N    92   Bell’s Palsy   

I usually write blogs after I returned from a trip. There are much to write and also easy as I have to relate what I have experienced  only. But as I said in my last blog, for some reasons I did not post the blog about my trip to Gawranji Island. It was not actually that I had not written about it , but I did wrote it on some sleepless nights and only shoved  it somewhere because I felt hurt and resentful just to think about it. After I returned from Gawranji Island , on the 2^nd morning I got Bell Palsy. Some may  know about this disease and some may not.  So I will relate about this disease in this blog.

On the 2^nd morning I returned from Gawranji Island I was stricken by this disease. I did not know something was wrong with me as I did not feel sick. Only when I was drinking coffee and later mohnhinga I felt that I could not take in the food well, but some came out from the corner of my mouth. Then somebody told me that my mouth was not in the right position, but drooping down. Actually the left side of my face was like that, like it was being pulled down , the eye brow, the eye, the mouth and even the nose. I had seen some people who had this disease ,but had not dreamt I would become a victim of this disease.

So as usual , when something is wrong with your body you have to find the cure. On the first day I saw a doctor and a specialist who told me I had Bell’s Palsy , that it could be cured and gave me some medicines.

The next day I was also taken to YGH, but by the urging of my eldest daughter who happened to be in Bangkok we flew to Bangkok and to Praram 9 Hospital where I was hospitalized immediately. Every examination that need to be done was done on me including the MRI. I was given intravenous medicine without a break, and nurses came and gave me medicine regularly. If there was a special medicine to take like steroid (Prednisalone ) the doctor informed me beforehand. Bell’s Palsy cannot be cured in a few days.. So after 2 nights and 1 day I was discharged from hospital with a follow up to be done after 3 days.

So when I went for the checkup on  the appointed day the doctor explained to me about my condition, that I would have to do exercises when I got home , The exercises I had to do were shown to me by a physiotherapist.

So when I got home I took treatment from 2 physiotherapists who guided me to do facial exercises and also with the stimulating machine.

Gradually my face became nearly normal again, but cannot say I fully recovered. The signs of Bell’s Palsy still remain on my face and I can feel the strain in my mouth and cheek and also the eye which seems to get narrower than it used to be .

How much trouble had this disease caused me; time ,money, and feelings of pain,distress, and resentfulness. There is a saying in Myanmar ; A thwar ma taw ta hlan which means a single step can be critical. Did my journey to Gawranji Island brought this unfortunate fate to me.Myanmar people think that exposing the face to wind cause this disease, and that was exactly what I had done. But western medicine does not say like that.This is how they define the meaning of Bell’s Palsy…..

Bell’s Palsy is a condition in which the muscles on one side of the face become weak or paralyzed. It affects only one side of the face at a time, causing it to droop or become stiff on that side.

Its caused by some kind of trauma to the 7^th cranial nerve. This is also called facial nerve. Bell’s Palsy can happen to anyone*. But it seems to occur more often in people who have Diabetes or are recovering from viral infections.Most  of the times symtoms are only temporily

*B P can happen to anyone old or young, male or female. The famous actress  Angelina Jolie also suffered from this disease. She said that she was cured by means of acupuncture.