How was your scoliosis first detected?

[lspitalnic]

Mine is quite funny. In year 7 we had scoliosis check ups. I was too embarrassed to go in my underwear in front of everyone so I forged a note from my mum saying that I already had it done. I thought it was a waste of time and that it would never happen to me. 2 Years later while I was at gym my trainer noticed my back was extremely uneven so I went to my doctor. He said it looks like it had been there for quite a few years. If I would have gone to the check ups I could have gotten a brace and avoided 2 surgeries…

[pleasemama]

I have a congenital heart defect (tetrology of fallot) and my cardiologist actually diagnosed me.

My youngest son had infantile scoliosis and i diagnosed it, the pediatrician thought i was nuts at he was a year old but he sent us to an orthopedipec surgeon to get it checked out. He looks like he has outgrown it.

I will admit before i had my surgeries i used to get in line for the scoliosis screenings in Jr. High. The screeners were all parent volunteers and boy did i freak them out LOL But for some reason i was the only one who thought it was funny LOL

[always smilin']

My scoliosis was detected when I went in for X-Rays for pneumonia at an ER (by a doc I'd never seen).

I have my pediatrician check my kids every year - which surprised me because he really is a TOP RATE ped - but checking kids for scoliosis is not routine for him! My school district (the one I teach for now) also stopped screening as they didn't feel the pay-off was good enough. (One of my former students was just diagnosed with a 40 degree curvature - she was discovered by one of her friends when she bent over a water fountain to get a drink!)

I pray my kids don't go through what I went through!
Always Smilin'

[Cloudy]

Hey
i discovered my own
i knoticed that my hips were uneven in the mirror and then afer 2 braces 5 or so docters im here.lol
Veronika

[HGD24]

Mine was detected in 8th grade during a school sports screening. The town doctor who performed all of the physicals said it was slight and there was no need to look into it further and he said the same thing for the enxt 4 years. I come from a blue collar family who did not go to doctors unless absolutely necessary and when they did, they listened to doctor's orders without question. 4 years later when I went for my college entrance physical, the doctor's son, who was now the town doctor, asked my parents why they had had not done anything about my back. He sent me to an orthopedic or looked at my x-ray and said that he had never seen a spine so bad (curves were between 55-65 degrees each) and that my options were surgery or a brace. As a freshman in college, I knew neither was an option for me and that I was not letting someone touch my back who said that he had never seen a spine so bad. I felt great and did not have pain, so I let it go and never went back to another doctor about it. After college I started getting regular yearly physicals and at 29 yrs. of age, my GP noticed I was losing height. He sent me to a woman's bone specialist who sent me to the ortho who performed my surgery. My curves at the time of surgery were 75 degrees each.

PLEASE get your kids screened & checked regularly if there is even a slight curve detected and encourage everyone you know to do the same.

[Hornet]

The first time I was diagnosed w/scoliosis was at the age of 12 when I went in for a chest x-ray because of a severe asthma attack. (They thought I had pnuemonia) The degree at the time for the thoracic curvature was 14%.

[mocity]

Mine was during the check at school when I was in 4th grade. They noticed it and sent me to my doc and then the process went from there............

[annap]

Mine was found at the school physical when I was 6. My mum has it pretty bad and my dad has it just a little. now my brother and sister have it 2.

[tonibunny]

My mother noticed that there was something wrong with my back when I was 4 months old. Our GP referred me to a specialist immediately and I was diagnosed with idiopathic infantile scoliosis, with curves of 62 degrees (thoracic) and 40 degrees (lumbar) at 6 months old.

[from oz]

Hi, i am just new to the forum (hope i am posting this in the right place still finding my way...). My 11 yo daughter was diagnosed by a physiotherapist as she hurt her tailbone in the school holidays. She picked it up straight away as her right shoulder blade really pokes out. funny how we never saw it but now that is all i can see. The journey begins...

[rainbow2010]

Mine was found during screeening for a sports physical at school over 30 years ago. I found both of my daughters' curves, because my doctor had trained me (I was part of his screening class to teach school nurses and PE teachers right after my surgery. He showed them what my body cast looked like and let them ask me questions.)

[JamieAnn]

Mine was first discovered when I was about 11 in a routine physical with my pediatrician. He then recommended I see a pediatric orthopedist.

[tersieface2]

hi!
my mom was born (in 1929) w/scoliosis. in 1931 when she was 2 years old, she remembered (as she'd told me when i was younger, i'm 48 now) that her spine (on the X-ray) looked like a letter "Z". that's how bad HERS was waaaaaay back then, so, thru her ordeal, wearing the brace from age 2 - age 18, yes, i said 16 years wearing a brace, ONLY allowed out of it ONE HOUR a day. she's my hero with that! her spine is so straight now, to the untrained eye that is. i can see her holding her right shoulder blade in, but she PROBABLY ONLY has about a 3 - 4 degree curve on the top & bottom, nothing to write home about so to speak. well, being that she was so well trained, when my sis was born, she was fine, but when i was 7 months old, my mom noticed my teeny tiny little right shouder blade sticking out some, so, she took me too my pediatrician and he said, 'we'll keep watch on her' and they did. we were recommended to see an orthopedist named dr. koven. if i remember correctly, i'd been seeing him since i was 7 or so...every 6 months for x-rays.. (and i STILL do NOT GLOW! LOL) i'm sure he's dead now, he was old then, anyway...fast forward to me being about 12 1/2 years old. for the longest time (approx a year at this point in time) each time we'd go to dr. koven, every six months for x-rays, my mom kept saying, "her spine looks worse! it just looks worse to me!" he always said, 'no no, she's fine, it's ok" well...this particular day after the last day of school, we (my mom, my sis & i) were in the the changing room of a department store, buying our summer clothes/bathing suits for that coming summer, (the summer prior to my 13th birthday). for the most part of my adolescent life, i was ALWAYS "don't look at my body" (even if i was in my undies, to my mom, i was just always very embarrased.. so... my mom FINALLY got to see what i looked like being that i had tried on my very FIRST 2 piece bathing suit. well, when my mom saw me, i swear, she turned white as a sheet, fell back on the wall and slid down ALL the way to the floor and was in HYSTERICS! i had no idea what was wrong! she started SCREAMING!! (honest to GOD this is no joke!) the sales lady came RUNNING in and was trying to help, got my mom a glass of water and my mom SCREAMING (asked) to use the phone to call my orthopedist. (dr. koven, a few blocks away from where we were in the store, in downtown brooklyn) well, my mom got on the phone with him and was YELLING at him in the middle of the store!! i had NO CLUE (so far) as to WHAT her problem was! my sis and i were in shock about the whole thing! my mom came BACK to my sis & me in the changing area, showed my my back in the mirror (my sis saw as well) and from what I was able to see, my right hip was up, i had this HUUUUUGE hump by my right shoulder blade and the right heel of my right foot was NOT touching the floor. (see, in those days, i'd hold my heavy school books in my left arm and i had leaned into the curve, not even knowing it (i had a massive backwards "S" curve, 48/47 degrees top & bottom we found out later on). (we were all VERY upset because of my back & the doctor not telling us) we went to my doctors office and my mom proceeded to YELL at him IN the waiting room at the TOP of her lungs! (she was VERY good at that! LOL!) he DID have other patients there but she didn't give a royal 'crap' so to speak. anyway, he let her go into the back to 'quetly' talk with him, but we all heard her in the waiting room. long story short now, his secretary/nurse told us that he was using MY X-RAYS to show
hi students: "THIS IS PROGRESSIVE SCOLIOSIS" WITHOUT TELLING US! so, instead of threating to sue him, my mom IMMEDIATELY grabbed us both (me & my sis) and we went home and my mom was FURIOUSLY going thru the phone book, yellow pages under orthopedist, 1 phone call to a doc led to another phone call to a doc and then we were so blessed to see dr. hubert perlman who led us to the top scoliosis doc in the field in the NYC area at that time, dr.hugo keim. he IMMEDIATELY put me in the milwaukee brace, it was about a month prior to my 13th birthday in fact. (i had grown 4 inches in 6 months when i turned 12 the prior year and it was THEN that my scoliosis just "POPPED" out. that's when my mom started to say to the doc that she'd noticed it'd gotten worse but he wasn't telling us that it was, so...) the 1st year, dr. keim let me out of the brace only ONE hour a day, the next year, 2 hours a day, next year 3 hours a day, next year 5 hours a day, buuuuuuut.. i'd worn the brace for 4 1/2 years but because mine was 'progressive' scoliosis i had to have the surgery. dr. keim explained that even if i didn't 'cheat' and spend MORE time out of it than i should have, i'd STILL have to have the surgery. even if i was ONLY allowed out of the brace ONE hour a day and i never cheated, i'd STILL have to have the surgery. i wasn't 'blessed' with NON progressive scoliosis like my mom. she's going to be 77 in a few weeks and her spine looks beautiful! so straight! well, my doc explained that with the progressive scoliosis, eventually my spine would crush my heart & lungs and i would die. so, i had the surgery and my spine (at the time of surgery was 47/48 degree curves) is now COMPLETELY straight! they put me in a 'pre cast' for 3 days prior to my surgery and it was during that time that the tissue around my spine got 'soft' and my spine was was about to be straightened during the insertion of the harrington rod. down the WHOLE LENGTH of my spine. yes, for those of you who have had the surgeries in recent years, you can probably, on the most part, bend your torso, me, no way, not since december 1/1975, but if that is the ONLY thing that i am missing, then i don't care. i'm alive! my spine is straight! so, one breast is bigger due to the thorasic rib cage damage! i don't care! my husband still loves me whether i have 1 abnormally larger breast than the other! LOL! those are the ONLY 'drawbacks' that i have! i KNOW that God will punish (or already has) dr. koven for his evil deeds. i know, at the time, all my mom could think about was getting me the best care. i am so thankful to her for that. i'm alive to tell the tale... God bless you all.. healing prayers...
stasi (pronounced 'stacey') abramson

[Cakedec]

Thanks for sharing your story. My scoliosis was not discovered until I was 13 and almost ready to start high school and only because I complained of shoulder pain. My regular dr. took an x-ray and it showed the curve. He referred me to an orthopedist who put me into a Milwaukee brace for a couple years. They did not do surgery that much back then. I'm surprised that they even did it for you in 1975. I am one year younger than you.

Once I quit growing, they told me that the brace was no longer necessary. No one told me that my scoliosis was progressive and should be watched. I went into adulthood, got married, had children--always had episodes of back pain but managed it with chiropractic, exercises, massage, etc. THen in 2000 I began having more chronic pain and went to a "supposed" scoliosis expert. At that time, my double curves were both 65. The expert told me that my curves were "balanced" and he couldn't see anything causing me pain and sent me to physical therapy.

I went another 4 years this way, thinking that I still wasn't a surgery candidate, but began to see progression in my own body of the curves and could feel them getting worse. I developed chronic pain which disabled me from working. Finally, after "begging" my primary care dr. and a physiatrist, I was referred to an orthopedic who did scoliosis surgery. He couldn't believe that I hadn't been followed up with. By the time I had my surgery this year, my curves were 70 and 76 degrees. I know that there are many other women with this same story on this forum board.

How are you doing now with your Harrington rod? Are you in pain or doing ok yet. There are many on here with that "flat back syndrome" that are having their surgeries like yours re-done, so if you are doing well, that is great. You definitely had the right mother who understood about scoliosis and demanded good care for you. Mine did not understand it and still couldn't understand why it was getting worse and I had to have surgery at the age of 47.

Deb
posterior surgery 7/24/06
for T70,L76 S curve
30 degrees correction
DON'T WAIT TO GET STRAIGHT!!

[tersieface2]

hi deb! nice to meet you first & foremost! i'm stasi (pronounced 'stacey' but MINE is spelled correctly! AAAHAHAHAHA!!! seriously though, it really is!! it comes from the name Anastasia, but on MY birth certificate it says 'stasi ellen' LOL! sorry, i HAD to share that with you! i found out when i was pregnant with my son who in january will be 26, that my name was spelled correctly, after looking in a baby book! LOL!!! that's the 'nutshell' version! LOL!) anyway, if you want, you can e-mail me at my main e-mail : tersieface2@aol.com. i'd love to 'tawk' (<---my brooklyn accent for you)
ok, 'nuff of the 'sillies' as i am 24 hours a day.. seriously though, i am SO SORRY that you had to suffer so much your whole life with such pain and such degrees of curvature! i am astonished that NO DOCTOR, even if your mom didn't know that much about scoliosis, SOME doctor should have done SOMETHING to help you when you were a kid! i am just amazed! i am so thankful, after SO MANY years you FINALLY the help to save your life! yes, that's how serious is is/was. healing prayers for you my new friend.
re: my back, honestly, in my WHOLE YOUNGER life i NEVER had ANY pain w/my back & my degrees of curves were approx 48/47 @ the time of my surgery... i'm amazed at that too after reading postings from so many that DID have pain in their back & that's what promted their folks/themselves to have their backs checked. i was lucky (actually blessed, to me, it's not luck, it's blessings from God ) anyway, the ONLY time i actually DID have pain in my LOWER back that is, was when i gained a 'GAZILLION' pounds in my adult life (the only reason is stupidity, i admit that freely.. too long to 'splain, but thank GOD for therapy! LOL!) after having my scoliosis surgery, 9 months & 4 days later, i had my torso cast removed (yes, it covered my COMPLETE torso, it was like wearing a plaster sleeveless turtle neck that went past my hips with a diamond shape cut out so when i ate my stomach could expand a bit! you should have seen my tan diamond shaped tummy when i got my cast off! i would walk around, in the sumer, not every day mind you, with no blouse AND at the beach wear ONLY my bathing suit bottom! LOL!!.. of course i could ONLY get up to my knees wet though.. being a 'mermaid' it was SO HARD NOT do 'dive' in the surf! LOL!
i laugh now but then, oy vey! LOL!) anyway, the day i had the cast removed and (after being in the shower for LITERALLY THREE HOURS) dr. keim said to me, a warning (now, i must tell you, it was 2 days till my 18th birthday and i am tall, 5' 9 1/4" and at that time, i weighed MAYBE 125-130 lbs. so, if you turned me sideways, you couldn't 'see' me! LOL!) anyway, he said, "a warning, NEVER GAIN WEIGHT or you will have back problems!" but did i listen? no. during 'stupid' times in my adult life, because of stupidity and 'stuff' i was going thru (like my 1st husband coming out of the closet during our marriage, yes, you read that correctly) i 'protected' myself with fat. i gained weight during my 1 and only pregnancy, when i 1st got pregnant, i was approx 175, then, went down ('cause of morning sickness) to 145, then ballooned up to, the day before my son was born, 192 lbs and each well baby check of his after that ('cause i'd check my weight at the doc's office each time) my weight kept going up & up etc... so, by the time my son was 7, i weighed approx 370-375. don't fall off your seat now! well, long story short, a few years ago i had a gastric bypass, because at that time,my doc said, "if you don't have this surgery, you might NOT live to see 50!" and i just turned 48 in early sept/06. well, nov. 13th will be 3 years! woo hoo! and i've lost ONE HUNDRED pounds! YAY! at the time of surgery i was 288, i'm working on losing more too, just need to get back to swimming! it's the ONLY excercize for me, besides bike riding. pretty much because every time i'd try to work out at the gym i'd pull a muscle! LOL!!! to me, the only drawback that i have re: the harrington rod down the whole length of my spine is #1, i can't bend my torso! LOL!! plus, i have weak tummy muscles but someday i'll work on getting them stronger, i've got time... LOL! but i'd MUCH rather swim anyway! AAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! anyway deb, i'm keeping you, and EVERYONE else, in my prayers... healing prayers for all.. God bless & love, stasi
p.s. addendum to my above 'novella' (LOL!) after my gastric bypass surgery the 1st month i'd lost 30 lbs (i was on a liquid diet of broth, sugar free jello & tons of water) and my back felt SO MUCH BETTER ONLY after a 30 lb weight loss! amazing!