electric stimulation?

[superrmaren]

did anybody have electric stimulation for their facial muscles? did it ever even come up? my neurosurgeon says no, my speech therapist says yes, i say, does it hurt??
xox
maren

[Windsong]

Hi Maren,

How did your surgery go btw?
 I hope ok and you are doing well? You had a large An as I recall.


Why is the electrical stim being offered? Did you have facial paralysis of some sort? Did they say?

Maybe I missed a post or two of yours after your surgery. Sorry about that. I don't always read everything. But I do want you to know that we wish you well here. And i am interested in your post electrical stim offerings and how you progress with all of that.

Looking forward to your next post,

Windsong

did anybody have electric stimulation for their facial muscles? did it ever even come up? my neurosurgeon says no, my speech therapist says yes, i say, does it hurt??
xox
maren

[tony]

It may depend how its done - but most of the muscle/nerve
stimulation type machines over here are not unlike the tenns (?)
machines used to help with child birth  pains - very low voltage
- often just DC There is no shock really more like a tingling sensation.
Its considered a good idea over here
best regards
tony

[superrmaren]

here comes the clarification -- you know that's not quick, but i'll make it so...

i am doing well -- no pain, the doc is impressed, and the therapist is happy w/ my progress.

i had a large tumor >4.5cm which had the facial nerve in one side and out the other.  the nerve had to be cut and glued back together. as a result, i have paralysis on that side of my face.  surgery was on aug. 7, this year at johns hopkins.  hopefully the nerve will come back. but only time will tell. 

the neurosurgeon says no to electric stim. because it won't work in the end anyway.  the speech therapist says yes because she says there is a chance it'll help and a chance it won't.  the only other choice available is the exercises for my face which i'm already doing.

what do ya think?

xox
maren   

[Taylor]

I had some electric stim on my face a couple times in therapy.  It doesn't really hurt until they get on the good side on accident!  Then you realize how strong the electricity is!  They put a pad under my arm and i feel that alot more than my face.  I may stop doing it, it doesn't seem to be helping me.  On one setting they do, i get a strong metalic taste in my mouth... i dunno what that is i hope its good!

[Joef]

I too have heard both sides of this question .. I did some stim in the beginning with this:

http://www.foreverspring.com/cgi-bin/dbsearch.exe?mdb=%5Cinventory.mdb,tbl=PRODUCTS,DB_ITEM_NO=T058,dbtype=2000,template=%5Ccommerce%5Cprodinfoshop.htm,ReturnMax=1

and my therapist is the first to admit, she did not any AN experience....

people with AN experience, have told me NOT to do electric stim ..."would you exercise a broken arm" let it heel first....

I have stopped using it....

[amymeri]

Check out bellspalsy.ws for lots and lots of information on facial paralysis.  My information has said that electrical stim can increase synkinesis (involuntary facial movement-like your eye closes when you smile) and does not speed recovery.  I have also heard that therapy is not particularly helpful before spontaneous movement is seen and can hurt (for the same reason elec stim hurts).  Apparently, trying to hard to move a flaccid face can cause abnormal movements and nerves connect in the wrong spot.

I guess the jury is out, but I decided to just let my face heal.  It started to move 3-4 mos. post op and progress is slow, I have a little synkinesis but I am trying to be patient...which is very hard!

Amy

[Battyp]

I dont' have facial paralysis I have facial numbness and in the beginning my therapist did electrical stim and I got a tens unit for home use but was told to be careful when doing it so not to cause facial sykinesis.  It helped with the discomfort I had but did nothing to bring back the feeling in my face.  I so love being able to stick sharp objects in my face and not feel it  LOL  It's a great party trick, too bad I'm never invited to any  LOL  Your therapist can do facial massage and get the same benefit.  I was told it's suppose to help redirect the nerve.