open mouth

[Bhaja]

My husband has PSP for 6 years . This morning he woke up with a locked jaw his mouth is wide open and I can not close it. Has any body experience something like this.. how can i feed him

[Hidden]

I found an older post on this site about a locked jaw. Hot compresses looks like the treatment.

healthunlocked.com/psp/post...

[Bhaja in reply to Hidden]

thanks for you reply I am doing the warm compressions and also massaging the face masculs

[SewBears]

Good grief, that sounds painful! I have no idea how to treat this. I would probably use heat and massage and I would contact his doctor for advise. Failing that, I’d call a dentist and ask them for help. Our dentist is clued up on my husbands disease. Hubby wears a neck brace whenever he needs dental work so the dentist is constantly reminded of my love needing gentle care. Please let us know how this issue is solved. I’m hoping for speedy results.

❤️

[Karynleitner]

Something similar has happened with my husband , but at this point I’ve always been able to get his mouth shut. There have been times he clenched his mouth shut with a toothbrush in it and I could not pry it open

I’m sorry, that must be very difficult. This disease is always finding another way to rear it’s ugly head.

Best of luck.

[Willow_rob]

I have experienced this with my wife but normally in the closed position. The carers and I have found an electric toothbrush stimulates her to open her mouth. The sonic one works even better because the vibrations stimulate (tickle like mad) her gums. Maybe worth a try? Best of luck. Rob

[AJK2001 in reply to Willow_rob]

I will have to try that, Mum is struggling with opening her mouth wide enough for me to feed her. Thanks for the tip.

[LuisRodicioRodicio]

Hi Bahja!

After 7.5 years from the first specific symptom of PSP-RS you can still take solid foods and chew them. Of course, very slowly (it takes 1 hour to give her a meal).

From the beginning we have insisted that she chew food and have used the electric toothbrush both to clean the teeth and to stimulate the muscles of the mouth internally and externally.

We note that it is increasingly difficult to open and close the mouth but so far we have not had any blockages.

Thank you for the information on this subject.

Hug and luck.

Luis

[Servena03]

Bhaja, I am Jean of Servena03, if you can read my blogs of the last week you will see my husband has been having exactly the same episodes he had six in a week, was given a CT scan in case of stroke or bleeds, everything was all clear so diagnosed as PSP symptoms. He had on some of them lack of oxygen, paras gave him oxygen and he came round quite quickly, left with a very muzzy head.

Sending wishes and love, bear in there it's all we can do...Jean xx

[Dadshelper]

Sounds like heat and gentle massaging is the answer, least temporarily. I found this info off a temporomandibular disorder site, while it doesn't mention PSP I'd say the treatments are close..

"Do your best to not panic.

First things first: try to relax your body and muscles. Take slow deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. If you can, get to a quiet room and practice calming exercises such as deep breathing or guided imagery.

Put heat on the jaw right away.

A heating pad on the face, preferably with moist heat, can help loosen and relax it. Hold the heat on for several minutes before you try to move the jaw. At this point, it may be able to move on its own again.

Try gentle movement from side to side.

Slowly and gently try slight sideways movements of the jaw. This may help it move back into its proper place, allowing it to move up and down again.

Call a medical provider who treats TMD and orofacial pain."

I realize that with PSP it's probably due to a breakdown in the brain sending signals to the jaw muscles so don't worry that it's another aliment to worry about. I just referenced it since they discussed methods of relaxing the jaw.

Ron