Feeling a little two-faced

I've had a very interesting week. It started pretty benign, but quickly got interesting.

On Wednesday I noticed that my lymph nodes were swollen and a little painful on the left side. I figured my body was fighting something off, so I just kept an eye on it. When it hadn't changed by Friday morning, I made an appointment to see the nurse practitioner at my doctor's office to get a round of antibiotics. Her exam showed nothing remarkable, so she said I was probably fighting something off and gave me the antibiotics to speed the process along.

That night, I noticed that I couldn't taste with the left side of my tongue. It was very strange, but not alarming. I was actually watching it in case the medicine was causing a case of thrush. Nothing changed Saturday, but I still couldn't taste.

Sunday morning, however, was a whole different story. While I was getting ready for church, I noticed that the left side of my face felt funny when I smiled. Then, when I was putting in my contacts, I noticed that my left eye wasn't closing. I immediately suspected that I had Bell's Palsy. I quickly pulled up a list of symptoms from the internet and saw that it fit perfectly. I managed to get through to my regular doctor and he said that he too thought my symptoms fit Bell's Palsy, so he sent me to the ER for an official diagnosis and some medicine.

In case you were wondering, Bell's Palsy is a very interesting medical condition in which the facial nerve becomes paralyzed. The cause is not always known, but it can be caused by the herpes virus or, in my case, an infection. Once the paralysis sets in, one side of the face loses muscle response leading to a droopy appearance on the affected side. When I smile, only the muscles on my right side work, so only on half of my mouth is turned up. It's actually a very weird feeling.

Since I caught the condition early on, I was given steroids to help ease the inflammation. I have a very good chance of complete recovery. In some cases, the patient will have some permanent damage to the facial responses, but I am expecting a full recovery. Unfortunately, the recovery is slow and can take up to several months. Not my idea of a good time, but I suppose it could be worse!