i HAVEN`T SEEN HIM OF LATE. But I shall ask him that next time I see him.
iT HAS BEEN A MONTH AND EVERYTHING IS COMING ALONG WELL, THERE HAS BEEN SIGNS OF RECOVERY. I HAVE FOUND THAT THE RAIN A COLD WEATHER IRRITATES THE AREA THAT HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY BELLS PALSY. THE ODD PART IS THAT I HAD A MAJOR HEADACHE ONE WEEK PRIOR AND I WAS GIVEN PERCOCET AND VALIUM AND EXACTLY ON WEEK LATER I WOKE UP TO GOUT AND TWO DAYS LATER BELLS PALSY AND THE DOCTOR SAYS THAT THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH EACH OTHER, AFTER READING SOME OF THESE POSTS I NOT AGREEING WITH WHAT I WAS TOLD.:|
They diagnosed my almost straight away and called for the Neurologist who confirmed it. He has given me 60 mg Prednisolone for 5 days and 10 mg for 5 days. I was concerned about putting weight on and now am concerned that this does is not enough to be of any help because he reduced it because of my fear of the weight gain.
I have also got eye drops and artificial tears. Tomorrow I go to the eye specialist and the Neurologist just for a quick check.
Am so self conscious about this, am embarrassed to tell people and certainly dont want to see anyone. I feel ill but am not sure if that is with the worry. I have head pain, pain in my cheek bone and in my mouth my teeth hurt. Food tastes horrible I have a strange taste in my mouth and find it hard to get the food into my mouth.
At the moment we are in Singapore, we have lived here 5 and half years but in 3 weeks time we are returning to the UK permanently so I have the stress of packing up our house and moving everything back home.
My husbnad is working from home to be with me and says we should go out for a walk but I just wnat to lay on the sofa and do nothing. Should I get out and about and do some exercise. I usually go on the treadmill for 45 minutes every morning but wonder if I should once I feel up to it. Will it do any harm. When people say do facial massage can this be done my my husband our does it need to be a specialist.
I am so frightened and very weepy. I know I should feel positive but am finding it very hard right now and all I feel is worry.
BELL'S PALSY TUTORIAL (OR: HOW I LEARNED TO COPE WITH B.P.) from and "old girl"
two years on aug 27 2010.. one of the girls at work said, "one of your eyes doesn't match the other". i worked until dec 31 2010 and then, because i was so tired i couldn't go on, i retired. THANK HEAVENS ONE OF THE DRS. SAID TO ME AS I WENT OUT THE DOOR, "OH AND DON'T BE SUPRISED IF YOU FEEL TIRED FROM ALL THIS." so...i was lucky, i guess that i had 34 years in at work. after another 6 months, it went over to the right side (partially) without leaving the left side... then after another 6 mo and it went completely back to the left. by then though, it WAS starting to improve. as long as i didn't try and wear any makeup or night creams or absolutely ANYTHING on my face. it seem as if ever single line on my face is somehow channeled into my left eye! so for two years no face care. but; I DIDN'T CARE ANYWAY. in a way it's true, you do find out what is important in life, but; as my daughter (also redheaded) said, "and mascara is THE most important thing."
so::: since this is october tomorrow; i find i have forgotten how to apply makeup. and most of what i had is all dried up anyway. so it hardly matters anyway. i can't really say now 'less is more.' and, i wonder if i didn't look pretty slutty pre bell's.
now, although i am aware of it anytime i think of it (which is plenty after all this time-/you'd think it would be the other way around) it IS GOING AWAY - i think.. it has been gone to anyone who looks at me, and didn't remember what i used to consider my "daily face." somewhere in all of it my life became a little simpler. i CAN wear some makeup. including a very select kind of eye shadow (NO SHIMMER OR GLITTER OR CREAMY ETC.) ONLY FLAT and applied with one of those sponges so it doesn't fluff down into your eye (s). eyeliner is still iffy.. i can do it, but; i pay for it in a couple of hours. I HAVE WORN WATERPROOF MASCARA TWICE (IN THE LAST 2 MONTHS.) i tried that about a year ago and boy that was a mistake. i also can use cleansing cream as long as i wipe it off with warm clean and then COLD face cloth.
one of my opthomolotists told me to only use certain eye drops - without preservatives as some people are allergic to most of them. he gave me 3 dif samples. while it's true i used eye gell in the beginning @ night, after i found out about the allergy thing i was able to not use them.
MORE RE: MAKEUP, ETC.~
ODD AS IT SEEMS, sometimes a benedryl makes me feel better (my eyes that is), as it's nearly the same feeling as bad allergy attack. + i have found that loreal has some stuff called bb cream (in 4 tints) that work out better than any of my former liquid foundations (both expensi ve and not) and nearly every product line has it. i dont' know how any other lines of bb would work - i have only just started using it. formerly(last 6 months) i have used syrum on the more ruddy parts of my face (t zone) and then minerals to half way even out my complection. but; two weeks ago i started using this bb cm, and i think i'm going to like it from now on.
i KNOW i'm better because after all this time i am starting to care about stuff like this in a different way. i mean i'm INTERESTED in it again. i always LOVED MAKEUP and i'm starting to enjoy it again.
mascara is still non existed for me. anythime i try it i regret it. i am what would be considered an "old girl" but; there is a young one at my work who also said she had had b.p. over 3 years ago and whenever she gets tired and or stressed she can "feel" it again.
WELL BOY WAS SHE RIGHT ABOUT THAT. i had had two brief attacks of what i assume were b.p. previously in my life both about a week (if that long) and 10 or 12 years apart. so i knew what i had from the beginning and figured it would go away a whole heck of a lot sooner than it did (like TWO YEARS SOONER).
ADDITIONAL POINTS:
My husband had been very sick for two years, but; is better now. i thought i sailed through that, but; i suppose not. i had taken ENBREL for a miniscule amt of psoriasis ( a little more than a year) but; i'm sure that lowered my immune thing. so if you don't have to take any of that kind of thing don't do it. i made my dermatologist give it to me. BUT;;; psoriasis is an immune thing too! no one ever told me anything about Vitamin B12. i didn't get my prednisone in time AND i didn't get the antiviral at all. in addition to that i had a light case of shingles about about a year before the b.p. started.
don't let anyone tell you that you are shallow if you are worried about how you look. it's a very big part of who you are (or think you are) i't part of your persona.
get all the rest you can (and i'm gonna go hunt up some B12). be a little self centered for now. You're sick dammit!
i only mention loreal because it's what i bought the first time. i'm sure others are just as good.
the kind of eye drops i use are systane-ultra - although he gave me two other kinds of samples that day. i remember he said to go buy whichever kind i felt i preferred out of the three.
i ALSO keep one of those "allergy relief" kinds too. SOMETIMES I FEEL BETTER IF I USE THE SYSTANE FIRST (TO WASH IT OUT) AND FOLLOW UP WITH A LITTLE "BURN IT OUT" FEELING - SOMETIMES 2 OR 3 TIMES IN A ROW BEFORE I CAN GO ON i keep it at my makeup table, at my bedside, at the computer, in my handbag, and in the car. it's like nosespray. you need it when you need it.
so that's how i have learned to cope. and i realize that i am very lucky.
i loved my work, but; decided early on that it was god's way of telling me i needed to retire.
only kidding a little bit ~~ :^ ))
GOOD LUCK! fm/old girl
A week ago today, I was at church and started to notice a few strange things....my right eye felt as if it were swollen because it seemed to have closed quicker than the left, I was having major sensitivity in my left ear (it was as if there were a microphone at the singers mouth and the speaker was in my left ear - wow did it hurt). I went home from church and took a short nap because I had a headache on the back left side of my head. When I got to church that evening, I noticed that when I went to take a picture with my camera, I couldn't squint with my left eye. I of course started to panic and went to the restroom. I noticed that although the left side of my face was the side that felt normal, it was not moving as the right side was. I immediately went back into the service and requested prayer. I am faith storng and know that the Lord is with me while I walk through this valley and I know he will see me through to the end. My advice is to stay calm, rest, drink lots of water, take your steroids, and remain positive as much as possible. It sux to go through this but it will pass and the positive side of it is....you will be able to relate and even help someone else going through this down the road. The Lord says he will not let us go through anything we can't handle and that we are never alone while going through a battle. Keep your head held high and when you get feeling down, do something fun or uplifeting with one of your closest friends - laughter is great medicine even though you don't have your full smile. My thoughts and prayers are with anyone going through this. I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me!!! Feel free to email me if you want to talk.
I was diagnosed with Bells Palsy on September 15th so today is the beginning of week five. It affected the entire right side of my face. I took prednisone and Valtrex and plus been doing acupuncture 2-3 times a week since the third day of being diagnosed. Everything on the right side of my face is 98% healed with the exception of my eye, which still will not close. I've seen very little progress with my eye being able to close even though I can raise my eyebrow and move everything else on that side normally. Is anyone else experiencing the same type of problem or having some parts of the face healing but not others?
I posted about a month ago. Have now had BP for ~7 weeks and maybe just the slightest improvement (or maybe just wishful thinking). My GP, who is female and Chinese (I mention that only because I imagine this had a bearing on her referring me to acupuncture) was not happy with the neurologist ("all investigation, no action") so bundled me off to acupuncture.
I've had 3 session so far - interesting being a pincushion (:-)), but no tangible results yet. The neurologist had me have an MRI scan last week (I don't know what that indicated yet), and I am scheduled for a nerve conduction test in a few weeks time.
It hasn't really changed anything I do yet, except I probably am eating less (not a bad thing in itself ;-)) because unfortunately most of what I eat tastes different, and usually not in a good way. I also spoke to a physiotherapist friend of mine who says she does some work with BP sufferers, tells me to keep 'dragging' (maybe not the best word) my affected cheek upwards - try not to let things wither away, so to speak.
I'm starting to get a little frustrated, but I can see here that there are people who have had the condition may years, so I'm not about to start feeling sorry for myself just yet! I appreciate people posting their experiences and suggestions, anything that cannot hurt is worth trying. Good luck to all.
Before 12 days i woke up very fresh,took bath but after that i noticed in mirror something wrong with my eye and then i felt its in my lips as well. Doctor diagnose it bell"s palsy. I am taking steroids and physiotherapy as well. But still i cant close my eye and same problem with my lip. I was really upset before reading this article. But now i am encouraged after reading other people"s experiences. I will start my office from tomorrow.
But i am worried because i am gaining weight from last 12 days. Please someone tell me can i do my exercise and continue to drink apple vinegar which i was drinking to loose weight.
XD