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76ers Joel Embiid Has Bell’s Palsy, Here’s What It Is

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You could say that Joel Embiid, the star center for the Philadelphia 76ers, answered the “Bell” on Thursday night. He did drop 50 points on the New York Knicks that night in Game 3 of their first-round playoff matchup. That helped earn the Sixers a very needed first win of the series after the Knicks had captured the first two games. But also during the postgame press conference, Embiid did answer questions about why the left side of his appeared to be drooping and his left eye didn’t seem to be blinking during the game. Embiid said that it was due to Bell’s palsy, which he been diagnosed with a week before.

He revealed that his symptoms had actually begun a day or two prior to an April 17 NBA playoff play-in game against the Miami Heat. But perhaps to avoid getting heat for what he was experiencing, Embiid had been wearing sunglasses and keeping his head down during interviews throughout the week prior to his Thursday night reveal. The reigning NBA MVP was dealing with a bad migraine headache as well around the time his Bell’s palsy symptoms had arisen.

Bell palsy arises when there’s something amiss with your facial nerve—otherwise known as your seventh cranial nerve. Each of the two facial nerves that you have helps you move and maintain various muscles in your face on that side. The word “palsy” is a fancy medical term for either paralysis or paresis. “Paresis” is a fancy medical term for partial paralysis. Other names for Bell’s palsy include facial palsy, idiopathic peripheral facial palsy and cranial mononeuropathy because in medicine everything’s got to have multiple names, right?

When one of your cranial nerves is malfunctioning for some reason, this can result in muscles on that side of your face malfunctioning. So you may notice that one side of your face is drooping. It may feel stiff, pulled to the side or twitchy. You can struggle to close your eye on that side or smile or make different facial expressions. You can start drooling or have food fall out of your mouth while eating because you can’t keep your mouth controlled and closed. Your eye on that side and mouth may become dry. You can lose your sense of taste or hear things louder through one ear. The weakness can be accompanied by pain and other types of discomfort. Symptoms can range from mild ones to those that are rather severe.

Symptoms typically arise quite suddenly. It may be that one moment you are enjoying your hot dog and the next moment hot dog pieces are falling out of one side of your mouth. There are cases, though, where symptoms arise more gradually over the course of two to three days. Discomfort behind your ear may precede facial weakness too. While Bell’s palsy tends to affect only one side of the face, occasionally both sides are involved.

While no one would say, “Yay” when getting Bell’s palsy, the good news is that most cases fully resolve within a few weeks to months without any treatment being needed. There are occasional situations where symptoms—such as weakness or spasms in facial muscles or changes in taste—can persist.

Plus, having an eye that’s dry can lead to other complications such as sores and infections. Your doctor may recommend eye drops or ointments and that you wear an eye patch while sleeping—not because he or she want you to look like a pirate but instead to keep your eye moist and lubricated.

When symptoms are severe, your doctor may prescribe corticosteroids in an attempt to reduce the swelling around your facial nerve. Occasionally, your doctor may prescribe an anti-viral medication like valacyclovir.

Why an anti-viral? Well, the belief is that Bell’s palsy arises from swelling or inflammation of your facial nerve. This inflammation could result from being infected by a virus like the herpes simplex or herpes zoster one or HIV. Other possible causes include Lyme disease or other types of middle ear or respiratory infections. Sarcoidosis could be a culprit. Those who have diabetes or are pregnant seem to have a higher risk of getting Bell palsy.

But at this point, no one knows for sure why Bell’s palsy happens. Once you do have Bell’s palsy, it’s not likely to recur, which should be good news assuming that having Bell’s palsy isn’t your idea of fun. The good news for the Sixers and Sixers’ fans is that Bell’s palsy didn’t seem to affect Embiid’s playing on April 25. Scoring 50 points during an NBA playoff game ain’t that bad. In the 41 minutes that he played, Embiid connected on 13 of his 19 shot attempts, grabbed eight rebounds, dished our four assist and blocked one shot. Yes, Embiid certainly stepped up and answered the bell when the Sixers needed him.

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