What is Bell's Palsy?

My experience with Bell's palsy in September of last year (please see memoirs entitled ER Ordeal , "Medical Tag" Game, and Bell's What? ) prompted me to find out more about this medical condition. Named after Sir Charles Bell, a Scottish surgeon who studied nerves and facial muscles over 200 years ago, Bell's palsy is a condition that causes facial muscles to become weak or paralyzed. It is said to be caused by trauma to the 7^th cranial nerve, also called the facial nerve. It is a condition that affects one in 5,000 people around the world or one in 40,000 Americans.

The condition can affect either side of the face and it knows neither gender nor race. It affects people of all ages but diabetic people are said to have over four times the chance of having it than the general population. Younger people are said to be more responsive to medication than the older ones. What happens is that the individual finds it hard to perform normal facial functions such as closing the eyes or eating, tingling occurs around the lip, the eye can become dry (which can cause sensitivity to the sun). Other symptoms include difficulty speaking or drinking, headache, loss of taste in affected parts of tongue, change in the amount of saliva in the mouth, hearing sound louder in one ear, and pain behind or in front of one ear.

The symptoms progress quickly. In fact, some people are said to wake up having the condition while others can have symptoms that start and are then diagnosed within days. For first time cases, it is said that the diagnosis is easier although I contest this because mine took five days and four different doctors to diagnose.

As far as the causes, most doctors believe Bell's palsy is caused by whatever irritates the facial nerve. For the most part, they say it is the same virus that causes cold sores or herpes simplex. It also is caused by bad cold or flu, injury to the face, diabetes, or ear infection. I guess that as with virus, anytime one's immune system is weak, the virus can occur.

Prevention? There is no prevention for this condition. However, taking care of one's body by getting proper diet, rest, and exercise can help alleviate the risks.

Sources: http://www.neurologychannel.com/bellspalsy/index.shtml

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/bells/detail_bells.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Gray781.png