A Little Backgroud

     Before I start giving advice I feel like I should tell you why you should listen to me.  I am not just some random person on the Internet writing about a topic I know nothing about.  Scoliosis and I go way back, I was diagnosed seven years ago.  As a sixth grader my mom had my doctor check my back because both her and my dad have scoliosis.  She wore a brace herself where as my dads was not that bad, he did not have to do anything.  She wanted to start checking my back just in case I did have scoliosis.  It is a very good thing that she had them check my back then because I did have a fairly significant curve and within six months it progressed ten degrees and made me a good candidate for wearing a brace.  I was braced from the spring of my sixth grade year until the spring of my freshman year of high school.  It was a very weird experience for me.  I was very open about wearing the brace and was not worried about other people seeing or knowing that I had it on.  It just become a part of my life, I got to the point that I found it weird if someone did not know I wore the brace.  Even though I was very open about wearing the brace I also found it very hard at times.  I knew I had to wear the brace but as time went on that got harder.  The brace was a perfect mold for me as a sixth grader but not so much for me as a high schooler.  It was very uncomfortable and made doing some simple tasks harder.  I wanted out of the brace but I also did not want my curve to progress.  In the end I fought through the bad times and just looked forward to getting it off.  Once that day finally came I rewarded myself for wearing the brace for three full years by breaking the brace in half.  It was a very powerful experience.  I was able to physically rip something that had caused me so much pain in three years.  After ripping it my mom made me throw it away because it was just taking up space.  Looking back I wish I would have kept it.  As much as I hated the thing while I was wearing it, it did me so much good that I never realized until it was gone.  
     I hope this helps give me some credibility to see that I am not some random person, but someone that really does care about the treatment that you choose.  It can make a huge difference in the rest of your life.  Good luck, I promise it might seem like a lot now but it will get easier.  It will not happen overnight, but one day you will come to the realization I did.  You can get through this.