Facial/Bell's palsy , Life style factors, Support and Prevention

   

Introduction

Its name is derived after the scientist and renowned expert in anatomy Sir Charles Bell who described the condition first. It is the commonest form of facial palsy. One of the few medical condition which becomes obvious at its most earliest stage , and is characterized by weakening of group of muscles of face and sometimes of eyelids. This makes the unaffected side appear hyper contracted with difficulty in  opening/closing of eye of effected side. Split face appearance ,with happiness on one and sadness on other side of face.

The effected nerve is Facial nerve which supply motor sensation to muscles of facial expressions. Only one side of face is effected and being self limiting it usually reverts to normal within few weeks to couple of months in70- 90% of cases.

Bell’s palsy effects individual of both sex, between the ages  15-45 years. The pronounced signs and symptoms include drooping of face, inability to open eye of effected side, food or liquid taken dribbles from unaffected side of mouth, with lack frowning, inability to close affected eye and resulting dryness..

Life style and home remedies

The  looks of your face when Bell’s palsy effects you ,may be quite annoying and frustrating. Getting the muscle tone, and eye condition back to normal needs good supportive measures. Get to understand the situation rationally and deal in a standard way.

·                   Care of your eye        :   Most distressing and prone to severe complication is failure of effected eye to close completely. Natural tear layer fails at some stage, with dryness of eye setting in. Immediate care is the best solution to avoid this from happening as it may lead to corneal ulceration and blindness.

Manually close eye : using your fingers gently  for closing and opening the effected eye. It will keep it moist to some extent.

Lubricate Eye:  Artificial tears comprising of  methylcellulose drops are advised by your doctor. This will keep the eye on paralyzed side moist all day. Considering your condition doctor advises the frequency of putting eye drops.

Wearing glasses :  while you move out keep eye covered by googles or glasses of large frame that will protect from dust and irritating particles going into partially closed eye.

Eye patch    :  use eye patch or special surgical tape during sleep, to keep it closed and   protect from getting poked or scratched.

                                       

·                     Heat therapy                    : Apply heat on your effected side of face in form of either heating pad with low setting, heated gel packs, or warm moist cloth compresses . It will not only minimize your pain, but also reduces swelling over effected facial  nerve. The procedure may have to be repeated several times a day.

·                         Care of mouth                     :    Lack of taste, and dryness on one side of tongue with food getting accumulated or stuck on effected side may lead to disease of gums and tooth decay. This will add to eating difficulties that already exist. Do regular flossing, and brushing of teeth and avoid such complications. To overcome swallowing difficulty chew your food for long and thorough. Choose soft ,smooth food items. Eating yogurt can be good choice.

·                        Physical therapy  application: According to National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke(US), when you massage the effected side of your face, you will provide stimulus to paralyzed nerve, also improve tone and blood circulation of effected muscles. Massaging unaffected side will relax hypertonic muscle on that side.

·                 Use  analgesics/pain killer medicine    :   Before the start of facial paralysis/ bell’s palsy and during the whole period of illness, pain is controlled with drugs like, acetylsalicylic acid, ibuprofen or acetaminophen. Acetylsalicylic acid and ibuprofen both can cause gastric acidity and allergic reaction. So care should be taken before taking these drugs.

·                 Botox(botulinum toxin) injection                :  In long standing bell’s palsy, injecting Botox on effected or unaffected side. Injected on effected side, they relax certain taught muscle/ or reduce abnormal muscle movements. Injecting on unaffected side it suppresses overactive muscles and balances face movements. They are also given into eye to influence open/partially closed eye of effected side.

Alternative medicine

These different approaches for remedying Bell’s palsy have so far not proven to be absolute choice. But still they are applied regularly with or without conventional medication, hoping to speed up recovery from somewhat annoying disorder. Somehow on individual scale they do seem to help. They include following  ;

·                    Vitamin B12 therapy              :   It is considered very potent nerve regenerating agent used in injectable form . The vitamin in its most effective form methylcoblamin, has been assessed to benefit Bell’s palsy patients. To reduce the duration of symptoms of Bell’s palsy its combination with steroids have been found effective(Malaysian study). Other vitamins of B group along with zinc supplement potentiate  each other for re-growth of nerve cells and building up immune system.

·                           Acupuncture                                   :   A technique of healing disease by placing needles at specific points on body .It is done only by qualified acupuncturist. This method of making speedy recovery from Bell’s  palsy is widely used in China, and gaining popularity in United States too. Through acupuncture it is believed that cold and wind are removed from body of the sufferer of  Bell’s palsy.

 ·                          Relaxation  therapy                          :         Doing yoga and meditation help in relieving symptoms of Bell’s palsy. Yoga involves slow exhaling with break of count to  five and inhaling. Another breathing exercise is Buteyko, which encourages nose breathing. Both these breathing techniques ease out stress, relax the body muscles and relieve pain.

·                             Bio-feed back training                       :   The principle of this training is based on making the Bell’s palsy patient take  control of his/her own muscles. By placing electrodes and monitoring patients Bp, pulse and muscle tone, Bell’s palsy patient is trained to control the reading and reducing the muscle tension.(University of Maryland Medical Center).

·                     Electrical stimulation              : An electrode is placed and fixed on skin close to effected facial region in proximity to facial nerve course . This is done by expert technician . An electrical unit transfers current through the electrode to effected nerve and produces neuromuscular communication.

 

Although many Alternative and conventional treatment options are being applied at present, but none guarantees definitive cure.