'd go to a doctor before I'd ask us idiots.

Originally Posted by aran

Yeah. I'm doing that tomorrow.

This general behavior amazes me around here.

This specific incident - OMFG.. how are you not sprinting to a doctor/hospital? You know this could be a lot of other things that are REALLY serious, right?

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by wade moore

This general behavior amazes me around here.

This specific incident - OMFG.. how are you not sprinting to a doctor/hospital? You know this could be a lot of other things that are REALLY serious, right?

I'd certainly call a doctor asap but I wouldn't sprint to a hospital. It's a fairly common condition and most doctors have no problem telling it from more serious stuff fairly easily. I called my doc and the on call nailed it and told me to see my doctor in the morning to confirm. I asked about going to the hospital and he pretty much convinced me it wasn't necessary at that time and it wasn't anything worse.

My doctor just looked at me and confirmed it. We then started talking about treatment. There was never really a test involved so take that for what it's worth. I"m not sure that someone in the hospital would have a test to run either so I'd definitely talk to my doc before going to the hospital but I'd talk to my doc sooner rather than later.

Now, I once was asked by a guy calling the hospital if he should come to the er because at work earlier that day a rat had taken a chunk out of his arm and there was the guy who asked if he should bring his girlfriend, who'd just eaten 20 valium and drank a fifth of vodka to the er. These peoples general behavior was way more shocking to me.

[CU Tiger]

my wife had it while she was pregnant with our son (our/her first).
Hers was a bit severe and lasted like 6-7 weeks.
She still says it is not 100% even 10 years later....

But yeah I would ant to be 100% sure it was bells palsy and not a stroke!!!

[RendeR]

All 5 of my uncles have had it to some degree or another in their lives. One was hospitalized for a few weeks due to the extreme nature of his case, the rest lost feeling, motion in half or less of their face, in ALL their cases however they regained all or nearly all normal movement and feeling within about 1-3 months.

It can be quite frightening as many people see this as a possible stroke, but please do see your doctor, follow whatever instructions he/she gives you and you should come through it fine (as long as this is indeed a case of Bell's.

The good thing about Bell's palsy is it tends to skip generations. So if you have it, your children should not have to worry about it. You might want to ask your family if your grandfather(s) had ever experienced it. Not sure if it will benefit you at all but its something interesting to know. I found it fascinating to listen to my Uncles talk about the issue.

[aran]

Originally Posted by wade moore

This general behavior amazes me around here.

This specific incident - OMFG.. how are you not sprinting to a doctor/hospital? You know this could be a lot of other things that are REALLY serious, right?

A few reasons why I wasn't really concerned:

1. It took a while to register that my face was somewhat paralyzed. At first, I thought I had some kind of food allergy because I only noticed my tongue being partially number and an eye being weird. So I came to understand and live with the symptoms without them being serious or life-changing before I had it diagnosed over the phone.

2. I have no existing conditions that could have led to this. I'm generally in good health and have had nothing else wrong that coincided with this incidence.

3. The paralysis is partial. Partial paralysis is significantly less severe and has a good prognosis.

4. My mother is an RMA (Registered Medical Assistant) who has easy access to doctors. I talked to a doctor through her who basically confirmed the diagnosis.

5. It's usually unnecessary to treat Bell's Palsy when it's partial paralysis as I have.

6. My health insurance is in a rough place at the moment because I'm unemployed.

[Toddzilla]

A very close friend of mine had the exact sane symptoms you describe and we were all sure it was Bell's Palsy. He took it more seriously than you are and went to the ER. Turns out it was a stroke, and had he waited the paralysis would have been permanent . That is, if he even survived.

bottom line, you are a total idiot for not having seen a doctor already, and a bigger idiot the longer you wait.

Get better soon!

[aran]

I have set up an appointment to see a neurologist.

If my mother, who is a medical professional for a living and has seen cases of this in the past, is not concerned about it after hearing a pretty damn detailed account of its onset (she also has a ridiculously in depth knowledge of my medical history and has talked to me face-to-face throughout the past two days), I'm not going to rush to an ER.

We've gone through the process of trying to recognize if my condition is a result of a stroke and it's overwhelmingly not. I suffer from NONE of the symptoms of a stroke (not even in the slightest) that aren't directly attributable to bell's palsy. For instance, my face is not actually numb (my tongue is very slightly numb--I have feeling in the other paralyzed parts of my face), some of it is paralyzed.

[Karlifornia]

Toddzilla has been watching too much "House M.D.".

[Sgran]

a good friend got it while we were in college. Totally freaky, like getting high with Rocky.