Watch out for increasing stress levels

An old work colleague called the other day. It was a while since we had last spoken. He started a new job about six months ago and then the company got bought out; there were redundancies and he had to re-apply for his own job. All very stressful.

As we chatted he mentioned his problem; on his way into work he realised the side of his face felt funny. His eye lid was drooping and his lips felt loose as if he had been injected with pain killers at the dentist.

Clearly something was wrong...but he still went into work!

His work colleagues were aghast when they saw him, one side of his face had drooped alarmingly and they were afraid that he may have had a stroke. They offered to call an ambulance and he said NO to that. They sent him off to hospital though, after much examination the Doctor said "Bells palsy".

If you have not heard of it before, here is the description from Wikipedia.

Bell's palsy is a paralysis of cranial nerve VII (the facial nerve) resulting in inability to control facial muscles on the affected side. Several conditions can cause a facial paralysis, e.g., brain tumor, stroke, and Lyme disease. However, if no specific cause can be identified, the condition is known as Bell's palsy. Named after Scottish anatomist Charles Bell, who first described it, Bell's palsy is the most common acute mononeuropathy (disease involving only one nerve) and is the most common cause of acute facial nerve paralysis.

Now this man is being forced to take a three week holiday. Thankfully the symptoms are subsiding and he is almost back to normal. In his case the Doctor believed that stress possibly coupled with a viral infection probably caused the problem.

Sometimes we really should pay more attention to our own health and the level of stress we are under. This time it was a warning to take things a little easier, next time? Who knows.

You can help to de-stress yourself with the aid of my free MP3 relaxation recording. Go to www.gift4life.com and put your email and name in the on-screen form. You could be relaxing in just a few minutes time.