Bells Palsy - 26 weeks pregnant stressed and anxious help

[Lauren2409]

I'm 26 weeks pregnant and I have just been told that I have Bells Palsy. The left side of my face has dropped I can't close my eye and talking:eating is very hard taste has also been effected.

This has me so depressed and my anxiety is through the roof. They don't know why it has happened and have given me steroids for 10 days

Has anyone else had this. Im so concerned that this will effect the baby and that this will not go away

Anyone had this before?

I had it when I was younger, doctor gave me tablets and it cleared up after a few days.

Did you have any lasting effects or did it completely clear up? X

I'm sorry OP. I can imagine it's very depressing.

It absolutely won't affect the baby, so don't worry about that.

However, it's not entirely clear what causes Bell's Palsy, and the recovery can vary a lot, just to prepare you. You could be many months before the physical dropping etc improves fully.

All you can do is rest & manage the symptoms as well as you can. Best of luck 💐

No lasting effects at all. It started to get better with medication after a few days and then by week 3 was completely back to normal. Doctor said it was because they caught it early.

I have had it. The steroids and anti inflamatoris will take it down but you could be left with it for a while. There is a book called Smile by Sarah Ruhl who also got this while pregnant although hers lasted longer than anyone I have known. I think my face was back to normal in about 6 weeks but the eye was months before it healed properly.

It absolutely won't affect your baby.

I know of two people that have had it, one 30 years on you can still see a slight drop in her mouth, another 10 years on similar but it's definitely more obvious when they're tired. There are implements you can get to help massage the muscle from inside and outside of cheek which will definitely help and improve recovery.

Hi OP I know how you feel. I had this last year when I got Covid. Have you been taping your eye and using loads of eyedrops?

In most people (95% I think) the face will go back to normal within 3 weeks. I’m one of the worse case scenarios, it took 9 months and there is permanent damage. I was so scared when I was told my face wouldn’t go back to normal but it is barely noticeable. People who I have known for years, cannot tell. Please don’t worry.

Thank you so much for replying everyone. Just over 2 weeks now and my eye is only just starting to twitch...taking that as a good thing. My mouth drop hasn't changed and I still struggle to eat and drink.

Taping my eye shut every night and eye drops as and when I need them. My vision goes blurry in that eye though from time to time which worries me.

I'm getting referred to a physio so hopefully it will help.

I'm more bothered about the baby than myself. As long as she's ok, will just have to draw my eye brow on slightly different on my bad side for a while 😂.
If I don't laugh I will cry!

The baby is fine trust me there is nothing that can happen to the baby. I too had blurred vision in my affected eye and went for a private scan on it and it was fine trust me it is all a process. I am 3 years down the line and I get pain in the back of my ear from time to time but I had an eye test recently as I wear glasses and the 'affected' eye is actually stronger than the other one. You can and will get through this. It is horrible at the time. I never taped my eye I bought an eye mask from amazon and wore that instead going to sleep so that might help you too instead of taping the eye down. That just made me feel awkward. I hope you heal soon and you will find so so many people out there have had this and come out the other side completely unscathed. There are some who live with it forever and although my face is totally normal again now I still tell people I have bells palsy as i dont think it is something you can 'un' have if you understand me.

Hi OP, hope you're doing okay. I have had BP for a week - camemon at 39weeks pregnant, joy!
Baby won't be affected, wee they happy for you to have the steroids? It was an easy decision for me and my maternity team as I was so late in pregnancy they wouldn't cause a problem at all.
I've no progress yet, but only a week in so wasn't expecting any. Really hoping to see some in next fortnight, but just got to be patient.
I think the emotional side is the hardest, certainly not how I expected my maternity leave to be. I've been generally okay but had a good cry at my midwife when she said "it's okay to be sad" - even thinking that gets me going. I think I build a wall up around it and only now and then let the upset get to me.

My daughter had this in her early 20s - just woke up with it one day. We were incredibly alarmed as it looked like she had a stroke overnight.

Her doctor didn’t give her any medication at all, just told her it was caused by a virus and she would recover in time, which she did. The only long term effect is a slight droop to one eye when she’s very tired but most people wouldn’t notice.

I’m sure your baby will be unaffected by the BP. It’s just your own emotional well-being you need to worry about and focus on. I hope it passes quickly for you. Make sure you get plenty of rest and take care.

I know someone who had this in pregnancy, she totally recovered and she and the baby were fine. She didn't have it in her next pregnancy. It is scary at the time because we're so unused to anything like that happening so suddenly.

Fingers crossed for a quick recovery for you.

I got this when pregnant and had acupuncture which helped - it went away really quickly and no lasting effects

I had BP at 16 weeks pregnant. Took 10 days of steroids and eye spray. Fortunately, cleared up within 2-3 weeks. My baby is completely unaffected.

There's a Bells Palsy during pregnancy FB group which might be helpful. Hope it resolves itself soon.

You can accelerate the recovery with acupuncture, which is super safe during pregnancy.