Bell's palsy

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Bell's palsy Bell's palsy is a form of facial paralysis resulting from damage to the VII (facial) cranial nerve. This nerve disorder afflicts approximately 40,000 Americans each year. It can strike almost anyone at any age; however, it disproportionately attacks pregnant women and people who have diabetes, influenza, a cold, or some other upper respiratory ailment. In addition to one-sided facial paralysis with possible inability to close the eye, symptoms of Bell's palsy may include pain, tearing, drooling, hypersensitivity to sound in the affected ear, and impairment of taste. The common cold sore virus, herpes simplex, and other herpes viruses are the likely cause of many cases of Bell's palsy.In Western medicine, recent studies have shown that steroids are probably effective and that the drug acyclovir combined with prednisone is possibly effective in improving facial function. Other treatments are usually aimed at protecting the eye from drying at nighttime. Some physicians may prescribe a corticosteroid drug to help reduce inflammation and an analgesic to relieve pain. The prognosis for Bell's palsy is generally very good. With or without treatment, most patients begin to get significantly better within 2 weeks, and about 80 percent recover completely within 3 months. For some, however, the symptoms may last longer. In a few cases, the symptoms may never completely disappear.I have seen acupuncture get incredible results. Something I would highly reccommend. Bell's Palsy is the most common disease of the facial nerve. It is presumably due to an inflammatory reaction in or around the facial nerve near the stylomastoid foramen. According to Liu (1995), when acupuncture was initiated within three days post-onset in 684 cases of facial nerve paralysis, 100 percent of the patients were cured or there was a marked improvement (5). Other studies (Gao, Chen, 1991) revealed that 80% of cases that were treated at more than 2 months post-onset, and 83 percent of severe cases, were cured or had excellent effect (6). Treatment, as with this patient, may include numerous diagnostic procedures, different classes of medications, lifestyle alterations, and still, continued suffering. Acupuncture may often lead to significant clinical improvement (7). I would only recommend crystals as an adjunct therapy. Calcium crystals seem to have the best effect.Andrew PacholykPeacefulmind.comREFERENCES 1. O'Connor J, Bensky D. Acupuncture a comprehensive text. Seattle: Eastland Press 1981; 367-372. 2. Ibid, 609-610. 3. Stux G, Pomeranz B. Acupuncture textbook and atlas. Berlin: Springer-Verlag 1987; 296. 4. Evans RA, Hames ML, Baguley DM, Moffat DA. Reliability of the House and Brackmann grading system for facial palsy. J Laryngol Otol Nov 1989; 103(11): 1045. 5. Liu YT. A new classification system and combined treatment method for idiopathic facial nerve paralysis: report of 718 cases. Am JAcup 1995; 23(3),205-210. 6. Gao HB, Chen D. Clinical observation on 60 cases of peripheral facial paralysis treated with acupointure penetration needling. Int J Clin Acup 1991; 2(1),25-28. 7. NIH Consensus Development Conference on Acupuncture, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD, Nov 1997; 93-109.