BPS-Bell's Palsy Syndrome
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Bell's Palsy Syndrome
Have you ever heard of Bell's Palsy before? For those who do not know what it is: It is a form of facial paralysis resulting from dysfunction of the cranial nerve. The Facial nerve that results in the inability to control facial muscles on the affected side. (This information comes from Wiki) There is no specific cause that can be identified as to what brings Bell's Palsy on.
To be very honest, I had never heard of this condition before, until one morning I got up and my face terribly strange almost numb! The right side of my mouth felt like it was a sleep like when you go to the dentist.
In this article I will be listing sections out of my own personal journal how I battled this disorder and handled certain aspects of it. PLEASE NOTE: My journal entries are under no way suggesting or giving any kind of medical advice. I decided to share this information for educational purposes only. Always contact your medical doctors with any questions you may have about this disorder or any other medical questions you may have.
To be very honest, I had never heard of this condition before, until one morning I got up and my face terribly strange almost numb! The right side of my mouth felt like it was a sleep like when you go to the dentist.
In this article I will be listing sections out of my own personal journal how I battled this disorder and handled certain aspects of it. PLEASE NOTE: My journal entries are under no way suggesting or giving any kind of medical advice. I decided to share this information for educational purposes only. Always contact your medical doctors with any questions you may have about this disorder or any other medical questions you may have.
Palsy Syndromes
First Few Journal Entries
BPS-Bell's Palsy SyndromeThese are my actual journal entries I wrote during my experience with BPS.
Oct 28, 2003
It started last Wednesday; my eye on the right side began twitching very badly. In the past it was a sure sign that I was tired and not getting enough sleep; by Saturday, my lips on the right side was twitching and that side of my face was feeling strange. My ear on the right side hurt like an earache but not as intense as an inner ear infection. The pain was behind the ear up the right side of my head to my temple. By Sunday I had a strange numbness on the whole right side of my face, making it hard to use my lips even for something simple as drinking from a glass or a cup.
Monday morning I called an herbal shop and spoke to someone I knew. When I explained the symptoms I was having, without thinking about it she said it is Bell's Palsy Syndrome. BPS will last one to two weeks up to three months. It is a temporary weakening of the facial nerves. The cause is not known nor is it understood. Speculations have been made that this condition is caused by auto-immune problems, Lyme disease and different kinds of infections. My herbalist friend told me that all of the cases that she had heard about said it was STRESS related. Which to be honest, in my case that would of made perfect sense because I was experiencing a huge amount of stress!
There is no real cure for BPS. Medical doctors suggest cortizone shots, antibiotics and a pain killer. This information came from a Medical Book that we were reading at the bookstore. "Usually doctors diagnose this disorder by process of elimination!"
After finding out what this condition could be my husband and I began doing some intensive research. We found that Wood Betony and Lecithin was very good to take for BPS symtoms. Wood betony is used for head and facial pain, nervous disorders and headaches. It relaxes nervous tension as well as opens up constrictive blood vessels which are the basis for headaches. Wood Betony also cleanses impurities from the blood. Lecithin is a type of lipid that is needed by every living cell in the human body. Lecithin consists mostly of the B vitamin choline. It improves brain function and is known to promote energy.
Oct 29, 2003
Well, this Bells Palsy Syndrome is not one of my better experiences in life! It is hard to eat because my lips are not working right! And to brush my teeth is almost funny! I cannot rinse the toothpaste out of my mouth! I sort of just put the water in there and let it pour out!
My right eye is really giving me problems; I have to hold my eyelid up to put mascara on. Oh, and washing my makeup off, let me tell you, my eye will not shut that good so basically when I am washing out my eyeball. AND burn, oh my goodness, it feels like fire being stuck in my eye! When I am in the shower, the water droplets feel like spikes!There is a positive thing here, with me being able to feel the burning sensation and the stinging sensation, at least the nerve endings are responding. My speech is slurring a lot and it makes me not want to talk.
Today I have felt a few muscle twitches, so maybe everything is starting to wake-up. I still have the pain though behind my right ear.
Oct. 31, 2003
There is a lot more muscle twitching in my face, my speech is slurring more then I would like it too. My eye is hurting a little more because of the sun and it not opening and closing the way it should.
But with the muscles twitching it makes me believe this syndrome is responding to the treatment I am doing. The pain is still there, the aspirin does not take the pain away but it does ease it some. Mostly it is just uncomfortable and a little awkward. I do hate when people stare at me, like I am a freak but I suppose they just do not understand.
A book I CANNOT be without!
Prescription for Herbal Healing: An Easy-to-Use A-Z Reference to Hundreds of Common Disorders and Their Herbal Remedies
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I really like this book. I have their other book to accompany this one: Prescription for Nutritional Healing: The A-To-Z Guide to Supplements. I have learned a lot from these books and for me, I always use both of them together?? I don't know why, but that is how I do it.
Bell's Palsy Syndrome
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- How to think yourself young
- A massive study of almost 200000 people shows that the live vaccine poses no increased risk for cerebrovascular disease (stroke); cardiovascular disease (heart attack), meningitis, encephalitis, encephalopathy, Ramsay-Hunt syndrome or Bell's palsy.
More Journal Entries
Nov. 02, 2003There has been a lot more pain the last couple of days; along with more twitching. Last night I took some Arnica tablets in 15 minute cycles, up to three before I went to bed. I also rubbed some arnica cream on the back of my neck in hopes of relieving some of the pain. Nobody likes pain, but I still see it as everything waking up! I do seem to have a lot of more inner ear pain the last couple of days so I have been using mullein oil also. I have used about 2 drops of oil and used small pieces of tissue as a stopper. I still take the wood betony and lecithin but I have increased the amount of BC powders to help keep the pain down a little. It seems that everything I do for the pain is very short termed. I can take a BC powder and feel okay for about 20 minutes, than the pain comes back as it was before.
Nov. 03, 2003
We are continuing to do research on this syndrome and have been finding different herbs that could perhaps help with different elements. This afternoon I made a decoction of onion and honey. The dosage is one tablespoon three to four times a day. Along with starting to incorporate skullcap with the wood betony I am taking.
Skullcap is used for nerves and has been used to rebuild nerve endings. Wood Betony is supposed to have better healing effects if it is taken with something else. So basically skullcap and wood betony complements each other. So as of this moment this is my schedule: Mornings: 2-Wood betony, 1-lecithin, 1-skullcap, 1-b12 and 1 T. onion mixture. I use the same schedule for evenings; except I increase the skullcap to 2 and do not take b12 but instead 1-400IU Vitamin E.
When I got home this afternoon, I started taking the skullcap after dinner. I had to lie down because I was so tried. When I got up I actually felt like the pain has eased some and I do not have as much tightness in my face. I know that skullcap is great but can it really begin working that fast? Regardless, I feel some important progress was made today.
Nov. 05, 2003
Yesterday, I upped the lecithin to three times a day. Since I am taking the skullcap also two times a day I was a little worried about taking two capsules in the mornings because of having to work. I did not want to get too relax because it would make it harder to get my job done. Coming up with the correct formulations in this whole process has really been with a lot of trial and error.
The pain and everything with this syndrome was going pretty good until a couple of loud noises caused a vibrating pain in my head while I was at work. I tried taking a BC powder but it really did not do any good. I ended up rubbing some arnica cream on the back of my neck before going to bed.
I do know for sure that I have the correct formulas now, wood betony, skullcap, lecithin, B12 and vitamin E. What many people do not understand is you have to repair this syndrome not just ease the pain. The herbs I am doing is repairing the damage not just settling the pain. I can personally tell such a huge improvement especially since I have started taking the skullcap.
Nov. 06, 2003
Well, treatment for my BPS is going ok. Yesterday I still had a lot of pain but last night I went almost one hour with very minimum pain. I suppose it would be safe to say I went without pain for almost an hour!
I can tell more and more muscles are beginning to respond in my face. My eye is however giving me a few more experiences to deal with. Yesterday it felt so dry that it kept going blurry on me.
The pain in my face is very tender, when I put liquid make-up on it is very tender to the touch. Still everything just tells me that the BPS is responding to treatment and the pain/tenderness is my muscles responding or beginning to "Wake-Up".
My husband brought up a very important fact yesterday, this syndrome needs to have three important factors taken care of- One: you need to ease the inflammation Two: take a nervine to settle you down Three: you need something for the pain. Each one goes with the other but these are the three most important things to help cope with the disorder.
Nov. 11, 2003
It has been two weeks and two days since Bells Palsy Syndrome started. There really is not much to write about. Nothing else has surfaced. I take my herbal supplements according to the formula I was guided to put together. I can tell the healing process is underway. I am getting more movement around my lips, and my eye is becoming more sensitive, which tells me, the nerve endings are responding well to the skullcap.
I can also tell that my speech is improving and it is not as slurred as in the beginning. I am still having some pain in the same locations and there are areas that are sensitive to touch but the pain is not as constant and as intense as it was.
I have to admit though, that I felt the BPS would have been completely healed at the two week mark which would have been Sunday. However, with all of the improvements I cannot complain and I am so very grateful to have had come this far in my healing. I will continue to work the muscles as much as possible.
This was my last journal entry. My BPS pretty much held on until about Mid-Dec. I was left with a little muscle damage but all in all, I can say things worked out pretty good. And just in case you are asking yourself, I never went to a doctor, I healed by researching, believing and trusting what my spirit guides was telling me, and faith I would heal.
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OrganicMom247
Aug 11, 2011 @ 11:13 am | delete
- Thanks so much for sharing your story. I certainly wish you good health and thank God that you are well and sharing this inspiring story of yours. it must have been really hard for you, sudden change in your face not to mention the danger it can post on just merely eating and drinking, simple things that can be a discomfort. Beautifully done lens!
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Nadia
Aug 3, 2011 @ 8:12 pm | delete
- Thanks Eva, for sharing your experience and your remedies. I know couple of people who have BPS and will pass your info on to them.
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WriterBuzz
Oct 25, 2010 @ 1:41 pm | delete
- If you like coffee, check out my lens on Who Invented Coffee. I found your lens by accident, and it's really nice. I gave you a thumbs up. Look forward to more lenses from you. I also did one on Migraine Headaches that might interest you. If you surf on by, leave me a comment.
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JaguarJulie Feb 10, 2010 @ 7:41 am | delete
- Eva, how are you doing TODAY? I took a look also at youtube and found many BPS videos -- what is the prevalence of BPS in the United States? Are there other countries were there is prevalence? I wonder how many more people might have been afflicted and not sought medical attention. One of my sisters is really into holistic medicine and nutrition as we were talking about chronic pain and seeking the natural approach. Bless you my dear!
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WhiteOak50
Feb 10, 2010 @ 12:31 pm | delete
- I know before my experience with BPS I have never heard of it. When I went to bed I was fine, and getting up the next morning with half of my face numb was freaky. I really wish there was more information available to educate people more on this. I searched everywhere for the information I found. Its funny because my husband and I were just talking about this the other day. He said seeing me now you would never be able to tell I had it but I know it because my laugh is not like it use to be and I still have a little odd feeling on the side of my face I had it. But all in all going through it naturally with herbs and minerals I truly consider myself blessed because the damage could have been worst. Thanks for visiting my lens Julie!! (hugs).
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RobertWilkinson
Apr 7, 2010 @ 7:21 pm | delete
- Hi there Julie,
In the USA, the prevalence of Bell's Palsy is 40,000 people each year.
It is approximately 1 in 65 people will have it in their lifetime and per population it is 25:100,000. Apparently it is slightly higher in those of Japanese decent.
It can occur bilaterally as well, as it did with myself, truly wiping the smile off your face - LOL. I have an information site that I am currently adding to several times a week to create a mainstream resource for sufferers http://allbellspalsy.info and have just built my first Squidoo page (Whoo Hoo) at www.squidoo.com/bellspalsysymptoms I wouold be honoured if you'd tell me what you think.
I like this page Eva, well done.
God Bless
Robert.
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SimeyC
Jul 16, 2009 @ 9:14 am | delete
- Thank you for this - it's really helpful..and it looks like I'm beginning to recover as I'm having some of the symptoms you described in your 'recovery'...thanks!
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Tiddledeewinks Jan 18, 2009 @ 2:44 pm | delete
- Coincidence? I just started getting a numbness in my face starting at bridge of my nose, worse after wearing my reading glasses. I have a lot of chronic pain elsewhere, so I did a little internet research and found a disease called LCH website info> www.histio.org It is rare and most doctors don't even know about it. Also, slurred speech could be a warning sign of a stroke. I try to heal myself, as I believe in faith, but why isn't it working?
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karmasherbs
Aug 14, 2008 @ 6:21 pm | delete
- Hi WhiteOak,
this is very interesting. I have had twitching above my eye and lip before and it is always when I am under lost of stress. I very familar with the remedies you put together. Skullcap is great!
Blessings
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