Throughout this course, we have learned about the several different approaches to medical anthropology. This week, we talked about the experiential approach. There is a distinct feature of the experiential approach, and this can be displayed in an illness narrative. This is basically listening to the experiences that people have had while struggling with their illness. A good example of an illness narrative would be from the MTV show True Life, where people document the illness that they suffer from such as PTSD or depression. In the illness narrative for this page, I have decided to compose one about myself. Narratives can help us reveal how social expectations and stigmas and how they relate to illness. A narrative is essentially a story told about an illness, which I have made clear earlier. The type of narrative that i will be addressing today is a restitution narrative which basically means that this is a temporary illness, and my goal is to restore health. I found that this type of narrative relates perfectly to my situation. There was a quote in the lecture that states "for every suffering there's a remedy, you just need to find it." I couldn't agree more with this, and try to apply it to my life on a daily basis. To start off with the abstract, this narrative is a brief description of my experiences with anxiety and what I do to remedy it.
In terms of the events of my experiences with anxiety, it didn't really start happening until this past year (2014). I think that a lot of it had to do with the concussion I got last sepetmber playing rugby, the overall stress of life and school, as well as some significant losses that I have experienced over the years. It didn't get truly bad until these past few months, when I found myself having panic/anxiety attacks, and even ended up in the hospital because I thought I was having a heart attack. My anxiety started off minor with just test anxiety, and the occasional panic attack and anxiety attacks.The climax of my experience with anxiety, which you know about already, happened on June 16 when I was walking up the stairs and all of a sudden i couldn't breath and my heart was beating faster than 200 beats per minute. That is when I thought I was having a heart attack and called 911. The ER was not a pleasant experience but at least I got some answers as tro what i should do next. They took a series of tests on me at the ER and they said that I was healthy as a horse. This was a crazy series of events and it all unfolded so quickly. I had no idea what was happening to me. Was I going crazy? I came to terms with the fact that it just had to do with the stress of daily activities such as school and work, as well as financial stress which is a given for a lot of people. This was essentially resolution as well. I just need to stay active, keep my brain and body happy, and keep living life. They gave me a prescription for xanax, but I chose not to take them very often due to their additive nature. This is how it happened. Yes, the anxiety attack was a living hell, but I know that I am healthy and I'm not going to let anxiety win. |
|