A Case Study Of Bell Syndrome

Matt noticed one morning while eating breakfast that his taste sensations on his tongue were impaired and that he was drooling on himself. His symptoms rapidly progressed until he had COMPLETE paralysis on one side of this face. He immediately went to the emergency room. The ER physician ran a series of tests on Matt until he came to a diagnosis. What are possible differential diagnoses that the physician would rule out? How would you tell the difference between a patient having a stroke and Bell’s palsy? What causes these conditions and what cranial nerve(s) do these conditions affect (including their branches)? What muscles of facial expression are affected (name the muscles and the facial expression(s) that would be altered, i.e., levator …show more content…
List the rest of the twelve cranial nerves and explain what muscles and organs would be affected if any of them were damaged. Be sure to cover what nerves are involved in each of the following senses (sight, smell, taste, and hearing).

• When one would enter the emergency room, usually a physician would do different kinds of exams to try and see what is causing a patient to report symptoms. There are so many that could be affecting Matt. Stroke, trauma to the head, inflammation or infection in a nerve in the face, or a neck or head tumor (Facial). Bell’s palsy might be something too, which is similar to a stroke. ER doctors were able to determine the difference between the two. People who suffer from Bell’s palsy might experience “partial or complete weakness of the muscles of the face, making them unable to raise one eyebrow, wrinkle their foreheads, or