Ever heard of it??? Based on website descriptions, it occurs when an intercranial nerve is damaged.?? The result is a temporary partial paralysis of one side of the face.?? It often starts with an earache and/or lip tingliness.?? It often then progresses clear up to the eyebrow where sometimes you can’t close your eye.?? The good news is, it is temporary and once the nerve repairs itself, you will be back to normal but this could take several months.
Why bring this up??? Sweetie apparently has it.??
While camping this weekend mom got very cold in her trailer and ended up with a bad earache.?? The next morning her tongue felt funny.?? By Tuesday her lips were feeling strange.?? By Wed she couldn’t drink out of a straw.?? By Thursday her right eye was watering.?? Today she wasn’t blinking her right eye unless she made herself.?? Eating is difficult and talking feels strange.?? You may not notice if you just casually looked at her but when she starts talking, she has a bit of a Rocky Balboaish look since half her mouth is paralyzed.?? She is not happy about this state of affairs to say the least.??
When she first went to the Dr. earlier this week, they weren’t sure it was Bells because she didn’t have some of the above symptoms yet.?? They are scheduling an MRI just to rule out anything with the brain.?? I would be??scared about that considering her cancer history but in this case, her symptoms are classic for BP and that relieves me (though I still feel so sorry for mom – this would be so frustrating to say the least).
Grammy contracted BP years ago as well and had the same symptoms.?? She was driving in a car with the window rolled down and the cold air gave her an earache and she instantly went paralyzed.?? Mom’s Dr. tried to blame BP on a virus but considering many websites say the root is nerve trauma and both mom and grammy “caught” it in similar fashion, we lean towards believing that it’s trauma that in their case was induced by cold air and earache more than a virus.?? They gave her the same antibiotic that they give for chicken pox and shingles.?? This may or may not help at all.?? They also want to try steroids but since she only has one kidney, they first have to do a kidney test to determine how well her kidney is functioning.?? They also don’t want to start steroids until after they have reviewed the MRI for just in case something else is going on.?? While I feel pretty confident this is BP, I am anxious to rule out any other possibility.?? (For Heidi – they are discussing prednisone and mom wants to know if she will have effects from that if she is only on it for 1 to 2 weeks?)
One website said diabetics are more than 4 times at risk for this.?? Grammy is a diabetic with a huge family line of diabetes and from what we have seen, mom is heading that direction too.?? Maybe that explains why they both have had this experience??? Any one else ever had it?
Please keep my mom in your prayers.??
5 responses to “Bells Palsy”
Doni, I too had BP about 4 years ago. It is extremely scary and for me started with what I thought was an ear infection. My ear hurt so bad but when I went to the doctor my ear was fine and I apparently had an ulcer on my tongue! They gave me medicine that I was supposed to gargle with and when I got home I took it, 15 minutes later I felt weird. My lips were tingling, I called my Mom and told her and started rambling. She got worried and asked me for my neighbors number which I couldn’t remember. I was just phased for a bit. I looked in the mirror on the phone and saw that the left side of my face had drooped and my eye wasn’t blinking. We went to the hospital and due to my father’s death of an aneurysm they rushed me in for a CAT scan immediatley. They were able to rule out any brain issues but that left BP which can come and go in an instant or stay forever which is frightening.
BP is caused by a virus behind the 7th cranial nerve directly behind your ear. This is why everyone gets such a severe ear ache with it. You will also get cold sores before hand which are signs of the virus or in my case, an ulcer on the tongue. There are electro massages that can be done to help stimulate the muscles again but it is pricey. I was so lucky to only have it for 3 weeks but it was frightening to say the least. There was pain, it was hard to eat, I lost 15 pounds and the kids kept asking me why I talked funny. Sleeping was hard with the eye not closing so I would manually close it and press my eye into the pillow to keep it shut.
I wouldn’t wish this on anyone but it is truly an eye opener to one day be yourself and the next be someone that people look away from in the grocery store because your face is drooping oddly. It was a major shock.
We used a positive attitude and lots of heated massages on my face during the 3 weeks. I would place heated towells on my face, as hot as I could stand until the heat went away. Then Jason or my Mom would massage my face. It hurt tremendously as the virus makes your face feel like it has a sinus infection times 20 million but they would rub on all the pressure points and just push until that area wasn’t painful anymore. We did this numerous times a day and it really helped me. I have no residual effects but anytime I get an earache I call the doctor!
If Sweetie needs any help with anything or wants a pressure massage on her face let me know I would be glad to help any way I can.
Oh WOW Heather!!!! Everything I have read says this always temporary!!!! I was hoping that was true! Don’t think I will share that part with mom right now. But also very glad to hear that yours came and went in 3 weeks. Mom hasn’t been in pain yet but she is concerned this will get worse. I am not sure if I am ready to tell her how severe this was for you or not. Yikes! On the other hand, she may really want to know what you did especially considering you had it so bad and got rid of it so quickly. Maybe you should call her Heather! Thanks for writing all this out.
As to prednisone… it kind of depends on how much for how long. My highest and most quickly traumatic doses were 60 mg daily. I’ve had to take 20 mg daily in recent years for 1-2 weeks (tapering down the last week) and didn’t have NEAR the symtoms. It might make her heart race a little, feel sort of edgy or hurried, and maybe hungrier than normal. It’s NOT near as severe in that short a time as what I faced years ago – but it can speed you up and make you feel nervous and jittery. She could potentially have slight swelling, but again, that would be mild and short-lived if only a couple weeks.
If they put her on a HIGH dose, she should be prepared to have trouble sleeping after a couple days – they can give her something for sleep to counter it if necessary – but she should be prepared just in case. No one told me of that side effect til I’d hardly slept for a WEEK!!! 🙂
Short term I wouldn’t be TOO worried about side effects, but prepared all the same.
A friend of mine got it two years ago (on Monday after we came back from a WoF Conference). She blamed us! 🙂 The paralysis lasted several months–wearing off slowly and later she was diagnosed as diabetic. She is doing fine now. I pray that your Mom will do well. BTW, my friend had a sharp pain over her ear on Sunday before the paralysis set in. She didn’t know what was happening then. Oh, and she used medical tape on her eye at night. It kept it closed when she slept.
So sorry to hear about your Mom. Is she doing better? What kind of cancer did she have? Rich had a stroke 6 years ago and had seizures due to the stroke the following year. He hasn’t worked since that. I am working at a mission called SIM (formerly known as Sudan Interior Mission) in Charlotte. I only work 3 days a week now. It is so neat to catch up with all of you this way. You are a very special family in our lives. Give our love to them. I also keep thinking about Florence Johnson. Do you know anything about her and how she is doing. I have lost contact with her.