Bell's Palsy PSA

It's really common and usually benign.

I got it last May and my face still isn't 100% back to normal. It took six weeks before I showed signs of improvement.

Cousin had it and is just getting back to normal from it. Took him like a month and a half.

what is the cause?

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what is the cause?

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The truth is, doctors don't know for sure. Stress is thought to be a contributing factor. So is diabetes. They also think a herpes type virus could be a cause. I had tons of stress and no diabetes or herpes so maybe there is something to the stress thing.

The physical cause is from the nerve behind your ear being damaged. The nerve runs through a small bone like tunnel. The nerve swells for whatever reason and it doesn't have anywhere to expand to in that tunnel and eventually damages itself. Then you have to wait on the nerve to "heal" before you can get back to normal.

The steroids and valtrax can help it heal faster but it will normally heal on its own over time. Some unlucky people never heal, but that's somewhat rare.

The faster you can get the steroids in your system the sooner the damage will slow or stop and the quicker it will potentially heal.

One other thing, some doctors believe in a shock therapy to keep the muscles stimulated when your nerves are dead in your face. Don't do it if you get BP. It can cause all kinds of "residuals". Anyone that has had it in the past will tell you not to do it. It doesn't help the healing process.

Someone on the other OT has been chronicling his battle with it, with regular updates: LINK.

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Stress is thought to be a contributing factor.

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My wife was yelling at the tv a few years ago, during an LSU/Bama football game. The next day her face was drooping.

We were just happy she wasn't having a stroke!


She started the steroids today. She noticed it yesterday and it got bad this morning. We have an eye patch and eye drops for the one that won't close. The ER folks said she seemed to have a mild case. The ER doc also said that Sylvester Stallone has it too and his has never gone away.......

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I've had it 2 times. Once on each side of the face. The first time I went to a doctor and they put me on valtrax and prednisone. It healed in 3 months. 2nd time I didn't go to the doctor and it took 6 months to heal. I still have "residuals". My eyes tear and nose runs a bit when I eat

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I've lost count of how many times I've had it. Varying sides, varying severity, varying duration. I bet I've had it 8 to 10 times.

No residuals. I don't know WTF is wrong with me.


I've never met anyone like me. I've had it so many times I've lost count. 7 to 11 range, first time when I was in middle school, well before "herpes" could have become an issue (rom a sexual standpoint)

I've come to believe it is viral in nature. We carry around all kinds of viruses that are dormant or whatever. If your immune system gets depressed enough, through stress or sickness, the virus can wake up. I believe it attacks the particular facial nerve that goes through a little narrow hole in your jaw, causes it to swell, and causes the paralysis.

I've done steroids and Valtrex. Even tried acupuncture. Not sure if any of it works.

In most of my cases I could feel it coming--notice a slight weakness or whatever. The sooner I got to the doctor, the better.

IN EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE it followed me being sick for a while--ear infection, strep, flu, stuff like that. If I get a cold nowadays I go to the doctor after about three days to nip it in the bud.

I have no obvious residuals, and none that I can readily detect. It was murder on my trumpet playing in middle/high school, though.

My roommate had this a few months back. She started weed to relieve the symptoms. It went away after about a month