Bell’s palsy—another immune system problem

The other day, I was sitting in a room at the doctor’s office, waiting for a surgeon to remove a couple of skin cancers from my face. Before I saw the doctor, his assistant came in to give me a heads up: last November the doctor was stricken with Bell’s palsy, a condition that temporarily paralyzes half the face (but, she assured me, doesn’t affect his hands or brain).

I wasn’t worried. I already knew about Bell’s palsy because my mother had had it—in fact she’d had it twice. The first time was when she was a child, living in near poverty in a small town near Mobile Alabama. Hers was an immigrant family, so their understanding of English was spotty.  Actually, her mother spoke no English. At any rate, Mother woke up one morning to discover that she couldn’t feel or move half her face. She thought it was funny, but her mother was distraught enough to decide that they’d walk the five miles into town and see a doctor—a first for my mother. 

The doctor prescribed a medicine, which was a grainy white powder to be mixed with water. When she got home, Mother prepared the medicine and ate it, even though it was so salty she had to gargle with water in between swallows. Mother was fine the next morning. It wasn’t until later that mother’s older brother looked at the label and explained the meaning of “apply locally.” I told my surgeon (who did look a bit lopsided) “maybe you should try eating Epsom salts.”

No one knows for sure what causes Bell’s palsy. The prevailing theory is that it develops after a viral infection, which activates the immune system. Once activated, the thinking goes, the immune system attacks a nerve. The condition usually affects only one side of the face, causing drooping on one side. No one knows the reason for this either. Some think that Bell’s palsy is related to the herpes simplex virus. But because the condition is helped by taking prednisone, but not by anti-viral agents, the current thinking is that the real culprit is the immune system and not the virus itself. The disease affects about 40,000 Americans a year.

Most people recover within three months, although sometimes the symptoms last longer. In rare cases the palsy never completely disappears. Angelina Jolie, George Clooney and other celebrities have had Bell’s palsy. Of course, I couldn’t find a photo of them with drooping faces, more’s the pity. Angelina Jolie believes that acupuncture helped with her case. As far as I know, no one else has tried eating Epsom salts.

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