Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

Simone's last post got me thinking more about my own personal experiences with my surgeons. Not the experiences involving them explaining what exactly scoliosis is and why I should fear for my life (I was a teenager, everything is exaggerated in my memory), but the personal experiences that rose from the witty banter and crude sarcasm that was exchanged between us while my poor mother watched on while shaking her head in dismay. When I was first diagnosed back in Kelowna at the age of 11 I went, at least temporarily to a local doctor by the name of Dr. I-Can't-Deal-With-Children O'Farrell. Maybe that's a bit unfair of me, my memory of that whole time is a bit blurred, and any recollection I do carry of him generally involves me feeling about two inches tall. I'm sure he was/is a good Doctor, but his experiences were with adults who figured the high arches in their feet gave them reason to complain until they had passed out. Perhaps it was a mercy that my spine went...

I had a lady call me this morning who is in Hull, UK. She has an 8 year old daughter who has lumbar scoliosis, however, her GP will not refer her to a specialist as the GP does not agree that her daughter can be in pain, nor will she prescribe pain killers. The woman who called me was clearly distraught and in her words said “I am ready to kill someone”. Her daughter is having hydrotherapy but this is not working and renders the little girl in pain for the rest of the day – this is like a broken record for UK GPs, they don’t listen and think they know best – they are NOT always right and it disgusts me that a GP can let a child of that age suffer. If there is a member here from up North, please get in touch if you can recommend a Scoliosis specialist in your area – the lady is prepared to travel so if she cannot go closer to home she will go down south and see someone there. Thanks for any help that can be offered :)

Do certain ethnic groups suffer from Scoliosis more than the others? I am white caucasian and nobody else in my family line has had Scoliosis, so, where did it come from? Are Asians, Hispanics, Africans less likely to have Scoliosis against a Caucasian? Does this even come into play when trying to determine where your Scoliosis came from? We have been discussing this subject on the group and I find it very interesting, I have lived in Spain for 10 years and come to see and know many Spanish people during this time - when I have been to the Drs here they do not recognise Scoliosis (in fact the Costa del sol Hospital told me in 2000 that they are not good at backs and to go back to my home country for treatment), they may have heard of Scoliosis but not used to seeing this condition and are very unsure how to treat it, surely this means that very few cases of Scoliosis walk through their doors every year so therefore do not provide a specialist in the field? This meaning that Hispanics a...