11th December 2005
I had Bell's three times when I was a kid - now I have a chronic shingles-like inflammation of the trigeminal nerves in my head. No fun! At least I don't have paralysis any more.
There hasn't been a lot of research done on Bell's - it's a syndrome, not a disease - but the nearest they can figure, it's some kind of herpetic-type virus, like a zoster (chickenpox) or a cold sore virus, that somehow gets into your system and affects the 7th cranial nerve. We thought my manifestation was zoster, but it's gone on so long that the presentation seems to be more of a simplex type.
This is why your doc gave you acyclovir, because Bell's is virally-based. Your body is also trying to heal the lesions on the nerve, which is why your doc gave you steroids to speed the healing.
Most people with Bell's have a zoster presentation, i.e. chickenpox, which means one really bad episode and then it goes away basically forever, so if you don't suffer actual nerve damage (i.e. permanent paralysis or neuralgia) you should be OK when you recover. My case is an abnormal one!
Good luck
There hasn't been a lot of research done on Bell's - it's a syndrome, not a disease - but the nearest they can figure, it's some kind of herpetic-type virus, like a zoster (chickenpox) or a cold sore virus, that somehow gets into your system and affects the 7th cranial nerve. We thought my manifestation was zoster, but it's gone on so long that the presentation seems to be more of a simplex type.
This is why your doc gave you acyclovir, because Bell's is virally-based. Your body is also trying to heal the lesions on the nerve, which is why your doc gave you steroids to speed the healing.
Most people with Bell's have a zoster presentation, i.e. chickenpox, which means one really bad episode and then it goes away basically forever, so if you don't suffer actual nerve damage (i.e. permanent paralysis or neuralgia) you should be OK when you recover. My case is an abnormal one!
Good luck