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Bell's Palsy

I don't see any references on the web about PTs or SLPs in my area that specialize in Bell's Palsy. Do you have any resources that would give me some info about practitioners in Central Oregon?

Being in PA, I have no idea other than Google... There is a PT "specialist" in my area who has done lots of research and had great clinical outcomes and also trained a number of other professionals in my area (myself included). He's a well-known name around here but isn't known beyond this region that I know of.

I would start by calling an ear nose and throat doctor (otolaryngologist) and see if they can recommend someone for you. Your neurologist may also be of some assistance although I'd imagine if he had someone in mind he'd have already mentioned them.

If there are any large rehab inpatient or outpatient clinics you can try calling them yourself and inquiring about if they have someone or know of someone. Same thing if there is a local college that has PT or ST. They may have knowledge of someone in your area. Honestly, you're probably going to have better luck with a PT than a speech therapist but you never know.

There is a chance that it may clear up on it's own with the steroids and anti-viral. However the therapy will be especially beneficial if there is any sort of residual effects. The sooner you start, the better as long as you have some movement on the affected side you can and should start retraining.

The trick is to isolating the affected side when doing the exercises. Otherwise, your brain will ask for movement, not get it on the affected side and start retraining itself to be happy with movement on the unaffected side and form a new motor pattern that will be even more difficult, if not impossible, to retrain after the fact. You'll also want to make sure you aren't overcompensating with the unaffected side (i.e. pushing from the good side to mimick movement on the affected).

An example of the neuro-retraining with BP is after you've had it for so long, the brain gets ticked off that every time it sends the signal to blink your eyes one stays open. After a while, it creates a new motor pattern that rolls the eye back so that the brain sees the darkness it wants and is used to seeing during your standard blink. The brain, being an OCD creature of habit, is once again happy that things are similar to the way they were and it can stop trying to "fix" itself.

The brain is a funny thing.

Let me know how you make out.
 
a girl i used to know and care about had it twice. one more severe than the other. didnt last a great deal of time. she was a teenager at the time, so the biggest issue was self esteem. it went away, she got over it. she used that same new smile to ruin my life.

anyway.. hang in there.