Worried !

Jbrooks

Hi Everyone!  Well, I am in 7 weeks past radiation and my jaw is starting to close more and more.  I was doing the wooden sticks and had to quit because of the jaw pain . The jaw pain started as a result of a piece of bone that was sticking out from my radiated gum area.   I had that taken care of by my ENT.   I resumed the sticks a week later and was told to let the area heal before starting the sticks again. To my surprise, when I did resume, my jaw opening had deteriated. Now I am down to 3 less sticks (  I was at 11 and now down to 8) .  That's how far my jaw opening has deteriorated .  My question is for those who have Trismus or have had it... When doing the sticks, does your jaw hurt?  And if so on a scale from 1 to 10.. What number is the pain?  Does the pain ever die down or go away? My pain is constant ( between a 2 and 4 ). I am told by my Doctor ( ENT) that he does not want me to go the route of Therabyte because it could break the  new jaw he replaced because of the cancer.  Does wood sticks and stretching even help?   Please advise.   

Twostepr

Yep

My advice, keep doing as much opening and stretching as much as you can as often as you can. Yes, it's gonna hurt some. But the more you can do while being treated, and right after being treated, the less ground you'll have to try to gain back when it's over. Mine got out of hand. After my surgery and radiation last year, I have had three more surgeries. each time the Doc says no stretching until it heals. Well, needless to say, there hasn't been a lot of stretching going on. Now the entire front portion of my neck is locked up. Keep moving and stretching as much as you can. You will thank yourself later for it. As far as the 1 to 10 part, you'll know when it's too much or too far. Pain will tell you when to back off. 

Jbrooks

Thanx Twostepr for the advise

Thanx Twostepr for the advise!  Sorry you had 3 surgeries!  I had 2... First was to remove the cancer in my jaw and the second was to clean up a margin just two weeks later.  That was enough for me. Hopefully both you and I are done and on the way to being NED.

bebo12249

My ent disn’t suggest sticks

My ent disn’t suggest sticks but rather to open my mouth as wide as possible multiple times per day, even using finger to apply pressure to open. The more i did this the greater the improvement. However, it took 2-3 months to return to normal. Bill

Jbrooks

Bebo... Do you remember what

Bebo... Do you remember what your opening was before it returned to normal? Your comment is encouraging!  I hope mine returns to normal.

bebo12249

I don’t remember but the

I don’t remember but the opening pre cancer was relatively small (dentist has has commented n small opening). I was less after treatment but resolved with exercising of jaw muscles. Stretch multiple times per day.. good luck..

Jbrooks

Thanks bebo!

Thanks bebo!