I'm not Gillian McKeith

I was really pleased to read Gillian McKeith's recent interview in The Sunday Mirror magazine, where she talks about her scoliosis. About how she used to worry that men would run a mile at the sight of her body when she took her clothes off. (Well, I think we've all had that worry, love, scoliosis or not! But it's true that you can feel ashamed of your body when it's lopsided and feel anxious about being different.) About how she copes with pain by non-invasive natural remedies such as Pilates and nutrition. (She had me running out to buy magnesium, I can tell you but I was already a Pilates freak.) About how she wants to be positive but how sometimes, when the pain's bad, it all gets too much and she gets depressed and feels sorry for herself. (Yep, been there, done that.)

I read it and thought she was talking about me.

Most of the things I've read on scoliosis are about children or about adults who had bracing and surgery as children. But, like Gillian, I'm an adult who has never had surgery, who battles with with scoliosis and is trying to find non-invasive ways of managing the condition. Some of the terminology in the article made me wince. I mean, who wants to think of themselves as someone with an ugly back deformity? Not me. That's why I'm always wearing baggy tops and working on improving my posture so it doesn't look so bad. I can't deny I have scoliosis - it affects me every day. For those who aren't familiar with it, it's a curvature of the spine, that affects the muscular-skeletal system and puts pressure on many parts of the body in many different ways. For me, it's the chronic pain that's the most difficult to cope with. And, if I'm honest, struggling with my negative body image.

But despite a bit of dodgy and a tad un-pc phrasing, I thought Gillian was brave for sharing this 'secret' with the world. I know how difficult it can be to talk about and I haven't got the whole world looking at me! When famous people talk about stuff like this, it does a lot to raise public awareness. It inspired me to share my experiences, as a very unfamous person, living with scoliosis.

I hope this blog will become a way for me to explore and come to terms with having scoliosis and hopefully, of some help to others. So I'm going to aim to write in it at least once a week, maybe more.