Bell's Palsy

[Care]

Hello,
My husband woke up 5 days ago with his right side of the face paralized. He went to the Neurologist did MRI scan (everything came clear). He told him that it's a BP and prescribed him a medicin called Valtrex to kill any type of virus he has. This medicin doesn't have cortizone but anyone else around us says that he can only cure if he takes cortizone. The doctor explained to me that they used to prescribe it ages ago and that nothing have proven that it cures BP and now a days they only prescribe it when the patient have pain. Since my husband doesn't feel any kind of pain, he said that it's not necessary for him to take cortizone.
I am really worried for him and I appreciate your views and reply.

[Tizz]

Hello,
So sorry that your hubby is suffering with BP. I too am suffering with
BP and this is my 5th time. The Dr's usually give Steroid/Anti-Viral dosepacks
to take. I went to the Dr today and was given Prednisone does pack but
wasn't given and Anti-Viral med which I wish I had as well.

This time around for me has been the worst and I was really concerned that it was
a stroke instead of BP because of the pain im having behind my right ear into
the lower part of my skull. I hope the steroids begin to take effect soon since this
is now day 6 and im really tired of getting and having BP.

I hope your hubby recovers very soon.

[Care]

Hello Tizz! Thank you for your email.

I'm so sorry to hear that you have BP for the 5th time. That must be very frustrating for you. Did any of the Doctors. you visited know the origin of your BP? As you know it can be either a cold, stress, virus, or you're very sensitive from sudden change of temperature. It's very important to know the origin so you can prevent it from happening again.

My husband is much better thank God. He's almost 90% recovered.

I hope you'll get better really soon. Take some B12 and take care of your eye.

Good luck!

[Tizz]

Thank you for your reply....Not many people on here seem to reply which is
kind of sad.
All I can say is that prior to this onset and also the last onset 5+ yrs ago I remember
having a terrible ear ache so im guessing that triggered it. I started taking B12 this
morning after I read that it may help along with my Steroids. I haven't seen any type
of improvement yet. Thanks again for replying

[Care]

Hello Tizz,

Yes not a lot of people reply. I'm very glad to know that you started taking B12. I read a lot of good things about it and a lot have said that normaly people see some difference after 6 weeks when they're on steroid but with B12 they start seeing a difference after the second week.

I really hope you'll get better very soon. You need to be very patient and try to relax yourself as much as you can. Stress is the enemy of BP.

I think you need to do a proper check up for your ear once you get better at a specialist.

Another thing I'm interested to talk about is the period after having BP. My husband is scared to have it again and he's always worried now with whatever he does. He's more carefull so in other word it affects people psycologically.

Take care Tizz and keep me informed of what will happen with you especially that you started taking B12

[Tizz]

Hello....

Im not sure why I keep getting it but like I said,The last time I had it
was 5+ years ago. No one really knows why and we as people that get it
have no way of knowing when it will accure again. I rarely get
Ear ache's or have Ear infections so that is a sign for me but this
time I never even thought about it I guess because of the stress I
am currently under. It never even entered my mind until I woke up
looking crazy on Thursday Lol.

I would tell your hubby to just not think about it reaccuring because he
may or may not ever have BP again. Once its gone,I don't ever think about
it. I think today I see a little glare of hope that its improving but im not
quite sure,Maybe wishfull thinking!! I know the pain behind my right ear
has finally gone away and that really was hurting,Maybe thats a sign the
meds are finally working. Ive never had it longer then 2 weeks and 3 weeks
at the very most,Some people they say they have had it for months and even
years. Boy that would really suck. Im only 41 and this is the 5th time.
Anyway,tell your hubby not to worry about it coming back and be happy that
it has finally gone away.!!

[Tizz]

Hey there,
Well the Prednisone isn't doing much for the Bellspalsey so I called
the health dept back and the Dr called me in a Antiviral med
called Acyclovir thats used to treat Shingles,Chicken Pox,Herpes Zostar
etc. Ive never taken this before and its 2000mg a day which seems like
alot. I hope it doesn't make me sick and does the job.
Will let you know how these meds do.

[Care]

Hello Tizz,

Hope you are feeling better. Actually Anti Virals are prescribed to kill the virus (in case there's any). They say it's very important to eliminate and kill the origin of BP especially in the early stage that's why they use Anti Virals. Your Dr. prescribed you Steroids cause you were also in pain which wasn't the case of my husband.

Take care

[Tizz]

Hey there,
Well today is day 14 and I have finally started seeing some improvements. The only
bad thing is that the last few days my face on the paralized side has felt like
someone beat me with a baseball bat.The pain has been that bad and I have never
experienced that before.
I can't tell much about my eye, But Ive been able to see my mouth start to get
back to its normal shape and eating and drinking is alot easier. Did your hubby have
pain in his face like this?? Its really strange why the pain is there. Im just glad that
im seeing some improvement 14 days after the fact!!

[Care]

Hello Tizz,

So glad to hear that you are starting to see some improvements. My husband didn't have any pain from the beginning until the end. But I read previously that any kind of twitching or pain means that everything is coming back to normal. But if the pain is too bad then you probably need to speak to your Dr.

My husband is fine now but he's having headaches so I don't know if it has to do with BP. Anyway he's gonna go for blood tests to see if everything is OK.

Have you done any blood tests right after having a BP?

Anyway take care tizz and hope to hear that you got much much better and have no more pain