Realising you have facial paralysis can be pretty scary. For me the hardest thing was not knowing what was going to happen. There is so little information about Bell’s palsy when you go to a GP and there isn’t really much they can do to help you other than a short amount of steroids and waiting it out. I spoke about how I found out I had Bell’s palsy and the whole process before so feel free to pop over to that post. I have not managed to regain control of my face and it has returned 90% to how it was. Only I notice some small things that are not noticeable at all to others.
I am very lucky and my facial paralysis was temporary as it is for most. The quicker you react the better. I just thought I had an ear infection and noticed my eyebrow had dropped a little. I went to the GP to talk about the ear pain and luckily my Doctor was quick to see the signs.
Medication wise the earlier the better is a 10 day course of steroids at a very strong dose. This helps the healing process but won’t stop the paralysis. It will get worse before it gets better. Mine started with my eyebrow and very quickly one side of my face had no movement at all. Keep taking the medication and resting. Bell’s palsy is when the nerves in one side of your face just stop responding. It can be from damage to the nerve or just come on out of nowhere. I also got very dizzy so had some anti sickness medication.
If you’re able to be off work then take that space out for yourself. I was not in the position to do this sadly and it made it all scarier to deal with. You will get very dizzy and disoriented so will need to rest a lot. The best medication is sleep and a lot of it. Sleep is going to give your body the time to rebuild those nerves.
Vitamins are particularly great also, I still take vitamin B12 and D3. I just got some off Amazon and made sure to take them daily. I saw a lot of difference after I started taking them. They just help nerves rebuild, especially the B12. If you prefer you can get these vitamins naturally through food then this can also help. If you have the motivation eat well and rest.
After doing some research there is mixed information about facial exercise. Some say it can lead to synkinesis which is a risk. I personally needed to set myself a routine to monitor improvement so followed morning and night facial exercise. I still do these but less often I really found the ones that helped me most were by Austin Goh (this one makes you feel silly but you feel the muscles moving) and also this video about facial exercises for Bell’s palsy. It was through doing these I noticed the difference in movements in my face which gave me hope of recovery.
Face rollers can be really helpful also they can massage the muscles and nerves on your impacted side. It doesn’t have to be an expensive one you just want to keep massaging your face and you can do this while relaxing.
Some more items that I found useful were eye drops and eye patches. There comes a point when you may not be able to close your eye. I was lucky that I could mostly close mine but to help I still used eye patches to rest. Eye drops help keep your eye hydrated as you’re not blinking and doing so naturally.
This whole experience can really impact your mental health so most of all surround yourself with people you love and things you enjoy doing. It’s also important to check in with people who have experienced the same. I found the Bell’s palsy subreddit so positive and useful in keeping upbeat and it helped me see that lots of people recovered.
This is of course my experience and it can be different for everyone. Have you suffered with Bell’s palsy? My messages are always open or hit me up on Twitter.
What a comprehensive insight in to Bells Palsy and how it affects your life.
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