Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

The last 9 days have been a little hectic, bad news on our adoption from China which has really taken it's toll on Chris and I. We completed our home study last June and passed panel last October (2007), a few weeks ago (August) we were requested to send our money orders to the DCFS ready for our paperwork to be sent to China, this made us very excited indeed and we were loking forward to the day we would receive our LID (log in date). All these great plans and positive feelings we soon shot into space when our adoption agency (PACT) called us and asked us for CRB checks from Spain, we had never hidden Spain from them and in fact was a positive part of our passing panel, anyway, they had forgotten to ask us to get these done, putting us weeks behind sending our dossier. 2 weeks agao the CCAA (China Centre of Adoption Affairs) relased a statement to the French ministers indicating that many Chinese families are now eligible to domestically adopt these children, meaning the wait for ...

I am supposed to be on holiday but as per usual clients don't leave us alone and I am looking forward to actually going away and leaving the house on Saturday so I don't have to look at my laptop again! I had Bowen again yesterday and Chris had it also for his RSI, our therapist wanted to see him before he went away on holiday so that his arms get chance this time to relax and rest and try to recover, usually he has his therapy and then continues to work and the body doesn't get much of a break, this sesions should help him a lot more than it has done in the past - providing he doesn't work - watch this space, I bet he does!!!!!!! I had Bowen and I am feeling a little worse for wear this morning, my therapist tells me she can feel that I am better than last week but I sure as hell don't agree, I feel as crap this week as I did last week, although I did get 7 hours in bed last night compared to my usual 3, it is still the lower discs and my memory foam bed really is...

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Judith from our Scoliosis Yahoo Group , who has decided to join me in blogging on the ScoliosisNutty blog . A little background on Judith: "I first realised I had scoliosis when I was about 15 in the mid-1970s", and she said to her father "I go in more on one side than the other". He said "you've got scoliosis" but that was the end of the matter, nothing done, no medical advice. Judith has actually had back pain for as long as she could remember, and says "but only when I had to sit on something without a back and it wasn't that bad. I think in view of the problems people who had surgery at that time see to have now, I am quite glad". Fast forward to 2006, when her daughter Laura pointed out that she seemed to have one hip bigger than the other. Judith says "We went to our GP and he referred her to our local hospital, who in turn referred her to the RNOH at Stanmore. She had surgery there in ...

Some of you may be following me in my journey through Bowen Treatment and will know that so far, so good and I have had great results. I actually went to a nightclub on Friday and had a great time, you know I have not been into a nightclub for over 2 years without the aid of my wheelchair, I still feel strange on my feet but I am not falling over as much as I used to and I managed to dance in a pair of wedgies!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot say that this did me any favours though and I have been struggling since...... Before you say it, yes I know this is probably down to the fact that I went clubbing but I love it and always have, it just doesn't like me or my Scoliosis very much and for years I have entertained myself in other ways, but last week I couldn't resist so I joined my clubbing mates and went dancing :) I have been extremely stiff these last few days since the club night out, I am now 2 weeks without Bowen Treatment and my therapist told me to call her when I need her and I...

Scoliosis Support Group As you know I am undergoing Bowen Therapy at the moment and go for my treatment every Tuesday morning. Last week she did different movements on me again and continued to work on my breathing problems with me. I had pain last week near the donor site again and the Sciatica seems to be more aggravated than when I first started. I couldn't move my head from side to side again but this was gone in the morning, this happened last time. She did a few moves on my neck. The next day after therapy I had horrific pain on my hip on the left leg, which I think is radiating pain from the sciatic nerve, I couldn't cope with it (as much as I tried) and ended up rubbing the area with Ibuprofen gel and swallowed some pain killers. Since starting Bowen my sleeping habits have got better but the sciatica seems to have got much worse, my therapist suspects that I had another major shift and the pain I was feeling was a result. My donor scar also swelled a lot last week, it ...

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...

Scoliosis Support Website and Group I had my second Bowen treatment today for my Scolisois and I was looking forward to it. Since starting Bowen my legs have leveled out, they were way off before and I would reckon it to be about 4cm between each leg, we did attempt to measure it but it is not easy to measure your leg lengths so we did each leg a few times and then took an average. The only part I do not like is having to lay on the table on my back, it feels like someone is pulling my spinal cord which makes me very uncomfortable and makes my back arch slightly, however, she has to do this to make sure that my legs really are the same length and she was amazed at how well my body had responded to the treatment, she was not expecting the legs to be level already! My therapist also worked on my breathing today as I have been complaining of that recently and I wake weezing, we have a damp problem which is causing spores and this is not helping my respiratory at all - time to get out the...

Scoliosis Support Website It has been 2 days since I last wrote and life has got slightly easier since I have had my first Bowen session . Wednesday was a hard day and early morning but by Thursday night I was able to move my head from side to side again and the neck pain has subsided, when I came back on Tuesday I was in agony and couldn't look left or right without moving my whole body. I went to bed at 1.30 on Wednesday morning and woke at 6am, took some Ibuprofen and got into the spare bed and made myself a little pillow camp and settled there until waking at 9am, I cancelled my appointment to see the Orthopaedic Dr in Benalmadena because the car alarm went a bit dodgy and we couldn't get the windows up, on the dash it said all 4 doors were open and the indicators kept flashing so I could hardly drive the car and park in a public car park and leave the windows open! I got back into bed - yes you hear me right, I got back into bed and slept until 11am, I was so amazed as I h...

So, I had my Bowen yesterday as you all know - I kept myself awake all day and then went to bed at 11:00 with my husband - he worked in bed and I just rolled over and shut my eyes, the feeling was nice - until................ 2:35am I woke up and had to get straight out of bed, I was in absolute agony and extremely scared. I couldn't walk very well at all, managed to get to the bathroom where the tears just started coming and I was in a right mess, I was bent over to the right, unable to get myself straight, I couldn't sit down, nor could I lay down - I was really troubled by this, my husband woke up and came to cuddle me and suggested I take a Valium to help me get some more sleep as it was far too early to be up and about, I took his advice. I necked 2 Ibuprofen and a Valium and got back into bed, once the pain killers had started to help that is - I managed to sleep until 5am, Valium usually wipes me out for 12 hours which is why I take it, but this one lasted only 3 hours -...

I had to cancel my appointment for Bowen technique last week due to work commitments, a client called me the day before and said he would be landing at Malaga airport at 9:30 in the morning, so I re-scheduled my day to fit him in which meant cancelling the appointment. At 9:15am we got a call telling us he had missed his flight! My whole day was turned upside down for an event that was not about to happen, pissed off is a good description of my feelings that day. My client finally arrived 2 days later and the meeting went well, the outcome was just as I had hoped for :) I have still not settled down with my sleeping pattern and the last few mornings I have been up and about pre 7am after going to bed at 1am (that I could deal with). However, this morning I woke up in pain as usual, messed around with some pillows under my knees and shoulders, raised the head of my bed, turned on my side in the foetal position, tried laying on my back again and then the other side - couldn't settle...

I am still having the same problems, the mornings are getting worse - it is now 6:15 am and I went to sleep at midnight, the problems and pains are getting worse and I am really scared, I cried my heart out this morning when I got up and then took 2 Ibuprofen. I really need to see a Dr but struggling to find one in Spain, my mother wants me to go back to the UK, not only to see someone but I am sure a bit of selfishness is in there too - she hasn't seen me since December. I searched for a Scoliosis Dr in Spain and called the Mills & Mills Medical Group on Monday morning, they have a nice webiste, they came up top on Google for a few keywords, they offer a FREE appointment, it was all looking pretty good. I got put through to your standard dumb wit on reception who took my details and said she would ask upstairs (whoever they are) to call me back - nothing. I called again Tuesday and reminded her someone was supposed to call me back, she remembered my name, told me she had pass...

I started my Yoga last night as I said I would be doing, a friend came round and we did it by the pool, we took our time as she has not done any exercise for a long time and it must be a year since I did Yoga also. It felt good to be doing the stretches, especially the ones that work the muscles over my shoulder blades, however, I still have the same problem that I was talking about yesterday, the awful pain when I wake up in the morning, in fact most nights I am woken up because of it. I am OK when I get up but it is laying down that is causing the problem, I cannot lay on my side, back or front without immense discomfort and pain. I am stumped because I have never had a problem sleeping (since I had my memory foam ) but now I am just not getting any sleep, if I bring my legs into a foetus position it is slightly better - could I have strained anything you think, will this pass or should I go and see someone about it. I am starting to get annoyed with this because I am not getting e...

I was writing on my website yesterday about Flavonoids and I quote "Many flavonoids, as in parsley, have a diuretic action; some as in licorice, are antispasmodic and anti inflammatory; others are antiseptic." Anyway, my period started 2 days ago and I was feeling good about that because usually I have immense pain from my Scoliosis when my period comes and because it was day 2 and I had, had no pain I was feeling really happy about that and I wondered if that had anything to do with the licorice I had been eating the week leading up to my period? The happy times didn't last long as last night the pain was soooooo awful and I didn't know what to do with myself, shifting around in my seat, then standing up and walking around with my hands grasping my lower back, then the tears came, but I wasn't crying (if you know what I mean), the pain was so intense that water just started coming from my eyes, I am in too much pain to actually cry - that would jar my back too m...

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...

I thought of this last night and I almost got out of bed to write it down (as I usually forget what my mind is thinking from the night before!). These last few days have been really busy and I have had to really focus on the work that I have been doing, I have been swamped and I have so much to do with organising the furniture for the old house, so we can rent it, working on client's websites and fighting to get my new Scoliosis website launched - I am not happy with how my website looks now and it is almost 4 years old - it needs a facelift and I have been working on that for over a year now and I just want to get it loaded to the net and continue to work on it and help others where I can. So, my point was (before I startd rambling about something else!) - due to me being so focused on work and other projects this week I have noticed my back has not hurt as much (or maybe that is because it is better) - I have pushed myself to the limit this week and not noticed that I have had as...

Happy Easter everyone and I hope you are enjoying your day off (those in the UK) - I have finally just recovered from the party that I organised for my husband to celebrate his 40th birthday - we had a band, DJs and some catering - the sun was shining and everyone had a wonderful weekend with us. It has taken its toll on my back though, I was busy leading upto the party, organising, weeding, painting and the list went on - by the time the party came around I was knackered! I wore my heat pads all weekend to keep me going, I couldn't keep up with everyone else and had to keep laying down on the bed and resting my back, I have noticed over the years that my back gives up much earlier than it ever used to - is that just age? It is my shoulders that are giving me grief this week! I keep getting spasms but it is every few seconds, yesterday was particularly bad and it stopped me from doing the gardening that I planned (Chris dug the hole instead ;), Chris did give my shoulders a few squ...

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 ...

I have been receiving many emails about memory foam and whether it actually works. I will let you into the secrets of my good night's sleep and what I think about memory foam and why it has helped me so much, for starters I no longer sleep with Valium, I simply don't need it. The memory foam that I sleep on was invented by a guy in the UK, who, unfortunately does not have the dollars behind him that his competitors like Tempur do, therefore he has not been as recognised as a brand name like he should have been - it's all down to money, and what a shame that is. I have heard great reports about Tempur mattresses and I have tried one, however, I have to say that their product is not as wonderful as the OroMed Sleep System that I use - you understand that this is MY personal opinion and I am entitled to have one ;) I started my quest for memory foam 4 years ago, I just couldn't sleep and was getting beyond my tether of walking around the house at night in tears because I ...

Once again felt good this morning but this afternoon I feel sore and in pain again, after my shower I wanted to wrap my hair in a towel so I put my head forward to do so and I couldn't do it because the pain was too much and almost knocked me to the floor. If I am sat down and I bend forward the pain comes rushing and it is in the center of my back, bending down is a chore, I have to bend to the left and then go down and then coming back up again I use my hands on my knees and come up that way. When I lay on my bed the pain starts but once I have been laid for a while it subsides, I have not done any exercise since this started as I simply cannot face it and I am scared of what the pain will be if I try. I can walk fairly OK but it is a great effort and I just feel drained (that could also be the heat). The pain is OK when I raise my legs nothing at all, but all I can feel is immense pressure all the time in the diosc area of my spine, of course it could be radiating pain but who k...