NameLessBlue
New member
I was diagnosed by two different physicians with Bell's Palsy Thursday (12/10/09) morning. The night before, Weds, I had a really sore throat and a slight fever. My right eye was twitching a bit that same night, and several nights before (it may have been twitching since last Thurs. a week before the onset of Bell's Palsy). So now the right side of my face is paralyzed.
Causes of bell's palsy is unknown. The thought is that there's an inflammation of the facial nerve which runs down the right side of the head, and this usually happens after some sort of attack on your immune system, a fever, a cold, flu, etc. Other causes are HSV-1, VZV, which have been ruled out for me since I have no sexual activities, and such.
Physicians put me on prednisone 60mg taper down for 13 days. From all of the medical journals that I have read so far stated that prednisone was the best choice for recovery. May take 6 months or more for recovery. Add-on drug therapy from the studies included adding acyclovir, but the data was not strong enough for actually certain clinical recommendations. Both physicians decided not to start me on Acyclovir. Probably a good choice.
Does anyone have any advice or previous experiences with this? Is the diagnosis correct? What other drug therapies have people been on, any comments will help. Coping with this condition is hard right now. Physically I'm fine, but mentally it's nerve wrecking.
Just imagine going to bed fine one night and waking up realizing that you can't smile. What would you do if you lost your smile?
I just feel really unlucky right now because my entire life, I've been a healthy athletic person. I run 10 mile races, great immune system, and now all of a sudden this happens...not cool.
Causes of bell's palsy is unknown. The thought is that there's an inflammation of the facial nerve which runs down the right side of the head, and this usually happens after some sort of attack on your immune system, a fever, a cold, flu, etc. Other causes are HSV-1, VZV, which have been ruled out for me since I have no sexual activities, and such.
Physicians put me on prednisone 60mg taper down for 13 days. From all of the medical journals that I have read so far stated that prednisone was the best choice for recovery. May take 6 months or more for recovery. Add-on drug therapy from the studies included adding acyclovir, but the data was not strong enough for actually certain clinical recommendations. Both physicians decided not to start me on Acyclovir. Probably a good choice.
Does anyone have any advice or previous experiences with this? Is the diagnosis correct? What other drug therapies have people been on, any comments will help. Coping with this condition is hard right now. Physically I'm fine, but mentally it's nerve wrecking.
Just imagine going to bed fine one night and waking up realizing that you can't smile. What would you do if you lost your smile?
I just feel really unlucky right now because my entire life, I've been a healthy athletic person. I run 10 mile races, great immune system, and now all of a sudden this happens...not cool.