Immediately after I developed Bell's palsy I made a video so my family could see what I looked like. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxl4KoiBTEc]
that video has been viewed some 1300 times, and I still occasionally get messages that people send to me from youtube. So I thought I'd update everyone on my condition.
I basically have no trace of Bell's Palsy.
I'll briefly go through the symptoms and give an update
The 2 symptoms that remain:
Watery eye – My right eye still waters a lot. It is intermittent, but when allergies get bad or when I eat spicy food, tears fill my right eye. My optometrist wasn't concerned. In fact she said she would never know I had it if I hadn't told her.
Facial soreness – At first, my face was quite sore to the touch. That has mostly gone, but it still has moments when it is sore. Of course all on the right side. Not a daily occurrence, but weekly.
The symptoms that are no more:
Headache - By far the worst part of Bell's palsy for me was the headache. Most of the time it wasn't severe, though it was occasionally. What it was, was neverending. No matter what I took it stayed. When I woke up I had a headache, when I went to bed I had a headache. It was the same exact headache for 24 days. (I think I had a few hours without it one day toward the end, but it came back for a few more days.) A year later, I occasionally feel just a twinge of that headache, and I have flashbacks. I have this fear that it will come back and it is a terrible feeling. But it's gone
Dizziness / Lightheadedness – For the first 2 weeks or so I was very lightheaded. (By that I mean that when I get up or turn around quickly I would feel sort of dizzy.) And a couple of days, I was completely dizzy. (By that I mean that even when I close my eyes and lay down the world was spinning.) Totally gone.
Muted sense of Taste – You know how your tongue feels after you burn it? It has that dead spot right where the burn is. My whole tongue felt like that…kinda fuzzy and with a very muted sense of taste. This worked out well for me, because I lost at least 7 pounds during this period of my bizarre illness. My sense of taste, as well as any weight I may have lost, has fully returned.
Loud noises are extremely loud – For at least three weeks, when there was a loud noise, like my dog barking or if I would yell at someone, it was extremely loud. My ear would ring. Gone
Heartburn – In addition to all the above I had heartburn regularly during this period. I blame that on taking 3200 mgs of Motrin every day. I just added a Pepcid to the mix of pills I was taking and it went away. Gone
Facial paralysis -My face works completely. I can even whistle as well as I could before the palsy. I do notice that when I laaugh my right eye often closes, and I have one eye open further in pictures. But It's pretty well gone