Friday, February 1, 2013
Comprehensive Article
I really appreciated this excellent article from the Tampa Bay Hearing & Balance Center. It was very comprehensive in its description of B.P. and also has good information on B.P. compared with other types of facial paralysis (Ramsay Hunt, Lyme, stroke, etc.).
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Low-tech Treatment Breakthrough!
Anyone have experience with this, or can anyone add a report on how it might affect post-B.P. paralysis recovery?
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Pain
One thing that took me by surprise was the facial pain associated with B.P. One doctor referred to it as "ghost pain," but I personally think it was muscular pain associated with disuse (similar to lying in one position all night while sleeping very deeply and waking up "stiff"). It was so uncomfortable that I could not bear to lie on my right side with my face touching anything. Today, 7 1/2 months later, this pain still persists, but is very much diminished.
My B.P. onset was June 6, 2007. In late 2006, I first met my chiropractor because I was experiencing severe jaw spasms and extreme pain on the right side of my face. After the B.P. struck, I realized that the pain was similar and have since wondered if the two episodes were connected.
Did you have any medical events or physical traumas that you could look back to and wondered if or how they related to your B.P.? Please share your experiences below.
My B.P. onset was June 6, 2007. In late 2006, I first met my chiropractor because I was experiencing severe jaw spasms and extreme pain on the right side of my face. After the B.P. struck, I realized that the pain was similar and have since wondered if the two episodes were connected.
Did you have any medical events or physical traumas that you could look back to and wondered if or how they related to your B.P.? Please share your experiences below.
Options
My family practitioner was able to see me by mid-morning on my first full day with B.P. I felt rather like a science fair project on display as the physician's assistant, her intern, several nurses and another doctor "popped in" to see me one by one. I guess they all wanted to have seen a B.P. case that day. My doctor told me that no one actually knows what causes B.P.; it could be from head trauma, a variation of the herpes virus (the one that also causes chicken pox and shingles), or even my post-partum edema. He told me that the common treatment options range from anti-virals to steroids, but that in his experience, these treatments only helped the situation 50% of the time. His advice was to do nothing. Since I was a nursing mother, none of these drug cocktails appealed very much to me either, and with a "maybe it will work, maybe it won't" chance with the medicines, I opted for the "do nothing" route in that department.
As soon as we got home from the doctor's office, we called our family chiropractor who also kindly worked us in that day. He adjusted me and offered an acupuncture treatment. Now I have to say, needles don't bother me, but I had always thought (in my arrogance) that acupuncture was only for "crunchy" people who didn't trust "real" medicine. Frankly, I didn't even know that my chiropractor practiced acupuncture! After discussing it, my husband and I decided to try it, more in desperation than with any real hope. Before the session, there was absolutely no movement possible to the right of my facial midline. There was complete paralysis (no blinking, lots of drooling...). Immediately following the virtually painless acupuncture session, I stood in front of a mirror and partially lifted my right eyebrow! I couldn't believe it!
Although doctors don't know what causes B.P. They do know what's physiologically happening after the onset. One of your cranial nerves becomes somehow compressed. This can be from fluid swelling, tissue swelling, bone structure damage, or even possibly "nerve swelling." I am certainly not a physician, but it does make sense to me that when my chiropractor inserted a tiny needle into my jaw and stimulated this "squashed" nerve, it responded in some way. The disappointment for me was that it wore off very quickly. For this first session, the doctor only used 5 needles - 1 in each arm, 1 in each wrist and 1 in the affected jaw. It was not painful at all beyond a slight prick when the needles were inserted. I thought the acupuncture also helped with my facial pain immediately after the needles were inserted and for several hours afterwards, and returned for half a dozen such treatments.
Did you try any "alternate" routes of treatment? Did you use the antivirals or steroids? What is your opinion of what worked and how? Please leave your experiences in a comment below!
As soon as we got home from the doctor's office, we called our family chiropractor who also kindly worked us in that day. He adjusted me and offered an acupuncture treatment. Now I have to say, needles don't bother me, but I had always thought (in my arrogance) that acupuncture was only for "crunchy" people who didn't trust "real" medicine. Frankly, I didn't even know that my chiropractor practiced acupuncture! After discussing it, my husband and I decided to try it, more in desperation than with any real hope. Before the session, there was absolutely no movement possible to the right of my facial midline. There was complete paralysis (no blinking, lots of drooling...). Immediately following the virtually painless acupuncture session, I stood in front of a mirror and partially lifted my right eyebrow! I couldn't believe it!
Although doctors don't know what causes B.P. They do know what's physiologically happening after the onset. One of your cranial nerves becomes somehow compressed. This can be from fluid swelling, tissue swelling, bone structure damage, or even possibly "nerve swelling." I am certainly not a physician, but it does make sense to me that when my chiropractor inserted a tiny needle into my jaw and stimulated this "squashed" nerve, it responded in some way. The disappointment for me was that it wore off very quickly. For this first session, the doctor only used 5 needles - 1 in each arm, 1 in each wrist and 1 in the affected jaw. It was not painful at all beyond a slight prick when the needles were inserted. I thought the acupuncture also helped with my facial pain immediately after the needles were inserted and for several hours afterwards, and returned for half a dozen such treatments.
Did you try any "alternate" routes of treatment? Did you use the antivirals or steroids? What is your opinion of what worked and how? Please leave your experiences in a comment below!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Devastation
After I was diagnosed with B.P. and realized that I would have no relief in the immediate future, I was absolutely devastated. What a blow to my self-image! As a 29-year-old first time mom, I frankly felt cheated. I had been waiting for these precious days my entire life, and now I felt too embarrassed to enjoy sharing them with anyone. I felt sorry for myself because the pain in my facial muscles kept me from lying on my right side. I worried that my son wouldn't understand my slurred words, that he would reject me, that my husband would be ashamed of me.
Looking back (226 days later!), how foolish my thoughts seem! But my feelings were still real then, no matter how irrational they appear now. As an exhausted new mother in her post-partum "bliss," my feelings were intensified even more.
Did you know that Bell's Palsy is 3 times more likely to strike pregnant women than non-pregnant women? People who have "diabetes, influenza, a cold, or some other upper respiratory ailment [also] seem to be at increased risk."
Do you have B.P. and fall into one of these categories?
How did you feel when you realized you had B.P.? Please leave comments below, and please be transparent in an effort to help others who are learning to deal with their illness.
As a Christian, I personally believe that the Bible is God's Word and that what it says is true. Psalm 56:3 says, "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You." This was the first truth that I clung to when I was overwhelmed with negative feelings at the beginning of my B.P. It was a truth that I had known about since I was a child, but one I had not truly applied to my own life in many years. I am so thankful for this verse!
Looking back (226 days later!), how foolish my thoughts seem! But my feelings were still real then, no matter how irrational they appear now. As an exhausted new mother in her post-partum "bliss," my feelings were intensified even more.
Did you know that Bell's Palsy is 3 times more likely to strike pregnant women than non-pregnant women? People who have "diabetes, influenza, a cold, or some other upper respiratory ailment [also] seem to be at increased risk."
Do you have B.P. and fall into one of these categories?
How did you feel when you realized you had B.P.? Please leave comments below, and please be transparent in an effort to help others who are learning to deal with their illness.
As a Christian, I personally believe that the Bible is God's Word and that what it says is true. Psalm 56:3 says, "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You." This was the first truth that I clung to when I was overwhelmed with negative feelings at the beginning of my B.P. It was a truth that I had known about since I was a child, but one I had not truly applied to my own life in many years. I am so thankful for this verse!
Rest, rest, rest
"You need to rest."
Just before I gave birth, I became tired of hearing the same orders over and over. I was pregnant, not terminally ill, for crying out loud! I was a strong woman, and I could handle it. (Did you count the number of I's up there?)
But as I learned the hard way, rest was exactly what I needed, and during my B.P. recovery, rest was THE KEY to progress. In fact, when my son started sleeping through the night, my face drastically improved.
Click here for basic principles to remember when treating your Bell's Palsy, and remember, REST is important!
Did rest affect your recovery? Please leave a comment.
Just before I gave birth, I became tired of hearing the same orders over and over. I was pregnant, not terminally ill, for crying out loud! I was a strong woman, and I could handle it. (Did you count the number of I's up there?)
But as I learned the hard way, rest was exactly what I needed, and during my B.P. recovery, rest was THE KEY to progress. In fact, when my son started sleeping through the night, my face drastically improved.
Click here for basic principles to remember when treating your Bell's Palsy, and remember, REST is important!
Did rest affect your recovery? Please leave a comment.
What's Happening to Me?
I'll never forget the afternoon, when my firstborn son was 5 days old, that the right side of my tongue went numb. It was a strange sensation, not pleasant, but not particularly alarming. Then later that evening, the dinner that friends had kindly brought to us tasted oddly metallic, and I found that the inside of my cheek was numb.
By my son's midnight feeding, I knew something was definitely wrong. My face was droopy and expressionless on the right side.
Had I had a stroke as a result of the C-section from the previous weekend? What was going on?!
The onset of Bell's Palsy (B.P.) for me was, I believe, a common one. I had little-to-no knowledge of the malady, no idea that I fell into a high risk group, was embarrassed and even frightened by the symptoms, and just wanted to know what was happening!
My initial Google searches turned up a few personal stories, some confusing clinical studies and lots of conflicting information. I wanted a site that would give me real information! My hope for this blog is that it will become a hub for information like I was looking for, including facts, treatment options, case studies, testimony from people who have RECOVERED from Bell's Palsy and an offering of HOPE. Because there certainly is for those with B.P.!
Many illnesses today hide inside the body, slowly taking earthly life with no human remedy available. Along with deep compassion for those and the families of those who suffer with such diseases, I have deep gratitude that I only "suffered" through an illness that was temporary. Sure, I couldn't hide it, it was painful, and it wasn't easy, but finally, it got better! And that is the hope offered to you today, if you are here wondering about your case of B.P. You WILL recover. Use this knowledge to keep your situation in perspective, and read read read to understand as much as you can about your B.P. adventure.
If you are interesting in contributing to this site, please leave a comment below.
By my son's midnight feeding, I knew something was definitely wrong. My face was droopy and expressionless on the right side.
Had I had a stroke as a result of the C-section from the previous weekend? What was going on?!
The onset of Bell's Palsy (B.P.) for me was, I believe, a common one. I had little-to-no knowledge of the malady, no idea that I fell into a high risk group, was embarrassed and even frightened by the symptoms, and just wanted to know what was happening!
My initial Google searches turned up a few personal stories, some confusing clinical studies and lots of conflicting information. I wanted a site that would give me real information! My hope for this blog is that it will become a hub for information like I was looking for, including facts, treatment options, case studies, testimony from people who have RECOVERED from Bell's Palsy and an offering of HOPE. Because there certainly is for those with B.P.!
Many illnesses today hide inside the body, slowly taking earthly life with no human remedy available. Along with deep compassion for those and the families of those who suffer with such diseases, I have deep gratitude that I only "suffered" through an illness that was temporary. Sure, I couldn't hide it, it was painful, and it wasn't easy, but finally, it got better! And that is the hope offered to you today, if you are here wondering about your case of B.P. You WILL recover. Use this knowledge to keep your situation in perspective, and read read read to understand as much as you can about your B.P. adventure.
If you are interesting in contributing to this site, please leave a comment below.
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