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So the last week has been a LOT. I want to share how it went because apparently it& #39;s something that a lot of people go through, and it would have helped me if I had picked up on the symtoms earlier. #BellsPalsy
Friday a colleague said she noticed that my right eyebrow was lower than my left, I put it down to exhaustion because I was really struggling to keep my eyes open in the afternoon. I felt utterly drained.
Saturday I had a twitch under my eye all day, like I sometimes get if I& #39;m very tired. But I had never had it for a whole day before. My eyes were heavy and I could hardly keep them open.
Sunday my eye started watering, constantly. I went to the chemist, got some eye drops & antihistamines cause I thought it might be hayfever, even though I never had that before. I saw a photo of myself & said "Oh, my mouth looks weird" but didn& #39;t think any further about it.
Monday my tongue felt like it was numb and I couldn& #39;t taste properly, so I called the GP (11h), went for a corona test (14h30) and got a negative result (21h). (So grateful that this went so quickly.)
Tuesday I couldn& #39;t drink without spilling, and had difficulty chewing food, and noticed that my lips weren& #39;t moving properly so I went to see my GP. At this stage my right eye had been constantly watering for 3 days and so around my eye was very irritated and swollen.
My left eye kept scrunching closed involuntarily. That evening I borrowed the mini& #39;s cute sheep sleep mask to keep my right eye closed so it would stop watering.
The GP did blood tests and said she& #39;d call me the next day. In the meanwhile I messaged around so the mini could go play with friends and do sleepovers for the rest of the week.
My mum told me that she thought it sounded like Bell& #39;s Palsy, so I went and googled that, which was not a good idea. Don& #39;t ever google medical things, you& #39;ll only see the worst cases.
Wednesday I was very anxious. The symptoms were all worse, I couldn& #39;t move half of my mouth, couldn& #39;t focus my right eye and I had not yet any diagnosis or medication.
The GP called me around 14h, said that there was nothing in the blood tests, that she called the neurologist and they said I should go to the emergency department. So I called a taxi (cause I couldn& #39;t see well enough to drive and I felt more exhausted than ever) & off I went.
Luckily the emergency department was empty and I was seen straight away. Suddenly I was surrounded by about 7 nurses and doctors. They seemed quite concerned and everything went very quickly. I have never gotten undressed so fast in a room full of people. 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤣" title="Lachend auf dem Boden rollen" aria-label="Emoji: Lachend auf dem Boden rollen">
-pricking me with an IV for blood tests
-sticking heart monitor pads on my boobs
-checking blood pressure
-checking reflexes
-follow their finger with my eyes
-frown and smile
-tell what happened to several different specialists.
They all kept saying "But you& #39;re so young!"https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤔" title="Denkendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Denkendes Gesicht">
-sticking heart monitor pads on my boobs
-checking blood pressure
-checking reflexes
-follow their finger with my eyes
-frown and smile
-tell what happened to several different specialists.
They all kept saying "But you& #39;re so young!"
I felt like I had to concentrate really hard to understand what they were asking me, and it took a lot of effort to form some words as my tongue wasn& #39;t moving how I expected. (When I told them this they asked me to confirm that it is normal for me to not have a Flemish accent https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😂" title="Gesicht mit Freudentränen" aria-label="Emoji: Gesicht mit Freudentränen">)
)" title="I felt like I had to concentrate really hard to understand what they were asking me, and it took a lot of effort to form some words as my tongue wasn& #39;t moving how I expected. (When I told them this they asked me to confirm that it is normal for me to not have a Flemish accent https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😂" title="Gesicht mit Freudentränen" aria-label="Emoji: Gesicht mit Freudentränen">)" class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
I had some difficulty using my phone, but I think that was because I couldn& #39;t see properly and my depth perception was off. However this meant that they wanted to run extra tests, because Bell& #39;s Palsy would only affect my face and not my hand.
After about 45 min they seemed satisfied that it wasn& #39;t a stroke, and probably Bell& #39;s Palsy, (mothers are always right) but they sent me for a CT scan just to be sure. No appointment, no waiting, they just wheeled my bed up to the CT machine and they had the results within 30min
Again I feel so grateful that this is all possible, it breaks my heart to hear of friends waiting weeks and months for such care back home. CT scan was clear, so they gave me an appointment for an MRI and follow up with the neurologist and said I could go home.
One of the doctors came back to ask me to frown and smile again because he had never seen such a pronounced case before. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😳" title="Errötetes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Errötetes Gesicht">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😅" title="Lächelndes Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß">
I got a 7 day course of steroids, and was told that there was 80% chance that my face would be back to normal within 6 months.
I got a 7 day course of steroids, and was told that there was 80% chance that my face would be back to normal within 6 months.
Apparently the sooner you start the steroids, the more chance it has to work, so I probably would have acted sooner/differently if I had recognised what was going on. I hope by telling this story it will help someone recognise it in the future.
The next few days were pretty miserable. I had a terrible headache, & hot flushes from the medication. But I was able to put a few puzzle pieces in place, I realised the reason my eye had been watering was because it wasn& #39;t blinking at all, so got an eye patch to keep it closed.
I also looked back at the photo from Sunday and realised that it wasn& #39;t just my mouth that looked weird, but that half my face was paralysed and hanging. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤦♀️" title="Frau schlägt sich die Hand vors Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Frau schlägt sich die Hand vors Gesicht">
And the reason my left eye was schrunching closed the whole time, it because my brain thought "Hey, your eye is dry, BLINK! Huh, still dry, BLINK MORE!" When actually the muscles on the right side of my face were just not reacting to the instructions. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😉" title="Zwinkerndes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Zwinkerndes Gesicht">
What is Bell& #39;s Palsy? Apparently they don& #39;t know what causes it, a normal cold virus dormant in your body for a few months (making you exhaused) then something (maybe stress) reactivates it & causes the facial nerve to swell, & the muscles on one side of the face to stop working.
This nerve is also responsible for taste signals from the tongue. I& #39;m resting a lot. It& #39;s a week since I was in the hospital, my right eye still doesn& #39;t fully close or blink, can& #39;t taste much, and I have a serious brain fog and am exhausted, but not as terrified as last week.
It is surprising to me how difficult the eye patch makes everything, if I try to pick something up I grasp beside it, pouring tea is an adventure and I keep bumping into the walls.
But sure it& #39;ll be grand. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😅" title="Lächelndes Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß">
A million thanks to everyone who kept me sane with messages of reassurance over the last week, and to everyone who helped take care of the mini. You& #39;re the best.https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😘" title="Kusshand zuwerfendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Kusshand zuwerfendes Gesicht">
A million thanks to everyone who kept me sane with messages of reassurance over the last week, and to everyone who helped take care of the mini. You& #39;re the best.
A million thanks to everyone who kept me sane with messages of reassurance over the last week, and to everyone who helped take care of the mini. You& #39;re the best. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😘" title="Kusshand zuwerfendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Kusshand zuwerfendes Gesicht">" title="But sure it& #39;ll be grand. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😅" title="Lächelndes Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß">A million thanks to everyone who kept me sane with messages of reassurance over the last week, and to everyone who helped take care of the mini. You& #39;re the best. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😘" title="Kusshand zuwerfendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Kusshand zuwerfendes Gesicht">" class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
And you& #39;ll have to excuse any typos, it took me two days to write this, in between naps, with one eye and a head full of wool. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="☺️" title="Lächelndes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht">
" title="And you& #39;ll have to excuse any typos, it took me two days to write this, in between naps, with one eye and a head full of wool. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="☺️" title="Lächelndes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht">" class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
