Three Sun readers share their experiences of living with the same facial paralysis condition as Angelina Jolie
This severe weakening of the facial muscles can affect up to 24,000 people in the UK each year
SOME health conditions can remain hidden – but people suffering from Bell’s palsy have it written all over their faces.
It is the most common cause of facial paralysis and can affect up to 24,000 people in the UK each year. The condition was named after Scottish neurologist Charles Bell.
Last week Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, 42, revealed she suffered from the condition during her split with Brad Pitt. While Angelina’s diagnosis was put down to stress, there is no definitive cause for Bell’s palsy.
But it has been linked to pregnancy and a weak immune system. Steroids and antiretroviral drugs can make a huge difference to the prognosis.
After that, the treatments vary from acupuncture, which worked for Angelina, to physiotherapy, facial exercises, botox and even undergoing surgery.
Here, three Sun readers tell CLARE O’REILLY what it is like living with the condition.
It has changed me for ever in ways I am still coming to understand
SOLICITOR Kirsty Gillmore, 35, from Winchester, Hants, was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy in 2013. She lives with her husband Anthony, 39, who works in a car dealership, and children Toby, two, and Chloe, seven weeks. She says:
"I was at a meal with friends when I realised that one side of my face felt like it was drooping.
I laughed it off and ended the night with all my friends pulling similar droopy faces while we took pictures of one another.
When I woke up the next morning, the entire left-hand side of my face was paralysed.
My parents are both doctors so I FaceTimed them and they said that the most likely diagnosis was Bell’s palsy and told me to get straight to the hospital to get the steroid treatment.
I even took silly pictures of my droopy face and sent them to my brother on the way to the hospital.
I was given the steroids and immediately referred to a neurologist, who confirmed the diagnosis.
I was in denial and didn’t believe it at first. But the more appointments I had, the less movement I seemed to be getting back and the more real the prognosis became. I had no movement at all in the left side of my face for three months. My neurologist said the best I could hope for was a gradual improvement.
I became pregnant with my eldest son, Toby, a few months after I was diagnosed and I was still feeding him when I became pregnant with my daughter Chloe.
So I haven’t yet been able to have Botox (a treatment for some people with long-term Bell’s palsy) as it’s not recommended when breastfeeding.
I’m heartbroken my son won’t ever know how I used to look.
I worry he’ll find it difficult to learn speech and sound from me and I’ll never be able to teach him to whistle.
Eight months after I was diagnosed, I sent a post on Facebook saying: ‘Never before developing Bell’s palsy could I comprehend the enormity of losing control of my facial muscles. This has changed me for ever in ways that I am still coming to understand.’
It sums up how I feel now. I’ll always wonder, and never know, whether getting to hospital sooner would have meant a full recovery."
I hate going out and socialising. I’ve even lost friends because of this
EXECUTIVE assistant Danielle Ancient, 29, was diagnosed in July 2014 when she was a week overdue with her first child Sophia, now three. She lives in Basildon, Essex, with her partner Dean, 33, a recruitment consultant She says:
"My pregnancy had been completely normal but I got up one morning and couldn’t brush my teeth.
The toothpaste kept falling out of my mouth and my whole left side was sagging.
I called an ambulance and Googled my symptoms while I waited. I found two options online: Bell’s palsy or a stroke.
I took antiretrovirals and steroids at the hospital and they sent me home telling me it was Bell’s palsy.
They hoped I’d return to normal in a couple of weeks.
I stayed housebound until I went into labour with Sophia. During her birth I couldn’t even close my mouth around the gas and air.
I made an appointment with my GP a few weeks later as nothing had really changed and I started having panic attacks at home.
I couldn’t shut my eye at all and when friends and family came to see Sophia I’d sit in another room so no one could see me.
I even felt self-conscious around my own mum.
I tried acupuncture, which didn’t help, and spent a fortune on herbal remedies I had read might make it better – but nothing did.
After six months, I found Facial Palsy UK, who referred me to a neurologist.
I was given exercises to do for an hour and a half every day and I also have Botox.
My self-esteem has taken the toughest battering of all, though.
I’m in constant pain, more so at the end of the day, and it has severely limited the socialising I can do.
I hate going out and I’ve lost friends because of it.
I feel like my partner thinks he has to stay because he pities me, which feels horrible.
Since Sophia has become more independent, I feel like I’m only just starting to come to terms emotionally with the past three years.
Seeing someone as high profile as Angelina diagnosed with Bell’s palsy makes the condition more accepted, but seeing she recovered makes me jealous too."
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I do really miss my smile – I had cracking dimples
BEAUTICIAN Selma Abbey, 35, lives with her husband Andrew, 32, a tiler, and three children Ayla, eight, and twin girls Ella and Leya, both six, in Bexleyheath, Kent. She was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy in 2011 during pregnancy with her twins. She says:
"I was 36 weeks pregnant in 2011 when I felt a weird sensation on the left side of my face. When I looked in the mirror, the whole side had slumped.
I went straight to the maternity ward where doctors ran tests and concluded I had Bell’s palsy.
I was told the steroid treatment they were prescribing only had a 72-hour window of opportunity to work.
I was panicking but the doctors told me the likelihood was I’d be back to normal in a couple of weeks, so I tried to stay calm.
The twins were born two weeks later and ended up staying in hospital for a month with some complications. I put myself, and the droop in my face, on the back burner.
When I got home I developed coping mechanisms. I would drink through a straw or hold my mouth shut while I ate.
But after four months I still couldn’t kiss my daughters properly.
I constantly hoped it would go away, so I only went to the GP again when the girls were six months old.
I was referred to a neurologist at King’s College in London, who did Botox. But I was told: “The Hollywood smile is gone.”
I was crushed. I’ve been left with synkinesis complications – where the nerves that have been affected try to repair themselves, pulling the muscles taut.
My left eye closes when it shouldn’t and my face has a whole range of involuntary movements.
I feel like I’ve betrayed my husband, too. He didn’t sign up for a marriage where I look like this.
I can avoid mirrors but he has to look at me every single day.
Hearing someone like Angelina had the condition was comforting but acupuncture didn’t work for me like it did with her.
While I have now come to terms with how I look, I do miss my smile. I had cracking dimples."