Bells Palsy - the worse experience of my entire life!

[riturriaga]

I am now 39 weeks pregnant and after much hesitation, on Friday last week I decided to have the flu jab, since my GP and midwife etc. had reiterated the importance of this in pregnant women.

I regret this with all my heart!! - By Saturday I started noticing a numbness on my tongue and a pain on the back of my ear by Sunday this got worse and by Monday I was unable to shut my eye and the right hand side of my face was paralysed.  How scary this was....  I straight away went to the hospital and I was told that it was this condition called Bells Palsy which I have never heard of in my entire life.

I am extremely angry and I feel totally let down by the medical system about the fact that I was never explained the risk of this vaccination.  The only way it was portrayed to me was as a fantastic vaccine that was really needed while pregnant.  It should be the duty and the obligation of anyone who administers this to explain in full the possible risks etc..  This is absolutely disgusting and disgraceful!

I am now under an enormous amount of stress and taking steroids.  I have had an amazing pregnancy all the way through, not being sick or unwell even once and now when I am coming to the end of it, this happens for reasons totally beyond my control and for reasons triggered by this stupid vaccine.

Why on earth does the health system not consider these things before administering these type of drugs to pregnant individuals whose immune system is for sure not the same as the rest ?

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Well, though there are a few risks associated with vaccination, there are benefits of taking it as well, which may outweigh the risks; though I would still agree that the pros and cons should have been well explained to you. I hope you get better soon.
Wish you a speedy recovery.

Take care!

[FRC23]

See a sleep center. Recurrent "Bells Palsy" is actually very characteristic of narcolepsy with cataplexy. In fact, often times, it's not "Bells Palsy," but cataplexy. Viruses and some vaccines (namely the H1N1) can actually precipitate this, but it can happen seemingly in random fashion, too.

It doesn't look the way you think it looks. Common misdiagnoses are depression, epilepsy, and migraines. I struggled for years to find an answer, and was misdiagnosed several times. I had it with just sleepiness during the day and what looked like insomnia at night for probably about 15-20 years before I ended up with more serious symptoms of narcolepsy that actually included cataplexy (random muscle weakness that can either be isolated, or widespread).

The cataplexy manifested first in my face, as what looked like episodes of Bells Palsy that came and went when I was tired, stressed, or even when I was happy and smiling.  But when I paid closer attention I realized I got weakness and twitching (not uncommon) in my other muscles sometimes too, though I chalked it up to clumsiness until I paid attention. I also had issues with my vision randomly and sleepiness.

I went undiagnosed for about 15-20 years, until I finally saw a sleep specialist and she nailed the diagnosis right away. The vast majority of doctors have absolutely no idea what it is or what it looks like, and no routine lab tests, MRI, CT scan, x-ray or anything of that nature will detect it. 75% of people with narcolepsy never get diagnosed in their lifetime.

I was tested for epilepsy, migraines, MS, all kinds of things. But nope, it turned out to be narcolepsy!!

Get seen by a sleep center!