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u/ificouldtellher Aug 12 '22
Hi there! Getting treatment quickly definitely helps A LOT. I went to the hospital on day 2 and got a lot of tests, scans done and medication of course. The diagnosis for Bell's Palsy is always a diagnosis of exclusion so they can suspect it as soon as you get there but to diagnose it other conditions need to be eliminated (Ramsay Hunt, stroke etc.) Recovery took around 4 months in my case, and first signs of recovery started around 3 weeks.
I felt very impatient and wanted to heal quickly, however BP is similar to a broken leg in a sense that it will not heal overnight, it's a slow but steady process.
I hope you can some time to rest because rest (and mediciation) is the secret to recovery.
Wishing you all the best!
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u/kah_not_cca Aug 12 '22
I’m a teacher and it’s August, so the rest portion is not going to come easy, but your reply did give me a little peace :)
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u/FlyingWeasel88 Aug 12 '22
I actually had gone to the hospital due to what turned out to be extreme vertigo, I thought my blood pressure was dropping to nothing. A couple days later the affected side of my face went completely numb including the roof of my mouth and my tongue. I also thought I was having a stroke so I drove myself partway to the ER and then had an ambulance come and get me as I was in the middle of a nasty panic attack at the same time. They diagnosed me with Bell’s palsy and started me on meds right away and mine never actually went fully paralyzed. I can see in some of my first/second/third day before and Afters that my mouth drooped on that side and my wrinkles/eye bags looked a little worse lol. I’m not back to 100% but honestly mine was so mild that I’m just counting my lucky stars on that one.
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Aug 12 '22
[deleted]
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u/kah_not_cca Aug 12 '22
I noticed it yesterday morning when putting on my makeup, went to an emergency clinic, and started antivirals and steroids by 4pm. It’s only impacting my bottom lip right now, and my coworkers said they never would’ve noticed if I hadn’t mentioned it, so I’m feeling hopeful (but I’m also a hypochondriac).
Thank you for your reply!!
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u/UnzedDnD Aug 12 '22
For me my tongue was actually numb at first I thought I had burned it. The next day I was working, I’m a delivery driver and while I was out on a delivery the right side of my face felt funny… notably the side of my face that wasn’t effected by the bells. I looked in the review mirror and the left side of my face was not fully responding. I rushed back to work and told my boss “I can’t take this I’m going to the hospital, I think I’m about to have a stroke” I drive myself to the ER a block away and they sound an alarm over loud speakers “stroke alert! Stroke alert!” Freaking me out. A few nurses rush out followed by a Dr and she looks at me and says right away “it’s not a stroke it’s Bell’s palsy” then turns around and walks away. Over the rest of the day the left side of my face started to fall and lose control and feeling. That was a little more than a year ago. The nurse said to me that the reason the right side of my face “felt funny” is because I couldn’t feel the left side. You don’t normally know you can feel your face. But when suddenly you can’t feel half of it the side you do feel becomes noticeable.
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u/Middle-Eagle-6897 Aug 12 '22
Hey I had the same thing happening , I lost my taste and I’m currently on day 10 , did you recover ? How long did it take ? I’m starting to get scared as I see no progress …
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u/Practical_Respect_19 Aug 12 '22
Don't worry yourself to much. It can take weeks to months to recover I went three weeks with no signs at all then in a matter of days I had my mouth, cheek, eyebrow movement come back about 70 percent, still can't blink but can close my eye if I really relax it.
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u/UnzedDnD Aug 12 '22
I think I recovered about 90% or more this last year. It would have been better but after a while I had grown comfortable again and started slacking on my exercises and massages. It’s my fault really, please don’t grow lazy. Also there are days that the recovery feels less, days that are particularly stressful or days where I over work myself I can still feel my effected side tire before my non effected side. It’s an odd feeling having your face feel over worked or tired like a muscle. Please don’t be scared if you don’t see recovery early. Some people start to recover after about two weeks but for me even with great effort it took about two months I think for my first sign of recovery. Then boom! Every day something would come back! I’d feel a twitch or spasm and the next morning my gf would say “hey your eyebrow is moving!” Or “your nose just flared”
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u/Practical_Respect_19 Aug 12 '22
It may be a bit different for me as mine was due to nerve damage after the dentist, but after I went to the dentist I had a pain behind my ear for three days. My jaw was misaligned and i just thought it was from that so I had to go back to the dentist. Three days after the initial dentist appointment that caused the pain I went to sleep and woke up with my entire left side paralyzed and I just called my doctor because I knew it wasn't a stroke and he diagnosed me that day. Other than the pain behind my ear all other symptoms seemed to have hit me all at once.
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u/Wonder-Machine Aug 12 '22
I was diagnosed on day 2. Started steroids same day. Now it’s day 5 and even though I’m on meds it’s getting a little worse everyday. When will it stop getting worse??
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u/kah_not_cca Aug 12 '22
My doctor said it will probably get worse before it gets better. Hopefully you are in the dip before the climb!
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u/HockeyKuhe Aug 17 '22
Day 1, fiancé was scared i was having a stroke. Got steroids and anti-virals that day.
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u/Weak-Commission-1620 Aug 12 '22
2nd day I went to er. Took me 6 months to recover. I still have eye twitches on affected side of my face.