Day 7: Why do I have Bells Palsy... WHY?!?!

Today I want to think about what has triggered this disease in me and document all the supplements I am taking daily. I have some brilliant friends that have offered up some ideas I did not think of.

Possible causes or triggers...

Stress

Stress seems to be the main factor cited on the internet. I have stress! There is always a foundation of stress in my life which is just me. Multi page "to do" lists, always behind in some area and trying to catch up, never more than 6 hours of sleep and often a lot less. I am staring at a sympathy card I should have sent months ago and now it's too late and I am a flake. Staring at a birthday card for a friend with cancer... could still send that one late, still a flake. Owe tons of birthday and Christmas presents to two young cousins across the country. No clear remembrance of the birthday dates now and really feeling like crap about that. And the parents were always fantastic about remembering my daughter when she was a kid. I don't know how I got to this point but procrastination is evil and pure stress inducing. I have to work on this. I'm also saving money to put enormous down payments on a house and condo on the east coast next spring. No self imposed pressure there... I'm totally realistic... snort. The extra stress layers I added recently were-

June:

• Fly to Boston to pick up a huge bird I thought I was afraid of. (fine now but very stressy in June)
• Daughter goes to Istanbul for a month and takes some side trips to Albania and Macedonia. (She is fantastic about sending emails but Albania... seriously?!?)
• eBay imposes some really ill thought out changes that could seriously effect my ability to continue making the bulk of my income on their site. (scary)
• Taking care of my mom's dog that had eye surgery. 9 hours a day, 5 days a week, starting at 5:30am. He's a nice dog but being responsible that he is taken out, doesn't bark or jump ever, drinks enough when I hold the water bowl inside his big head cone, and is generally happy is worrisome. The real stress of it becomes getting up at 5am every day. I can't get to bed earlier and quickly become a bit rundown and sleep deprived.

July:

• July 1, the Gap fire breaks out a couple miles away and on July 3 I have to evacuate my home in a panic. I had about an hour to pack all the inventory, computers, and work stuff I could fit in my car. Oh, and the 2 birds and 1 cat. I drive off with no idea of where I am going to stay. I was able to move back after 2 nights but it still sucked and left me with a lot of extra work and worry. Slept about 4 hours each night.
• Dog returns Monday morning to continue his convalescence at my place. (That ended on the 9th... Woo hoo! I helped out a bit and now he is better.
• My dad builds me a fabulous aviary and I learn it's too big (dangerous for clipped birds falling like potatoes), needs to have a cushioned floor, needs to be painted with a certain paint for metal poisoning reasons, woven shade top I bought needs a coat of "Thompson water sealant", and I would really like a partion changed in the cage now that I think about it. So a nice favor is becoming a major ordeal and while my dad is terrific about the extra work I feel terrible to put him through it - especially now that I am supposed to rest.

Toxins

Toxins from the fire... This thought came from one of my brilliant friends and I think she may be on to something here! I breathed in a LOT of smoke when I was loading the car. Amazing looking orange smoke. It took 2 showers and hair scrubbings to get the campfire smell out of my fingernails! Most unexpected.

Two days ago at the dock of my local post office a mail carrier asked me if I had Bells Palsy. I said yes and he told me that he has "several friends" that have this. What the heck?!? Who knows several people with this disease? One has had it a year and is improving. The others got better within months. I really wish I had more details. There was the Zaca fire over the hill from Santa Barbara that started July 4th, 2007 and lasted until November 2007. The dirt and ash from that fire blew all over the place and I was literally dusting and sweeping for months afterwards because of it. Could this be a fire/toxin link for the friends of the mail carrier I talked to?...

The Chinese believe that Bells Palsy is caused by wind. Which I think could directly tie in to the fire/toxins/toxins in the earth thing.

Variables of note before my tongue went numb...

I also have two variables that were different in my routine the week before this all started. I tried raw milk in my coffee for the first time. It tasted the same but the thought of it kept freaking me out and after using almost the entire half gallon before the July 17 expiration date I ended up throwing it out and returning to pasturized. The last few days I would microwave the milk for 1 minute 45 seconds to heat it before putting it in the coffee.

I also had a yummy yeast, garlic, popcorn snack with extra yeast because the cheesy flavor was so great. This is a recipe I learned from my old friend Luke and I had it two nights in a row just before my tongue went numb. Not sure if I mentioned it earlier but I also thought my tongue looked coated on Saturday and Sunday before tooth brushing so I even googled 'yeast poisioning' and similar terms to see if that accounted for my numb tongue at that point.

I really don't have any idea if raw milk or large yeast flakes from a health food store could have triggered anything but I'm laying it out so I remember these details later on just in case.

I also have two small skin tags on my neck on the right. Since these may also be caused by a virus and happen in clusters I am looking at them with distain. They are coming off as fast as possible now.

Treatment

I have been to the doctor within a few days of the onset. I believe it recommended to get to a doc within a week for prescriptions - so good for me on that one. At first I didn't want to go at all. I am taking Acyclovir 5 times a day for a week and Dexamethasone 3 times a day for a week. Antiviral and steroid.

Hourly Alcon Systane lubricant eye drops, and taping the eye shut at night and using a sleep mask after applying Thera Tears Liquid Gel to my dry ball... um.. I mean eye ball.

After reading more on the internet I have added some innocent looking supplements to my daily regime.

AM:

• Multivitamin
• E 400mg
• C 1000mg
• Garlic
• Ginger Root
• ALA
• Ginkgo Biloba
• Zinc
• Lysine
• Super B Complex

PM:

• C 1000mg in Emergeny-C packet
• Garlic
• Ginger Root
• ALA
• Ginkgo Biloba
• Zinc
• Lysine

I am also adding organic green tea to my diet (thanks Jo) and I am considering MSM and Lecithin based on something I read last night. But I will have to do more research today on this. I really just want to be sure I try everything I can so that if I am one of the people that suffer with this for longer than the average time at least I will know I did what I could.

Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine is on the research list. And acupuncture is also on my list of things to look into starting early next week.

Daily mood

Not bad today! I have not cried once and this is a first. (for the record I am not a big cryer so spending a few mornings crying was really a drag) My daughter sent me a GORGEOUS arrangement of flowers yesterday and I know they are contributing to my improved mood. They are half stunning flowers whose names I do not know and half exotic wildflowers I have not seen before. She can really pick 'em! I love you Devon!! I can smell them too every once in a while. They must smell beautiful all the time if the scent is getting past my lack of smell and taste.

Daily Changes

The only things different I can notice this morning is that my lips and nose are pulling a little more towards the left. My eye and eyelid seem a little droopier than yesterday but the changes are pretty mild looking. My top teeth also feel a bit numb, mainly on the right side. I hope this disease has reached it's worst point. Fingers crossed.

The first thing I noticed this morning in the bathroom mirror is how amazing my skin looked, like I was glowing. It's the raw food diet I am on again. I had forgotten what a difference this makes. My skin and arms also feel a lot softer and it's only been less than a week. Nice!

I am still seeing blurry with both eyes but just enough that driving for more than 15 minutes would get annoying. I also have to look down a lot. Looking straight forward or upwards with the right eye results in a burning feeling in the eye - even immediately after putting eye drops on. Not sure what is up with that but maybe that cuts my drive time a lot shorter. Lucky my mom is my chauffeur this week.