Journal Facts

Journal
Auto/Biography
ISSN
0967-5507
Volume
14
Issue
2

Article Facts

Title
Making Sense of My Illness Journey from Thyrotoxicosis to Health: an Autoethnography
DOI
10.1191/0967550706ab040oa
Author
Elizabeth Ettorre (University of Plymouth, UK, eettorre at plymouth.ac.uk)
Pages
153-175

Article Links

Making Sense of My Illness Journey from Thyrotoxicosis to Health: an Autoethnography

Elizabeth Ettorre (University of Plymouth, UK, eettorre at plymouth.ac.uk)

DOI: 10.1191/0967550706ab040oa

Abstract

In this paper, I focus on my experience of hyperthyroidism and contend that that being reflexive about one's illnesses can be a valuable healing tool for patients and medical professionals alike. Looking at the tradition of ruminating on one's illness in medical sociology, I characterize two genres, `modernist observers' and `postmodernist witnesses'. I introduce autoethnography as one methodological way of being reflexive. The resultant work is evaluated through two lenses: science and art. In health and illness contexts, autoethnography presents particular embodied events with people in time, their social shaping and how these can be seen as emblematic of wider cultural meanings and social trends. After sharing my story, I demonstrate how my experiences can be understood by exploring the notion, sentimental work. While I try to be generous to the reader, I sense that I give voice to my body, connect to others and bear witness to how my embodied identification with others induces dialogical exchanges. My particular experience is revisioned from a feminist perspective, challenging current biomedical ideas about the negative workings of women's immunological system and indispensability of allopathic medicine. I contend that we should contest outdated medical practices, based on gendered stereotypes of ageing, sick bodies.

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