Could * have had a stroke?

[rumguy]

I don't know - I'm not even close to being a medical expert.

Here's the evidence.

1. That 'thing' strapped to his back.

2. At times he has trouble gathering his thoughts

3. Tonight people noted the left side of his face dropping slightly, along with some mild drool problems

4. Not taking the presidential physical

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Possible

Frankly I don't see how a blood clot could embolize to anything in his head...there's no there there

[donheld]

21. Dumb Bell's Palsey

:bounce:

[JCMach1]

24. I think Bell's Palsey

My wife had this when she was pregnant and had the same drool/saliva problem.

Also, did you notice how the left corner of Bush's mouth did not move. This was no the way Bush usually appears when he talks.

[RebelYell]

2. His left eye was round tonight

Unlike his left eye, which was squinted as usual. I vote for stroke.

[RebelYell]

5. Or

Too much crank!

[Lex]

3. I was watching with a physician's assistant tonight

who is a friend and she said it could've been a mild stroke or maybe something called "Bell's Palsy." She said the droopiness of the left side of his face, esp. mouth, was noticeable. As well as the drooling thing.

She noticed it right away.

[LittleClarkie]

6. That's it

That's the name of the disease I was trying to come up with.

[Hamlette]

12. his "smile" has always dropped on the left side

its why he always seems to be smirking instead of smiling but it did seem more pronounced tonight. If anyone comes across a pic of him from say 20 years ago it would be nice to compare them.

[Contrary1]

14. It looks a bit

like early onset Bell's Palsy. However, and I cannot believe I am saying this...Chimpy is speaking much too clearly for it to be Bell's Palsy.

My husband had it a few months back. He woke up one morning, and it was there. Half his face was paralyzed. He had trouble forming words, and was unable to drink without dribbling all over the place.

I realize that W has doctors at his immediate disposal, but there is no cure, so to speak, for this condition. Steroids, if given very quickly can help some of the symptoms from getting worse.

There are varying degrees as to the visible effects, but I would think if it was Bell's, the White House would have issued some sort of statement to stifle the rumors, especially since GW is in the public eye so much.

[Skittles]

16. how is your hubby now, Contrary?

I bet that was freaking scary

[Contrary1]

20. Thanks for asking!

I probably didn't phrase my first post the right way. Even
though there is no cure, most make a complete recovery,
just like my hubby did.

It was scary. He woke me up saying there was something
wrong. I took one look at him and said "It's not a stroke,
it's Bell's Palsy." I had read about it a long time ago
while researching online for a friend.

It's amazing the things I have learned on all the internets.
***wink, wink***

[LittleClarkie]

4. I noted that from the first debate

He reminds me of my dad when he had his stroke. He almost looks swollen on that side, and it is definitely down. But others said he's had that look for a while, so I dunno.

Then again, maybe it could be that ...err... what's it called, Ebson Barr Syndrome. The one that can make your face droop?

[GoodSpud]

8. Guillain-Barré syndrome n/t

[psychopomp]

26. I, for one, want to see pictures of the drool and droop

edit: removed pic from first debate

[Eurobabe]

29. epstein-barr is a virus

possiblity of bell's palsy, something was fucked up with his face -- you really notice it at the end on replay.

[Princess Turandot]

7. I don't think there's evidence of that..

I'm not an MD but my mother had a stroke. What I learned is that if your cognitive functions remain intact, one of the biggest effects is that you sort of lose your built-in controls over your personality traits. For example, in my mother's case, she went from being paranoid to seeing conspiracies going on all over the place and actively expressing any negative views she had about people to their face.

I know that his 'performance' was dopey, but I don't know if he could have held up even to the extent he did if he had a serious stroke.


There is a condition called 'Bell's Palsy' which causes facial paralysis at different levels, but doesn't impact your thought processes. I think it generally resolves itself on its own, but over different length of time.

Edited: I did not see the above post about Bells..sorry for the dupe.
Here is some interesting info on it from medicinenet.com:

"What are symptoms of a facial nerve problem?

A disorder of the facial nerve may result in facial muscle paralysis, weakness, or twitching of the face; dryness of the eye or the mouth; or alteration of taste on the affected side. However, the finding of one of these symptoms does not necessarily imply a specific facial nerve problem, it is only after a careful investigation that one is able to make a precise diagnosis.

What conditions affect the facial nerve?

There are numerous causes of facial nerve disorder including the following:

Trauma: Examples are birth trauma, skull base fractures, facial injuries, middle ear injuries, or surgical trauma.

Nervous system disease: Examples are the Opercular syndrome, Millard-Gubler syndrome.

Infection: Examples are infections of the ear or face, Herpes Zoster infection of the facial nerve (the Ramsey-Hunt syndrome).

Metabolic: Examples are diabetes mellitus and pregnancy.

Tumors: Examples are acoustic neuroma, schwannoma, cholesteatoma, parotid tumors, glomus tumors.

Toxins: Examples are alcoholism, carbon monoxide poisoning.

Bell's Palsy: Also called idiopathic facial nerve paralysis (see below).

http://www.medicinenet.com/facial_nerve_problems/article.htm

[LittleClarkie]

13. Doesn't have to be a major stroke

there are different severities, and different effects. One thing I learned going through it with my dad was that everyone's brain attack was unique. It could be a physical effect without being a mental one. Or like my grandmother, you can have "mini-strokes" where you're just noticably different the next day, without it being terribly major.

Anyway, something isn't right about his face. Maybe we'll find out after he's out of there.

[Lord_StarFyre]

9. yeap

[carpetbagger]

10. I thought it too.

Bell's palsy or stroke.

I wouldn't read anything into the battery pack, the skipped physical, or the lack of coherence, but that face looked new to me. He scowls a lot, and his smile is rarely genuine, but the degree of Cheneyness in his snears and speech was marked, in my opinion.

If he were in my office, I'd suspect a stroke, Bell's Palsy, or a number of less common things.

[DixieDem]

11. I was thinking the same thing...

Especially #3 - The left side of his face was WAY off kilter.

Someone in another thread brought up that it could be a bad botox job (why his face was so off skilter).

I'm very curious about the other points though... are these things normally associated with a stroke?

[Andromeda]

15. Honestly?

Anything could be physically wrong with Bush but nobody is going to tell us anything.

Gotta maintain the "Bush is in robust health" image, ya know.

Bush did not have his medical examination, I heard, and I wonder why. Is there something the powers that be don't want us to know?

He did have spittle in the the corner of the right side of his mouth. I was waiting for it to trickle down the side of his face.

The biggest mystery, to me, is that thing strapped to his back. It's so obvious that virtually everybody watching the debates has seen it. Why aren't they talking about it?

[Gardeaux08]

17. Or

Facial paralysis can be a symptom of Multiple Sclerosis.

[neomonkey]

18. Could this be the "wire"

or something similar?

http://www.cooperhealth.org/heart/cardiac/2003summer/07.htm

[noonriser]

19. I think so

It was the first thing I noticed besides the spitball in the right corner of his mouth.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

22. Has Bush golfed lately?

He's supposedly stopped jogging, allegedly because of a trick knee. To me, the most unusual things tonight were the seemingly unending smiles and smirks, even when his words weren't amusing nor about something pleasant. And there were periods of heavy blinking. But at least he didn't slouch. The other thing that I noticed is that Bush didn't bob his head very much. His head bobbing has been his number one trademark. In his speeches, he will often pan the entire room, doing a 180 with a continuous series of bobs as he tries to make a point. I thought it might be impossible for him to keep that in check, as he bobbed his head throughout the first two debates.

Something weird is going on with Bush, though.

[LittleClarkie]

25. Like a chicken

That's what the head bob reminds me of.

[demokatgurrl]

27. He seems the same to me. He has always

laughed, smirked and smiled inappropriately. He laughs when he talks about death, body bags, the war, any tragic thing. It's weird, but he's always done it. And he and Cheney always had those twin slanted mouths. Comes from talking out the side of their mouths all the time, which in turn happens when one LIES.

It's like you mother used to tell you- your face will freeze like that!

[dave123williams]

23. Years of cocaine abuse can have that effect.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

28. I think he was trying so hard to stay smiling

that his face broke.

Really. Didn't you notice how he kept trying to keep a nonchalant and unconcerned smile on his face? His eyes would widen when he got mad, but he'd obviously been instructed to keep smiling. He just couldn't carry it off.

That's my diagnosis--his face broke.

[opihimoimoi]

30. Yup, Broken Face Syndrome

I could go with that