No matter what you hear from your mother or your grandmother or your great aunt Sue, nobody knows exactly what causes Bell's Palsy. What we do know is that it comes from the same virus that causes chickenpox, which is called herpes zoster. Beyond that, WHY it comes is a mystery. For most people, it clears up within a matter of a couple of weeks or months--but for a very, very small segment of the population it lasts forever. I was one of the unlucky ones.

In March 2002 it came on overnight with a vengeance with 90% of the muscles on the left side of my face involved. I first realized it when I went to sip my morning coffee and it slid inelegantly out of my mouth and down the front of my shirt.

Over the years people have asked me many questions about it and I'm always very open about it. My face still looks funky and I've gotten used to it but some involuntary movements of my eye can become annoying if not painful at times. Now that Angelina Jolie has announced that she had Bell's Palsy this past year and it completely went away, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my Bell's palsy experience.

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