Take two journal entries into the shower?
What lies below was originally part of my first post today but it went so far off topic that I thought it best to make it another entry entirely. Self-indulgent, moi!? ;)
I've just been updating my calendar with the other appointments that have come through this last week. So that's physio, OT, community OT, podiatry, rheumatology, pain management clinic and one for a local chronic illness type thing. Phew!
Being ill has turned into a full time job. It's handy that I am actually too ill to work as I don't know how I'd fit it in otherwise! It's not just the hospital-related appointments either. There's DLA, ESA, council tax, blue badges, disabled railcards and all sorts of other things to apply for and maintain. Then there's the things like swimming, pilates (soon to start), reiki, psychotherapy, physio exercises, meditation, artistic pursuits etc. that I do to try and enhance/maintain my wellbeing.
Foucault would have a field day! There are so many ways in which I am identified/tagged and constrained as an ill/sick/disabled person it's unbelievable; almost inescapable. It's a shame our health system and construction of health is so orientated towards sickness. I'm doing loads to try and claw my way towards good health, or at least be as healthy as I can in the moment. The very act of engaging in these health behaviours should be recognised and termed positively but the fact that I access them often defines me as 'diseased'.
Salutogenesis. Great sounding word, isn't it? It was coined by medical sociologist (who knew there was such a thing!), Aaron Antonovsky. It has a somewhat mixed derivation - salus is Roman for health and genesis is Greek for origin. Salutogenesis, then, is an interest in the factors responsible for good health. It is the exact opposite of pathogenesis - a focus on disease-causing mechanisms - which still seems to be the major concern of modern medicine in the West. One concept would regard me as disease-ridden, the other defines me as a person striving for health. 'It's just a question of semantics' I hear you cry. Well, maybe so. But, as a person straddling the health-disease continuum, I know in which direction I would rather be facing.
I've just been updating my calendar with the other appointments that have come through this last week. So that's physio, OT, community OT, podiatry, rheumatology, pain management clinic and one for a local chronic illness type thing. Phew!
Being ill has turned into a full time job. It's handy that I am actually too ill to work as I don't know how I'd fit it in otherwise! It's not just the hospital-related appointments either. There's DLA, ESA, council tax, blue badges, disabled railcards and all sorts of other things to apply for and maintain. Then there's the things like swimming, pilates (soon to start), reiki, psychotherapy, physio exercises, meditation, artistic pursuits etc. that I do to try and enhance/maintain my wellbeing.
Foucault would have a field day! There are so many ways in which I am identified/tagged and constrained as an ill/sick/disabled person it's unbelievable; almost inescapable. It's a shame our health system and construction of health is so orientated towards sickness. I'm doing loads to try and claw my way towards good health, or at least be as healthy as I can in the moment. The very act of engaging in these health behaviours should be recognised and termed positively but the fact that I access them often defines me as 'diseased'.
Salutogenesis. Great sounding word, isn't it? It was coined by medical sociologist (who knew there was such a thing!), Aaron Antonovsky. It has a somewhat mixed derivation - salus is Roman for health and genesis is Greek for origin. Salutogenesis, then, is an interest in the factors responsible for good health. It is the exact opposite of pathogenesis - a focus on disease-causing mechanisms - which still seems to be the major concern of modern medicine in the West. One concept would regard me as disease-ridden, the other defines me as a person striving for health. 'It's just a question of semantics' I hear you cry. Well, maybe so. But, as a person straddling the health-disease continuum, I know in which direction I would rather be facing.