A mum said she wakes up and goes to sleep in pain everyday ever since she pulled her back at work.
Care assistant Kate Burton, 27, from Prenton, said her "life's just completely changed" since she visited a physio after pulling her back while at work. Kate, a mum-of-one, had thought she'd "pulled a muscle" or "slipped a disc" when her physio suggested that she might have scoliosis, a rare condition where the spine twists and curves, often causing serious pain in adults.
Kate's physio had soon confirmed she had ideopathic scoliosis, and that her spine twisted and curved in two places, causing the pain and discomfort. The mum told the ECHO she "burst out crying" once she returned to the car after the devastating diagnosis.
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She said: " I think in the first couple of weeks I just though I’d pulled a muscle. As it’s gone on I started thinking I really hope I haven’t slipped a disc, and then when I went to my first physio appointment and she told me that I probably had scoliosis I just remember getting in my car and I just burst out crying.
"I just really wasn’t expecting it. When I had my x-rays it really hit me then - that it was for life.
"It’s really hard because I've got a three-year-old daughter, and a lot’s changed in regard to how I am with her - what I can and can’t do - it’s just not been nice as I’m a very outgoing person, very outdoorsy and I loved going out with her and doing things every day.
"My life’s just completely changed, just because of the amount of pain I get. It’s just been a really difficult transition from one minute being normal to waking up in pain every day.
" It’s like I just wake up in pain and go to sleep in pain. There’s not really much you can do for it, apart from give me painkillers.
" With my curve you can’t see it - I look normal so if someone was to look at me they couldn’t see my curve. Because my curve isn't that bad I don’t qualify for surgery or anything like that. So I'm basically just coping with pain killers.
"Exercise is a massive factor in helping me deal with it, but pretty much I just have pain all day every day."
Kate's scoliosis is "idiopathic" - specialists can't confirm the cause of the spinal deformity. Eight out of ten people suffering with scoliosis suffer with idiopathic scoliosis, which the NHS says cannot be treated and is not thought to be linked to things such as bad posture, exercise or movement, or diet.
At the time Kate knew little about what she had been diagnosed with, as public awareness of scoliosis is limited, though one group, Scoliosis Association UK, helped her feel less alone in coming to terms with her new condition. She said: "T hey were one of the first people that I spoke to and they put me in a group full of people who are just like me.
"Talking to one another and being able to support one another just really helped.
"There’s no known reason why I’ve actually got scoliosis, there’s not a lot of research into why people get it. Eight in 10 people are the same as me and they don’t really know why we get a curve in the spine.
"I want to try and raise money to support the association.
" I’m quite lucky as I’ve only had to deal with it for the last couple of months, but there are so many people who have had to deal with it for years, and probably even since birth."
Kate is set on climbing Snowdon next year to raise awareness for the condition, and to raise money for the charity that helped her so much in coming to terms with her life-changing condition, Scoliosis Association UK.
You can find her fundraiser here
Kate added: " I think because you can’t see it no one knows how much pain you're in all the time. I’m sure there are people who are a lot worse than me and who are dealing with a lot more pain than me so I really want to try and do my best with this fundraiser to try and raise as much money as I can for as many people as possible."
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