Rachel's Bell's Palsy Journal

So...after nearly four months, my Bell's Palsy has healed almost completely, but not quite all the way. It's easiest to show those final details in a video, and you can also see how far I've come! This may just be how things stay, since there hasn't been much improvement the last month or so, but who knows, maybe over time it will return completely to normal...but then what's normal? No one's face is perfectly symmetrical (I seem to notice that a whole lot more in others now that I've experienced it so severely with my own face). I'm just thankful for the healing I've been given! I did make a trip up to Spain to see a neurologist there, just to get a second opinion and make sure there was nothing else that might have caused the paralysis. He was much more thorough, and ordered an MRI of my head, and whole round of blood tests, which all came back normal, thankfully! He said the rest of the recovery will just take time, if it's going to r...

It's been almost a month since I last posted. The healing seems to be slowing down significantly. I'm still making progress, but slowly. I was trying to take pictures every week at the beginning, but because progress had slowed and life got real busy, there's been a month passed now since the last mug shots...with only slight improvements. I'm close though! I think I've reached the final frontiers of the nerve recovery process, so maybe these last fine details are just going to be the most difficult...or I've just reached a stand-still right before the finish line and it's just not going to get any better. These pictures only show very slight asymmetry, hardly noticeable, but when I'm making fine automatic expressions with my eyes, the right eye thinks it's following along, but its not. It does regular subconscious blinking with the other eye, and I can manually tell it to close, but other automated things like squinting in the sun don't work e...

Oh My! What a week! I'm so thankful that none of this has landed me in the hospital here, because I just got to see what those are like, and what they are lacking! One of our artists almost had a heart attack and I had to take her to the emergency clinic and spent the next couple long days with her there, trying to advocate for her. I'm exhausted, needless to say, and thankfully she was stabilized and able to return home to better care. While I was at the hospital, my neurologist came by to check on our artist, and he recognized me and asked how I was doing. When I told him how exhausted I've been, with super low energy, he said that was because I stopped the Prednisone too quickly and so my adrenal glands were struggling to function! But he had specifically told me NOT to taper them, that there was no need, and he didn't prescribe a dose that included tapering! AGH!! Sure enough, I checked my notes here, and the dates (so thankful I had this record!) and right when ...

More improvements in my face. I can finally hold air in my mouth with my lips shut this week. You can see the comparison to last week in the full grid of pictures . Still super tired and 8 new artists in residence arrived at our studio this week. It's shaping up to be full of surprises and extra work, which we had expected. I've just cut out everything but work so that I can go right home and rest!

Steady progress! The virus symptoms are mostly gone...I only blow my nose about one or two times a day and cough only occasionally, usually if I'm talking a lot. Now that those symptoms mostly gone, I can feel the energy drain and fatigue more singularly, so it seems that my adrenals took a blow with this, OR that they are still being drained by trying to heal the nerve and so I don't have much energy for regular activities. I worked my regular hours at the studio this week, but didn't do anything else, just came home and crashed...one day I came home starving, but had to rest for an hour or two before I had enough energy to make dinner. Thankful for the weekend. I slept 12 hours Friday night! We have 8 artists arriving on Thursday to our art residency, so I'm a little nervous about how this month is going to play out if my energy doesn't return, or if I'm going to cause more damage to my adrenals by not being able to rest enough...I will need to be vigilant to ...

[ Correction to my last post: my doctor corrected my thinking about this - most viruses only last 5-7 days, but the aftermath and damage they do to our bodies can stay for weeks. Our bodies shift vital energy to our immune systems and healing systems, leaving not enough energy to carry out daily activity.  I don't continue to have an infection that's still causing damage...it's just the lingering aftermath. My body considers healing this facial nerve to be more important than allocating resources elsewhere, and that's why I'm feeling so drained. And all the symptoms I still have - my body is just dealing with the aftermath of the infection still and that's taking longer to work its way out. ] So, each day I've been feeling a little better, and though I tire easily and am not fully recovered, I'm definitely on the mend! Glad the weekend is here and I can rest! I took my weekly mug shots a few days ago and finally had a chance to put them toge...

Great encouragements on the Defrosting Of My Face Front, with more control and movement each day. I even have a few wrinkles returning on my forehead and the corner of my eye - something I never thought I'd be so happy about! Vision and hearing still impaired, but I'm hopeful that will return. On the Virus Front, I'm still feeling quite lousy and I've had this thing for THREE WEEKS now! It's a nasty virus, but aside from feeling annoyed and rotten and ready for it to move along, I'm not too concerned, since it seems to be following the same slow course for me as it has for those I caught it from (except for my additional complications of paralysis!). I spent the past three days in bed - taking naps and sleeping 12 hours at night - very thankful it was finally the weekend. I'd felt like doing that all last week, but had to go to work. Today I was able to stay home and work from bed on the computer all day (one of the occasionally possible perks of being a...

Not much to report - still feeling tired, sick and congested (that's the most discouraging part) - still improving in facial muscle strength and obedience to my brain's commands, a tiny bit more each day! Hearing and sight and taste impairment still the same. I can almost make a sort of smile - or at least a pleasant look instead of a grimace - if I don't smile on my good side, except a tiny bit in that eye...that helps it match the weak side and gives me an expression that doesn't shout that something's wrong! Until people realize I'm not blinking! I know that many others with Bell's Palsy have a much slower recovery, and there's no guarantee mine will continue to progress at this pace or fully recover (though from prognosis stats for early progress, I'm hopeful). Hang in there! Rest! Do everything you should, as early as possible, and that should really help! The quote above is from an article by BBC reporter, John Sudworth , who himself had ...

Muscle function continues to improve. I've been able to move my lower lid several more times, and then I can't. It comes in spurts. My face is clearly less droopy, more taut. My upper lid now participates slightly when the other eye is blinking involuntarily. I can slightly tighten my whole cheek, not just the corner of my mouth. Super encouraging and hopeful! I worked a 12 hour day on Saturday...I know I shouldn't have, but we had an exhibition and there was work that had to get done. I was wiped out, and yesterday and today (thankfully days off work, for rest) I've been laying low, not feeling so great... The virus that created the conditions for the suffocated facial nerve is running it's course (just like it has with others around me who had the virus, though not with my same complications). It's moved from bad headaches and fatigue to include head and chest congestion. I slept 13 hrs last night! The spot of nerve damage behind my ear is still painful. M...

I moved my lower eye lid today! Four times, and then it wouldn't do it again because it was exhausted! SO exciting! According to my doctor and what I've read, improvement this early is a great indicator that I'll have a full recovery, and sooner rather than later! So far, every time I've had annoying spasms in a particular spot, later that day I've been able to slightly move it! That's what happened with my lower lid today. Now I won't be so annoyed by those spasms, I'll cheer them on! My tiny corner-of-mouth movements are slightly stronger, and they feel (to me) like they're including my cheek a bit too, though you can hardly see it. It may not look like it, but my face is working super hard and it's exhausting! Eating takes forever and is quite an ordeal, and talking wears me out, but I think it's great exercise, because my brain is still telling both sides to move, and it's helping! Much rejoicing all around here! My Lord has h...

The last two days I've been very tired but feeling pretty good most of the day. It's worse at night and I go to bed and wake up with a headache, and I wake super early (not normal for me!) and have crazy dreams. Pretty sure that's from the steroids I'm taking for the inflammation. We had a big gallery exhibition at work tonight...lots of conversations with a tongue that won't work right...lots of explaining again and again what's wrong with my face, and I am exhausted! It's awkward, because the word for nerve is the same root as the verb they use for "to get upset, angry, agitated, and nervous"! So when I explain what happened to my facial nerve, everyone asks, "did you get upset or angry and that caused it?" I know they're obviously related but in English we don't connect them quite so directly, and when we do, it's more tongue-in-cheek: "you're getting on my nerves". I'm learning new vocabulary though......

My eye seems slightly less droopy today...maybe. Just pressure in head/lousy feeling with occasional pains but not a headache! Today's probably the best I've felt yet, though still very tired by the end of the day. Others, with probably the same virus, have had it last a while and cause strange headaches off and on, with slow recovery, so I'm pretty sure that's what I got, but the inflammation of it just happened to damage my facial nerve. Hopefully I won't be paranoid in the future every time I get a virus, that this might happen again! I had thought I was getting some new movement, but I took my weekly mug shots today, and was discouraged to find that, whereas before I could almost force my eye shut, now I can't get it to go down that far. BUT I can drink water almost straight on from a cup without it spilling out the right side...before I was having to tilt to the left, my stronger side, to keep it in! So that's progress! Nerve regrowth is probably not ...

Today was a good day, even though I felt kind of lousy most of the day - mild headache, tired, lower eyelid twitching annoyingly - but the rest of my face not moving, random throbs of pain on right side of face, neck and head. Way better than I was feeling Sunday! The verdict is still out, but I think I can now do slight pumping open movements with my eyelid that I couldn't do before! And it seems my ability to twitch the corner of my mouth is a bit stronger today! I picked up the results of the CT scan today and the report says everything is normal! Praise God! So it must have just been the virus, or not enough corticosteroids, or toxins/adjusting after my structural alignment stretches... Who knows - I just hope that pain never comes back! After some trial and error I think I've invented an excellent Bell's Palsy DIY Eye Patch! That last one I made was better than a completely opaque one, but I still couldn't see through it well. Plus, by trying to be less con...

I was able to sleep last night, although I had very strange dreams. I woke without a headache but it started coming back the more I moved around...not at all bad like yesterday though. My temperature was back to my normal 97 F. Middle of cheek and just above temple and a few spots on my head feel bruised. Behind my ear and jaw is really painful especially when I put any pressure on it. That's where the damage happened/is happening to my facial nerve. Need to see if I can get epsom salt here, since hot compresses of it can help reduce inflammation. Here's an image of my nerve that's temporarily out of order. Image from drugs.com Also found this on that same page: "Taste returns before facial strength. If taste returns within five to seven days after symptoms began, it's more likely you will recover completely." So I'll be monitoring my return of taste, hopeful that it happens sooner rather than later! I went to the doctor today. He said it's ...

Woke up today with a 100.2 F fever and one of the worst headaches I've ever had! It hasn't let up all day. . It's a pretty close rival to the severe pain, when vertical, after a spinal tap that didn't seal - and if you've ever had one of those, you know it's excruciating! It hurts and throbs all over. Seems to emanate from my neck and the base of my head. It throbs worse whenever I move, but I can't find a position where it goes away at all...so I've just been lying still in bed most the day, sleeping of and on with difficulty. I took 500mg of Acetaminophen at 7am and again at 11am, when I made myself get up and slowly eat  something, so I could take my steroid meds. I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow, a few days early (he'd said come back in 10 days), unless things get worse tonight and then I'll try to find a clinic open on a Sunday. I just want to make sure, with this new development, that there's nothing more seriously wrong. It co...

Day 5 One of the upsides to this all is that I can now lift one eyebrow by itself...never could do that before...the other one always lifted with it. Ha! I used a hot water bottle last night on the side of my face, because I'd read that the heat would help circulation and nerve healing and reducing inflammation.  Not sure if that was a good idea or not.  One site said to  "A pply moist heat.  Wet a cloth in warm water and wring it out. Place it over the affected part of your face for several minutes. Repeat this application several times a day to relieve pain caused by Bell’s Palsy"  Another site recommended  Heat Therapy - " Applying heat to the face may help treat Bell’s palsy. Using a heating pad set to a low setting or heated gel packs will help relieve swelling at the affected nerve and can help relieve pain. Moist heat, such as a warm, wet washcloth can also help. Some individuals experience pain behind the ear with Bell’s palsy and heat ther...

Woke up with a terrible headache, and throbbing on the right side and behind my ear. Felt pretty miserable. It took a few hours, after taking the steroids and the tylenol, but it finally eased up and was just a slight headache. I took two more tylenol throughout the day, as well as my regular supplements, including multi-minerals, vitamins D3 and E, Agricept (which is antiviral, etc.) and oregano oil capsules (also anti-viral). Going to search for B vitamins tomorrow. Hopefully they're available here. Otherwise I'll just make sure I eat a lot of food rich in B vitamins - supposed to help with nerve re-growth. Food still tastes bland, strange, and it's very hard to not bite my tongue, or even protect it from the super sharp teeth I didn't realize I had, when I can't control it very well, at least the right side of it...I never knew my tongue had bilateral controls! The paralysis doesn't seem any better but it's doesn't seem worse either, so that's go...

No change. Slight headache still. Got my eye patched and went to work. Very difficult to navigate with one eye on the uneven, crowded sidewalks here in Morocco. I don't drive, I walk everywhere...I feel a little unstable and unsafe. I think I will curb my going out to only the essentials. At least until I don't have to cover my eye. Got some acetaminophen for the headache, since NSAIDs can tear up your stomach like the steroids, so it's generally not good to take both together. It was really hard to work all day on the computer with one eye - it doesn't see so well on its own. I did a full set of realignment stretches and static exercises from Pete Egoscue 's book, Pain Free , just in case there's any misalignment of my joints that's causing the pressure or inflammation on this facial nerve. This method had worked miracles on other pain for me over the past 3 years, as well as many others I've recommended it to, and it's free and available to do mys...

I woke with a slight headache...not as bad as the day before. My eyes were burning, but I figured that must be from the virus I must be fighting.  When I pulled a muscle in my neck trying to chew one small bite of soft bread this morning, I thought "that's strange"...and then when I couldn't get my eyelid up to put mascara on, I thought maybe it was the fault of the new mascara brush which flexes (who ever thought flexible mascara brushes was a good idea?!)... but then when I couldn't rub my lips together after I put chap-stick on, I thought "Oh dear...something's wrong!" But I was late for a work meeting and didn't have time to think about it. At the meeting, a coworker who I'd been with the day before asked me if I was feeling over-tired lately because he'd noticed my right eye wasn't blinking, yesterday and today. I burst into tears and said "something's wrong with my face!" and then explained my symptoms: ...