postpartum facial tightness and twitching

[PFM2014]

I gave birth end of Sept. via normal delivery with an epidural. Everything went well and smooth. Two weeks postpartum, I started to feel right side of the face ( only cheek area)  heavy and hard for me to smile or talk, comes and goes, worse in the morning and better as day pass. nobody said they see any difference on my face but I can see one side of my lip slighted went down and when I smile the muscle on one side of the face seem to be tighter than the other side. Two weeks after, I started to feel which I talk, one of my eye( bad side) seems to blink( close?), the outer muscle around that eye feels very tight. it got worse over time. It has been two months since I had the initial symptom, no improvement so far, I had my better days and worse days. Also, when I frown my face, right side muscle shakes.Went to the neurologist and he said there's nothing wrong with me.

This is the second time same situation happened to me, 5 years ago after I gave birth to my first child, same thing happened but without the eye part. only feel muscle stiff one side when I smile or talk. Went through Brain mri, blood test, sinus scan, TMJ ct, all negative. The symptoms peaked at 3 months postpartum and slowly went away in 1 year or so. I am very frustrated over this weird facial thing, became really depressed. Can someone give advice on what this is and I really think it may have something to do with the epidural I got.

[PFM2014]

tschock, thank you so much for your advice. Actually the same person did my epidural both last time and this time. I heard she was complaining about how skinny my back is and hard to find the spot to insert the needle. My mom also said she saw them wiping the blood when they were inserting the needle.  I was looking at the before and after picture, I can see a little bit muscle tightness already after two days I gave birth, but I only felt something until two weeks later.

I went to the same neurologist that I went to 5 years ago. He diagnosed me with bell's palsy with sensational nerve irritated last time ( which I really don't believe it's bell's palsy because I can close my eyes tight etc.), he said this time there's nothing wrong with my face, he couldn't see anything, maybe it's due to depression. he ordered test for lyme, ANA, VD level, and also ordered another Brain MRI and EEG.which my pcp said I got tested way more last time already.

[tschock]

I never had an epidural, but a few of my friends have. I've heard many complaints of nasty side effects, ranging from hearing issues to pain in back and shoulders lasting for many years.

I would get a second opinion. It's quite possible that it's from the epidural, but it's also possible that it's anything from a mild stroke to a form of muscular dystrophy...or perhaps they hit a nerve when the inserted the needle.
Not sure how much testing the neuro did on you.

Could also be a postpartum blues (which is a type of depression/anxiety), symptom.