Bristol Palin Shares Recovery Update After Facial Paralysis Reveal

Bristol Palin gave a lighthearted update on her facial paralysis condition.

“If I just keep my mouth shut I look pretty normal, lol,” Palin, 34, wrote via her Instagram Story on Tuesday. February 4. “Maybe it’s a sign.”

Palin’s update comes nearly a week after she initially opened up about her health struggle.

“I woke up nine days ago with a weird little sensation in my face,” she said in a January Instagram Story video. “My mouth was pulling this way and it just felt a little off. So, I went and looked in the mirror. I’m like, ‘Wow, this is looking a little weird.’”

While Palin felt off at first she realized something was wrong “a couple of hours” later when the entire left side of her face “was numb and just paralyzed.”

“Couldn’t really blink my eye, definitely had no movement on the side of my face,” she recalled. “So crazy. [I] went to the doctor. They ran tests, they did a CT scan [and] they put me on steroids, put me on other medications. Nothing came back with all the results.”

According to Palin, doctors told her it could be “a case of Bell’s palsy” which might have been “brought on by stress or lack of sleep.” According to the Mayo Clinic, Bell’s palsy is a temporary condition that causes sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face.

“I’m not really sure,” Palin continued. “There’s nothing that I was super stressed out about, but I think it was brought on by stress.”

As the Teen Mom alum took to social media to share about her ailment, she admitted that she was looking and feeling much better than when she first noticed the issue.

“This is such an improvement from what I was looking like,” she explained. “I’m finally starting to get some of the sensation back. It’s been, like, a little painful the last two days, which is a sign [and a] good indication that it’s getting better, so praise the Lord.”

Palin revealed that in addition to going to the doctor, she’s also sought out alternative methods to help aid the paralysis.

“This has been wild,” she said. “Also if you know anyone that has any of these symptoms, I would highly suggest going more of the Eastern medicine [route], as well. I’ve been getting acupuncture multiple times and that’s helped speed up the process of recovery tremendously.”

Bristol is best known for being the daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and for her multiple appearances in the Teen Mom franchise. Bristol shares son Tripp, 16, with ex Levi Johnston and daughters Sailor, 9, and Atlee, 7, with ex-husband Dakota Meyer.