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Here's to Your Health:  Scoliosis  |
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HDA
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Heidi
Hood River
OR
USA
59 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 29 2011 : 01:51:01 AM
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I was wondering if anyone was interested in starting a discussion about scoliosis. I have browsed the past threads somewhat & haven't found any to join so here I am starting one. Scoliosis has kind of tried to rule my life lately & I'm trying not to let it win! ha ha. I was diagnosed with it when I was 12 when they did a screening in school. They told me it was "really mild" and would "never affect me". Well don't I just wish I could find the person that said that now! I'm 31 & 2 years ago I developed pain right at the curve. It started out as just a dull annoying pain & then spread from there. I had it x-rayed & was told I had osteoarthritis at the curve. I was 28 years old & totally devastated that I was now in the "chronic pain" category & was going to have to battle this most likely for the rest of my life. It got worse & worse. I have a hard time sleeping because I ache so much. I sit at work & don't really have a choice. My job is pretty sedentary. Sitting for long periods of time is painful. Bending over is very painful.
I have been trying to find solutions to the pain. I know exercise is supposed to help, but I'll be honest, it doesn't help much. I have been active my entire life. I'm a runner, I also walk long distances with my dog, I do a lot of yard & garden work, I lift weights, I do yoga, I hike, I do cycling classes. The yoga helps some, but mostly I still hurt regardless of the exercises I do. Maybe I'm just not doing the right ones. I've tried the chiropractor, I've tried acupuncture, I've tried massage, I've tried physical therapy (where they pretty much didn't take me seriously since I did not have an "injury")
I'm pretty stubborn about meds & don't take them. I have gone to seminars on surgery but that is an absolute last resort in my mind.
Anyway, I just thought maybe if anyone else is going through anything similar I'd open up a place for discussion, complaints, successes, any of it. A scoliosis support group :) |
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MagnoliaWhisper
True Blue Farmgirl
2817 Posts
Heather
Haysville
Kansas
USA
2817 Posts |
Posted - Mar 29 2011 : 06:08:09 AM
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Don't have surgery is all I can say, it increases the pain very much and can cause a lot more problems as well. I now have back pain and severe nueropathy of my legs. (the pins and needles feeling when your leg is asleep, I've had that now for 24 years!) Plus my curve has gradually went back any way. So it didn't even fix the scoliosis. As far as pain management.....pretty much I just live with it. I've had severe back pain ever since my back surgery 24 years ago (it didn't hurt before my surgery even though I had a double S curve 45 degrees each way) but ever since the surgery I've been in severe pain. I'm not saying my pain is less or more then yours but, maybe because I have had it so long, I can mentally block it out most the time now. However, I don't have a lot of endurance on doing much because of the pain, and I can't carry my children very far for the pain either. And then there is night time and sleeping, when the night comes it's harder to block out the pain when you are trying to free your mind up to sleep. So I don't really know what the answer is either. I also don't take pain medication. It really doesn't help even when I have taken it any way, as the pain is mainly now from nerve damage and pain medication can't stop the screws in my back from being in the ball of nerves they are in, causing the pain.
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
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HDA
True Blue Farmgirl
59 Posts
Heidi
Hood River
OR
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - Mar 30 2011 : 12:06:19 AM
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Heather-thanks for the info, that is helpful to know. I am curious to know you said you have children & I am wondering did your scoliosis worsen when you were pregnant? The most recent seminar I went to about scoliosis said that pregnancy can cause the curve to increase. I haven't had kids yet, but am hoping too soon and this has been a worry on my mind.
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MagnoliaWhisper
True Blue Farmgirl
2817 Posts
Heather
Haysville
Kansas
USA
2817 Posts |
Posted - Mar 30 2011 : 11:30:27 AM
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I haven't had new x-rays to remeasure the curve since I have had my children so I don't know. I know it was quite painful during the third trimester though. But, I got relief of the pain from that as soon as I gave birth (I mean literally instantly!).
I will say another woman on this forum contacted me from a earlier post of mine about my surgery, she said she had the surgery and the rods as well, and one of her rods broke during natural childbirth. I had natural childbirth and didn't have anything break as far as I know. (I felt the rod break from my first surgery when a girl at school knocked me down the stairs cause she was made at me-it vibrated my entire body! So I think if I had done more damage I would of felt it). That being said, because of the neuropathy I really don't feel contractions, or childbirth at all. Actual childbirth/contractions are completely pain free for me. I can't even till I am in labor. I just feel the normal pins and needles feeling I ALWAYS feel. However, I think with DD1 they almost popped one of my hips out of place. Cause of the surgery, I could not put my left leg behind my ears, like they just did with out any warning to me! A nurse got on either side of me and took one leg each and just with one fell swoop took my legs and put them behind my ears, no one ever warned me about this! I told the one holding my left leg to put my leg down, her and the dr didn't want to, I said I am in no pain from labor but I am in severe pain I can't take from you putting my leg like that, it really made the neuropathy about 100 times worse!!!!!!! That was VERY painful! That and being 31 years old and probably just shouldn't be putting my legs behind my ears like that any way! However, I also think they should of said, ok now we're going to be putting your legs behind your head now! After that I have never had them do that again. As the labors were too fast, and they never had time to do that to me again. Thankfully with DD1 it was only five pushes and she was out. But, I really had to be mean to the nurse holding my left leg to make her put my leg at least some what down, I told her at least a little, cause I just couldn't take it at that angle that far back! I can tell you if I wasn't a diabetic, I would just have home births cause the hospitals are very pushy and don't listen to the patients at all, and just want to do what they want to do, they don't care if it hurts you or not! Or if it's what you want to do or not. Oh and just one more thing about that, cause of the rods/screws there is no way of having a epidural. I can either be put out completely OR have a spinal block, however, the spinal block only last 2 hours, and can not be redone. And can only be done by a dr who is very very well versed with back surgeries and where your rods ect are, and even then it's not completely reliable nor can a dr even reliably say he will for sure be able to do it. So if you end up having to have a emergency c-section which I have had to have one, it can be quite scary and not very safe.
I will say they told me it wasn't a good idea to have children when I first had the surgery....but it is what it is. I wanted children. And I don't think they have made anything worse. Like I said, I did feel a lot of pain during third trimester, also second trimester my hips are in a LOT of pain from the spreading, but I don't know if that has to do with scoliosis or me just being very small. I am fat, however, I am very very petite (I'm only 4'8) so I have a quite small bone structure so my hips have to spread during pregnancy quite a bit. I was probably in the most severe pain during pregnancy with my twin boys. But, other then that, I don't think they did any permenant damage cause I don't feel any worse afterwards then I did before. But, like I said I haven't had official xrays and remeasuring of curves done since having children.
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
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Here's to Your Health: Scoliosis |
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Scoliosis
