how long to bell's palsy recovery?

I'm on day 14 of my Bell's Palsy.  I'm starting to see some movements on my face, although I still cannot smile, I'm so glad to see any kind of movement.  Hopefully, a full recovry is in sight.

I have had Bell's Palsy since Feb 13 I went to sleep o.k and woke up 2hrs later with a headache that felt as if someone was splitting my head open with a knife. My right eye still doesn't close and the entire right side of my face is numb. I have also lost my sense of taste. Still unable to really eat anything that i have to really chew. I have been on a soup smoothies cream potatoe and grits diet.. lost about 11lbs too.. Living in the south we all can stand to loose a little weight so not mad about that.. I work with the public and run a local business, when i first realize what my face was going to look like and was upset. But after realizing that 2 yrs ago I was battling Cancer but now Cancer free. I soon started to rejoice because I and my family had no clue what was going on and was afraid that it was a Stroke because we had never heard of Bells Palsy. My speech is not so good but i manage to repeat myself a couple of times and they understand me. I was wearing a patch in the office but it seemed to create more question from customers and it forced me to talk more by having to explain what was going on and talking alot seem cause my eye to heart and my mouth to get extremly dry so i only wear it while sleeping. I have spoken to so may people that have been affected by this and have gotten so many different stories and have gotten so much hope and encouragement from them all. I try to find as much humor in all of this as possible I tell my son not to make me laugh because I like the a happy man on one side and I sad man on the other. We get in the mirror sometimes and i make crazy faces just to cope with it. No matter what God is still good and he will not put more on me then I can live with.

Hi, I am on my 5th day of having Bell's Palsy. I am trying to stay positive that it will go away soon. I am in Utah,am originally from Oregon. That is where i want to go back to. All my Family is there, the most important members are as follows: My Son, Daughter, Son-In-Law, Mom, Grand-Daughter she is excemptionally Special of them all.

Hello My wedding is in two weeks and I got face paralysis I feel so depress I don't know what to do I went to the doctor he said if I am lucky maybe I will have improves in two weeks...

I've had bells palsy for 2 1/2 months now (since Jan. 16th) and still no real improvement. I can blink my eye better and finally I don't need to tape it closed at night, but there is no movement in my smile or in my eye brow. I try to remain positive but it's getting very hard. They say most recover from this but I'm 2 1/2 months in with it and cant smile at all or raise my eyebrow on the left side. It's an aweful thing to get. I took the prednisone for the first 10 days, I took the anti-viral meds, then not much to do other than eat vitamins (especially the B vitamins, and wait. - I hope others have better recovery, mine seems to be sooooooo slow.

Mine started Jan 30th. I've been on Prednisone & anti-virals ever since (have always taken the Bs). In the past week I've just gotten my eyelid down to touching the top of my pupil. Nothing else is moving yet. Dry eye sensation is driving me nuts. I have ended up just keeping it 'greased' most of the time (Refresh PM). Due to the unpredictable eye issues, I still can't drive. Dr. says no recovery lasting this long is not unheard of but I've broken all the records for his previous patients (he initially said I should be back to work in 2-3 weeks). Referred me to neurologist in early March but they can't get to me until April 17th. He said they wouldn't really be able to do anything different to help, but the nerve damage measurements may give us a better prognosis. I keep looking for something to tell me at what point I should consider eye weights or something so I can drive and go back to work. Have pretty much adjusted to to the mouth not working. I use 'Breathe Right' strips to hold my nose open on that side.

Such awful timing. Most people do have extreme improvement in 10-14 days. I hope you are among them!

Hi. My son had Bell's Palsy a couple years ago and we are still working with him to get is facial nerves working again. I see that you had it multiple times, I am wondering if it could be tied to something in the food. Did you notices any similarities in your diet before this happened each time? We were at a party the night before it happened and he ate a lot of sugar and then went swimming in a pool. Any info that you could give would be helpful. Thanks, Ginger

Thank you for your article. I have had Bells Palsy for 1 year and 2 months. It can be very frustrating and a worry that it may come back with avengence. Thank you for your mail.

I don't think we know when it gets better and I find that a bit of a pain but all we can do is wait.  Good Luck

i also have this bell's palsy but the only thing we can do is ask god for help! there is a vers in the bible i would like to share with you it helps me when i feal helpless over comming me because of this it is exodus chapter 15 vers 2 the lord is my strength and my defense he has become my salvation! this brings hope and peace to my heart and you know that this is the first step to recover

I am 22 and I have had BP for 20 days, I took 2 weeks off work and as soon as I found out I had BP I stopped eating sweets, no sweets at all, no candy, no bread, nothing that be high in sugar. My diet consists in steamed veggies and grilled chicken or grilled steak, it might be hard for some people but its not that bad.

I also tried acupuncture the very next day of my diagnosis with BP, results are GREAT, I know its very hard to stay calm when you have BP specially us girls (I was FREAKING OUT!!) but then I realized that stressing about it was not going to make it any better since it was stress that caused BP. Think possitive, do facial excersises every day, blow a ballon, or just blow on a straw and make faces in front of a mirror, also massage face with a hot wet towel.

I also take vitamin B every day, thanks to acting fast, doing the excersises, and keeping a healthy diet I can now close my eye completly, I can blink normal, I can almost fully smile, I still fell a little numb but every little sing of recovery makes me extremely happy.

Remember NO SUGAR!!!!! it only makes recuperation a slower process, also protect from the wind, use a hoddie and sun glasses.

I'm 48 and was just diagnosed with Bell's Palsy a week ago. It started out so mildly that I had no idea it was Bell's Palsy; I thought it was some facial swelling and right eye droop related to a head cold I contracted shortly after swimming in the community pool. Interesting to note that I had water in my right ear after swimming and it did not drain for some time. I went to the doctor after four days due to worsening right eye droop and he diagnosed me with Bell's and put me on Prednisone for 13 days (max dose 40 mg then taper off). 

Last night I had one glass of red wine just before bed and woke up with pain in my right inner ear, like an infection. This is Day 6 and my symptoms are worsening; now the paralysis is making its way down to my mouth and I don't have voluntary control over full lip closure as it opens up by itself unless I made a concentrated effort to keep my lips together. 

I've read a lot of articles stating that Bell's Palsy may or may not be connected to the inner ear but in my case I have no doubt the two are related. I've had inner ear problems my entire life; everything from not being to equalize pressure in the ears after diving into water a few feet to chronic ear infections and I think that glass of red wine put me over the top and irritated my eustachian tube. I am mildly allergic to sulfites and there may be another link there as I've read Meniere's Disease (another inner ear disease) links allergies to inner ear problems. 

I have had Bell's Palsy for 35 years, I was recovering at a rate of 2% per year. I had recently picked up some Colloidal Silver for a problem with cysts on my neck, after 2 days my eye started to twitch and it persisted; after several days I realized that I was making a huge recovery from my BP, the front muscle in my neck is finally starting to show when I flex my neck and the other muscles on my face that were never used so made 0% recovery are also making quite a noticeable recovery. It has been 2 weeks, my cysts are gone and a remarkable recovery on my BP. I spray it directly onto my facial nerve, in my eye and in my ears. I hope you try it, it's amazing stuff!

Unfortunately, there is not set time limit to recover from Bell's palsy. However, in nearly 90% of cases, individuals affected with the condition make a full recovery after a few months. There are non-invasive treatments that you can have in the meantime, including facial fillers and Botox, to bring greater symmetry and facial balance. If you have any questions, a great website to visit is: 

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