I've had it twice. It goes away. Get over it

I had Bell's Palsy in April of 1969. The doctor said that out here in Oregon, people roll down car windows, and the cold spring breeze will cause the nerve right above one's ear to get inflamed, swell, and circulation is cut off. He prescribed Prednisone and Nicotinic acid pills. In about 2 weeks, I was better but I only recovered about 90% of my previous facial muscle tone. I have a droopy eyelid, and a contorted mouth when I smile but most people can not tell. Worse cases exist---Ralph Nader came to Portland with the onset of Bell's Palsy , did nothing and has more residual damage, and on PBS, Nancy Zieman has a pretty severe amount of residual damage. The thing is to get to a doctor fast , and do not settle for someone who says that there is no need to treat Bell's Palsy with medication.

Well put. Religious people believe that everything happens for a purpose, even if we can't understand it.

I don't think so. I don't think there is any reason why this happened to the LW, at least not one that in any way has any relation to a conscious force picking out the LW.

Awful things happen all the time for no reason, but mostly we don't hear about them or care about them if they don't happen to us. If we did hear about everything bad that ever happens, we would go nuts and we would live like Howard Hughes.

A few months ago I was sitting at a table at a beach restaurant under a coconut tree (I know, I know) and a coconut fell with a mighty thud and brushed my shoulder as it passed by my ear. If it had hit my head, it might have made an amusing short article in some newspaper, "Paradise tourist skull cracked by nut." But, for no particular reason, I was lucky. I didn't deserve to be lucky, but I was.

Even being born is a miracle, living is a miracle, every damn thing is a miracle when you think about it, so you just have to accept what life hands to you.

We hope the LW will recover. A friend of mine once woke up one day with Bell's Palsy and recovered fully in a month or two. Maybe the LW will recover, or maybe not. All we can do is hope.

If she does not recover, or does not recover fully, then her perception of miracles will be recalibrated and things she took for granted erstwhile will make her very happy. Hell, I am starting to sound like Cary, but he is right.

What immediately came to mind when I read your letter, was "Could it be Lyme disease?" Lyme is a known cause of Bell's palsy, and stress be an additional trigger.

As someone who suffered with Lyme disease for 7 years before being diagnosed correctly, I know firsthand that it can present is many strange ways, and that neurological symptoms are sadly common.

No one "deserves" to get Bell's palsy or any other disease, and unfortunately you might be one of the 20,000 reported cases of Lyme every year. A good place to start learning about Lyme is www.ilads.org.

Illness does help to refine your priorities, and I hope that you are able to pursue your writing. I wish you much courage during this stressful period!

Bell's Palsy is generally a viral infection along the facial nerve, and the fact that you have ear pain along with it makes it more likely that it is viral (Herpes Zoster Oticus, Ramsey-Hunt Syndrome, for web surfers), from the chickenpox virus.

Stop wondering why this happened to you. It just did, and it's not from stress or a fan or air conditioner blowing over you while sleeping. The nerve (which is NOT above the ear) starts in the brainstem and goes through the middle ear and exits below the ear lobe near the jaw. The actual inflammation is in the inner ear area.

If this really did happen overnight, it's the virus. If, on the other hand, this facial weakness creeped up over several days to weeks, other reasons need to be explored.

Get thee to an Otolaryngologist (not a Neurologist) right away, as early treatment with steroids and acyclovir can often hasten the return of function, though not in 100% of cases. Being pregnant doesn't always mean you can't take these medicines, but your OB doctor should be able to tell you what you can and can't take.

Anonymous posted some good advice. I got this last year after having the flu. I woke up with the left side of my face frozen. The ER doctor gave me the right meds, although Prednisone made me ravenous. He also advised to apply heat and get plenty of rest--the nerve is inflamed and needs time to heal. Failing to treat this will lead to nerve damage. Mine took two weeks to abate, but some folks take much, much longer. For others, it is permanent. Stress is a trigger for me and I now monitor myself and apply heat (an old sock filled with uncooked rice is great--zap in the microwave for about a minute and apply). I also take B-12--said to help nerve health. Who knows if it really works, but I take it anyway, placebo effect or no.

Who knows why this happened to you. I can't have children. Why did that happen to me? It just did, that's all. The universe isn't rational and doesn't worry too much about hairless primates on a rock in an out of the way solar system. We have it easy--Bell's isn't cancer.

LW, honey, if you still think everything happens for a reason, then you have NOT really left the religion of your upbringing. Stop torturing yourself with a punitive worldview that will never let you off the hook for anything. Your letter fairly drips with the self-induced stress of obsessive teleological thinking...a form of self-hatred, not too surprising in the control-seeking child of an alcoholic and a philanderer. Forgive yourself for things that were never your fault anyway, and move on.