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Diagnosed at older age, long story

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  • Diagnosed at older age, long story

    I am brand new to this forum. I am 44 years old, and never really had back problems. Scoliosis was never diagnosed on me at a younger age, however I've "always" seemed to have one leg that is 1/4" shorter than the other, and I have needed to hem my pants-legs differently in order to compensate. When my daughter was in her early teens, she was dx'd with Scoliosis, and we were all wondering where she got it from (?!). She had a slight curvature, I think it was 15 degrees, and it was closely monitored by an orthopedist and the curve did not get any worse for her during/after puberty, and she did not need a brace.

    The past year or so, I've been having shoulder pain, with it sometimes radiating down my arm. My family dr. took shoulder Xrays, and said it didn't show anything, take analgesics, and if it doesn't get better, we'll look into it further. It would bother me on and off, and lately more "on" than "off."

    So, I guessed it was maybe arthritis, and went to see a rheumatologist. He Xrayed and sent me for an MRI, guessing that the shoulder pain was probably neck/back pain radiating to the shoulder. He said that he saw some scoliosis, (no arthritis), but he kind of glossed over it, since it was mild. He gave me some muscle relaxants and pain killers to take when it bothers me and said if it continues to bother me, to come back. During this time, we moved, so it didn't make sense to go back to him.

    Since this still bothered me, I went to a chiropractor that was recommended to me in our new town. He said that "there is most definitely scoliosis," but didn't mention a degree of curvature. He said that one or two verterbrae were in stage 1 degeneration, and 1 or two verterbrae were in stage 2 degeneration, and that this was putting pressure on the disc, forcing it out, and perhaps "pinching" nerves. He also said that there were some bone spurs and arthritis. He suggested treatments 3x week for a month. I dutifully went to these, and at first it seemed to help. Towards the end of this regular treatment, it seemed to be less effective. If he adjusted my back in a way that made my shoulder not hurt, it seemed like something else would hurt (my back ribcage, for instance). So now it seems like something is always aching on me: my back ribcage or my neck or my shoulder.

    Message continued in part 2.

    dsal

  • #2
    Boo hoo

    I know that a lot of you have problems worse than this, but I hope you will continue to read part 2, and will respond! I would love it if you would share your knowledge/opinions with me!

    Thanks,
    dsal

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