I finished the corticosteroids that the doctor prescribed but did not see any improvements. So I did the unthinkable: I told my mother. She freaked out as expected. She yelled at me for not having told her sooner and immediately called my uncle in LA who is an Asian holistic doctor and acupuncturist. He in turn yelled at her for not treating it right away. "Western medicine still debates the causes of partial facial paralysis, and most western doctors will just tell her to live with it until the symptoms gradually disappear. But the chances for full recovery diminishes the longer you wait due to muscle atrophy...

After my visit to the doctor yesterday my symptoms seemed to get a bit worse. It was most likely all psychosomatic from thinking about it so much, and the hypochondriac's heaven that is the internet didn't help at all. As soon as I got home the accumulated mental exhaustion swept over me and I took a deep nap. J came home with dinner and forced me to eat (I still have no taste on the left side of my tongue and everything tastes a bit funny). With renewed energy from the food, I began to freak out again. "I'm pretty sure it's Bell's palsy. It's temporary in most cases, so that's good. Gawd I hope it's not Lyme disease...

This past Sunday, I noticed some tingling on my left cheek, with some occasional twitches. I ignored it. Monday through Tuesday, a numbness began to set in and progressively got worse. The entire left side of my face felt a bit dead and heavy. I constantly touched my face and checked mirrors to make sure nothing was drooping. It wasn't, but it sure did feel that way. I then noticed that when I smiled, it was lopsided. Then I began to lose taste on the left half of my tongue, and my left eye was constantly tearing up with no apparent reason. I think what really got me scared was this morning (Wednesday), when I was having my daily cuppa joe and the hot liquid began to dribble down...