Skip to main content

Day 2: Something's Wrong With My Face!

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:
I woke up today and I can't move my face! On the right side of my face, i can't smile, purse my lips, scrunch my nose, taste, lift my eyebrow, close my eye, or see clearly! And I had a headache focused on the right side. It's not completely paralyzed, because I can partially close my eye if I focus and try real hard, and I can slightly twitch my cheek. A friend of mine who's a nurse immediately thought it was Bell's Palsy, and as we looked up descriptions online, it was a near perfect match. She went with me to a clinic, which referred us to a neurologist, and that was his diagnosis too. I'm thankful there's a neurologist to go to here, but one of the first questions he asked me was if I had been in a room with two open windows and breeze (a typical Moroccan explanation for the cause of sickness!). I thought "Oh buddy, if you're going to lead with that, I don't know if I can trust you!" But then the rest of his diagnosis and advice was right on and matched what we had read online, and he seemed to know what he was doing. He said they don't know what causes it, but the facial nerve is inflamed, possibly because of a virus, causing the partial paralysis, and he prescribed a steroid - Prednisolone - to reduce the inflammation, and instructed me to tape my eye shut to protect it, since it couldn't protect itself. I asked about Lyme Disease (which they don't really have here, but I've recently been in France and California, where it's more common). He didn't think that could be the cause, because there weren't other symptoms like fatigue, fever and full body aches.

 I picked up the prescription and started taking the steroids, and worked from home this afternoon, instead of going in to the office. A long hot shower felt good on my head and face.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Days 13-14: DIY Eye Taping

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 8: Successful Eye Patch Innovation

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 50 - Prednisone Was The Culprit!

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more