Bristol Palin opens up about facial paralysis condition
Bristol Palin is letting fans in on her health journey amid a recent medical scare.
The "Teen Mom OG" alum and daughter of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin revealed on social media Wednesday that she's been struggling with a case of facial paralysis.
"I woke up nine days ago with a little weird sensation in my face. My mouth was pulling (to the left), and it just felt a little off," said Palin in a series of videos posted to her Instagram Stories.
Palin shared several clips of herself over an eight-day period that illustrated the progression of her facial paralysis, with the TV personality reflecting at one point, "It's so bad dude."
"Within a couple of hours, the entire left side of my face was numb and just paralyzed," Palin, 34, continued, "(I) couldn't really blink my eye, definitely had no movement on the side of my face. So crazy."
Palin did not disclose an exact diagnosis for her condition, though she noted that she underwent a CT scan, numerous tests and was prescribed steroids and other medications. She said her doctors speculated she may have a case of Bell's palsy, a type of temporary facial paralysis, induced by "stress or lack of sleep."
According to the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bell's palsy is caused by damage or trauma to the facial nerve (also known as the seventh cranial nerve), causing a disruption of the nerve signal somewhere between its origin at the brain stem to the muscles on either side of the patient's face, causing that side to droop.
What is Bell's palsy? The facial paralysis that's affected A-listers like Angelina Jolie and George Clooney
Blinking, smiling, raising eyebrows, flaring nostrils and even taste sensations can also be affected since the facial nerve is responsible for those functions. In most cases, only one side of the face is affected, though it can affect both.
Bell's palsy has been linked to stress, although a precise cause has not been found. Conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes, Lyme disease and autoimmune disorders, chronic ear infections, tumors and trauma to the head or face have also been identified as coinciding with the illness.
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Several stars have been diagnosed with Bell's palsy, from Angelina Jolie and George Clooney to "Bachelorette" alum Emily Maynard Johnson and Robert De Niro's girlfriend Tiffany Chen.
Contributing: USA TODAY Life/Entertainment team
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bristol Palin opens up about facial paralysis condition
