Has anyone else experienced Bell's Palsy or 7th Facial Nerve paralysis in the chronic phase of Lyme, not the acute? Was your doc able to determine it was Lyme, or Babesia, or did they think this was either shingles or herpes virus? Some think it can occur (Bell's Palsy Lyme) in the later stages of Lyme infection....
Posted by GiGi (Member # 259) on :
I had the Bell's Palsy starting several months after the insect bite. It clearly was Lyme Disease with all co-infections and toxic burden load. It took several years to clear most of it, but my face definitely has never been the same. Dr. K. says it clearly: If it's Bell's Palsy, it is Lyme Disease.
He also says 100% of his Lyme patients have Babesia, while other published info officially has it at 2/3.
Hope this helps.
Take care.
Posted by lpkayak (Member # 5230) on :
yes-many other llmds have said if its bells its lyme
afriend had bells with chronic lyme on one side of face
after a lot of dental work he woke up with it on the other side.,
he went to er and they prescribed steroids for 10 days(usually steroids are bad for lyme but in some cases they are good)
we knew he also needed to take 400 mg doxy a day for a month
he did both things and the 2nd bells went aqway
doing that fast seemed to make the differenc
Posted by LSG Scott (Member # 21624) on :
i had it took 2 years of treatment to go away
Posted by lpkayak (Member # 5230) on :
scott-that is good to hear-that it went away. i think it is common for ducks to say if you have it for a year you cant get rid of it-thats what more than one told us
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
I had undiagnosed lyme disease for a number of years. Then, I got bilateral bells palsy to a mild degree. It is called "facial drooping."
I thought I needed a face lift. It felt like gravity was pulling my face down.
I had this for 3 years. Then, one day I woke up and my facial drooping was gone.
All this happened while I had chronic, undiagnosed lyme disease.
It was some time later that I got diagnosed and treated and cured.
So, I would say it is very possible to get bells at any stage of lyme disease. The bilateral bells is nearly always a result solely of lyme disease, as I read in the literature.
Posted by OtterJ (Member # 30701) on :
I was bitten by tick in 2006, I saw the tick, HUGE bulls eye rash, didn't seek tx right away and am paying the price. I had usual lyme symptoms primarily fever over 102 that was gone by the a.m. I woke up with Bell's and watched it for a day and then went to ER. Infectious disease doc who originally said I did not have lyme (I knew better) stated that I had a herpes or shingles infection this October because Bell's Palsy did not manifest in "chronic" infection. Now my LLND is saying the same thing. I have seen E.N.T. Doctor for nerve inflammation in ear and he said there was no shingles/lesions. I am just upset that my LLND is not treating lyme, now, not listening to me, I have been off a year's worth of treatment in August. So, can't find any med studies on Medline about Bell's in the chronic phase, so just putting it out there for your experiences. Thanks
Posted by OtterJ (Member # 30701) on :
P.S. I had good luck and treatment with acupuncture and a TENS unit. I was also put on high dose steroids. Just had some drooping on left side of face which has resolved. Still experiencing some pain in inner ear, though. Will see ENT Dr. soon.
Posted by JAC (Member # 34240) on :
I had bells palsy on left side of face for a couple months which was the first sign of lyme that my pcp did the elise test on which came back neg. She didnt do the western blot to show it was positive. I still have residual side effects of that. My one eye never regained the same look as the other eye.
I also experienced parathesia on my left side and have been hospitalized on 5 occasions now.
Im on abx for 6 months and still experience numbness from time to time. LLMD definitely says babs does this. I was told to stay off steroids too. Not good for lyme pts.