Acupuncture for Bells Palsy

[carolpouch]

Hi, just wondering if anyone can share their experience using acupuncture for Bells Palsy? Going to try it and I am a little nervous. Thanks!

[Tsends]

I've been having acupuncture and electroacupuncture. It really helped when I combined it with physical therapy and doing isolation and resistance exercises on the muscles that are weak.

I think it works better when your nerves haven't had major damage or you have a lot of synkinesis since using electricity could make it worst.

If you just want to heal, then having acupuncture is a great idea for reducing nerve inflammation especially in the early stages.

[carolpouch in reply to Tsends]

Thank you! I appreciate the information.

[Teacherj]

I have had Ramsay Hunt syndrome for 5 months now. I'd been having acupuncture for many years before that, and find that it helps with building up my constitution and aids relaxation. For the facial paralysis it has helped reduce pain and since I have started healing but suffer from extreme tightness in my cheek, it has helped with reducing inflammation and draining fluid. If you can find a practitioner who has dealt with it before then I think it can really help. I'd definitely not go for electrical stimulation though. My facial therapist told me it is now thought to do more harm than good. Hope all goes well.

[carolpouch in reply to Teacherj]

Hi, thanks so much. I went yesterday for the first time and thankfully the acupuncturist agreed that she wouldn’t recommend electrical stimulation. She seemed knowledgeable about the condition and overall it was a very positive experience. It felt good to do something. I am going back for a second treatment later this week..fingers crossed. I appreciate the response

[Seeujimmy]

Carol I had a very positive experience. First time around, the practitioner kept tapping my face, then he stopped. I asked when he was going to start needling, he explained they were already in! (I had put a cloth over my eyes as I did not want to see him sticking them in!) Over several sessions I began to feel minor sensations (discomfort?) as he stimulated the needles. That was what the object was - I moved from no sensation to a feeling of numbness (= a sensation) thereafter as he worked on the needles I felt lines of sensation spread across my face.

My practitioner was trained in China and was also a neighbour and friend, an important part was my mind set, I believed in him, and the treatment. He also introduced me to moxibustion which I also felt helped a lot. He held a lighted cigar like object close (but not touching) to my face and used the glowing heat from the tip to massage my face. I do not think western practitioners could do this. It seems bizarre but it worked - for me.....

End result I feel I am there. For my own good I developed some of my own therapies - they may well have done nothing but they aided my mental health - I was doing something. On the bus or the car in a traffic jam (plenty in Edinburgh) I would gently slap my face. I also did this in the morning while I lay in bed. Lying in bed I also found I could make my eye blink (perhaps gravity has a different effect when you are horizontal? ) so I made my eyes blink to exercise the muscles.

I had palsy after a brain tumour operation, so I may be different - my condition was always described as Palsy to me, the major problem was one of my eyes did not blink, and the face was slumped a bit.

I do not know the time it took to recover, but it was a couple of sessions week over several months. We reviewed progress or lack of progress regularly. Even after the sessions stopped I still did other exercises.

If your practitioner is trained in China he will take a holistic approach to choosing the appropriate treatment. My neighbour asked me a lot of "odd" questions at the start, nothing to do with the palsy it seemed to me, but he was getting the bigger picture.

Start and you are on the road to recovery, you will never know how long it will take, but if you do not start walking you will never reach your destination. Mind set is so important - you are going to get better.

Norman

[carolpouch in reply to Seeujimmy]

Norman,

Thank you so much for your response, it had given me some hope this morning. The therapist I am seeing is very holistic and also asked me a lot of strange questions, looked at my tongue, and explained about the flows of energy we needed to address. I am going back for my second session tomorrow so I feel optimistic. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and I hope you are feeling good. As you said mindset is very important so every day I think about healing, and I give thanks for what is do have.

Thanks again.... I hope you have a wonderful day

Carol