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Jamie’s story

Jamie came to us from Canada. Her Bell’s palsy started in July 2016. Here she shortly describes her experience with Bell’s palsy recovery.

“My Bell’s palsy began on a Saturday in July, 2016. Earlier that week (Mon/Tues) at my office I lost my voice (it sounded as though I had a bad cold but my throat was not sore) by Wednesday I started to get an ear ache in my left ear. I thought it might be an ear infection and went to the pharmacy and got ear drops.

When it didn’t get better, I went to a Walk-In Clinic to see a doctor (Friday morning). The doctor said I had no infection and thought it might be stress related. He felt the lymph nodes on the front of my throat under my chin, and they weren’t swollen, so he didn’t think it was a virus. I was prescribed a strong version of ibuprofen to relax my muscles. When I left the doctor’s office, I felt a large lump on the back of my neck where the doctor had not checked (I didn’t know at the time this was my lymph node that was very inflamed).

I went sailing that day and that evening went to see my massage therapist. I woke up on Saturday morning with partial paralysis of my left side of my face (I awoke because my eye was dry, and I wasn’t able to blink it… I also couldn’t furrow my eyebrows).

I went to the hospital – the Palsy quickly advanced, within a couple of hours I had no movement. The doctor at the emergency diagnosed me and said based on my symptoms and swollen lymph nodes, it was likely a reaction to a virus.”

When Jamie just arrived to the clinic for the first time, these were her complications and residuals:

  • “When I frown or say words with the letter “W”, pucker my lips (anything where my upper lip moves on the left moves) my left eye partially closes.
  • My affected eye area get painful and tired/strained and the eye “shrinks” towards the end of the day I also feel my blinking slows in the affected eye.
  • When I smile a large smile my left eye partially closes.
  • I get painful neck cramps/contractors on the left side of my neck (when I blink/squeeze my eyes shut I feel my neck slightly contract) so I believe the muscle is overworked.
  • Whenever I flare my nostrils (or move my ears) my left eye shrinks.”

“Remarks: I give presentations in front of a large audience at work (sometimes on stage with projector screens zoomed in on my face) and I am self-conscious now of how lopsided my face appears, especially with certain words or if my face is tired. I am socially more self-conscious in general. The facial pain/fatigue can be extremely uncomfortable, along with painful neck cramps and headaches that affect my ability to focus.”

Already after the first visit, Jamie started feeling some improvements:

  • “I have had no neck contractures since getting back from treatment! My affected eye also remains more open as the day goes on (it previously used to get smaller as the day progressed).
  • I am definitely more conscious of how my face feels throughout the day, and much more aware when I tense up.”

As you can see in her video testimonial, with persistent hard work, motivation and guidance, she managed to achieve her desired results, return her self-confidence and gain even more experience and knowledge for her personal health growth.