Treating Bell’s Palsy with CBD – Benefits & Effects

It is apparent that CBD engages with two major pathways, notably neurotransmitters and immune reactions to improve the symptoms of Bell’s palsy. For instance, by modulating neurotransmitters CBD immediately reduces pain and improves neurologic function.

Bell’s palsy refers to a sudden, temporal weakness or paralysis of the muscles of one side of the face. This condition usually causes one side of the face to droop. People with Bell’s palsy often have one sided smile, coupled with the fact that the eye on the side of the face resists closing. 

Bell’s palsy, which is also medically known as facial palsy can occur to anyone at any age, although pregnant women, people with diabetes as well as people with upper respiratory infections are more prone to it. Even though the exact cause of this condition is still unknown, it is believed that Bell’s palsy occurs as a result of swelling and inflammation of the nerve that controls the muscles on one side of your face.

Some scientists have also argued that Bell’s palsy could be a reaction that occurs after a viral infection. Some of the viruses that have been linked with Bell’s palsy include the viruses that cause flu, mumps, German measles, hand-foot and mouth disease, respiratory illnesses, chicken pox and shingles, cold sores and genital herpes, infectious mononucleosis and cytomegalovirus infections. It should be noted that in most people, Bell’s palsy is temporal as the symptoms typically start improving within a few weeks, with complete recovery in about six months.

However, a small portion of people could continue having the symptoms of Bell’s palsy for life. It is worthy to note that Bell’s palsy rarely reoccurs. The signs and symptoms of Bell’s palsy typically come suddenly and may include drooling, facial droop and difficulties making facial expressions like smiling or closing the eye, headache, a decrease in the ability to taste, rapid onset of mild weakness to total paralysis on one side of your face, pain around the jaw or behind the ear of the affected side, changes in the amount of tears and saliva you produce as well as increased sensitivity to sound on the affected side.

Bell’s palsy can be treated with surgery, physical therapy as well as with the use of medications such as corticosteroids and antiviral drugs. However, these conventional drugs used in treating Bell’s palsy are associated with hazardous side effects and that explains why many patients have been turning to CBD as a safer alternative.

In a similar manner, CBD is known to reduce swellings and pain due to its ability to reduce cytokines and inflammatory macrophages. As a matter of fact, studies have proven that CBD is a strong anti-inflammatory. According to a study that was published in PLoS One, CBD was revealed to be effective in the treatment of inflammations. It should be noted that this study was conducted on mice with the aim of investigating the effects of CBD on intestinal inflammation. The researchers found out that the application of CBD led to decreased levels of macrophages within the intestines of the mice, thereby suggesting future therapeutic strategies that involve CBD in the treatment of inflammation. The results of this study, therefore, insinuated that CBD could effectively treat inflammation, including inflammation caused by Bell’s palsy.

However, it is worth noting that there exists very little or no studies on the effectiveness of CBD in treating Bell’s palsy, even though there are numerous studies concerning medical marijuana and Bell’s palsy. Thus, there is a need for scientists to conduct more credible human studies on the subject.

Sources:

Mayo Clinic
Medical News Today

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