Coping With Bell's Palsy

I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy on July 19th 2006. On Sunday July 22nd, I began my journey with Bell’s Palsy. On that day I noticed that my lunch tasted funny and I remarked to my husband that my hormones must be out of whack. I awoke Monday morning to symptoms of what I believed to be a stroke My face felt weird and I thought I was talking strangely, so I looked in the mirror. I panicked and ran to my husband trying not to alarm my 6 year old daughter.

I called my OB doctor first and his initial over the phone diagnosis was Bell’s Palsy, but he had me come in for a consult. He indicated that my condition was in fact Right sided Bell’s Palsy and told me it should get better in a few weeks on its own. So, I went home and hid from the world.

It began to improve over the next few weeks until about 3 weeks into my recovery, I noticed severe weakness on the left side of my face. At this point, I called an ENT and he confirmed that I had bilateral Bell’s Palsy. This apparently is extremely rare, as he stated he had never seen a case such as mine in his 30+ years in the medical field, How lucky for me, right? He prescribed Prednisone and sent me home with the hope of a 50% recovery.

He had me come back every few weeks for a follow-up to my recovery. I think he was more interested in the rarity of the condition then anything else and it was costing me and my insurance company a fortune, so I decided there was no point in continuing with our weekly visits.

Over the next few months I continued to improve. My maternity leave ended and I went back to work in September. I was really scared that people were going to notice and ask me a million questions and stare at my disfigurement. Nobody said a word, which I was thankful for, though I’m sure they were just being nice.

In the beginning of 2007, I began to notice my left eye watering and closing when I was tired or made certain facial expressions. So, I went to an Optometrist to see if this condition was related, or unrelated to the Bell’s. I have 20/20 vision, which is great, but why am I experiencing new symptoms? So, back to the ENT I go for answers. He tells me that I am fine and I should be pleased with the 90% recovery and go home. There is nothing more that can be done. So, I went home and got on the Internet.

There is where I found a doctor who is the surgeon who will be perfoming my facial reconstructive (reanimation) surgery in about a week. He assured me that I am not crazy. What I am experiencing are residual affects of the Bell’s Palsy. It is called Synkinesis, where the nerve endings have not regenerated properly, therefore causing inappropriate facial movements. My left eye closes when I eat, drink, blow my nose, smile or laugh big, or If I become over tired.

I highly recommend that everyone here look into “facial reanimation” on the web. I thought there was no hope to be “normal” again, but my facial reconstruction surgeon has given me hope.

I am nervous and excited about the surgery. I just want my face back. I want to be me again, inside and out. This condition really does impact your whole life. No one can truly understand the emotional toll it can take, unless you have lived through this yourself. I’ve tried to explain how it feels, or what it’s like, but you can’t describe the total devastation it unleashes. I live in constant fear every day that it may come back.

Like many of you, it not only takes a personal toll, but may impact my career as well. A large part of my job entails public speaking, so this illness is particularly challenging to me professionally. I will keep you all updated as I progress through the surgery and recovery phase. I can only tell you from my experience with my doctor that he truly cares about people. I hope this post helps you, or someone you care about get through this ordeal. Take care and best wishes to all of you!