Bells Palsy

Bells Palsy is a nerve disorder that causes a facial paralysis. Half of your face will droop, and anything like smiling, eating, drinking, is very difficult. The eye also tears up excessively. This nerve disorder is like that of a stroke. The only difference being that this only affects the face, and is not progressive the way a stroke is.

Nerves that control the facial muscles will swell, or become locked up, (compressed). People between the ages of 16 up until age 60 are mostly affected by this disorder. But that is not to say that it cannot happen to persons over 60, but is just more rare.

This condition usually is a temporary one that takes anywhere from three up until six months to recover. A low percentage of people like between 5-10% may have a recurrence of symptoms. And a very small number of people may never make a recovery and have this palsy for their lifetime.

Symptomatology

The first thing to happen is that you have a sudden paralyzing of one side of the face or a weakness of the face. This weakness and paralysis makes it hard to smile, drink liquids, eat, and close the effected eye whichever facial side is being affected.

There might be ear pain on the affected side.

On the bad side, sounds will be magnified to you.

Ear pain is not uncommon

Headaches can occur

Poor sense of tasting and lack of appetite

The tears and saliva you produce will greatly increase

Why does this condition happen?

The condition has to do with a nerve that controls facial muscles. The nerve becomes very inflamed and swollen. This is sometimes because of a virus, which makes some of these nerves tight. A sinus infection is a known aggravator for the condition. When you have too much pressure from the bone as a result of whatever illness you've had there, this damages the nerve covering that is protective.

Other causes for this problem are the shingles and mononucleosis. It can also occur if you are having the common cold, are pregnant, or else you are diabetic. You should see your doctor if you are experiencing a facial weakness.

Diagnosis

They do not have any certain laboratory test that will confirm the diagnosis of Bells Palsy. It can be made mostly by the doctor looking at your face and asking you to do certain things to see whether or not you can move muscles.

Strokes are often times cause for facial weakness. To really confirm whether or not it is a stroke, your doctor may do some other tests such as an MRI, CT Scan or else, an EMG. An EMG is a test that tells doctors about the prescence of nerve damage and how severe it is.

Complications

Permanent damage to the facial muscles may result if the muscles of your face are totally damaged. Nerve fibers may also become damaged if the regrowth that should take place does not happen the way it should, becoming misguided.

Treatment of Bells Palsy

Though a full recovery is likely in many cases, your doctor may suggest medications such as those that are antiviral or steroids. Prednisone is a highly powerful drug that kills inflammation. Chances are that if this is caused by a virus, these drug types are likely to clear up the problem.

Surgery for Bells Palsy can be done in order to help the facial nerves with the pressure.

Physical Therapy may benefit muscles that have become paralyzed. Sometimes massage has been known to work along with the exercise of muscles in the face.