I entered 2022 with great hope that this year would be an improvement over the past two Covid-riddled years. Business was exceptionally good for me in late 2021, despite the Covid challenges, and I still haven’t caught Covid, although this damn Omicron seems like it is going to find us all eventually.
But sometimes life throws surprises at us. On Monday, January 3rd, the first business day of 2022, I woke up to find the left side of my face paralyzed. The one side of my face was drooping, I could not close or focus my left eye, my eyebrows were on different planes and the left side of my mouth was inoperable. The rest of me seemed to be unaffected, but the clear signs of a stroke or TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) were apparent. I woke my wife, who is a Registered Nurse, who quickly checked me out and told me a trip to the Emergency Room was in my immediate future.
Off we went and I would end up spending about five hours in the good care of the UW Physicians. It’s amazing what great service one gets when the ER folks think you’ve had a stroke! No waiting! STAT on your chart! Everything happens in a hurry!
The good news is that I did not have a stroke or TIA. The bad news is that I had and still have Bell’s Palsy. I hadn’t heard of it before but now I know a lot about it. It affects about 50,000 Americans a year, although everyone I’ve talked to knows someone who has had it. It is most common in women, especially pregnant women, often strikes people with diabetes, and usually occurs in people between 15 and 60 years old. I fit none if these demographics.
It is thought that Bell’s Palsy is brought on by a cold, then the virus infects the large nerve behind the ear on either side of your head. Western medicine’s approach is to treat with anti-virus medication for seven days. The actual facial paralysis is left to clear itself up over time. There is no treatment for the facial paralysis.
Symptoms usually start to go away in a few weeks, but full recovery can take months. In about ten percent of cases, the paralysis does not go away ever.
In my case, the symptoms were pretty typical. I could not shut my left eye, so I had to use artificial tears frequently. In order to sleep without damaging my eye, I had to tape the eyelid shut. When the eye was open, I had great difficulty focusing, making reading difficult. The left eyebrow had a mind of its own. My left nostril didn’t work. And the left side of my mouth didn’t work, so I had to drink from a straw. In other words, really inconvenient but much better than a stroke.
Bell’s Palsy typically has no lasting impact. I kept working because my mind wasn’t affected, but my energy was lower than usual. The swelling of that big nerve caused pretty bad headaches.
I mentioned above that Western medicine doesn’t have a therapy for this disease. I’m a big fan of Western medicine and it is my first choice when they have something. In this case, there is nothing, so I went to my Chinese medicine doctor.
Chinese medicine doesn’t believe that Bell’s Palsy is caused by a virus; they say it is caused by cold air. I don’t know about that, but I started a pretty aggressive treatment of acupuncture and a couple of other therapies. Almost immediately, I started to improve. In fact, when the acupuncture needles were in my face, I could close my eye. When the needles were removed, I could not. But after three treatments, I can now close my eye all the time, my mouth is almost back to normal, and the headaches have stopped.
I’m optimistic that my recovery time is going to be weeks rather than months. The other good news is that Bell’s Palsy rarely recurs. But if you ever wake up with paralysis of one side of your face, hope you’ve got Bell’s Palsy! It’s the best answer you can get given the symptoms!
No comments yet.