A control engineer's view of Bell's Palsy

The New Columbia Encyclopedia states that palsy is complete loss or impairment of the ability to use voluntary muscles, usually as a result of a disorder of the nervous system. In 1828 Charles Bell gave the classic description of what came to be known as Bell's Palsy. Bell's Palsy is defined as an idiopathic unilateral facial nerve paralysis, usually self-limiting. Idiopathic means of unknown origin, but the immediate cause is a virus. This article presents a control engineer's description of the onset, treatment, and subsequent return to health from an attack of Bell's Palsy. To lend verisimilitude, it is assumed the control engineer himself has Bell's Palsy.