Christine, I am curious to hear what you are told. I also have jaw pain everyday though it isn't so much a constant hurt as sudden very painful cramps that make me need to pull against the cramp to keep from practically grinding my teeth against each other (which would be especially bad since my upper and lower teeth are all out out alignment with each other right now). They don't last long usually about a minute or two at the very most but they are very painful and disruptive if I am in the middle of trying to speak to someone or trying to eat.

I also have very bad trismus which I read somewhere here that you said you had as well.

I am a long way out from treatment (3 years) and have used the therabite intermittently but my ENT-surgeon thinks there is too much fibrosis in the muscle at this point for the therabite to be extremely effective. He is recommending a surgery (someone here mentioned the name of it but now I'm forgetting it) where they actually cut the tendon of the muscle that he believes is scarred and causing the trismus and that helps release your jaw. For a while I was thinking this would also help relieve the jaw cramps but my MO at a recent appt. I had said he's not sure at all that that's true because the muscle cramping may not be the same muscle. Since then I have tried to notice which muscle is cramping and, if I'm undertsanding the musculature around the jaw at all correctly I think it is NOT the same muscle. Furthermore I think I use the muscle he wants to cut is the one I use to pull against the cramps--if so, it seems like the surgery could be a bad idea.

Anyway, I am actually looking around for a second opinion on this. Your doctors are not all *that* far away from me I think-certianly no further than going to Boston which I have done for my strictures--unfortunately that hospital does not currently have asurgeon who could do this surgery. If your doctor discusses a similar surgery with you, even as a possibility, maybe you could give me his or her name because that might eb a good person to get a second opinion from.

Nelie