Jesus, dude. Glad you're okay, assuming that it's not a permanent kind of thing. The link makes it sound like it's not.

Eek, that sounds horrifying. I'm freaked out enough when I wake up to find one of my arms is still asleep...

Holy crap man, glad to hear it isn't all that serious. I know I would have freaked out.

So you finally look like your avatar, ey?

My father contracted this earlier this year. His was a nasty case, but he's mostly recovered. Still, due to his age and his horrible lack of taking care of himself, it will probably never go away completely. Anyway, it's more frightening than painful, as I'm sure you've already discovered.

Three suggestions:

1) If you are having any problems at all closing one side of your mouth, then get thee to a box of straws. For months that was the only way my dad could drink any liquid.

2) Get the same doctor that diagnosed your BP to recommend eyedrops. The eye that doesn't close properly will dry out, and remarkably quickly at that. And I'm sure he or she knows exactly which kind of eyedrop fluid you should use.

3) Get a good pair of sunglasses for the light sensitivity and bitch out anyone who makes snide remarks. You've earned your sunglasses at night, dammit.

Anyway, take care of yourself, Podunk. Bells' Palsy is obnoxious, but it does go away on its own eventually.

Good luck, and take care of yourself!

An accquaintance of mine has BP. In our circle of friends he's known as 'The Winker' - for obvious reasons.

Happens to me all the time, unfortunately. Why, after I spent the night sleeping on a thinly-carpeted concrete floor, I had a severe case of it that probably started when I flipped over onto my side to tune out a crying baby at 5:30.

Unfortunately, Niseg's condition rendered him incapable of spelling words like "neurologist," "probably," "extreme," and "syndrome."

This is nothing. I have a friend who had a full-on, whole left side of his body stroke. While being friendly. Yes.

EDIT: Didn't mean to sound cold. Glad to hear you're all right, Podunk!

Oh, yeah, I'm with you. Compared to a stroke, this is gravy.

I told everyone at work that I'd contracted the zombie virus and that by Friday I will be eating brains.

Sounds a lot like the time I gave myself a concussion snowboarding. Two days after the concussion I hit the slopes again, fell down and whacked my head and ended up having not so much as loss of control over the left side of my body, but it certainly wasn't operating properly. Ended up walking down the rest of the mountain and spending the rest of the day wandering Breckenridge.

Thankfully after hearing my story, the board shop I rented from only charged me for like 3 days out of the 5 I had it for!

How did I miss this thread, the first time? Thanks for linking it, Podunk.

Glad to hear you're OK. That sort of nerve-centric stuff, like half-face paralasys, would drive me absolutely insane. Cheers!

Something about this sounded really familiar, and after looking it up, it seems you're in interesting or good company depending on your point of view. In the commentaries for the tv show Angel, I remember them saying that Alexis Denisof (playing Wesley Windham Price) had to be filmed from a specific side because he couldn't move half his face. Just looked it up on imdb.com:

"Was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy just before filming of the final season on Angel commenced. During the first episode, director Joss Whedon was careful to keep most of Alexis's shots on his right profile, as the left side of his face was fairly immobile at the time."

Good to hear your sense of humor (and certainly relief) about the whole thing. Cheers.

Sorry to dredge this thread out but this just happened to me. Yesterday I woke to the left side of my face being paralyzed. At first I thought maybe I just slept on it wrong and it would come back in a bit. But it did not then when I told my girl friend she freaked out thinking I was having a stroke but typically a stroke effects more than just your face so I wasn't worried. So I worked through the rest of the day and decided if it didn't go away by the end of work I would go see the doc. So after work off to the doc I went. When I told them what was up I went straight to the front of the line because they thought it could be a stroke as well but after a few quick tests they knew it was not. So after a few more tests they decided I had Bells Palsy and wrote me some scrips and sent me on my way. So now I get to make a mess every time I eat. Such an odd feeling not having half your face do nothing. Hopefully I recover from this as most people do but there are some unlucky few that do not and end up going in for surgery.

Podunk, how long did it take you to recover?