It first started with a slight numbness at the back of my head, not really a pain – but just a weird feeling that something wasn’t quite right. Then my ear started to feel a bit odd and I suspected I might have an ear infection, but the following morning I had a sore throat, for which I took some losengers which seemed to spark a toothache! At work that day people said I looked unwell, so I booked an appointment to see my doctor. I had some dental work done not too long before this all started to happen too, so I booked an appointment to see my dentist also.
It was my dentist that I saw first just a day later, and by this time my pain felt deeper than toothache, more like a mild pain in the gum. The dentist examined me and said he could see no problems with the dental work done previously, I was inclined to beleive him as the major dental work was done on the left side of my face (although I had dental work done on the right also) and the problems I was having were on the right.
A little later that day I went to see my doctor, who examined me and said he could not find an infection in my ear. I explained to him that I was having touble opeining my mouth on one side and this was causing me difficulty eating and drinking and also with pronounciation of some words. He noted that my face appeared very slightly swollen on one side, but not tender to the touch and he reluctantly prescribed some antibiotics after I persuaded him that something had to be wrong, although he didn’t beleive there was evidence of any specific ailment at that stage. So I was left wondering what what the cause of this strange condition actually was.
I took a few days off work to rest up because I was feeling quite bad, and especially dizzy in the mornings. I could clearly see now that the right hand side of my face was swollen and the problems I was having with eating, including an impaired sense of taste because of a metallic taste on the affected side of my mouth and my speech was even worse. I had a job interview arranged and really wanted to attend but I didn’t feel too good, and I was definitely not as presentable as I would like to have been. I let the employer know my situation, and they said it was fine for me to come in, and with a few laughs at the sight of me and my pronounciation issues I managed to get through the interview.
I went back to work the next day, and the dizzyness was still there, especially when walking. All through that day the vision in my right eye was blurred, again my colleagues said I didn’t look good, so I decided to get an emergency appointment with my doctor that Friday evening. This time I saw a different doctor who seemed very concerned to the extent that he even checked if I had a stroke. I guess with the visible symptoms it was more easy to discern that something was wrong, and he said I had Bell’s Palsy and a slight ear infection. He prescribed some eardrops and made an emergency referral the St George’s Hospital Ear Nose and Throat Clinic.
Bell’s Palsy is an idiopathic condition and doctors are more often that not unable to determine the cause of it. However, basically the muscle just beneath your ear in your neck gets inflamed and doesn’t pass throhgh the usual signals for movement and as this muscle controls all the movement on one side fo your face you lose movement on the side of your face where the muscle is inflamed.
That weekend I started the course of ear drops and also bought some eye drops over the counter. I went shopping on Sunday after a days rest and was shocked that I felt so dizzy like I could fall over at any moment, and I gently made my way around the store. I think at this moment I got a foretaste of what it will be like when I am a pensioner and slightly infirm and it scared me. Luckily, I went through a checkout with a shop assistant who was very patient with me and gave me time to pack without feeling rushed.
I was back at work now, using my ear and eye drops but finding it difficult throguh a lack of energy and problems with vision in my right eye. The Monday was actually my birthday, and I found out I got the job that I had an interview for the previous week, much to my amazement! I hadn’t heard from St Georges Hospital by the Wednesday of the following week, so I gave them a call to chase the emergency referral from my GP, but unfortunately for me they had received no paperwork. The receptionist was really helpful though, and suggested that I contact my GP and get them to fax the paperwork over becasue it would be processed quicker that way than having it come through the psot. I did this and finally managed to get an appointment to see a consultant on 3rd December, so this is about two weeks after the onset of my symptoms. Ideally treatment of Bell’s Palsy should start within 48 hours after its onset. It’s lucky I chased and pressed my GP for the fax to sent because it wasn’t actually until 20th Decmeber that I received a call from St George’s Hospital in response to the original emergency referral that was sent.
When I went to the ENT clinic, the consultant was very helpful and understanding. My basic symptoms and the second GP’s diagnosis were confirmed and I had to see an audiologist and have my sight checked also. Apparently everything was fine, no sight peroblems, no hearing problems. My appointment took virtually all day, 11.30 till 5.50pm, I had to wait an age between having my sight checked and seeing the consultant. I was pretty surprised at the difficuly there was in getting a parking space, how much it cost to park for a day – £20, and how difficult it was to get out of the hospiral car park. I was told I would have to have an MRI scan by the main consultant who also prescribed a steroid called Prednisolone (to reduce inflamtion) and the eye consultant said I needed to use some special drops as well as tape my eye at night because it weasn’t closing properly.
Once I had the condition confimed by the consultant I let my employer know and exlained in an email regarding the issues I was facing. I still had issues with blurred vision but not so much with tiredess and over the next few weeks the infamation eased. So now I would say 5 weeks after I had developed symptoms there is very little sign of swelling, and I have a lot of movement returned to the right hand side of my face but there is still a clear difference in the amout of movement between the two sides of my face. I sill have issues with my vision going blurry, eyes watering on occasions, and my speech is still a affected at times. The metallic taste seems to come and go, and I still have small issues with drinkling from bottles and cans.
I’ve found Bell’s to be a difficult condition to deal with, it really does affect how you feel and what you are able to do. I felt that intially the diagnosis was slow, and when it was diagnosed by the GP there was another delay before the treatment needed was prescribed. Such a condition isn’t life threatning, but socially it can have a real impact on your confidence and it is phyically very draining. However, from what I’ve read, the fact that I have gained some movement back within a month amkes it looks like I have a good chance of getting back to normal in time. Bell’s Palsy is an illness that does take some time to recover fully from.