Sue
Message 1 of 1
The first time I had Bell's Palsey was a terrible shock!!! Never knew anything about it before that and was scared & horrified! Not to mention ... embarrassed. After lots of prednisone & muscle relaxers, facial exercises and 2 months of hiding out, I had what they called "a miraculous recovery" and they told me that the good news was that I would NEVER have it again!!! They also never figured out why or what happened. Well, they were wrong!!! 12 years later ... I was pregnant with my 2nd son and again my face "fell". The doctor wanted to do the steroid treatment again and I panicked because I was pregnant and felt it would not be good for the baby. After a couple of weeks, they finally convinced me to take the same treatment as before and I was better in about 2 months. (It did not seem to harm my baby) Although I can still tell my face is not right, no one else seems to see it unless I cry or get tired or stressed, so I guess I was pretty lucky. Now ... here I am ... 11 years after my second time and I again have a drooping face! I have a theory, but so far, have been unable to prove it. I have extremely bad teeth and it is not uncommon for me to have infections at the root of my teeth that I don't even know that I have until the pain is excruciating. Also, about a month or so ago, I had a bad tooth pulled and I was delighted when I realized that my smile had finally balanced out some for the first time since 1977. I would like to find a dentist or doctor to agree with me so that I could have all my teeth pulled and see if my face straightens out then. To end my story ... I would like to let anyone know that is dealing with this for the 1st, 2nd, or worse ... It is not the worse thing that could happen! Yes, it is extremely embarrassing and very scarey (at first) and is even somewhat uncomfortable. But it is something you can deal with and it does eventually, go away. The 1st time I had it, I was feeling very sorry for myself when a co-worker at my new job told me to quit feeling so sorry for myself because she had been born without the nerves in half of her face and would always be partially paralyzed this way! That kind of woke me up! After all, mine was only temporary! So, hang in there!