My Scoliosis Experience (Curving of the spine)

My Experience with Scoliosis.

I was born with a condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta aka Brittle-bones. It affects the bones, muscles, joints, a bit of everything is affected greatly. (bone-loss/deformation progresses much more in Oi-patients)
When I was a teenager, I was diagnosed with Scoliosis. At first I did not know what it was nor I did not even noticed it - in fact, my mom noticed it. When my mom noticed my back developing 'lump' she was concerned and asked if my back was hurting and why it looked abnormal - I said I was fine, nothing hurts. I left it alone for some time but eventually my back started to hurt (as time went on). I questioned my mom about it and she called the Dr. The Dr was aware of what was going on and he asked to see me asap. Once I visited my Dr, he took some xrays and determined that I have scoliosis. I was around the age of 11 approx when everything was going on. He said that there's ways to treat it but surgery is the most effective way to help with this because of how fast your spine is curving; So I accepted the offer. I don't remember much of what happen during the process but I had to take several tests before getting my surgery done such as breathing tests, etc.

Ways to Treat Scoliosis

When my surgery was ready to begin, my Dr had told me that this surgery is big; it'll be several hours, you'll be in a lot of pain but most certainly you'll feel better once everything is healed up. I had the surgery, stood in the hospital for about a week, which the Dr said usually patients leave earlier than that but I was in some serious pain after my surgery (and I was scared).

After leaving the hospital with good status, I was bed bounded for a looong time. I could not move on my own, I had constant help, I was miserable. I had to regain focus of how to sit properly, stand, walk, all of that. It was a very tedious process to endure. My back/spine forsure healed up, no pain was present, and I gained couple of inches from the surgery (due to spine being straight). Also, I lost a lot of weight during the time but it was an eye opener for me because I was a little overweight beforehand.

Months passed by, healing process going good, I begin to start moving on my own. I began to focus on dieting and nutrition, focused on exercising, improving my mobility and I felt great. I am glad that I had the surgery done. If not, I would probably be in severe pain along with being immobile, irritated, looking weird and funny - all of that bullShit.

How the surgery was done (to me):

Tips to deal with Scoliosis

Got to focus on self-improvement
Don't neglect your spine
Have good nutrition to help with the recovery
Don't strain yourself, ask for help, get assistance.
Be consistent with exercise
A back brace would be helpful
Good posture
Laying down correctly
Don't feel discouraged - everything will go back to normal

Untreated scoliosis long term effects

Breathing problems (in severe scoliosis)
Low back pain
Lower self-esteem
Persistent pain if there is wear and tear of the spine bones
Spinal infection after surgery
Spine or nerve damage from an uncorrected curve or spinal surgery
Leakage of spinal fluid

The surgery was painful, the process of recovering was dreadful but the aftermath was a blessing. Thank you to - Dr. Samuel R. Rosenfeld (and his team).

Tl;dr

Treatment options
- Accepted: Surgery
Surgery duration: Hours!
After surgery: Successful
Lots of pain - Was in the hospital for about a week
Post surgery: Went home, was bed bounded for months
Gained strength eventually after some time (of recovering)
Began to exercise, strengthen my body and begin to be mobile
Conclusion: Glad that I had this done, I've read many reports of not receiving the procedure..It's haunting..

Here IS a good video on how to fix scoliosis