Ramsay Hunt Syndrome
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 10:30 am
Do you know what Ramsay Hunt syndrome is? I had never heard of it until I read this article relating to Justin Beiber's recent attack.
Matt Carney, a stage manager who lives in Bedford, was at work in 2017 when he experienced the first of a series of mysterious symptoms. “We’d just started a performance of Hairspray, and almost with the first beat of the overture an intense earache started – like no earache I’ve ever had before.” Painkillers had no effect and when he was driving home later, his face felt strange in a way he couldn’t put his finger on. Within two days, he says, “it was completely paralysed on the right side”.
Knowing the signs and getting treatment quickly is imperative to reduce the risk of long-term consequences. Symptoms are very similar to Bell's Palsy (which I am aware of after a friend suffered from it years ago) but Ramsay Hunt syndrome has potentially life changing long-term outcomes and is relatively unknown. A quick read could protect your loved ones from the life changing impact of this disease.
It is caused by the varicella zoster virus, which, after a bout of chickenpox, becomes dormant in the body – in the case of Ramsay Hunt syndrome, in nerve cells. It is, essentially, a shingles infection affecting the facial nerve after the dormant virus is activated.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... sdiagnosed