Medicine: Neurology B‑class Mid‑importance

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I have removed the list of famous people with Bell's palsy to a separate page, List of famous people with Bell's Palsy. It was becoming too much like a trivia section. I realise that this adds one page to everyone's watchlist, but it makes it easier on the people who only really have an interest in the medical or technical aspects, and should reduce the volume on this talk page. --Slashme (talk) 05:18, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Scott Barkman has been verified to have Bell's Palsy. However, his listing was incorrect. He is not American, and he is not a journalist. I have corrected this, and you may move him up and down the list as you wish. 71.210.118.54 23:33, 29 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I took Scott Barkman off the list because his wiki link was dead. Digging a little deeper reveals that this entry borders vandalism. Quoting from a thread "Scott doesn't have Bell's Palsy, and if he did, he's not famous enough to justify being added to the wikipedia page for it" (http://boards.thewiire.com/lofiversion/index.php?t24779.html), i.e. a thread on the very organization that Scott supposedly is part of. On 5 October 2007 wiki user [Agyle] in revision history said: "Removed Scott Barkman, for 6th or so time. He's not famous, and no reliable source corroborates he has the disease." Let's keep it that way.

Wondering if the "Famous persons with Bell's palsy" section should go away all together as it is such a frequent target for vandalism. Power.corrupts (talk) 11:43, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A new IP address is having fun adding Scott Barkman from the Wiire to the famous people section. Let me quote more extensively from the thread on the Wiire website mentioned above.

(1) First the petition: "Fellow Wiire fans, we must join together to keep Scott Barkman on the Bell's Palsy page of Wikipedia! Agyle, a member of Wikipedia, has been removing Scott's name despite the fact that fans have been putting it back on again and again. We must all work together to keep his name on Wikipedia." .. etc.

The first response: "This is lame and childish man. Don't bug Wikipedia with this nonsense .. " etc.

The second and last response, apparently from a forum moderator, who then closes the thread: "... if you want to have fun like this, use Uncyclopedia. To my knowledge, Scott doesn't have Bell's Palsy, and if he did, he's not famous enough to justify being added to the wikipedia page for it - even Matt Cassamassina isn't famous enough to get on a list of that nature. " ... etc.

- Conclusion: This is a lame joke. Adding Scott Barkman to the list is not in good faith and borders vandalism. Power.corrupts (talk) 13:53, 9 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It has been reported that mega doses of methylcobolamin will cure 80-90% of patients. The North American medical community seems to dispute this however I could not find any data or studies to support the idea that B12 does not work. Micheal Jalaludin published a study in 1995 that showed excellent success with Methylcobolamin. Ref: reference

I think this information should be added to the artical.

• I don't. The link referenced shows one study, that as near as I can tell was not peer reviewed, from 10 years ago with no corroborating studies. Also, slightly above that there is the claim, in a paper with no authors that the same substance will help with (and I quote):

Bell's palsy, cancer, diabetic neuropathy, eye function, heart rate variability, HIV, homocysteinemia, male impotence, and sleep disorders.

I think these claims have little credibility. Wikibofh 22:05, August 23, 2005 (UTC)

I highly disagree with your position. B12 does have positive benefits in all of the areas claimed. If you do your research you will find considerable support. Furthermore, the North American Medical community has not done any studies that I can find to dispute the finding published in KL. B12 theapy is inexpensive and perfectly safe. If you for instance were to become afflicted with Bell's Palsy would you for instance choose to hide your head in the sand and pursue an ineffective treatment which Steroids clearly are because of politics in the medical community? Have you any idea at all what it is like to have 1/2 of your face paralyised? Would you not want to know about reported effective treatments because the study happens to have been done in Malaysia?

I happen to know for a fact that B12 makes a difference. What I would like to see is a North American study and to conduct one is not expensive. Since no-one at this point is comming forth with any studies that dispute the work done in Malaysia I have to assume the reasons are primarily political. There are actually quite a number of areas where Asian medicine is ahead of Western medicine. One of the HUGE areas is the anti cancer properties of many edible mushrooms. In this area slowly the active ingrediants are being identified and registered as pharmacuticals. Yet the Asians have known this for centuries.

This artical should reflect more than just a North American centric viewpoint!

• All I'm asking for is peer reviewed citations. I don't see those. As it turns out I think that "traditional" medicine probably does miss some things that "folk" medicine knows. One prime example would be accupuncture. I'm not convinced that this is a similar case, and without better documentation, I think it should be left out. Claiming something helps with "cancer, HIV, diabetes" is so wide ranging as virtually eliminate its credibility. Wikibofh 14:01, August 24, 2005 (UTC)

• ...as do statements such as "I happen to know for a fact that ..."

However I see nothing wrong with adding Vit B-12 to the discussion of treatments that may help. Sfahey 02:03, 26 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

• I think we should work out any wording here first. I don't have a problem with something like "claims" but something like "proven" would be problematic. Go ahead and draft up a section and we can hammer it out and put it in. Wikibofh 02:41, August 26, 2005 (UTC)

Is Bell's Palsy contagious? (-unsigned)

There are many causes of Bell's palsy. Some are infectious, but it's not contagious in the sense that contact with someone with Bell's palsy is going to expose you to a risk of "catching" it. - Nunh-huh 00:04, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Is there no evidence that Bell's palsy is caused or worsened by exposure to a draught?

It says that people will be left with deficits, I've had Bells Palsy for 8 Months now, and it isn't getting any better, was wondering, is it possible my mouth will never move right again? Or my eye will never stop watering on a regular basis? I can live with the other things, those are just the most annoying... Myzou 17:48, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have added a short decription of a complication known as synkinesis. I have personal experience with the complication and I'm intrigued by the mechanism of imperfect regrowth. --Frank.hedlund 22:47, 15 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The three non-footnote references are too vague right now:

• "The Merck Manual"
• New England Journal of Medicine, Sept. 2004
• eMedicine, "Bell's Palsy"

Books, journal articles, and websites need various different information, like publishers, publication dates, edition information, article titles, authors, dates accessed, precise URLs (not main page), and so on. I added a refimprove tag to this article. -Agyle 17:47, 16 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Question: Where is the reference section gone? Were they removed by one of the vandalism edits? 194.46.171.161 (talk) 11:35, 14 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well spotted, thanks! I have replaced it. --Slashme (talk) 12:11, 14 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This article has a "how-to" tone and style to it, especially when it continually urges its readers to "seek a doctor's consultation" and so-forth. I think it'd be best to rewrite parts of it to keep in line with other standard encyclopedia articles.

--Giacosilontana (talk) 03:57, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

One contributor has written that Bell's palsy affects approximately 1 person in 65 during a lifetime. I consider this to be correct. But at the http://www.bellspalsy.ws site, which is otherwise quite good, I came across a completely different number 1:5,000. Due to this discrepancy I have added a "citation needed".

Details: Personally, I would compute the lifetime risk like this. If p is the annual incidence rate, (1-p) is the annual "rate" of *not* having BP. If y is the average life span, (1-p)^y is the chance of not having it over a lifetime, the lifetime risk is therefore 1-(1-p)^y. It is only valid to multiply probabilities in this manner, if the individual probs are independent. They are not, because of familial, age-related, pregnancy (gender) related, recurrence etc, etc, but these effects are quite small compared to the overall uncertainty on the incidence rate of 15-50. For a first estimate, the above method would be reasonable. For p=20/100,000, y=75, the result is 0,0149, which is one person in 67. Fairly close to 1 in 65. I approached the website about a possible error there (http://forum.bellspalsy.ws/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=12&topic_id=270) but sadly received no useful answer. I have searched for books on epidemiology for methods on lifetime risk calculation, mostly in vain, but they do at times apply complex actuarial methods.

For the sake of precision I would appreciate if someone more knowledgeable in epidemiology than I confirm the estimate, or provide a citation. -- Frank.hedlund (talk) 23:40, 14 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know if there are any available citations for this, but I've seen two anecdotal cases of my father and an older friend who ate canned peaches, of all things, and then their palsy rapidly went in to remission. I doubt there is much scientific evidence for this, but anecdotely, it has been very helpful. --71.76.39.125 (talk) 18:12, 30 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting, but it definitely falls under the heading of "original research". --Slashme (talk) 08:24, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That or coincidence. There's a reason why scientific medicine doesn't lend weight to anecdotal evidence. It may provide guidance toward ideas and treatments, but it is not worth anything scientifically. --Puellanivis (talk) 04:31, 22 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to see something about the likelihood of reccurence of BP. Do you have any information about this please?Amwlmc (talk) 14:53, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Now suffering from my third droop of Bells Palsy...!! I can add that in my case/ cases it is due to wind or draft that has caused it on all occasions...

The first time I was young, caught outside in very cold weather with incorrect clothing. I suffered from headaches to earache over the following days which then led to paralysis of the right side of my face, taking 2.5 to 3 months to clear itself.

On the second occasion, a window had been broken in my car resulting in a draft across my right ear, symptoms were noticeable the following day and led to the paralysis. At this point whether I am more susceptible with having it previously I couldn't say, but I do not feel that it can be viral or re-occurring. Due to the length of time the first Palsy took to clear, on this occasion I tried acupuncture, it was Christmas and I was desperate for a straight smile.. within 5 sessions the palsy had gone, probably around 2 weeks in total.

I mention this as all I have read relating to acupuncture and Bells Palsy seems indifferent and yet from my own personal understanding, I made a significant early recovery.

I unfortunately fell asleep in a draft just as the Autumn weather arrived, a cold draft on my right ear on wednesday night, by the following day I had a bad headache, toothache and with this a dull ear ache deep in the centre of my ear. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday I could then feel the knot of ache travel slightly up and then down the right hand side of my face, stopping at around shoulder level. By Monday morning paralysis had set in on tuesday, today, the right side is completely paralised apart from my eyelid which closes but without completely sealing the eye

I am due for treatment at the herbal clinic on Friday as that is the earliest they can see me. I will update to let you know, hopefully, how much quicker it clears with acupuncture..

It does seem uncanny though that the Chinese have a strong viewpoint on this and also an understanding how to treat it... Even their description is more aligned to the causes and their understanding of Bells Palsy, in my case, very fortunate. Just because we cannot explain something by our modern methods and reasoning, it does not give us the right to negate others credible answers and practices... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.99.195.98 (talk) 14:16, 1 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

My first Ball's Palsy occurrence happened when I was 19, my second when I was 23. The odd thing was, I had total paralysis of the left side of my face the first time, and then the right side my second. I've never heard of it switching sides upon it's resurfacing. I talked to a few people who've had experience with the condition (either directly or by association) and no one seemed to be able to reference another case like mine. I was just wondering if anyone had any examples or even stories of this. It kind of worried me, although I made a pretty much complete recovery each time(without the aid of medication or steroids), I still was slightly disturbed since I couldn't find any other cases of both half and half Bell's Palsy, separated by years. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.79.112.98 (talk) 03:26, 30 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

For the second time I delete this users contribution in the lede: Symptoms typically subside after 2-6 days and full facial function is usually returned within 2-3 weeks. Although rare, residual paralysis or dysfunction is possible and chances of this increase with age. How did you cite your contribution from the 1966 reference? - the text from that refers specifically to imcomplete palsies. Please be specific, if you insist that the text should be retained.

Alternatively, I refer to National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke's Information sheet on Bell's Palsy: With or without treatment, most individuals begin to get better within 2 weeks after the initial onset of symptoms and recover completely within 3 to 6 months. This timescale is months, not weeks. The Bell's palsy infosite likewise reads: An "average" recovery is likely to take between a few weeks and a few months. Depending on how you interpret "usually" I really see little support for your optimistic assestation that "full facial function is usually returned within 2-3 weeks", and certainly not in your quote. (To follow up on your other comment: I had not noticed the Popeye text, I would have deleted it if I had). best regards, Power.corrupts (talk) 22:35, 1 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I now realize that you may have meant the the 1982 reference the text there reads: For 85 percent of patients the first signs of remission were observed within three weeks after the outbreak; for the last 15 percent remission occurred three to six months later. This specifically refers to "the first signs of remission", my comments above still holds. Power.corrupts (talk) 22:54, 1 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That's fine you can revert it. When I had it, the doctor told me that prominent symptoms should peak and begin to subside in that amount of time, and this was the case with me; it peaked within 3 days of the first signs and symptoms. Granted I was on the younger spectrum of patients, but this prognosis was based on more recent research, as I had it just 3 years ago. However, I cannot find the appropriate literature at the moment, so it can be reverted. I apologize that I did not assume good faith initially.Quod erat demonstrandum 3.14159 (talk) 06:40, 19 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Should this subheading be here? Having a fairly sensible article veer off into magical "vital energy" stuff seems wrong. It feels wildly out of place.

haha, it was mentioned in the new movie, A-Team, at the beginning of the FOB Iraq scene (min 19:25) Avkrules (talk) 15:16, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Freud found that Bell's Palsy is a symbolic slap in the face. It is ususally the left side, as if one is being slapped by a right-handed person. It's a form of symbolic retaliation for an insult where the offended person suppresses a wish to slap the face of his or her enemy and therefore redirects the blow to the ultimate source of all insults; ones own core of narcissism.

Karl Popper may have been right that such theories are suspect because they are untestable, but as of now, there is no reasonable alternative explanation--especially when one considers that Bell's palsy can be alleviated or even immediately removed temporarily by hypnosis, biofeedback and acupuncture. The so-called alternative medicines are flooding the internet nowadays offering quick cheap cures for Bell's palsy, and they may be on to something. Victims of all conversion disorders are lining up. Snud (talk) 05:18, 5 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]