Hello friends and visitors! I spent last night in the emergency room. Yesterday afternoon I noticed that I was having trouble closing my left eye. In the evening I was having trouble eating my dinner. It felt like I had just got back from the dentist and the novocaine had not worn off. After doing a little research on WebMD.com and talking to a nurse friend of mine, I decided I'd better get it checked out. (Do a symptom search on WebMD on "drooping face" and you can read all about it.) The ER doctor told me that I have Bells Palsy. I was familiar with this condition because my best friends dad has been through the same thing. I saw an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor today and he has given me some meds to fight the virus and relieve the swelling. It is usually caused by a viral infection. He said that a lot of people just have the virus in their bodies lying dormant until for whatever reason it decides to act up. I do not have any of the "obvious" symptoms like an ear infection, blisters or soars inside the mouth, etc. The only other symptoms I had/have is a bad headache since yesterday morning and a "metallic" taste in my mouth since Sunday. They do not always know why it happens. It does happen to people of any age. About 85% of the people that this happens to have a full recovery. Of the remaining 15%, some have a partial recovery and a very small percentage don't recover. I could see the effects for 3 to 6 weeks or even more. I go back in about 10 days to be re-evaluated because as of now, the symptoms may still be getting worse. They should be able to give me an idea of how long this will last at that time, hopefully!
If you or anyone you know starts having any of these symptoms, get medical attention ASAP!! These symptoms are the same as someone who is having a stroke so I urge anyone who feels their face is starting to droop or act up like this to take it seriously. I should not have waited 7 hours to go to the ER, I was lucky that it was only Bells Palsy. Things could have been a whole lot worse.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to hit me up. I may have left something out, it's been a hectic couple of days.
http://www.webmd.com/brain/understanding-bells-palsy-basics
