Bells Paulsy after sherm, is it the water? or trauma?

[greg d]

Had a great coupla days on Monday and Tues at sherman. Started to get ear pain like a ear infection tuesday. Woke up yesterday with a right side paralyzed face! nothing, can't even blink my eye. after a day at the hospital and numerous tests, they say definitly Bells Paulsy, not sure how you get it though. They say most likely will heal in a few weeks with meds and rest. I had taken a few hard hits learning to frontroll and also inadvertly kitelooping. so I was wondering if it's something nasty from the water, or just trauma related. It is more strange and annoying than anything, having to tape my eye shut while sleeping is the biggest pain. Anybody else ever heard of such a thing with kiting?
-gd

[CdoG]

well as your the only one ..
so far... :roll:

[davewsail]

Damn Greg, that sucks. Sounds like a coincidence (I hope) to me. Hope it's not the killer algae again! Hope you get better soon.

[J-GAR]

Good website that describes it:
http://www.bellspalsy.ws/

[greg d]

Thanks for the link J-gar! I had found the same website, very informative and reassuring.

also thanks for the well wishes dave, I'll be out at folsom rockin the fall winds for sho!
the wind at Folsom should start to kick real soon, seeing as i'm out for a bit.

[sloughslut]

I have been in water at sherman the last 5 days kiting and i am not sick (yet) Hope you get well soon!

[K. Cliff]

My brother in-law got that a little while back and his doctor told him it was from a deer tick. They are pretty common around here and we pulled one off my sons dog a few weeks back so I've seen them on the island. Not to change the subject or anything but look out for the mosquitoes too! One of the guys on our crew got a dose of the west nile virus about two weeks ago and he was petty sick. I guess ya can look for sunscreen with deet :roll:.

[S.I. Rider]

even the bugs are killer at sherman island

[jono]

Greg:

[I know, I'm predictable -- algae+sherman = jon going off. You'd go off too if you had some shit like this happen, those of you who don't should appreciate your good health]

There is an algae of DOOM bloom going on for the past two weeks at Sherman. It's small green flakes that look like ripped up oak leaves, but it's green and kinda floats. The shit is toxic -- a water district guy measured it and warned the windsurfers last year about it. I am not kidding, in certain lakes with high concentrations of this algae CATTLE drink it and die. You know what it takes to kill a frigging cow?

Anyway, Bells can be viral (I think) and I doubt you crashed hard enough (did you see stars, did your face swell after the crash?). But, you might also have some of the algae in your sinus -- it happened to me and my face went numb for 3 weeks, super infection, etc. until I blew the algae flake out. I kid you not and I feel your pain.

The algae is called:
toxic blue-algae Microcystis aeruginosa

Not saying this caused your paralysis, but it might be something to check out. My face went totally numb on one side and I thought I was going to have Bells but it cleared later.

See this post:
https://www.bayareakiteboarding.com/vie ... a&start=15

Did the doctors say anything about the 5th nerve being inflamed or anything? Do you have any signs of infection, allergic reaction, etc.?

I'll dig through my email and find the name of this stuff so you can look it up. WAIT! I found some of it (BAK search index needs to be rebuilt, use google instead):
http://forums.iwindsurf.com/viewtopic.p ... 6eb9b7a48f

Here's what he told me in an email back then (Dr. Ted Sommer of the CA Dept. of Water Resources):
I was swamped at a conference last week & didn’t have time to respond. Regarding your response, the flakes you saw were almost certainly a bloom of the toxic blue-algae Microcystis aeruginosa. If you saw some of my postings, the major issues that have been recorded range from skin rashes to liver cancer (and death). I haven’t heard about respiratory effects, but my colleague Dr. Peggy Lehman tells me that this is a hot new area of research. We know that this blue-green algae can release its toxins when it dies (often after a cold spell), but is unclear if high levels of this could be transmitted by the air. BTW,the toxin is called microcystin, which comes in a variety of forms—our contract lab in NY has confirmed that we have a nasty kind.

So…what can you do? I am not aware of any physician that specializes in this type of toxic exposure. Unfortunately, toxic algal blooms are not something that the medical community or public health officials are used to dealing with. The best that I can suggest is that you ask your regular physician to refer you to a toxicologist. Note, however, that antibiotics will have no effect if your response is from the toxin itself. They will only work if the respiratory problems you continue to have stem from a bacterial infection (that could or could not have originated from an exposure to toxins).

Here's another link on this stuff:
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/envir ... algae.aspx

[sflinux]

Hi Greg,
I had Bell's Palsy about 10 years ago. Mine came on gradually, then left gradually too. It took something like 4 to 6 weeks to heal. The Dr. said worse case scenario, it never goes away, or comes back later in life. I still feel nerve sensitivity and cramping on the one side of my face when I am sleep deprived.
As for the causes, I did a bunch of research when I had it. The conclusion I had, is it could be caused by a number of things: infection, head trauma, etc.
So I don't have an answer for your question. For me, I don't remember any obvious head trauma immediately prior, but there were a number of spills from skateboarding, snowboarding, etc over the years/months prior. And I remember I was kind of sleep deprived when it happened. Funny thing is I was trying to go 100% vegetarian when it happened and questioned the early signs of bell's palsy on lack of meat/imbalanced nutrition.
The theory is you have a nerve that runs on each side of your brain. Basically, the nerve pathway gets blocked, presumably from swelling. In your case, I wouldn't be surprised if it was from the head trauma. Helmets help to protect the brain, but can't completely diminish the shocking jolts that sports injuries can invoke on the brain.
I remember it was a pain having to put drops and lubricant in my eye to keep it from drying out. I wore an eye patch at night to try to prevent abrasions to the cornea while sleeping. I remember it was kind of painful when I smiled or laughed, as only one side of my jaw would pull.
For me, it was a wake up call that I am not invincible. We are not going to live forever. Cherish each and every day. And be thankful for all of the positive things in your life.
I wish you a full recovery,
-Bric