Bell's Palsy

My DH was diagnosed with this at the ER last Sunday night. He's been on prednisone and valtrex since then and we're hoping that he starts to see some improvement soon - but it's really no better. They told him to take the medication for 7 days.

Anyone have any experience with this? How long will it be until he gets some movement back? His speech is still slurred pretty badly. He is super self concious about it and I feel so bad for him!

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Re: Bell's Palsy

can't give you a time frame for recovery but Physical Therapists treat this condition with electrical stimulation. Speak to his MD.

sorry he's going through this

Re: Bell's Palsy

Acupuncture is supposed to help A LOT. Insurance will sometimes cover it if a licensed doctor performs it. I see Dr. Li in Huntington, but he also has offices in Smithtown and Flushing (he's not at the Flushing office though, Dr. Rhoda Zheng is).

Re: Bell's Palsy

I had it several years ago. For the vast majority of people, it clears up completely. I can't even see any side effects on my own face now.

I had steroids, and had the electric stimulation treatment for a few weeks. It does take a while to clear up. Figure about a month until it's not that noticeable to strangers, another month or so until family doesn't really notice, then another month or so until the individual barely notices anything.

I found that if I leaned on my hand, like "The Thinker", I could compensate for most of the lack of muscle control. It's a little awkward walking around like that, but if you're at a desk, it's easy to put your elbow on the table, and lean on your hand, and hide most of the affliction symptoms. It drastically cut down on the slurring.

Re: Bell's Palsy

My niece had bell's palsy a couple of years ago. On Christmas Eve my sister noticed part of her face was drooping. They thought she was just being silly and making funny faces. On Christmas day it was worse and she ended up taking her to the ER right before Christmas dinner.

The droop in her face starting getting better about a month or two after she was diagnosed. It took a couple of months until she was basically back to normal. She was very self conscious about going to school. I think she was around 7/8 at the time. She couldn't close her eye all the way and my sister had to put drops in it several times a day. Now my niece is 14 and besides her smile/lips being a little crooked she has no other traces of her ever having it.