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Bristol Palin, the daughter of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, revealed her facial paralysis on her Instagram Story shared on Wednesday (January 30).
“I woke up nine days ago with a little weird sensation in my face,” she told her followers. “My mouth was pulling this way, and it just felt a little off.”
Palin, 34, who competed on Dancing with the Stars and appeared on the MTV reality series Teen Mom OG, said she "looked in the mirror" and thought, "Wow, this is looking a little weird."
"Within a couple of hours, the entire left side of my face was numb and just paralyzed," she said. "I couldn’t really blink my eye, definitely had no movement on the side of my face. So crazy.”
Palin said she underwent a CT scan and tests which were inconclusive, however, the condition is believed to be Bell's palsy caused by stress or a lack of sleep.
“Nothing came back, they think it’s just a case of Bell’s palsy maybe brought on by stress or lack of sleep. … I think it was brought on by stress," she said, acknowledging that she was given "steroids and other medications."
Bell's palsy is defined by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke as “a form of temporary facial paralysis or weakness on one side of the face" that is "the most common cause of facial paralysis" and "occurs when one of the nerves that controls muscles in the face becomes injured or stops working properly."
“I know I look crazy right now, but this has been such an improvement from what I was looking like,” Palin concluded on hr Instagram story. “I’m finally starting to get some of the sensation back.”
Bristol is the oldest daughter and second of five children shared by Sarah Palin and her ex-husband Todd Palin. The Alaska native gained national attention when her pregnancy at the age of 17 coincided with her mother being selected as late Sen. John McCain's running mate for his eventual 2008 presidential election loss to future President Barack Obama.