I know this is a peripheral thing and I hate even bring it up but after the craniotomy at the end of 2006 I had a little bells palsy of the face, double vision and dizziness. While I’m wearing prisms now that help with my vision, the biggest challenge for me is smiling again because of the bells palsy. While I’m more than grateful that the word “obliterated” is in my profile (I know a lot of you are still struggling with the beast), I just want the inside to be reflected on the outside.
So Patti recently posted a post on Facial Paralysis and it seriously caught my attention (thank you Patti!). It was a link to a presentation by Dr. Daniel Knott on the many advances now in surgically treating facial paralysis.
In 2006 they (the almighty doctors) told me that they could give me a permanent smile but all I could think about was the Joker in Batman and I chose not to do that. Now there are advances with facial paralysis that are for the lack of a better word, AMAZING. So I sent an email to Dr. Knott upon Patti’s recommendation (again thank you Patti) and while there was no one locally (I’m in Texas) doing the surgery, he highly recommended Dr. Patrick Byrne of John Hopkins and Dr. Michael Fritz of the Cleveland Clinic to have this done. I found a Youtube video of Dr. Patrick Byrne in which he’s interviewed about this at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxbFpiRe1Ag.
Is there anybody out there who has some facial paralysis due to this AVM? Has anybody ever had this surgery done? Seems like I have a million questions but I just wanted to share this information first and go from there. Hope everybody is doing well. :J
I had facial paralysis on the left side of my face after my AVM and stroke. After I got out of the hospital I went to an acupuncturist to treat it. I found that with each treatment my smile got a little bit better until it was totally corrected. Although the medical doctors scoff at acupuncture, I’ve found it helped me.
Thanks for the reply Wendy. It's really good to heat that acupuncture worked for. I'm currently doing that and I have seen a little improvement. Its great to hear that it does work. How many treatments did you have may I ask? :J
Wow! It all sounds very exciting and promising. I'm a big believer in acupuncture myself. I don't have any facial paralysis but I've been treated for other things with good results. Best to you!
I was going to the hospital for rehab(outpatient) so I couldn’t go as much as i would have liked. I probably went once a week for 4 weeks, every other week for 8 weeks, and then once a month for 8 months. I continue to go to acupuncture once every 6 weeks when my face feels tight. I went to acupuncture a month after Being released from the hospital. It takes longer to see results if more time has lapsed.
Yes the time thing, I'm seeing how that might change things a little. :J I can't do the surgery till a little later anyway when the insurance kicks in so I'll be patient with the acupunture in the meantime. But it's still great to know that it worked for you! Good deal! Thanks for sharing that.
My acupuncturist spends an hour and a half with me each time so it is intense. I have been doing acupuncture off and on for 20 years. This is the best acupuncturist I have seen. She puts needles on my face and body while I lay on the back. Then she burn moxibusten (it’s a Chinese herb that sort of smells like pot) to relax the face area. She leaves the needles in for 30 minutes. Then I lay on my stomach. She puts needles on my neck and back of my legs. She cups my entire back. Cupping is when she heats up glass cups and puts them all over my back. It feels weird at first but it is so relaxing that I always fall asleep. They say it gets rid of toxins in the body. She leaves the cups on my back for another 30 minutes.
Hmmm... I'm going to ask my acupuncturist about the herb as well as keeping the cups on. I've had the cups before but they were never heated up nor left on. I've copied your last post and if you don't mind, I'll ask about those things. Thank you!
No I don’t mind you copying the text. I am just grateful I didnt say anything bad about my acupuncturist. Ha ha. I have a love hate relationship with her because the needle hurt and I yell. She doesn’t like me yelling because I disturb the other patients. I don’t give a rats ass about her other patients. She shouldn’t hurt me. Ha ha
I just received word that Karen Johnson was reaching out about facial paralysis on facebook. Her website (which has a lot of good info) is at http://www.facialnervepalsy.com/. Another wonderful group called Courage to Smile is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/couragetosmile/. My best to all! :J
Hi suzy E! I came to your site to thank you for the birthday gift(thank you) only to find that we have something in common, I too have the same exact facial issues you talked about in your blog. I'm not rejoicing at the fact that you deal with same thing, but wow! I feel like I've made (you made) a connection! Everything you described is me. So, hello,pleased to meet you!