Few things are more unnerving than the sudden, unexplained onset of a medical condition that has a negative impact on everyday life.
Unfortunately, that is the situation with which Bristol Palin, daughter of former GOP vice-presidential contender Sarah Palin, has been dealing since earlier this year, battling a mysterious case of facial paralysis that she says came “completely out of the blue,” as Fox News reports.
It was back in January that Palin informed fans and followers of her predicament via an Instagram story.
She explained that she woke up one morning and noticed “a little weird sensation in my face” and within a matter of hours “the entire left side of my face was numb and just paralyzed.”
Palin soon sought assistance from a doctor, and after undergoing a battery of tests, was informed that “nothing came back in all the results” and was given a prescription for steroids and other medications.
The former reality television personality updated fans again in February, according to People, indicating that little about her very visible condition had changed.
“If I just keep my mouth shut, it’s not as noticeable. We are day 35, officially 5 weeks, since the left side of my face went paralyzed. I still have no muscle movement on the left side. I don’t really feel much,” she lamented.
Palin continued, “I’ve done everything imaginable to resolve this. I’m not sure what else I should do. But I’ve spent the last 35 days doing something every single day to try and fix this and nothing has helped so far. So, I’m not sure what the future holds.”
The daughter of the former Alaska governor told fans that her condition appeared “completely out of the blue – no warning, wasn’t sick didn’t get the v@x, no recent Botox,” making the situation all the more baffling.
In her most recent Instagram update on the matter, Palin said she has been handling the affliction as best she can, believes that her face is currently around “70% back to normal,” and while there is a possibility that the condition is permanent, she does not expect that will be the case.
When she first sought medical attention for her facial paralysis, doctors suggested the possibility that Bell’s palsy, a condition that can arise due to stress or insufficient sleep, may have been to blame.
As the Mayo Clinic explains, the condition is known for causing “sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face.”
Mayo goes on to note that the precise cause of Bell’s Palsy is not fully understood, but that the symptoms it produces tend to be short-term in nature.
At present, Palin says she is “slowly improving” and that her doctor believes she may have “another 3 months” to go before things “hopefully” return to normal, an outcome for which her fans and followers are surely praying.
