ANA Discussion Forum
Post-Treatment => Facial Issues => Topic started by: saralynn143 on February 11, 2009, 07:15:05 am
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I am about eight and a half months out, and have just reached symmetry at rest and a small closed-mouth smile.
As my face has improved, though, I am now biting my lip more when I eat, it is harder rather than easier to drink without a straw (I drool a lot more), and it looks like the corner of my mouth on the weak side is actually higher than on the other side.
Is this just a bump in the road to recovery? I see my nerve specialist again in about a month.
Sara
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Hi Sara,
Sounds like your muscles are drawing up and heat and massage might help. Some times I'll get a joker smile that won't quit and heat and massage help to relax those tense muscles.
Angie
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Sara, the exact same thing is happening to me as I gain more movement. It's like the left side of my mouth has a hole in it and I now have more trouble eating and I drool. I think it is because the muscles are now drawing that side higher as Angie said. It does seem to be getting better. All this is definitely a killer to any vanity I might have had. The other night I slept really well but when I woke up my bedroom door was shut. I ask my son if he had shut it or was I sleep walking. He said I was snoring so loudly he couldn't sleep so he got up and shut it. ;D My mom and I got a big laugh out of it when I told her. I can just imagine what I looked like...one eye half opened and rolled back in may head...snoring loud enough to rattle the house. Very sexy! It's a good thing I'm single or a husband might have run for the hills. Ha Ha. ;D ;D
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Sara,
This is really weird but this could also be a cause of your new symptom. I am currently going through a miscarriage since Valentine's Day and I am very tired and really just flat worn out and my bottom lip is acting up. It is lazy and I am dribbling alot more when drinking from a glass. I normally do okay. It isn't tight or drawn up but just not doing its thing this week. So I believe that fatigue plays a big factor in whether our faces work right or not.
Angie
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Sara~
I had started a response to you, but never got it finished and posted. I have found that I can go for YEARS without any problems and then all of the sudden, I have more trouble again. Of course, you aren't going to have the long-term, lasting effects like I do, but I just wanted to say that it just kind of comes and goes. It might be associated with tiredness or just a "change" in something very minute, but is a change none-the-less and so I have to retrain myself again! Keeps me humble, I guess!
K
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Sara we are very close in recovery. I too notice that drinking from a straw is a challenge. I also bite my tongue sometimes when I am talking (I am sure my husband has something to do with this). I also notice I drool a tiny bit from the corner of my mouth after I have talked a long time. My AN side is also a bit higher and my facial therapist said mine is getting a bit tight. I apply a heating pad for 15 minutes each day, it addition to massage I apply hot wash cloths when I have a bath and of course my exercises each day.
I think it is all part and parcel of recovery.
Michelle ;D
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Hello Sara,
My facial nerve has been pretty cooperative, both pre and post op. But one thing I that has been and still is there is a bit of lip biting (the inside of my lip was quite raw and swollen a couple of weeks post op). I also find my jaw, without warning, snaps shut every once in a while, sometimes taking out a small bit of lip in the process. I don't recall anyone mentioning this in a post before. Do you have any issues with jaw snapping? I'm also snoring more than ever since the surgery. I know because my wife keeps kicking me at night.
Cheers!
Ken
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Oh Angie, I'm so sorry to hear that. I have been praying for you since you first posted, and hoping for better news. Now I will pray for the angels to take good care of your dear baby in heaven.
Love, Sara