I was able to taste food. I had a pain in right side of head and around/behind ear and neck.

Pain in right side of head, ear and neck was little more and lost taste by evening. Cannot taste salt.

Pain in head, around ear and neck was worse. Rita did some massage but didn't help. Wasn't able to taste food where everybody else was fine.

Wake up at 7.30 AM and went to washroom for normal morning activities. Started brushing teeth. Started rinsing mouth with water and water came out from right side. I tried to clean my tongue and had a big cramp in my right side of jaw. Noticed that right side of face was numb. If not numb then it was weak. Did not response normal smile, mouth rinsing.

While drinking morning tea, felt that my mouth is not working properly. Fluid retention was gone. Still went to work by knowing may be it is temporary and may be due to slept that way. On the way work, felt like my right eye is not working properly. It wasn't blinking the way left eye was blinking. At work, felt like my right side contact lenses are not attached to eye. Took out the contact lenses and contact the doctor and doctor told me to go ER.

Went to ER at 12.30 PM. Doctor looked at me and said I have Bells Palsy. It is not stroke, only facial paralysis and it is temporary. I will recover in minimum 3 weeks. I have swollen nerve in brain, which controls facial nerves and muscles. Do not worry about much. Took CT Scan and doctor conclude that I don't have any tumors in my brain and I should be OK with steroids. Told me that steroids can be used to reduce the swollen nerve. Told me side effects of steroids and prescribed me prednisone, 60 mg a day for 5 days. Asked me take care of my eye. Since it can't blink, eye corona will be dry and you might loose your eye, if you don't take care.

Bought Tears Naturale eye drops, eye ointment, pirate patch and eye rinse cup on the way home. Rinsed eye and looked at the mirror and realized that my right eye wasn't blinking when my left eye blinks. Took first prednisone around afternoon 3.00 PM. Started putting eye drops and eye ointment and took some rest.

Tried to watch movie but wasn't successful. Felt tired and wasn't able to successfully close the right eye. Put some eye ointment in eye and went to bed.

Wake up and check the mouth. Try to rinse mouth and it was same as it was yesterday. Hoped it might be bad dream but I was wrong.

Went to work as usual and told colleagues what happened to me. Everybody was supportive. My boss was very kind. She said OK to go home, if I don't feel good. Feel free to leave whenever you want to and it applies until you recover. Did some research about Bells Palsy and found some online diaries. It's good to read about someone else's experience and what to expect in near future.

Since I am computer consultant, it's really hard to concentrate on computer monitor. Forgot patch at home. Keep putting fluids every 10 minutes and start closing right eye with back of the index finger. It wasn't that bad.

Went home around 5.30 PM and try to watch some TV. Cannot eat properly but I was really hungry because of that freaky steroid I am taking. I am not sure what will be side effects but already stopped salt since prednisone retain salt and water in my body. Doctor told me that I would gain some extra weight because of this dangerous steroid. Around 8.30, I was really exhausted and cannot watch TV or anything. Went to bed early. It was really nice sleep without ointment and patch. I forgot to put ointment and it might be bad for my eye since I can't close it completely. I will try to not forget again to put on patch while sleeping.

Wake up and check the mouth again. Seems like it will be daily activity for couple weeks or months. It was little worse than yesterday. My face and smile is now distorted little more than yesterday.

Went to work with ointment in eye. Since I can't wear contact lenses, I already started putting back my eyeglasses since very first day of bells palsy. Put ointment in eye, covered it with 3-4 cotton balls, eyeglasses and pirate patch. It feels really comfy. Every hour or two, I put eye drops and re-patch the eye.

I have my family doctor's appointment at 4.30 PM. I should ask him whether I could visit neurologist and ophthalmologist or not. I have done lots of research on web and have many questions. Hopefully he will able to answer appropriately.

Started feeling some muscle movement in right side of cheek and little vibration on upper lip and lower lip. It's funny feeling and seems like I am regaining some muscle strength. May be its my imagine because I am reading too much about bells palsy. I will know soon what will happen next. May be I needed to start taking my funny pictures.

As everybody else, I do have eye-blinking problem, drooling, loss of taste, no wrinkles on right side of forehead, eye brows stays at same place when I frown, headache, tongue numbness, eye dryness, locking jaws, difficulty sneezing and difficulty swallowing and chewing. But, I don't have any neck pain. It was there way before this monster "bells palsy" attacked me. Strangely though I also have vesicles around the ear.

Visit family doctor in evening. I have gained 2 pound in two days. This was first bad effect of prednisone since it retains water in the body. I had little high blood pressure 80-140. This was second bad effect of prednisone since it retains salt in the body. He looked at my ER report and took some additional test. For e.g. Lifting my eye brows does not really work symmetrically, Asymmetric smiling, fill my mouth with air and air escaped through the right side hole in the lip, when I close my eye with full force, right eye was still open little bit, when I blink my left eye, there was little blink on right eye. He also checked my ear and said I don't have any blister which means I don't have Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. He said I have classic Bells Palsy and I will be recovering in three weeks.

I have asked many question to doctor. Here are the details.

1. Do I need to take EMG test to check severity of nerve damage? He said no since EMG test puts needle in the nerve and checks how it reflects. He said no need to play with nerve since it will grow by itself.
2. How long I need to take prednisone? He said just 60mg for 5 days. No more. Thank god I will be prednisone-free by Saturday.
3. Do I need to take any Antiviral for e.g. Acyclovir? He said no, since there is no practical evidence in medical study that virus causes Bells Palsy.
4. Any vitamins? He said if you really want it then take Vitamin B complex with Zinc, which will have B1, B6, B12, and Zinc, which further supports nerve growth.
5. Any diet? Eat lots of fruits and vegetables.
6. Any facial therapy exercises or massages? He gave me some exercises to stimulate my muscles. He also warned me to don't do it excessively.
   Here are some of exercises he recommended:
   For eye: Try to frown eyebrows downward and upward, wrinkle forehead, try to close eye slowly, close eyes tightly and open eyes widely. Raise eyebrows and hold it for 5 seconds.
   For face: sniff strongly, wrinkle nose, flare nostrils, curl upper lip up, compress lips together and attempt to whistle, blow air in cheeks, shift air from one cheek to other, smile without showing teeth and with showing teeth, use your index finger and thumb to pull the corners of your lips in toward the center and slowly and smoothly push out and up to the smile, chew gum, chew and suck ice cubes.
7. For soreness, can I use heat pad? He said don't do it for small soreness. Soreness in cheek muscle is good. Don't stimulate it by heat. Let it grow by itself. Nerves are like telephone wires and it should connect to muscles properly and it will do by itself. You don't want to connect one nerve to different muscle, which is it not supposed to.
8. What should do for eye care? He said use ointment or gel and patch in night and use lots of eye drops during day and try to cover it if you can.

Friends visited and it's been first time I am meeting my friends. It was nice to talk to someone when you have personal injury like this. I watched 3 hour Indian movie and went to bed around 10.30 PM. Rita put ointments in eye and patch it completely so it won't move. I have bad habit sleeping on my chest and that might remove patch overnight. During night, I woke up around 3-4 times, may be prednisone was showing its power. Insomnia is its third bad effect on me especially in early morning.

Still went to work. I wasn't tired. I am goanna keep patching my eye until I get my right eye blink back. I put ointment in morning before I leave for work. Thanks to mom to helping me out. I keep adding eye drops and re-patch my eye during a day.

Today, I have talked to President of my company - Sam and he had bells palsy in January 2001 and one of my colleagues - Vivek, who has bells palsy in August 2000. It's amazing how common it is. If I know very well then not more than 15-20 people knows about my condition and I already found 2 person who had bells palsy curse. One of company's partners knew couple more people who had Bells Palsy. One of my friends knew one 12 year old who has bells palsy. My brother-in-law has colleague who is recovering from bells palsy for months. My wife's colleague's dad had bells palsy years ago. This is amazing that even its very common, most of people don't know about it. I was trying to know why bells palsy occurs. In Sam's case, he took some steroids for his asthma cure. His family members had flew during past weeks and it was very stressful since our company was going under lots of pressure. He was cured on prednisone and recovered in three weeks. In Vivek's case, he has no sinus or no other problem. He was also under lots of pressure to finish his IT assignment. He was cured on antiviral and recovered in three weeks. I was also under lots of pressure to finish my IT assignment week before. I have sinus problems but only in spring and fall, I never had any sinus or sneezing problems in summer. Only thing I found common between all of us was stress. Was it stress, which cause inflammation of 7th cranial nerve? I am not sure but it can be one of the reasons.

No major improvements. My cheek is swollen. I am feeling little tingling in my right side of cheek and constant vibrations on my lip. May be I am goanna recover very quick. Done some facial exercise during lunch.

There was vibrations and tingling occasionally throughout day on cheek and lip. During bedtime, pain around and inside ear started again.

Family visited me in the evening. It was really tired and don't feel bad but I did wanted them to leave ASAP. I wanted more rest. My niece is two and half year old and my daughter is one year old and it means noise pollution. How can you stop two little birds chatting, crying and playing toys loudly? Its hard to tell many people to say please don't talk. This is first time I realized that meeting people would be toughest part of this journey. If you have accident, injury or you are in hospital then you wish to see your friends and family around so, you don't get bore and let them to cheer you up. In bells palsy case, you want totally opposite. You don't want to meet people, friends or family and you want be alone by yourself and let your body rest and heal by itself.