Has anyone had to wear a Scoliosis brace??? R u sick of it???!
Question: I have had one for almost a year now and I am soooo sick of it. I mean I cant wear the clothes I like, it adds like 3 inches to my hips, makes me look like the top half of me is a square and like I have straps on my back. And sooooo much more. I'm just sick of it and I want to be out of it. It's hard to be a teen and have to live with the brace. I guess what I really need is support. Has anyone else had to go through this???
Answers: I have had one for almost a year now and I am soooo sick of it. I mean I cant wear the clothes I like, it adds like 3 inches to my hips, makes me look like the top half of me is a square and like I have straps on my back. And sooooo much more. I'm just sick of it and I want to be out of it. It's hard to be a teen and have to live with the brace. I guess what I really need is support. Has anyone else had to go through this???
Oh yeah, I wore mine for 5+ years. I had some things different from your case. You're probably wearing a TSLO-type brace. I wore a Milwaukee brace. Yours is not as visible but you have very real issues with your image. Mine was very visible because it had a neck ring and chin piece that couldn't be hid. (sigh)
You'll probably get answers from other teens here. You can also search for Yahoo groups to see if one of them will help. The NSF site (http://www.scoliosis.org/forum.php) is one of the best forums and may also be able to help. Lastly, I'm not sure if I should mention it, but there's a bunch of Facebook members with scoliosis. I don't know if you can develope a support relationship with any of them, but its another place to try.
Scott
I wore one for 2 years as a teenager though it wasn't because of Scoliosis. My back is mostly fine now, mostly thanks to figure skating.
Be thankful you are wearing a temporary brace and not getting surgery. Back surgery to fix that problem carries a huge risk of permanent paralysis. Imagine living in a wheelchair so young. When you think of that, some annoyances fashionwise don't seem so big afterall. Besides, when you get to my age you kinda wanna forget your teenager years no matter what you did or did not do haha.
When you've been using it for 1 year, get yourself a toracolumbar x-ray done in two angles (AP and lateral) and give it to your doctor. If your scoliosis has stayed the same, you can remove the brace and you'll have no problems even if your back stays a bit crooked. If your back become less crooked in that time peroid, even better for the aesthestics (by itself mild scoliosis doesn't cause symptoms).