Unlocking Smiles: A Professional Guide to Treating Bell's Palsy
From Personal Journey to Practitioner Insight: How I fully healed as a patient. And my treatment guidelines.
Back in the Fall of 2023, I woke up unable to whistle. Which was odd. I whistle A LOT, so for me, it was one of the first things I realized. Throughout the day, my left eye was watering nonstop. I decided that a good workout would fix everything, so I went to the gym. Fast forward to lunch, the left side of my face felt so funny. I went to drink from a straw and wasn't able to. I was pretty scared of what was going on since all these symptoms were on the left side. Like any emergency in my life, my family was out of town. I had a babysitter hired for my child and just kept thinking to myself, I feel like this could be a stroke, I can't just go off to the hospital and leave my toddler with a babysitter. So, I called my brother, who refused to come up, because he was in paramedic school. He comforted me by saying, "Ya sounds like you're having a stroke. It's super serious and time-sensitive. You need to go to the hospital and get medication." Zero comfort. But I took myself to urgent care, of course on the intake forms online there's nothing for I think I'm having a stroke. So I checked allergies or something face-related. When I showed up, they told me to have a seat and it would be a while, so I looked at the gal... I was trying to stay calm so they would be calm, kinda just one finger pointed to my left side of the face and said, "I don't have allergies, they didn't have a box for me. I can't feel the left side of my face or whistle or drink a straw." So she went from calm to hitting this button where 7 providers now swarmed my room. They asked all these questions for me to close my eyes, talk, move my eyebrows, etc. Then the main guy goes, "Oh, you're forehead is moving, so it's not a stroke." Most of the providers left, and then it was just us. In my head, I'm thinking "That was on my board exams." But in real life was still panicked. Once we determined I wasn't having a stroke they prescribed a steroid and an anti-viral and sent me on my way.
FIRST TREATMENT:
Being an acupuncturist, my go-to is always holistic and natural remedies. Even in emergencies, there are some great holistic treatments to heal quickly. To treat Bell's Palsy naturally, I immediately got an appointment with my acupuncturist (like seriously, within 30 minutes of knowing). He does amazing work and does a lot of energetic frequency treatments. So I got my treatment and then was on my way, hopefully since I started treatment so soon this would be like an overnight thing. To my displeasure, I was wrong, over the next few days my Bells' Palsy/ Face got worse. My eyes wouldn't close, my mouth was soo floppy, I slurred my speech, and my face hurt.
It ended up taking me 7 weeks to fully recover. And in that time I heard from so many people who had relatives or friends who had this, lots of people said, "Oh my friend had it 6 times." Or, "Oh my brother still has that," "My cousin never healed." I can't imagine living like this again, or permanently. When I heard these stories, it kept making me research treatments for Bell's Palsy. I am still shocked at the lack of info and treatments. But I want to share with you what worked for me, and how I have treated Bell's Palsy in others.
TREATMENTS:
For 7 weeks straight, I did acupuncture 7 days a week. Luckily being an acupuncturist myself, I had an old classmate who was able to treat me. This type of facial acupuncture treatment is very intense, and not easy to do to on yourself (trust me... I tried).
Here is a list of everything I did personally to heal from Bells Palsy:
Acupuncture daily
Anti-viral Chinese Herbs daily
Steroid medication until gone
SUPPLEMENTS:
Nerves need vitamins and nutrients to regenerate. In the case of Bells Palsy, it is essential to add proper supplementation for the nerve to regenerate and heal for full recovery:
If you have Bell's Palsy or are treating a patient, the above supplements are crucial. I also highly recommend Chinese herbs if the reason for the cause is not obvious from a musculoskeletal.
When I had Bell's Palsy, my acupuncturist and I had never seen a case since school, and we both had cases coming in... We suspect this was all viral, being that there was a large increase of this condition. I did have one patient who slept very funny and kinked their neck all night and woke up with this, which is why I mention if the cause isn't obvious musculoskeletal.
RED LIGHT THERAPY:
When I used the red light therapy machine I bought, I could feel huge amounts of tingling and twitches in my face. I believe the red light is essential and was incredible to help a full recovery of Bell's Palsy. When I was researching via PubMed, I remembered that the red lights are incredible because they help regenerate nerves. So since this condition is a paralysis of the nerve, the machine is essential. There are A TON of knock-off brands out there, that are fairly cheap. They, however, do not have the proper amounts of red-to-white light ratio to heal the nerve. Check out this brand, and after you have healed this is an amazing biohacking way to reverse aging, and skin lines, and increase cellular health.
PRESCRIPTIONS:
If you are experiencing Bell's Palsy and want to get prescribed herbal medicine for you, you can follow this link here to book a virtual health consultation, I do want you also to order the B12 and Magnesium from above, the specific doses and brand for best absorption and healing.
If you are a practitioner looking for advice for a patient, please also follow the telehealth to book a call and discuss the case.
PREVENTION:
Bell's Palsy really has no treatment online. I looked and looked. I remember treating it in clinical in acupuncture school, and prevention our teachers always said:
Wear a scarf when it is windy
Do not go from the hot tub in the wintertime
Do not sleep with a window open
Bell Palsy is the paralysis of the facial nerve. In Chinese Medicine, this paralysis often comes from what we call "wind." Or exposing the skin to cold, and going from very hot (like a hot tub) to very cold (like the snow). Lots of people tend to get it when they are skiing, and then take off their gear but it's very cold outside so the pores trap shut and aggravate the facial nerve.
Another cause of Bell's Palsy is viral, where the virus attacks the facial nerve. It may seem like an odd concept, but viruses we have already been exposed to still live in us such as mono and the twenty twentiee viral strains. With stress, lack of sleep, and poor diet, these viruses can resurface and symptoms can arise again, or in this case, they can attack the nerve.
THE PROCESS TRIED TO BEAT ME DOWN:
I would not want to wish Bells Palsy on anyone. It was so hard doing life as an acupuncturist, someone who drives 400 miles a week, and mother of a toddler. There were days that I just didn't think I could take it anymore. I don't really know what caused mine, while I suspect viral, I was a few days prior out in the cold rain buckling my child in the car seat, and the week prior had been so exhausted from the stress I remember thinking "I'm going to have a seizure, I'm so tired!"
I decided that this was not just an attack on my face, but an attack from the enemy. And I was determined to not let this ruin the places I was called to be in. I still showed up to bible study that week, I still went to church and worshiped, and I still volunteered in the baby's room. I still walked 1 hour a day. I still took my child swimming and to the park.
I don't know if you've heard this before, but WORSHIP IS YOUR WEAPON. Here are 2 songs I clung to when I was battling this physically and mentally:
I still remember the day that my face just stopped being paralyzed. I was in the car, and I was singing as loud as I could "Wait on the lord" This time, probably the 100th time singing this song that month, I felt in my heart a huge shift. A shift where I truly believed God would heal me, a shift from singing the words, to believing this in my heart. Once I felt that heart shift, my face went crazy twitching and burning and I had turned the corner from my Bell's Palsy getting worse, it was all uphill from here. If you had met me at that point, you would have no idea anything was wrong.
I could still feel some minor things like the corner of my mouth not right, and I couldn't whistle. So overall I looked fine within a few weeks, but within 7 weeks, I had a full recovery. The research shows it takes a nerve 6 months to totally regenerate, so a lot of people who have this long-term Bell's Palsy and then heal, it has a lot to do with the facial nerve regeneration process.
I truly believe that the people God had in my life to treat me, the prayer I was covered with, and the worship I came to battle with helped me have a fast recovery, and peace in my heart while I was healing. I really got to the point where I just started to laugh, you see, I had just got one of the things I had prayed for most in life. And the devil did come to steal my joy from enjoying that. Luckily joy isn't sourced from myself, it's a gift from God. And anyone who calls on his name can receive that gift. NO MATTER what the circumstance.
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