I am just curious as to how many here have had Bell's palsy, and what your personal experience with it was.
Also does anyone know what percentage of people with Bell's palsy actually have Lyme?
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Bells Palsy is a HUGE indicator of Lyme disease. I hope someone has statistics on that!!..but not much research is done on Lyme. We are ignored.
Posted by Sophie1234 (Member # 26412) on :
If your lower jaw seems droopy, (both sides) can this be considered Bells Palsy? I have noticed over the last year or so my lower cheek/jaw muscles seem to be loosing strength; I find my jaw is not staying closed when I am sleeping, and I seem to have to concentrate on keeping my lower jaw in place.
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
I had bells palsy on both sides of my face, a mild case, for over 3 years. At the time, I did not realize what it was and thought it was me aging. It looked like I was scowling--deep lines on the sides of the mouth.
It looked so bad that my husband and I considered me getting a face lift.
Now I know that this was what is known as bilateral facial drooping.
One day, I woke up and noticed that it was gone! Just like that. My face was back to normal. Then, a year or more later, when I got my lyme diagnosis, I figured out what had been going on all that time.
I have read that many people have deep facial lines on one or both sides of the face nearly all their lives, and these lines go away with lyme treatment. That is the proof that it was a mild bells palsy causing the lines.
It felt like my face was being pulled down by gravity. After I had it for so long, I no longer noticed that feeling. You get used to it.
If you put your hands on your cheeks and pull down, that is something like what it looked like in my case.
It went away without treatment. It came and it went.
In Maryland, everyone who gets bells palsy and seeks medical care for it is required to be tested for lyme disease. So, even the state recognizes the strong connection between the 2.
Posted by yakkats (Member # 25556) on :
I had a severe case of Bell's Palsy. I woke up one morning with the left side of my face completely paralyzed. I could not close my eye or speak clearly.
I went to the ER. No one mentioned the possibility of Lyme. The doctor in the ER said it would go away - no big deal. NO test for Lyme. That was July 26, 2008.
I was diagnosed with Lyme in June 2010. My palsy symptoms never completely cleared up like I was told they would and I developed other classic Lyme symptoms. Since I've been on the antibiotics, I have seen some subtle improvement in the Bell's Palsy.
Posted by 2young2die (Member # 25434) on :
I had bell's palsy after being bitten by a horsefly in ME. The doctor did a lyme test but it was negative so he put me on steroids. That was 5 years and numerous symptoms ago. Now I have als. I'm on ceftriaxone and slowly regaining some limb strength. I pray every day that the als will subside!
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by 2young2die: I had bell's palsy after being bitten by a horsefly in ME. The doctor did a lyme test but it was negative so he put me on steroids. That was 5 years and numerous symptoms ago. Now I have als. I'm on ceftriaxone and slowly regaining some limb strength. I pray every day that the als will subside!
That dr screwed up your life! That is so terrible! I hope you have a really good LLMD.
Posted by canefan17 (Member # 22149) on :
Stephania Root tincture.
Posted by TerryK (Member # 8552) on :
Bells Palsy happened to me 6 months into the treatment. A month before it happened I started new abx protocol which caused HUGE HERX and ended as Palsy. It was severe, but it fully resolved within 2 months. Still have mild symptoms during flare ups of my neuro symptoms.
Posted by BackinStOlaf (Member # 23725) on :
Some days my eyelid gets droopy. Does this count?
Posted by EllieP50 (Member # 15936) on :
I had Bell's Palsy and my experience was similar to Yakkats. I woke up in the morning with the left side of my face paralyzed and unable to close my eye or drink out of a glass. It got progressively worse throughout the day.
I had had a rash the week before and flu like symptoms and had gone to the urgent care center at that time. They weren't sure what I had, did a blood test for Lyme and other things and started me on antibiotics (they used doxy even though they weren't sure what I had - the rash didn't look bullseye until later on).
I got Bell's Palsy just a few days later, before the blood test came back (which turned out to be positive for Lyme). When I went to the emergency room for the Bell's Palsy symptoms, the ER doctor said, "I think you have Lyme" and told me not to take steroids for the Bell's Palsy.
Everyone said the Bell's would run its course and things would go back to normal. My Bell's was very severe (I looked like I had a stroke) and while it did get better in about a month, not all the symptoms went away.
My eyelid still didn't close properly and my face didn't look really symmetrical. However, its been two years now, and it has, to my surprise continued to improve throughout that time.
Last week I went to an acupuncturist to see if I could get that one eye/eyelid back to normal and after two treatments it looks better.
Even though I was lucky that the doctors I saw diagnosed Lyme quickly, it was really a long haul - it's taken about two years for me to be over most of the lyme symptoms despite treatment that started right away, and I still have an eye problem with the other eye (the one not affected by Bell's).
From what I read, a lot of people get Bell's with no known reason, but the amount of people with Lyme disease who get Bell's is way higher than the general population (I seem to remember a figure of !0 percent being in there.)
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I repeat.
Funny how people post stuff and then you never see them again.
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