Now 7 years later I got Bell's palsy again. First time symptoms lasted about 2 weeks and cause was unknown. Treated with antiviral and steroids. Just got a tooth pulled and bone graft done on right side. Two days later I felt familiar paralyzing sensations in my eye and mouth (opposite side of oral surgery). Called the dentist and he said there is no cross over with nerves. Then followed up with my doctor who diagnosed me with BP again. She said had I not gotten the oral surgery the BP wouldn't of occurred. She said it was probably the sudden stun to my nerves that did it. Apparently only 15% of people get it a second time. I feel this time it is more severe.
It is now day 3 after initial symptoms. Got treatment after 24 hours. Now trying acupunture. Anyone else get it a second time? If so did the episode last longer or shorter than the first time?
I got it for the second time last year. The first time I got it was 3 years ago. This time was definitely more severe. I experience major pain, hearing loss, complete paralysis on one side, and my eye wouldn't close at all. It has been 7 months since I got it for the second time and thank God I'm much better. My eye can close, the pain had week away, and I can hear out of the affected ear. I'm still left with residuals like when I yawn my eye closes or when I make different expressions my eye closes. Also the eye that couldn't close is now smaller than the other one. Luckily I have chinky eyes anyway so you can barely tell.
I encourage you to hope for the best and even if your recover isn't as fast as the first time don't lose hope. I didn't start to see any improvement for a whole month and when I did see improvements they were very small. I thought I would never get better but I did and I pray that you do also.
I'm sorry I meant that I got it for the first time 6 years ago.
Yes I'm also having hearing issues. Affected side has tunnel hearing. This is new to me. What meds were you on the 2nd time? Did you try any other treatments? Facial exercises, massages, acupuncture etc?
Yes that's how my hearing was at first then it was very sensitive. my hearing is much better now. I took antiviral meds and steroids I can't remember the names but it's the most common ones that they usually prescribe. I didn't do anything else. I honestly believe that your body heals itself. I took all of the medication and it still got worse before it got better.
How is your eye? Do you have partial or full paralysis?
P.s sorry for all of the spelling error in my first post I was writing fast.
Full paralysis. When it first started I was having throbbing pain in the corner of jaw below the bone and under the ear. Pain is still there and sore on the unaffected side, feeling as if it's being over worked.
Eye won't close on its own. The worst part is being able to feel it all. The mouth and eye issues. Of course eating and drinking sucks too.
So you're saying it's been 7 months for you with your second BP episode and you're still not completely healed? I just want the mouth issues to go away. I can deal with the eye.
I seem to read on this site that dental work has something to do with onset of BP. I am curious to hear how many people have had dental work done and ended up with BP.
Yes, I have read that too. But I would of assumed it'd affect the same side. For me BP is on the opposite side of dental work. Of course, paralyzed on the good side and can't chew on other side due to stitches and swelling. Still woken from dental work. One side swollen, other side paralyzed 
I have heard dental work can be on opposite side.
My appearance has gone back to normal but I wouldn't say that I'm completely healed because I can still feel tightness on the affected side. Also my smile is not completely the same on both sides but besides that I'm fine. At first I couldn't smile at all so I'm thankful even if my lip doesn't go all the way up, I can still make a complete smile 
It took me about a month to be able to feel a little movement on the affected side. After I was able to speak again it was still hard for me to pronounce certain words especially when I was exhausted but now I can speak just fine. I pray that you begin to heal soon. Have you seen any improvements yet?
It's been 5 days now. Completely steroids. Antivirals for another 2 days. Tried acupuncture on the 2nd day. Felt tingling on the forehead of the affected side during treatment, but no improvement afterwards. Been using heated gel pads throughout the day on the affected side. I feel the occasional twitch but it's been inconsistent. Yesterday my eye felt ok, still does not close all the way but was not tearing much. Today (day 5) it's been uncontrollably tearing and blurring my eye sight. Of course this doesn't help when that is my stronger of one of my eyes. My jaw on the side I had an extraction/bone graft has been in a lot of pain. I can pinpoint the exact area where pin is and I believe it is a nerve on that side. This puzzles me because dentist said nerves don't cross. I haven't been able to find anything online that says dental procedure on one side can cause Bell's palsy on the other side or where the nerves connect/if they're separate per side.
My affected side has been pretty sore. I massage it lightly after applying heat. Not sure if it's being over worked or not? Doctor didn't recommend anything. She said just be patient and follow up in two weeks if it's not better. I worry because this time around it is total facial paralysis on left side when 7 years ago it was partial paralysis on the right side which only lasted two weeks. I'm a little discouraged from what I'm reading online. It seems second time around takes much longer to recover I continue to be proactive and will continue with 2 more acupuncture sessions this week.
Well at least you feel some type of tingling that's a good sign It's going to be really hard not to but try not to speed up your recovery process because you will make the risidual affects worse. For example some people try to do facial exercises really early but I don't think that's a good idea because your nerves are damaged. When it happened to me for the second time I was working two jobs. I continued to work at one job for a week after the onset (bad idea)!and my condition got so bad! Once I took off of work, within a week I began to see improvements! People don't understand the power of simply resting.
During this time you MUST rest and try not to stress! When I was exhausted or stressed I could feel that my Bells Palsy was getting worse and not healing. You have to think positive even though that's easier said than done. I was so depressed about my appearance and that was just hindering my recover. I would research about Bells Palsy all day and see different stories about people that had Bells Palsy for years with no improvement and I would be discouraged and depressed thinking that would be me. After a while I stopped paying attention to the horror stories because that wasnt helping me. Also I stopped believing everything that the doctors told me because they barely know anything about this condition. Most of them seemed to treat me like a science experiment.
I do believe that you're over working the affected side. I'm not a doctor but I see it this way, imagine if you broke your foot and started to walk on it the next day imagine how it would feel. It's the same with your face, your muscle is seriously damaged enough to paralyze your face and you haven't given it enough time to heal. All I'm saying is don't try to many different things at one time when your nerves still need to heal. There are people who didn't do anything and still recovered so it just depends on your body.
I honestly think that either dental work or stress caused my Bells Palsy. I've always had dental problems because as a child/teen I didn't have healthcare and didn't go to the dentist. The fact that your Bells Palsy came back right after dental surgery is definitely a red flag but there's really no way to prove if that was the cause.
Your face will get better you just have to be patient. Even if it does take longer than the first time all that matters is your healing. When I stopped focusing on the time it was taking me to recover and just focused on the small improvements that I was making, I began to feel better about my situation. Remember that everyone is different so just because someone else didn't recover that doesn't mean that you won't! I wish I could show you before and after pics of my recovery to encourage you. If you have an email you can leave it here if you want or just look up successful recovery stories for encouragement If I recovered you can also. Any questions that you have you can ask me or if you just need to talk because I know how hard this is.
Many people talk about the physical pain but not the mental. People don't understand the emotional side of this condition. It's hard to go to sleep looking like yourself then wake up and your face is different. It will get better though.
I have heard about dental procedures on the unaffective side so, I DO believe it. Could be the stress about having the dental work and that's what did it. I believe stress can be a factor. The nerves on both sides do not interact with each other. I agree about not overdoing it. Mild facial exercises but no massaging in the beginning. Drs. don't have anymore ideas than we do.
Possibly. I believe we came to the conclusion stress caused the first episode. I have gotten extensive oral surgery done in the past on the same side I had BP before but did not have an episode. I don't normally stress over dental work. I'm wondering if it was pyshical stress/trauma that caused it
I think maybe the physical stress/trauma may have caused it. Mentally I wasn't too stressed as I've undergone multiple dental procedures. Odd it happens now when I've had much more work done at one time. Wondering if it's the bone graft. I really feel a nerve was hit especially where my pain was. But if dentists and doctors say it doesn't cross then oh well guess not. I'd say this second time another I'm much more self conscious and upset about it. How long did it take you during each episode to recover (basic recovery - smile, blinking, raising eyebrow)?
It's hard not to stress when you can actually feel that your face isn't working. Itd be easy to avoid a mirror so I don't have to see the symptoms but I can feel them and it makes it so much worse. I also have bipolar disorder and anxiety so that's not working for me either.
It's a guessing game. Only 1 Dr. agreed with my cause 3 years ago. I KNOW when it started because it was 48 hours after having a cold raw wind whistling in my ear. I got an earache and then the paralysis. I have seen probalby 14 Drs. about this BP. 13 disagreed and when I walked into a neurolgists office he totally agreed with the wind. I have heard of having a fan blow on your face or a window open and blowing on you. Both my Dad and brother got it from riding in the back of a pickup.
UPDATE: DAY 6
- Completed steroids
- 2 more days of antivirals
- No improvements
- Got dental stitches on unaffected side out yesterday - dentist says everything looks good but could not explain why I had sharp pains on that side in the jaw bone 5 days after the bone graft was performed.
Currently very sore. Unaffected side seems to be overcompensating. Mouth is sore. Jaw is sore from chewing. Tried 250mg niacin this morning (read good things online for treating people with BP). WARNING: there is a flush. I thought I was having a terrible allergic reaction. Skin turned bright red and started constricting. It was warm to the touch then I had blotches on my legs. This lasted about 45 minutes. This is a common and quite painful (like a severe sunburn) but is not harmful. Haven't noticed anything since but this was the first time I've taken it. Also taking B12 vitamins daily and continuing with warm compresses. 2nd round of acupuncture tonight. Will post another update in a few days if there are any changes.
UPDATE: DAY 9
Still taking vitamins B's, finished antivirals. Acupuncturist did cupping on day 6 and electrical stimulation on my back/neck. Felt movement in my face during the electrical stimulation. The cupping afterwards was done on my neck of the affected side and very painful. She left it on for only 5-10 seconds. I have a big bruise and was in a lot of pain for the rest of the evening. Just a day later my boyfriend said my face was definitely showing improvement. Although my eye still does not close and I cannot make facial expressions my face was less droopy.
Face has been very sore. I believe I have TMJ issues as pain is in the corner of my jaw, cheek bone, and eyebrow. Anduscles are very sore. Still continuing with warm compresses
I have had Bells Palsy for about 6 weeks on the left side with severe neck pain, nerve pain. Doctors immediatly prescribe steroids and Anti virals; after ruling out stroke. I took the anti-virals, but declined the steroids due to past bad steroid experience. It is a very frigtening and depressing condition. You have no control over it and it deeply impacts your life. Simple things like eating, smiling, etc. become stressful challenges. I have been to several doctors and I am shocked that they do not take this condition very seriously, nor do they understand it very well. I have honestly learned more with my own research.
It is very distressing that your face is in parylisis and most doctors including the nurologist act as if it is a simple cold or flu and tell you it will get better on its own. There is no way of telling if it will be months or years, or? The way I developed Bells also seemed to have some definite triggers. I had ingested some toxins (prescrided medication) and also strained my neck just before the onset. I told the doctors this. They told me highly unlikly either event triggered my Bells. I was getting very discouraged with the doctors and my situation. I decided to try acupuncture. After my first acupuncture treatment last week, I gained significant mobility in my mouth and jaw area. I can actually talk semi-normal and coherently again. My upper face and eye still weak. Still some nerve pain twinges. However after two acupuncture treatments including cupping and ear seeds ( pressure point treatment taped to your ear that you wear home. ) I am happy to say I am improving and my fear and depression are subsiding. My acupuncture/ health practitioner indicated that patients that have not taken steriods respond quicker to the acupunture modalites. This was a big relief as I was doubting my resistance and the Medical doctors were pressuring me to do the steroids. I am not reccomending anyone decline the doctors reccomendations. In my experiece; I now research every medication and reccomendation before complying. Nurolgist also tried to put me on gavipenten for the nerve pain. I did not take it and have gotten significant relief from the acupuncture treatments regarding the nerve pain. This condition seems to affect every patient differently. I have been very humbled and appreciate small victories and simple things like being able to chew food with great gratitude. I had to quit my job and life is challenging; but I am healing and hopeful.
That's great you're recovering. So you're 6 weeks out, if you had to guess percentage of full recovery what you estimate?
Gabapentin did not work for my nerve pain. But I also take it regularly for bipolar disorder. I've been having constant neck pain for the last 3 days. It's a little discouraging that the first time I had it I had improvements by now. But this time around still no movement at day 10.