My ex-husband had Bell’s. He too thought he’d had a stroke. Very weird stuff. FWIW, his doctor said something about exposure to extreme cold switched on some dormant remnants of chicken pox (?) and that’s what caused it.
Since you can’t smile (at least without leering) and your eye might water, I’d suggest a light mention in passing. “I’m usually more expressive; the cold weather just triggered a fluke nerve inflammation in my face. First time for everything.”, if you happen to live where it’s cold. It’d be an opening for a few casual chitchatty things about the weather–always a safe topic–then it’s over and done with.
Or ask somebody who can look at you and get their feedback on how noticeable it actually is. Once my ex got over the initial panic his only real inconvenience was eating. I couldn’t tell he had it just from looking at it except for a slight droop in one eyelid.
It will get better, Amp. And good luck on the interview!
ETA: just noticed your location field. Tampa won’t cut it for the cold joke.
My sympathies. One of my friends got Bell’s about a year or so ago. He’s doing much, much better now, though it’s still a little noticeable around his mouth.
I came down with that about a year and a half ago. It took me six weeks to fully recover. It’s seriously uncomfortable and annoying for the first three weeks or so. I feel for you, Bro. If it’s not a lunch interview, they probably won’t notice. Eating was the worst part because you have to use your hand to open your lips on the left side to get in all but the smallest pieces of food. The Predisone (which is to reduce the facial nerve inflammation) can make you grumpy too.
It’s the best source for Bell’s info out there. It has a message board with some very nice, knowledgeable and helpful people. People like you who get on the Prednisone right away fully recover over 90% of the time and have at least near perfect recovery nearly 100% of the time. In fact, the recovery rate for those who don’t do anything is something like 70%. It’s not that big of a deal except for it’s truly the shits while you have it.
I don’t want to get into a pissing contest on what should be a support thread but some of the information that has been posted here is flat out wrong or out of date. Please don’t do anything other than what the doc told you. (Do not get ultrasound or acupressure or anything like that.)
Check out that website that I mentioned above. They’ll have all of the latest info. Best of luck on the interview. Chances are the interviewers will know someone who has had Bell’s. It’s not that uncommon.
My husband has randomly recurring Bell’s. Studying his face in the mirror is a daily routine and he calls his doc at the first sign of drooping eyelids or a half smile for prednisone and valtrex.
It’s very good that you realized something was wrong and are getting treated for it so quickly. Left untreated, the nerve can be damaged and less likely to recover.
Yes, the pred can make you edgy or cranky. It is a strange condition, but it’s at least not rare. For all you know, your interviewer may have had it before.
The way to tell Bell’s from a stroke is that with Bell’s you can’t blink the eye on the affected side. With a stroke, half of your face might be paralyzed but you’ll be able to blink both eyes. Thankfully, most trips to the ER for people who are freaking about half of their face not working end up having Bell’s Palsy.
That’s a shame but it sounds like he has the routine down. It should be noted that the overwhelming majority of people who get Bell’s only get it once.
I agree with the other posters. I think you should just mention that you sprained your face (or something not too serious sounding) and it will clear up in a month or so. You could joke about bad timing if that’s your style.
If you don’t, I would be concerned they might think you have a much more serious condition.
Holy Cow! Mom was right - your face can really freeze that way…
Unless this is a “face job”, like receptionist, then I’d say go to the interview and just explain briefly. Laugh it off and they will, too. Don’t get to serious and concerned about it.
Thank you for your sympathy and well wishes everyone. My plan is just to go there and when the I introduce myself just let them I have an inflamed facial nerve temporarily paralyzing the left half of my face and if they can not understand me because I am slightly slurry my words to just please ask for clarification. I figure it’s all I can do, short of buying an eye patch and a parrot, because you can’t have the patch without the parrot.
It’s funny though, I was sitting here last week feeling sorry for myself and thinking about my job and financial situation and thought it couldn’t get any worse. Well, now I know it can sometimes, somehow always get worse. But hopefully with interview tomorrow maybe things will start coming up Millhouse for me.
