Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

Hey guys. I was looking up some exercises that are ideal for Scoliosis and came across some very useful ones.  Stretch Up and Reach Down The stretch up and reach down exercise is recommended for those with scoliosis by SportsInjuryClinic.net. Stand with your back against a wall, both arms dangling freely at your side. Standing with your back against the wall to perform this exercise helps you avoid bending forward or backward. If the left side of your back is your tight side, lift up your left arm so that it's pointing straight toward the ceiling. Reach up toward the ceiling with your left hand. At the same time, reach toward the floor with your right hand. You should feel a subtle shift in your spinal alignment with this stretch. Hold your stretch for five seconds, then relax. Repeat your stretch up and reach down exercise a total of 10 times, and perform your stretch two to three times per day. If you're not sure which side of your back is tighter or which arm you should ...

Is it ever appropriate for a stranger to ask you what's wrong with you? I went to the bank in some pain today, and I was limping. The teller asked me if I'd had foot surgery, and I ignored her. Then she said she had foot surgery last year, and I figured I'd better answer her so I wouldn't seem rude. I just said, "I need back surgery." Short, simple truth. Maybe I should've just said, "I had back surgery," as that would have been the truth, too. As I left, she told me to take care of myself, and I could tell she was sincere, and not trying to be rude, at least not deliberately. But I just find it really irritating to be asked personal questions by total strangers. The employees there may consider it making conversation and good customer service, but I think it's nosy and rude. But maybe I was just being a bitch because I was in pain? Feedback, please. What would you do? Ignore, lie, or tell the truth?

Which came first, the muscle spasm or the pain? Every muscle in your body is attached to a bone, but just like the chicken and the egg, a muscle spasm can cause pain and pain can cause a muscle spasm! Often, when we experience pain a muscle spasm pulls nearby joints out of place, causing a condition known as joint sublaxation . Similarly, if a joint is sublaxated, nearby muscles may spasm in response. Does it matter which happened first? Usually, by the time pain has caused you to look for help from the doctor or therapist the cycle of pain and spasm has already begun. Pain causes spasm which pulls joints out of alignment, which more spasm and more pain! Ultimately, the body accommodates to this cycle and the muscles stay tightened in the contracted state. After two days of spasm, the muscles will adapt to their new unnatural painful state and resist relaxation. The pain may even subside a bit during this adaptation, but now the body is adjusting to the muscles and the joints that are ...

Medical marijuana debate has multiple dimensions: medical, political, personal Linda Yelvington rattles off her list of ailments: Severe scoliosis. A prosthetic hip. Cervical degenerative disc disease. DeQuerin’s syndrome in both wrists. Arthritis. Breathing problems from diminished lung capacity because of scoliosis. The 54-year-old woman then rattles off a list of painkillers she has taken for her health problems. Author: Derek Spellman Linda Yelvington rattles off her list of ailments: Severe scoliosis. A prosthetic hip. Cervical degenerative disc disease. DeQuerin’s syndrome in both wrists. Arthritis. Breathing problems from diminished lung capacity because of scoliosis. The 54-year-old woman then rattles off a list of painkillers she has taken for her health problems. “None of them are working right,” Yelvington said of the legal drugs, listing some of their side effects. It has been several months since she has taken her preferred painkiller — marijuana — because it's not le...

I am now 3 days into taking my new treatment and while I have not noticed any significant changes in my body I think it is too early to tell, I was told I may need a double dose to get me started so we will wait and see. It would appear I am going to have a run of bad luck with the old Twisted Spine! My go faster stripes are not working and I am slowing down. I am having considerable amounts of pain in my lumbar, right where my donor site scar is, I cannot relax without feeling HUGE pressure on the scar, which is very painful and makes me catch my breath. I even had problems on the toilet this morning and that just gets me frustrated, the simplest of actions that any normal person takes for granted is such an effort for me this week and I end up getting really pissed off!!!!!!! I had to drive my Mother to the airport earlier because Chris is up to his eyes with work so he needed to stay home and finish his "to do list", I have to say it was the most painful drive of my life, ...

Our bodies need small amounts of essential nutrients in order to work properly. Before I continue with the reason why I started this blog I wanted to explain the types of vitamins and minerals. Fat Soluble and Water Soluble Vitamins: Fat Soluble Vitamins Fatty foods that contain fat soluble vitamins are: Butter Lard Vegetable Oils Dairy Foods Liver Oily Fish Animal Fats Vitamin A Vitamin D Vitamin E Vitamin K Our bodies need these vitamins daily to function properly. However, you don't need to eat foods containing them every day. Our bodies store vitamins in our liver and fatty tissues for future use. If you have more fat soluble vitamins than required, this would be harmful. Water Soluble Vitamins These vitamins are not stored in our bodies so we need them more frequently. Our bodies do not store water soluble vitamins we get rid of them when we urinate. These vitamins are not harmful. Water Soluble Vitamins Fruit Vegetables Grains Vitamin B6 Vitamin B12 Vitamin C Biotin Folic Aci...

So now I am in my third boston brace. :( It hurts. The side that goes up is on the right, whereas it used to be on the left. It feels so different. It's made me really sick as well. I don't have holes in it yet, so it is really really hot. Last night, I lost my appetite and didn't eat dinner, then this morning, I went pale and felt really sick and weak. I went back to bed and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I couldn't see anything! My parents were going to call the ambulance. Oh even though I TRY to stay positive, it's so hard. Bracing sucks. :( Here's a picture of my new brace (without holes) and my old brace.

I finally managed to get down and see my therapist on Tuesday after I slipped in the street, we were doing the coccyx move and that is a 2 weekly affair, one side is done on 1 week and then the following week she will carry out the move on the opposite side, unfortunately for me I could not get to her the following week so she had to wait until I could get there, she did the other side anyway to see what would happen - so far so good. I am still very stiff and in pain but it is not as bad as it was before, I am slowly repairing myself, trouble is I have a long car journey ahead of me next week as we are going to Murcia on holiday next Tuesday, car journeys are never good for me at the best of times but when I am suffering like this the journey will be a struggle, it also seems that our villa is up a hill so I don't expect I am going to enjoy walking up and down that hill everyday, hopefully it looks worse online than it actually is. At least I am now able to stand and walk bet...

Tuesday 7th April Last Tuesday I had my second treatment of Bowen this year, I was able to drive myself but driving does play havoc with my pain, I don't think the Audi A6 is the best car for us to be driving and when I have the energy we will change the car for something more appropriate for the country and for my back! The movements that my therapist did last week included the lumbar sacral and pelvis, the coccyx move will be in two weeks. We did some gardening on Thursday which was probably not the greatest idea we have had for a while since experiencing awful back pain the week before! Anyway, we took it in our stride, took many rests along the way and the end result was lots of vegetables and fruits :) I was very stiff after the Bowen and the gardening added to that stiffness I think afterwards and this stiffness has stayed for the past few days also, my husband went down with Gout on Friday, so I have been taking care of him, this has not helped with my situation but as I am ...

The Cobra coverage was cheaper than I thought, and my mom said she'll help pay for it. We decided it's worth it to see what Dr. STL has to say, so we're flying up there on Tuesday. My appointment is Wednesday, we're flying back Thursday. If we could stay longer, we would, but it would cost extra to change our tickets. Ugh, the whole quick trip idea was so I wouldn't miss work. I wish I could see my relatives while I'm there. Anyway, I'll post when I get home, probably Friday. I really have no idea what to expect, or even what to hope for. I think I can stop praying for flexibility and symmetry. I think the most realistic thing to hope for is pain relief, and the rest is just icing. I'm pretty pissed off, actually. Why is this happening to me? My x-rays don't look so bad, compared to some others I've seen online. Why am I in so much pain? I look fine from the outside, except for my limp and rib hump. Life sucks sometimes.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Not much to talk about. I've been loving the Flexeril, although I've never had dry mouth this strong before. I got new electrodes for my TENS unit, but haven't had to use them yet. I've had quite a bit of free time on my hands - I lost my job. The pain seems to all but disappear when I don't have to work! I doubt I'll be able to afford Cobra coverage, but I'm gonna try my best to find the money somehow. Otherwise I have no way to take care of myself until I get a new job with insurance. The surgery is off. I found out today it's way more expensive than my mom or I had imagined. Six figures. I doubt that even includes the hospital stay, rehab, plus all the assorted "little" fees, like medication and the staff's fees - radiologists, ahoy! I have no idea what the doctor would even do, so I kinda resent the lady there telling me that. It really took the wind out of my sails. Her saying that killed the onl...

Spinal Cord Spinal cord injury is the most feared complication of spinal surgery. Even when the spinal cord is not exposed, it is at risk for injury during reduction of deformities and during ligation of segmental vessels, which could precipitate an ischemic spinal cord event. Decreased blood flow in the anterior spinal artery can result in infarction of a significant portion of the spinal cord. Disruption of blood flow in the artery of Adamkiewicz often has been implicated in this phenomenon. Cadaveric investigations suggests that the anterior spinal artery typically appears to be a continuous structure. However, because of the wide range in luminal size there may be functional discontinuities in anterior spinal artery blood flow. Because of the changes in diameter (0.23 to 0.94 mm), variability in resistance to flow is likely. This resistance to flow may be as high as 278 times normal in vessels with narrow lumens, resulting in regions of functional hypoperfusion of the spinal cord. ...

Hey everyone, I have just come back from a short break, we left the morning after my last blog post actually. We drove down to Barrosa Beach in Cadiz and stayed in the Iberostar hotel - Andalucia Playa - it was lovely, we slept for 2 days thereabouts. We were so tired and really needed a break, moving house, working hard, furnishing another house, organising it for rent, fighting daily pain with Scoliosis and a host of other activities, putting it mildly - bushed! I would rather have gone without the car journey but once we had arrived I was in heaven, first time we had gone to a hotel that served buffet style food every night but we soon got used to that and worked out the rules and regulations surrounding how to eat buffet! ;) We had cocktails during the day around the pool, lounged on sunbeds all day long and every now and then we went for a walk on the beach and a play in the sea, Cadiz is on the Atlantic coast so the waves are alot of fun. I had a Thai Zen facial which was an expe...

I had my Bowen yesterday and she worked on my respiratory system, as many of you know Scoliosis patients can suffer with breathing problems and I had started to wheeze after a night's sleep. My husband drove me down because I was having some troubles getting around and I knew that driving for 35 minutes would make the whole thing worse. She found a few issues with my neck and shoulders also and I had noticed this the day before because I was struggling to move my head left or right. I slept well last night and woke after 8 hours kip which was great but today walking is a very painful, I cannot lift my head at all and I am walking very bent over forward, looking at the floor! My pelvis and legs have held their position though and I am still straight at 5"7 and a half inches tall - groovy! We are taking a break tomorrow though and going on holiday to Cadiz to stay in a really nice 4 star hotel with all the amenities and I can't wait. The hotel has a spa and that is what I am...

I am still going to Bowen each week and I do not know how I would have coped if I had not been going, I have to sleep raised in bed and cannot lay flat but I am sleeping better than I was prior to Bowen and that is what I went to her for. It is strange as I can feel my body moving and clicking into various places. TUESDAY 10TH JUNE Hip pain feels like a fizzing, similar to that stuff you can eat that cracks and pops in your mouth Walking was an issue (only 180 metres) and I had to stop and gather myself before I carried on Pain when crossing legs (been told not to do that though!) Pain just above my vagina - twinges WEDNESDAY 11TH JUNE Neck is hurting and can't turn my head I have not experienced any other pains this week (except the ones that were my own fault!) and now my period has started so I am hoping this month will be as pain free as the month before.....here's hoping anyway. My Mother is here at the moment on holiday and she cannot believe how much straighter I am comp...

Well, well, well. I have just read in the mail that Gillian McKeith has Scoliosis and has been suffering from this for some time. "Every day of my life I suffer from a condition called scoliosis, a severe abnormal sideways curvature of the spine. It bends in the wrong directions - 'S' shape in my case - and strikes violent spasms of breathtaking agony throughout the body. My back is the way it is because no one spotted it as a child and sent me for treatment. Doctors have told me it's now too late and too severe for even an operation to help. So while I help millions of people around the world to get well with good food and lifestyle changes, I understand what it feels like to endure serious health challenges." Who would have thought it eh, the lady who tells us what to eat, how, when and why is struggling with Scoliosis, I hope she is using the herbs for her pain and practicing what she is preaching! The paper has suggested that there is nothing they can do for h...

This week has been very strange as far as my scoliosis is concerned. I did a lot of gardening on Sunday, putting up the fence cover, some weeding and pruning. My legs ached the next day and so did my back - I do take my time and do not overdo it, I had intervals where I sit down and rested before I continued. A few days prior to my gardening stint, I was waking every morning in a great deal of discomfort and pain (depending on the angle I held my body) - I just do not know what to put this down to - breathing was also very painful, this was only after waking up, if I laid in bed it didn't go away so I got up and after a while of wandering around doing my normal morning routine the pain would diminish. It is all localised to my lumbar back and is more than likely the discs? Could the pain be coming from mu insides being twisted after being in bed for a few hours and once I have got up everything straightens itself out and then the pain leaves? This has been happening now for a week...

ScoliosisNutty - a place for friends, support and research I have had a slow week because I have spent a lot of that in a great deal of pain, probably because I was focusing on all my work (and at the time it was working) and now I have stopped because the work load is now less, I am suffering. The fact the weather turned awful last week didn't help, I suppose. It was really cold and raining every day, and on top of that we had 70mph winds!! The cold really affects my Scoliosis and then I get tense and hold my body in a different way and consequently my shoulders end up in bad knots, this does not help me as my work is on a laptop computer so I find I am always tense in my shoulders, despite being conscious of relaxing them! On Saturday night we stayed at friend's house and slept on a mattress (see Scoliosis mattresses , like the one I have) on the floor, I woke Sunday morning and my shoulder blade had siezed or done something along those lines as the pain is really annoying me...

Well, I read many articles by Elizabeth Mina that make so much sense and I now find that I am referring to a lot of what she said in her articles and applying it to my every day life. Over Compensation Syndrome I am in the middle of organising a 40th birthday party for my husband Chris and we have 50 people arriving at our house on Friday lunch time, camping in the garden, making fires and staying until Sunday! As you can imagine this has been quite a lot of work added to my usual schedule of work, cleaning the house, looking after the cats, tending to the garden, washing, ironing........yawn!! I am absolutely exhausted and I do not know how my back has managed to keep up the pace without flooring me and forcing me to stay in bed for a while - overcompensation syndrome is springing to mind again ;) I am feeling it again in my shoulders, they are so tight and painful I am struggling to find a comfortable place to work - I am looking forward to the summer so I can swim again and release ...

So, did all you Mothers have a nice Mother's Day and receive some nice gifts? I hope so, I sent my Mother and Mother-in-law some Fresias this year and they were overjoyed with them. These past few days I have been feeling a lot better - the weather is warming up and I think this is the reason why - the damp in the house is less so the bed is much better and I am sleeping better because it is not so bitterly cold - I have everything else on my bed except heat - perhaps I should think about having that installed as well! I have been out in the garden to help me get some exercise but I am not sure if weeding is the best thing considering I have only just started walking around better - but hey ho - overcompensation syndrome hits me again! I find it strange because my back is feeling better but my shoulders are in agony - all the strain ends up on my shoulders because the middle of me is fused together so the pressure has to end up somewhere - since we have moved house I have lost my ...