Bell’s Palsy

[Timbo]

Anyone experienced it or know anyone who has. My right side of my face has lost most of its muscle control … approx 80%. Luckily I can close both eyes to sleep.

I currently am experiencing it and have seen my family physician, who prescribed
a steroid.

It’s has no pain other than in the arse and drinking from a can is a drool fest.

Anyone want to share experience’s?

Apologies if there is another thread I tried with CP search and Google.

[Snuffleupagus]

Good friend of mine got it about 15 years ago, I think his was even worst as he had one eye lid and eye brow drooping and had to drink thru a straw, he took steroids as well, I think it was after 2 or 3 weeks he woke one morning and it was almost gone, 2 days after that he was completely normal. doctor told him he might have to live with episodes for the rest of his life but so far it hasn't come back.

Good luck man

[CaptainCrunch]

My Dad had it about 30 years ago. Super scary because my mom thought he'd had a stroke. But it turned out to be Bell's Palsy. They treated him with a steroid. He had to wear an eye patch at night and use eye drops because his eye wouldn't close, and they gave him steroids. He did fully recover after a month or so and he never had another episode.

[Weitz]

A work aquantance got it after getting their third covid vaccination. Whole left side of his face was droopy. Recovering pretty quickly though.

[handgroen]

Originally Posted by Weitz

A work aquantance got it after getting their third covid vaccination. Whole left side of his face was droopy. Recovering pretty quickly though.

Oh good

[MoneyGuy]

I’ve known two sufferers. Both recovered fairly quickly. I hope yours is the same.

[bc-chris]

one of the teachers at the same school as my wife got it years ago. like others mentioned - treated with steroids and recovered fairly quickly (4-6 weeks if i recall correctly). he's never had another episode.

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

Originally Posted by Weitz

A work aquantance got it after getting their third covid vaccination. Whole left side of his face was droopy. Recovering pretty quickly though.

Due to the covid vaccine?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by FormerPresJamesTaylor

Due to the covid vaccine?

That’s what their doc said. For the record he said he would get the vaccine again even with that reaction.

[agulati]

Had a cousin who got it a couple of years back. Went away in a month or so and no repeated episode.

Originally Posted by FormerPresJamesTaylor

Due to the covid vaccine?

It has been mentioned as a potential side effect. Thing with Bell’s Palsy is it is generally not a lingering side effect, I believe.

[para transit fellow]

I recall Bell's palsy was noticed/discussed during the first vaccine trials.

I couldn't remember the exact value from 2020 but i dug around for an article to offer some recent numbers ( instead of the half remembered figures in my head):

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...rticle/2781368

Generally, The annual incidence of BP is 15 to 30 per 100,000 people. The Covid vaccine trials were finding an incidence of 19 cases per 100,000. Interesting thing was that amongst people who recovered from COVID19, the incidence seems to be 82 per 100,000

I thought this was interesting:
"The mechanism of paralysis is thought to be viral, ischemic, and/or immune mediated. The hypothetical mechanism of COVID-19 associated with BP is thought to be molecular mimicry attributable to a neuroimmunologic process between microbial and nerve antigens."

I remembered the BP phenomena because it reminded me that sometimes we have to ask the question "so what is a 'normal' incidence?"

Understandably, your literature searches may be different.

[Buff]

A friend had it in 2020. It lasted a week and he has been fine since. He said it didn't hurt but he had no muscle control.

[stevinder]

Had my bout with Bell's Palsy in Feb. 2019. The right side of my face went droopy. Went to the Rockyview Emerg. and the fine folks there did all the stroke tests and it definitely wasn't that. Had an Rx for two meds and took them for a few weeks. Took two months to get my ugly mug back to normal.

[Bunk]

Everything I know about it is from the Seinfeld episode where Jerry ends up dog sitting Farfal, while the owner is at the Bell’s Palsy Center - an absolutely first rate facility. Sooooo, not much.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Weitz

That’s what their doc said. For the record he said he would get the vaccine again even with that reaction.

He should get a new doc for spreading crap misinformation found on social media, the amount of people who got Bell's Palsy after a covid vaccine is exactly the same as before covid itself, fact is medical researchers still don't even know the cause of Bell's, although they suspect it's triggered by a viral infection.

A covid shot does not give you a viral infection.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

He should get a new doc for spreading crap misinformation found on social media, the amount of people who got Bell's Palsy after a covid vaccine is exactly the same as before covid itself, fact is medical researchers still don't even know the cause of Bell's, although they suspect it's triggered by a viral infection.

A covid shot does not give you a viral infection.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8092666/h...d-vaccine/amp/

Health Canada has updated the label on the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to reflect very rare reports of Bell’s Palsy.

In very rare scenarios, cases of Bell’s Palsy have been reported in a number of people in Canada and internationally.

So far in Canada, “there has been a total of 206 reports of Bell’s Palsy following a Pfizer vaccination,” the health agency told Global News in an email Friday.

[JohnnyB]

The Pfizer vaccine definitely caused neurological issues for me. Not Bell's Palsy, but tingling and spasming that affected my face, my chest, and my arm all on just one side. It lasted for roughly 8 weeks after the first dose, and at worst would cause my arm to seize up at times to the extent I couldn't open doors with it or use it while driving and the constant discomfort in my nerves over months had it's own impact on me mentally. The neurologist I ended up seeing told me of much more severe and extreme responses she had seen. Second dose wasn't as bad for me, but still brought symptoms back.

[Timbo]

Well I seem to be responding well to the meds.
Close to returning to my normal level of ugliness.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Weitz

https://globalnews.ca/news/8092666/h...d-vaccine/amp/

Not sure why they bothered except for they love to put warnings on every drug label these days,

Bell’s Palsy affects between 3500-4500 Canadians every year and those numbers haven't changed for 30 years, if the cases went up it was likely by getting covid itself.

"People with COVID-19 were more likely to develop Bell's palsy (peripheral facial nerve palsy) than people who were vaccinated against the virus, an analysis of medical records showed.

Matching COVID-19 patients with vaccinated individuals showed that people with COVID-19 were nearly seven times more likely to have a diagnosis of Bell's palsy than those who were vaccinated"

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infecti...9vaccine/93274

[monkey brewery]

My father had this perhaps 20-25 years ago. I don't remember the specifics, but it was gone completely after about a month. My mother called an ambulance as soon as she noticed the drooping one morning, suspecting that it was a stroke. They took pretty good care of him at the Foothills, and determined that it was Bell's.

Good luck, hope you make a full recovery!