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!

[ 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...

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: ...

I woke up with burning eyes and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. It felt like I had burned it. I asked a coworker that day if he'd ever burned his tongue with curry - because that's what I'd eaten for dinner the night before and I'd gone to bed without brushing my teeth. It hurt, and I couldn't taste...or things tasted strange and bland and metallic-like. I had a bad headache all day, particularly on the right upper side, behind my right ear, below my right jaw, and the back right of my neck. I found it difficult to eat, but wasn't quite sure why, so I just gave up and didn't finish my dinner. Things tasted strange/bad and my mouth just seemed too tired to keep eating, even though I was hungry. As the day progressed, I felt more rotten and achy. I assumed I must be getting the virus that had been going around and I went to bed early.

This is me...and my smile...before Bell's Palsy struck. Thank you Lauren di Matteo for amazingly capturing my smile in that photo! It means even more to me now that I'm faced with the slight possibility that I might not get it back again...or that it could take a long while, or never be the same! Monday was a normal day...nothing happened out of the ordinary that could have brought on Bell's Palsy. Several people at work had been sick with a virus - bad headaches and upset stomachs. It was a rest day for me.  I went for a walk through the old medina (the ancient quarter of my city in Morocco), shopping for second hand items, etc. I stayed up late cooking. And I was tired and went to bed without brushing my teeth. That's all I can think of that was different about the day.