Wearing brace @school

[pinkpolkadot10]

At my school people like to poke and run into people a lot and since i got my brace i havent worn it to school. In 5 days i have too but i dont want people who dont know to like poke me or bump into me because it will be hard and I dont want them to act like im wierd. Also my friends (especially the ones who dont know) like to hug their friends and i dont want them to know about it! I dont think there is anyway to disguise the hardness of it. Give me tips!

[Cloudy]

my mom wrote all my teaches a letter to know that i have had a big change in my life and its hard to deel with.
and it helps u evaluate ur friends............if they are ur real friends they wont care about it a will take u for the same exact person.
and if they dont then u shouldt bother because there not worth it
almost every one knows i have a back brace and none of them really care i mean im still the same old me...........the same old Veronika, in 7th grade, in Algebra 1...so on and so forth.
u can just email me if u have and questions
its cloudy94@gmail.com.
peace
i hope all this has helped

[samantha]

Truthfully i knwo what you feel like, exactly how worried i felt when i first got my brace. Now after having it for a year, i still like to keep it private, you know, only my friends knowing, but if you have good friends none of them will care. although it was awkward hugging friends i didnt tell, once i told them they were like "Oh! Alright!" And didnt mind the hardness of the hug lol. Thinking back on it now, i relize it wasnt as big of a deal as i made it out to be. Most people wont care you have a brace, and they shouldnt treat you differently, and if you dont want to tell everyone, just tell your closest friends. Dont worry, everything will work out
~Sam

[MCLion]

I felt exactly the same way when I first got my brace!! The only person I told was my best friend who went to a different school than me. I did not tell anyone about my brace except for eventually a couple closer friends at my school. It was really helpful during the winter to wear puffer jackets that are soft so when people hug you they just feel the fluff of the jacket and not the plastic. Eventually some people found out but i did a really good job disguising it with clothes, and when people came up to me to hug me i always kept my elbows attached to my sides of the brace with my forearms reaching out to them so they were fored to hug me on top...that usually prevented them from feeling the plastic!
-Moira

[Cloudy]

Hey
I think its okey to tell people i thought everyone would make fun of me but no they acctually dotn care at. I think you should'nt try to be all different i mean you kinda of have to be wearing bigger sizes but still keep your old style and be yourself!!!

[tersieface2]

hi!
i just read some postings about how hard it has been for some of you to wear your braces to school. well, granted i AM a LOT OLDER than you all, i was recently 48 (this past sept/06) and i KNOW that kids @ school CAN be cruel & are a LOT different NOW than when I was in school, but honestly, i think, deep down, they ARE somewhat similar.
maybe because i had an easier time accepting the fact that i HAD to wear the brace for my health.<-- i dunno, my mom had to wear HER brace for (are you sitting?) SIXTEEN YEARS! YES! 16! ONE SIX! she was born in 1929 so in THOSE days things were a LOT different! so, she was blessed to be able to help ME throught MY 'pain' with it all. i remember my 1st NIGHT wearing it, i was so upset & uncomfy that i just cried pretty much for a few hours about it. i just could NOT WEAR it! i couldn't! so, the next day, my mom took me shopping for tank style t-shirts to wear UNDER my brace so it protected my skin, i'm sure my brace (the milwaukee brace) was different then than the braces of today! anyway, it was more comfortable w/the t-shirts under, even tho i hated having to wear it.. but, i did because it was detrimental to my health if i didn't... so...i started to wear the brace @ age 12 1/2, then had to have the surgery @ age 17 - dec 1st, 1975, so it HAS been a long time for me. i recently celebrated 30 years since surgery! WOO HOO!
anyway, it honestly never bothered me WHAT OTHER people thought, it ONLY mattered to me what GOD thought & my family & close friends. in anycase, my family & friends were ALL SO supportive. my 1st day at school wearing my brace was a bit 'unusual' because, my best friend had moved away earlier that year (before 8th grade started) and so she wasn't able to be there w/me when i 'faced' the rest of our home room class (it was all the same kids from the year before with a few additions from a different class). but honestly, after about 1 minute, it was fine! i walked into our home room, and they all pretty much 'gasped' when they saw that 'thing' around my neck (bruce the brace, as i had called it! LOL!) and thought i'd been in a car wreck! GOD FORBID of course! so, it actually made me laugh to hear that chorus of gasps! LOL!! anyway, after the initial shock was over, i pretty much had to 'stand on stage' and explain to all what it was. they were all so relieved that it WASN'T a car crash! LOL!!! anyway, it only got easier for me because i have ALWAYS incorporated humor in my life, it helped with (emotionally) painful stuff @ certain times in my life. when little kids would come to me and ask, "what is that thing on your neck?" i'd say "my neck fell off!" then i'd laugh and they would too, THEN i'd explain as simply as i could so they'd understand. only ONE TIME did 1 kid get scared, he ran and thank GOD i knew his folks, so i went to his apartment and i explained AND apologized for scaring him, i honestly didn't think that it WOULD scare ANYONE, 'cause it always made ME laugh.. anyway, his mom was VERRRY understanding and he was fine after that too. he was about 7-8 years old, the other kids were that age too. but, when it came to the kids at school, they were ALL VERY ok with it, i got the usual 'weird looks' from those who didn't know me, but i just did NOT let it get to me! i was ALWAYS (STILL AM!) the 1st to make fun of ME! (believe me, you have GOT to have a sense of humor about YOURSELF fer sure! i do! i make fun of me all the time! in a good way that is!) i was raised NEVER to make fun of others, so, I make fun of ME! LOL!! anyway, you can NOT let your fear of 'WHAT OTHERS MIGHT THINK' stop you from being yourself and just enjoying your life! remember, that brace IS to help you be healthier! so, just be yourself & enjoy life! do your BEST in school too! it's in the 'mom rule book' so i HAD to say that! LOL!! enjoy & if ANY one would like to talk with me about how i got thru MY experiences with the brace & the surgery? please, feel free to e-mail me, but please, put in the subject line, re: my scoliosis posting, or it will go to my spam folder and it will be deleted. i'm stasi (pronounced 'stacy' but spelled correctly! LOL!! @ tersieface2@aol.com
i wish you all good health & God bless

[orangie0313]

Ok im sure this post is really old and im probly like way late!But like y does it matter if people know if you have a brace?All my friends know i wear a brace 2 bed.....i dont have to wear an all day brace,so im not sure how you feel.When people laugh at you for ur brace just smack them silly.Or just laugh with them...in my opionion id smack them! Then i would say (just be lucky you dont have to wear a brace.Not everyone is perfect)make em feel bad.well good luck

[coloradogirl]

orangie313,
I was also in a brace for several years and it's possible that this girl is very self conscious about the way she looks in the brace. I know that I was. One time I was in junior high school in gym class. There was this kid and I told him to hit my back as hard as he could. I was wearing the back brace at the time, which he didn't know about. He hit me with all of his might and I think it bruised his hand. :P I was mean! :P I am now in my early 20s and in college. I have three curvatures in my spine and my worst is in the middle back at 90 degrees or more. I am not able to have the surgery and I have to use yoga for the rest of my life to keep my back straight. Oh, take a look at my web site at http://www.geocities.com/scoliosiscolorado and my Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scoliosiscolorado

[cowgirl87]

i had fun with my brace...played pranks *hit my stomach!!* aww, come on, it wont hurt me!! lol.. i know everyone feels a little differnt about their brace but for me it was food for pranks

[scoliocolorado]

I played a couple of pranks on people when I was wearing the brace, too. I had a great time doing that. I did the "Hit me, it won't hurt" prank. I remember being in my 8th grade gym class. I was sitting there in my line and I told this boy to hit me as hard as he could. I dared him to do it. He hit me as hard as he could and boy, did that hurt him! :P I still laugh my butt off about it to this day. I probably always will.

[x-becki-x]

i hd surgery 6 weeks ago, n i hv 2 wear a brace 4 another 6 weeks. my parents always 4get bout my brace, so i like 2 poke them rely hard, n they automatically poke me bk bt end up hurtin 4 fingers hehe! pretty much evry1 nos dat i wear a brace, i dont care, theyr all rely nice bout it

[Clare]

Hi,
i was wearing a brace since i was ten and i thought it was so great but i also thought it was working!!!i used to play brilliant tricks especially on people in school i used to wind dem up and dey would poke me and really hurt their fingers but also wen i was playing tennis i let the ball bounce off me!!!!!

[xolibbyox]

hey
everyone pokes me at my school. but not in a mean way. i've learned to laugh at it and even enjoy it. especially cuz my crush pokes me too...