Mum whose jaw opens less than width of 5p coin fears NHS is 'leaving her to die'

A mum who takes 50 tablets a day and can barely eat fears the NHS is “leaving her to die”.

Naomi Smith, 48, has lived with severe jaw pain for almost 30 years and says her condition has now left her with “no quality of life”. The mum-of-four, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, can only open her mouth 14mm wide - too little to fit even a 5p coin - and relies heavily on a liquid diet.

Naomi says the pain began when she was 18 and gradually became “unbearable”, but it took until 2025 for her to be diagnosed with temporomandibular joint disorder, condylar damage and severe arthritis in her jaw. She said: “I don’t feel like myself - I look skeletal, I just look ill. I’ve been in constant pain for 30 years. It’s like the NHS wants to leave me to die.”

By 2014, Naomi said she could barely eat or drink and had become “weak and exhausted” as the pain spread through her body. She claims she lost three stone in a matter of months, vomited up to 30 times a day and developed severe constipation from pain medication.

From 2015, Naomi was referred to several hospital departments and was told she may have conditions including a functional bowel disorder, fibromyalgia or osteoarthritis. But her health continued to deteriorate despite “endless” appointments.

In April 2019, Naomi said she was admitted to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital with a bowel blockage and malnutrition, which she believes were linked to her liquid diet and long-term use of painkillers. While there, she claims a member of medical staff told her she was a “hysterical female” and that her symptoms were “all in (her) head”.

Naomi said: “I kept thinking they (doctors) had the answer, and then they’d tell me I wasn’t feeling what I was feeling.”

By 2020, she says she had become “so weak” she could barely lift a shopping basket. Her symptoms eventually forced her to leave her job as a children’s social, emotional and mental health tutor in 2024.

She said: “It just got impossible. I’m absolutely devastated - if you’re not contributing to society, it just makes you feel invisible and sad."

She has spent thousands of pounds on private treatments, including Botox, chiropractic care, osteopathy, healing sessions and acupuncture, without finding lasting relief. Naomi now lives with constant facial pain, migraines, dizziness and nausea.

The left side of her face begins to droop by early afternoon, making it difficult to speak, while she also experiences hearing loss in her left ear and occasional vision loss caused by ocular migraines. She said: “I have no quality of life and every day I wake up with extreme pain."

After finally receiving her jaw diagnosis in 2025, Naomi said a doctor at Cheltenham General Hospital concluded she had “probably had temporomandibular joint disorder all her life”, adding that it can be difficult to diagnose. She was told the condition may have contributed to years of wider pain and health problems.

Despite the diagnosis, Naomi said she is still waiting to be added to an NHS surgery list for an arthroscopy and has been warned the wait could be as long as four years.