Bells Palsy

TCP/IP

Hi Everybody,

Anybody have it how badly were u affected and for how long. What way did the feeling come back in the face and any permanent damage.

For anybody that does not know what this is it when a virus attacks one of your nerves.

Thanks,
TCP/IP

gubby

Not sure if its any help but my brother in law had it about 10yrs ago. It took a long time to get back to normal. It was very slow process. took about 2 yrs

Spunj

A guy I used to work for has it, half his face was paralysed for a good while. I can't really remember how long its been since he had it but I would guess 1.5 - 2.5 years, and he still has a touch of it, though it has improved a fair bit from what it was originally.

mad m

Yup it seems to take awhile to come back,bloke from work woke up with it one morning.He thought he had a stroke,he had to goto speech therapy which helped him loads.He is right as rain now.Think he had it for well over a year.

TCP/IP

thanks for the replys everybody

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

TCP/IP

thanks smiaras can we PM me the name of the aqapuncturist

Kêrmêttê

My cousin had it for about 6 months. No idea what treatment she had for it.
I don't think it was very severe though.

LegacyUser

hi

I had bells balsy about 8 years ago. Woke up one morning and the right side of my face wouldnt move. Went to a&e and was told what it was.
I had a fairly bad case and it took about 4 months before i noticed any movement in my face, during the first few months i had to go to physio in the mater until they gave me an electronic muscle stimulation yoke for my face that i could use at home (a bit like slendertone for your face).
I was also on steroids to stop the muscles in my face wasting away.
The one thing to watch out for is your eye drying out as the lid doesnt close properly, i had to tape mine closed at night to go asleep.
Ended up in the eye clinic in the mater with an ulcer on my eye because it had dried out while i slept.
Anyway to cut a long story short the mater sent me to see a neuroligist and he told me he had never seen a case of bells palsy in which movement didnt return and sure enough a week later i got movement back.
Within a few weeks i had most movement back, though because of the length of the paralysis it never returned completely (about 98%), though i probably should have persevered with the exercises that the physio gave me, ah well.
Please bear in mind i had a severe case and in the majority of cases, movement returns within a week or two.
Hope this helps.

TCP/IP

thanks mate well to update everybody that was so good to reply I started steriods about four days ago and I am already about 98% sorted so hopefully all is back on track, I think i was lucky and got a mild dose.

Thanks so much to everybody that took time to reply it was great to have input

Lex_Diamonds

Great news TCP. Quick question though, how exactly does this happen? Does anything increase your risk of it happening?

TCP/IP

It is a virus that attacks a certain part of the brain that controls movement in the face, it some sort of facial nerve. They have not exactly proved how it occurs, but for me they reckon that I had a cold sore that due to stress the virus mutated into bells palasy. its a very weird one indeed and I am so glad to have gotten rid of it

mad m

Yeah good to hear you got it in time and not as bad as others got.Speedy recovery.

Oral Slang

Good to hear you got it sorted so quickly.
My brother got it about 8 years ago - when he was about 16 (worst time really - he had quite bad acne too, so not great for self confidence!)
It took quite a while to go - he had to use electrodes on his face 3 times a day for a good few months. Almost gone now, the only time you notice it is when he's drunk or tired when his eye closes up a bit & his lip droops slightly.
He was told it is usually occurs when you get a draught - ie - a car window, air conditioning etc., so basically anyone can be unlucky & get it.

DrIndy

More specifically - it affects the Facial nerve which controls almost all of the movements of the muscles of the face and also has fibres for taste and also for controlling the loudness of hearing. Some people with a high paralysis cannot tolerate loud noises as the adapting function (stapedius) is paralysed.

Bells Palsy is a diagnosis of exclusion - ie, you make sure there is nothing else there and by eliminating all the much nastier stuff - then you know.

Almost everyone recovers 100% of their original function and most people recover very quickly.

You are right, it could be a virus, but no one knows why it happens......

Watch your eyes and make sure they do not get dry......