Tony Glencross, the managing director Nation Media Group-Uganda developed Bell’s palsy, a sudden, temporary weakness in the facial muscles that makes half of the face appear to droop. He attributed the uncovered to a stressful work environment.
“As I gave a speech at a party, I noticed my speech was slurry yet I had not taken alcohol. This worried me,” he says of the situation he says he experienced last December.
Bell’s palsy affects both men and women equally but is more common in those aged between 15 and 60 years. It is often mistaken for a stroke but according to neuro physicians. The condition causes a temporary partial paralysis of the muscles in the face only.
Bell’s palsy symptoms can develop a few weeks after you experience a stressful situation, trauma, viral infection, or eye infection. They are usually abrupt but noticeable when you try to eat or drink or when you look at yourself in the mirror.
Others are uncontrollable drooling, difficulty chewing and drinking, inability to make facial expressions such as smiling or frowning, facial weakness and muscle twitches in the face.