Day 41 -- its been a while!

Its been a while since I've posted an update. Bell's Palsy stopped cramping my style around day 20, all thanks to the wonderful work of my CranioSacral massage therapist! Thank God for talented people like him!! All of the features I lost are about 90% recovered. This includes not having food or drink fly out of my mouth, being able to whistle, being able to spit out tooth-paste, and being able to say words containing the letters "p" and "b" without sounding like a horse's pa-toot.

To tell you the truth, I'm actually kind of diggin' my cock-eyed smile...

Day 41

ONE MONTH MARK!

It doesn't effect me anymore; I can speak normally, eat, drink, and whistle. My smile isn't fully recovered yet but I have faith that it will recover eventually since it keeps getting better every day.

I honestly believe the only reason I started recovering so rapidly was because of my CranioSacral massage on day 15. Seriously guys, GO GET ONE ASAP.

Day 29 - recovering every day

My eyebrow and nostril are 85% recovered.  My eyelid and mouth are 75% recovered. No headaches or pain since my CranioSacral massage on Day 15... I'm still amazed by that!

Day 28 -- smile's opening up

Day 24 to 27 -- keeping myself busy!

I've definitely been keeping myself busy this week. BP doesn't even effect me anymore, other than me just wanting my smile to be fully recovered. I can whistle now!

Day 23 -- still going strong

My recovery is moving slowly but everyday I can see a tiny bit of improvement. If I mention my Bell's to the people around me, they say they didn't even notice til I pointed it out. To me, that means my recovery is moving at a great pace. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait until my entire smile's back, but I'm EXTREMELY thankful for what I have!

Day 22 -- Done with medication!!

Finished my antibiotics today! It feels good to be done with medicine after 22 bloody days! I'm excited for my body to return to normal again.

Day 21 -- Fun fact: being gluten-free helps prevent effects of Lyme Disease

Recovery is moving quickly. Like I've been mentioning, this disease doesn't even bother me anymore. After the Renaissance Fair yesterday, I learned from my nurse friend that being on a gluten-free diet would help prevent the effects of Lyme Disease. The bacteria from Lyme's feeds off of the gluten proteins therefore feeding it to keep it strong in your body. Luckily, I've been gluten-free since February and now have more of a reason to do so. I haven't felt any effects of Lyme's since I've been taking my anti-biotics. Apparently, Lyme's makes you weak, achey, and feel like you always have a cold. Ef that noise. I'm staying gluten-free forever.

Day 19 -- Getting better a little bit every day!

My left eye can blink on its own now! It used to not be able to blink it without the right eye blinking too. My smile is opening up a little more too. I can eat, drink and speak completely fine now. No headaches or jaw pain. My hearing is still slightly amplified, but not bad at all. Pretty stoked at how quickly I'm recovering!

Day 18 vs Day 19

Day 18 -- Smile

Not bad. Not bad at all...

(Don't mind Conan's head)

Day 17 -- ditched the eyepatch last night

I feel great! I don't even care about the BP anymore since its not really effecting me anymore. I'm not fully recovered but I don't have any pain or complications speaking. I went to bed without the eyepatch last night too! YAY. Today is a busy day. I'm excited to be able to participate in it.

Day 16 -- weightlifting again!

I'm able to go on with my normal life at this point in recovery! I started weightlifting again today and it felt AMAZING. Hopefully, it won't take too long to get back into my pre-BP bod. I also had a job interview and got asked to come back tomorrow for an interview with the GM. So, my dead face must be healing well if barely anyone notices! HOORAY.

Day 15 -- cranial sacral massage! I'm one million times better right now

Yesterday, I visited my friend and massage therapist to get a cranial sacral massage. He detected my cerebral pulse/rhythm because it says a lot about what my body needs. He said my rhythm felt like it was trying to turn off and in desperate need of a reset. So, he turned it off for me and instantly put me to sleep. After the massage, my splitting headache and jaw pain was gone. When I woke up early this morning, my face wasn't stiff at all, I had zero pain, and my nostril was starting to flair! I fell back asleep and when I woke up again, my eye brow started to lift! This reset he performed triggered my body to start recovering back to normal! I'm seriously in awe. I'd highly suggest finding a cranial sacral massage therapist STAT and have them reset you. I'm excited to see if there's more progress in the morning. Thank God for these magical people!!

Day 15 vs Day 16

Day 14 -- splittin' headaches

The corner of my mouth is still moving. It feels like it may be moving more but that could just be me being optimistic. I've been having real bad headaches in the back of my head and jaw. I cannot wait for those to go away.

Day 12 -- Driving all day

Today I'm taking a five hour trip north. My eye is strong enough to cooperate so I guess that's a really good sign!

Day 13 -- finally done with the roids!

Today's my first day without steroids, or as I like to say, "Ryan Braun-ing it" (too soon?). Maybe I'll stop acting like an a-hole to everyone and return back to my normal, un-bloated self soon. My recovery seems to have stopped at my cheek and corner of my mouth moving and my eye-lid cooperating. I've read that everyone goes through a stage where nothing gets better or worse. I'm hoping this is it. The back of my head feels real swollen. I could just be imagining that though.

Day 11 -- starting to see some movement in my cheek

I found this video on YouTube of another person who experienced Bell's Palsy and shared their recovery! It seems like a lot of young people get this disease.

Day 10 -- for sure Lyme disease

Got some clarification from the nurse today. I tested positive for having active Lyme disease as opposed to dormant Lyme disease. The good news about that is the antibiotics will actually kill it before it becomes dormant. So I got that going for me which is nice.

I'm starting to see a lot of movement in my cheek today. I didn't have to cover my eye once so my blinking must be getting better too.

The back of my head and the left side of my jaw are killing me. Hopefully, its supposed to be that way.

Day 9 -- Yay! Borderline Lyme disease!

Guess who's starting anti-biotics to treat [borderline] Lyme disease today? THIS BITCH! My blood work finally came back, and three out of the five tests for Lyme disease came back positive. Bummer, hey?

I'm going to attempt to workout today because I can't take it anymore. I'm having behavioral issues and need to let out my energy ASAP.

[http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/lyme/lyme.htm]

Day 8 -- Has recovery begun??

Last night, I started to be able to slightly move the left corner of my mouth to crack a SUPER tiny smile. I'm extremely pumped about this.

Day 5 vs Day 8

People on Twitter continue to be supportive and/or fun to talk to.

I'm going to go see a Chiropractor soon, thanks to my friend, Jessica :)

Day 7 -- yesterday was THE WORST

Yesterday was definitely the worst day I've experienced thus far. My face felt super stiff and in pain.

I woke up at 5am today due to the feeling of my head being shot off. Luckily, the uncomfortableness subsided pretty quickly. I'll be done with my anti-viral medication today and am halfway done with the steroids (6 days left).

I haven't been able to exercise, work or play since this all started; I'm losing my mind. I feel like a golden retriever who's been locked up indoors for a week straight and is starting to have behavior issues. I was "roid-raging" hard yesterday. I felt like I could've killed someone. I prayed A LOT for that not to happen. I guess I'm still roid-raging because I feel like punching the bird chirping outside my window right now.

Anyway, no recovery has happened yet. My cheek feels really stiff.

I've been eating B-12 vitamins like there's no tomorrow. DELICIOUS.

I found a bunch of people on Twitter who are experiencing Bell's Palsy. It really cool to be able to talk to people who are going through such a weird thing at the same time I am!

UPDATE 9PM: My face is starting to move again! I can crack a slight smile on the left side of my mouth! KEEP IT UP, LIPS. My eye is really crappy though. I had to keep it taped the majority of the day :-\

Day 6 -- droopy lip

Today isn't that cool so far. My hearing, eye and jaw are more sensitive than yesterday and my bottom lip is starting to droop. I'm on my way to GNC to get vitamin B and fish oil. I will be starting those today.

Chapter 4: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

I forgot to mention that my left hand and left foot are ever-so-slightly weaker than usual. Hopefully, that's normal...? I've gained about 7lbs from the steroids but have been slowly losing it. I also haven't been exercising since I started taking the medication, and I usually exercise two hours per day six days a week. Once the medication is done, I plan on getting back to the gym to get back to my normal weight.

Chapter 4: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Bell's Palsy, Day 5:

Chapter 3: Harvey Dent

I found this Bell's Palsy recovery video on YouTube. Its very cool to see the progression of the disease. Keep in mind however, its different for everyone!

Chapter 3: Harvey Dent

Find a friend to massage your face for you... it helps with the pain! My lips and eye have been twitching a lot.

Chapter 2: Aspiring Rapper

Get yourself a nice straw rather than going through hundreds of plastic straws every day. That's solid advice, now isn't it?

Chapter 2: Aspiring Rapper

Chapter 1: Pirates

Eating and drinking aren't fun. I guess if this doesn't heal I can get a sweet face-tattoo of the other half of my smile.

Chapter 1: Pirates

The onset

On Monday August 12, I was weightlifting when suddenly my tongue felt tingly. I thought it was a side-effect of the creatine I started taking a week ago, so I thought nothing of it. As the day went on, my tongue started to feel slightly numb and my lips started to feel tingly. Once again, I figured it was due to the creatine I was taking and/or I was dehydrated. By the end of the night, the left side of my mouth felt as if I just got home from the dentist. I wasn't worrying too much, so I drank a bunch of water and went to sleep. When I woke up on Tuesday August 13, the left side of my mouth, left nostril, left eye and left eye brow were numb. Fortunately, I didn't freak out [refer to http://trainofprayer.blogspot.com/2013/08/august-13-2013-ive-gone-numb.html]. However, I told my mother about it and she immediately said "you have Bell's Palsy." So, she and my neighborhood pastor convinced me to go to a doctor to get medication [12-day taper of Prednisone and 8-days worth of Valacyclovir].

Bell's Palsy onset - Day 1