severe trismus/fibrosis after radiation treatment

beachgal15

My dear sister had radation following a 10 hour surgery for a rare from of head and neck cancer 14 years ago.  Had one reoccurrence with more radiation two years ago.   She struggles to eat and is terrified of having to get a feeding tube.   Any advice for us?

hwt

trismus

There is an exercise that helped my trismus to a small degree. Rubberband together as many tongue depressors as she can manage and stretch mouth as wide as possible but not until painful. Hold them in place for a few minutes. Do this several times a day. I found this easy to do while I was driving and it did help. I am sure there are other exercises as well. Something as simple as switching spoons helped me, some are not as deep as others and easier to get in my mouth. At my worst point, I even used an infant's spoon. So long as your sister can open enough for a straw, to take in 5-6 Ensure a day, or enough calories and nutrients in combination with malts, soup, etc, she should be able to avoid a feeding tube. Wishing her well. 

MrsBD

I'm sorry to hear of your

I'm sorry to hear of your sister's problems. After all we go through to get rid of the cancer, symptoms like your sister's seem so unfair. My doctors have all stressed daily exercises to prevent fibrosis. So far it has been helping me. My husband has major fibrosis since a knee replacement several years ago. His doc said physical therapy can prevent further damage and even somewhat reverse what has happened so far. It could help your sister too.

wmc

Very sorry to hear this...........

Sorry to hear your sister is going through this. Just keep trying to exercise the muscles and stretching. Might see about some rehab as some of it will help. Best of luck with that.