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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!