Bell's Palsy is truly one of those things that just suddenly fuck you over. I was 16 when I called my mom from high school and said "hey, don't panic, but half

Bell's Palsy is truly one of those things that just suddenly fuck you over. I was 16 when I called my mom from high school and said "hey, don't panic, but half my face is paralyzed". In retrospect, this was probably not the best way to do it. Food ? Slides out of your mouth. Spit ? Goddamnit, slides out too. I took the reasonable option of still going to school, as a high schooler. Bold move, but thankfully, noone was a dick about it. Best way around this whole situation was to laugh about it anyways. For what reason did it happen ? None, same as the article. Just popped in one day. It took 3 months to come back to mostly normal, so it was pretty short for me, thankfully, but the sudden onset can just... happen. Doctors were thinking of some herpes causing an inflammation and pressing against the nerve, but it can be literally anything, and even better, it can come back at any time. Just a stroke of bad luck. As of today, I'm back at almost 100%, but I still feel that muscles on one side of the face are just this little bit less strong than the other side. Life without being able to blink just one of your eyes is a frustrating one. Sleeping with an eye patch might make you feel like a pirate for a few weeks, but dear god the dryness. Your face ends up overcompensating, naturally. Can't feel yourself smiling on one side ? Clearly that's because your muscles aren't going hard enough, so go on, make them work HARDER. The one side that was smiling looked more like a goblin than anything else really. Being told I maybe had face herpes was truly a highlight in my life due do how out of the blue and unlikely it sounded.