AirBear

I lost my medical almost 4 years ago so this didn't affect flying. I had to go on meds for diabetes that I couldn't fly with. If not for the bloodwork I wouldn't even know I was diabetic.

Last Tuesday I had a routine dental cleaning around noontime. A few hours later I noticed some numbness on the right side of my mouth. I just figured it was something to do with the cleaning even thou I didn't have any shots. By late Tuesday night when I drank from a soda bottle the fluid was dribbling out of the right side of my mouth. I was becoming more concerned. Wednesday morning I called my dentists office to see if I could come in. They're not in the office that day. I can usually get in to see my regular Doctor or one of his PA's on the same day so I called them. I was really curious as to what was going on. The Phone Nurse asked me what was going on and when I told her she said "ER RIGHT NOW AND DO NOT DRIVE". Very sobering. So woke up my wife and went to a nearby ER. I was still thinking something had happened during the teeth cleaning. The ER took me right in to the stroke evaluation area. My arms and legs were fine. But when the ER Doc said close my eyes, my right eye would not close. Now I knew it wasn't anything to do with dental.

Because my arms and legs were 100% the ER Doc suspected Bell's Palsy. That's an inflammation of the facial control nerves on one side. Caused by injury or virus. But I was presenting with just 2 of the 3 symptoms so they needed to make sure and do a CAT scan of my brain That showed an anomalous area that could indicate reduced blood flow. AKA stroke. Now I'm on the way to the main hospital for an MRI which I got late Wednesday night. It was clean so confirmed Bell's Palsy. I went home Thursday. It should clear up in a few weeks with steroid treatment.

Had I not had the dental cleaning I probably would have been at the ER 12 hours sooner. I've been trained in stroke evaluation techniques when I was flying but the dental thing made that not occur to me. So if you ever have numbness in your mouth go look in the mirror and smile. I looked like the Titanic doing down with her stern in the air. Then see if you can close both eyes. Also make sure both arms extend symmetrically as well as legs. The 3rd symptom I was missing was my scalp, it was normal. Usually it's off like the mouth and eyes. Leg and/or arm asymmetry is a really big deal, that's probably a full fledged stroke.

I saw my regular Doc the other day and asked about this and diabetes. He said it was not caused by that, which was a relief. Since I haven't been injured somewhere I picked up a mild virus (not COVID he said) that caused the inflammation.

Excargodog

Or it COULD have been COVID:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7531061/

Not common, but it happens.

wrxpilot

Wow, scary for sure. Very glad to hear this wasn’t a stroke! Wishing you a speedy recovery, thanks for sharing this.

Huell

Thanks for the education ... wishing you a complete recovery.

WhisperJet

I was under the impression you could now get a medical with diabetes. Are you type 1 or 2? Weird that it would only show up on bloodwork and no symptoms or risk factors?

AirBear

In theory Type 1 and 2 diabetics on insulin can now get Class 1 & 2 medicals. In theory. In practice it's like pulling hen's teeth. The FAA is doing some serious foot dragging. It takes a New York City Phone Book sized pile of paperwork and they keep finding reasons to send it back. A handful have gotten their medicals back. Most are type 1's on insulin pumps which keep their glucose levels very stable. I'm on a med that the FAA will never approve and that's fine with me.

Diabetes is sneaky. Some don't know they have it until damage is done. With my family history my Doc knew I was a candidate so kept a close eye on me. Nothing related to diabetes has happened to me yet.

It's been about 17 days since the Bell's Palsy hit me. My right eye is back to 100% as far as I can tell. My mouth is back to 80%, still a bit lopsided when I smile. At least I can drink now without using a straw.

Just to add more fun to the mix my wife's best friend visited last Sunday evening. I was around them some. 2 days later the friend tested positive for COVID 19 during a weekly test at the Senior Citizen Center she works at. So now we're in quarantine for another 3-4 days. CDC just changed the guidance for exposure from 14 to 10 days quarantine, 7 days if you test negative.