Living Pharmaceutical Lives

Increasingly, pharmaceuticals are available as the solutions to a wide range of human health problems and health risks, minor and major. This book portrays how pharmaceutical use is, at once, a solution to, and a difficulty for, everyday life. Exploring lived experiences of people at different stages of the life course and from different countries around the world, this collection highlights the benefits as well as the challenges of using medicines on an everyday basis. It raises questions about the expectations associated with the use of medications, the uncertainty about a condition or about the duration of a medicine regimen for it, the need to negotiate the stigma associated with a condition or a type of medicine, the need to access and pay for medicines and the need to schedule medicine use appropriately, and the need to manage medicines’ effects and side effects. The chapters include original empirical research, literature review and theoretical analysis, and convey the sociological and phenomenological complexity of ‘living pharmaceutical lives’. This book is of interest to all those studying and researching social pharmacy and the sociology of health and illness. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of figure List of tables List of contributors Chapter 1: Introduction: Living pharmaceutical lives Introduction Everyday use of pharmaceuticals in social and interactional contexts References Chapter 2: Drugs at work: Implicated in the making of the neoliberal worker 1 Introduction The socio-political context of neoliberalism The neoliberal worker Medical neoliberalism Pharmaceuticals for common chronic illnesses and conditions in working-aged populations Pharmaceuticals to treat occupational-related stressors and workloads, and to mitigate occupation-specific risks Extending human limits and enhancing productivity Discussion Conclusion Note References Chapter 3: Medication-use narratives on the margins: Managing type 2 diabetes without medical insurance 1 Introduction Routinisation and meaning-creation Methodology: Medication use narratives Findings and analysis Judgment: Linearity and stasis Learning the value of health (Just Beginning) Loss of stability (Cycling) The power of food (Cycling) Acceptance: Embodied learning and contemplation Finding pieces to a puzzle (Care of the Self) Gender Medication mistrust Meaning-creation, denial and psychology Notes References Chapter 4: Medicines use for severe asthma: People’s perspectives Introduction Background Methods Results Theme 1: ‘Severe asthma means to me that you can’t function’ – illness identities Theme 2: The consuming effects of severe asthma – illness consequences Theme 3: ‘Asthma control means saving your life. It’s as simple as that’ – The need for asthma control Discussion References Chapter 5: Pregnancy, urinary tract infections and antibiotics: Prenatal attachment and competing health priorities Introduction and background Methods Findings Illness perceptions Conceptualisation of antimicrobial resistance Pregnancy as deviation from the norm Discussion Prenatal attachment in competing health priorities Conclusion References Chapter 6: ‘What the medications do is that lovely four-lettered word – hope’: A phenomenological investigation of older people’s lived experiences of medication use following cancer diagnosis Introduction Methods Findings The noema (what happened) The noesis (how it happened) Discussion Conclusions References Chapter 7: The paradox of vaccine hesitancy and refusal: Public health and the moral work of motherhood Introduction Background Method Sample selection and recruitment Interviews Data analysis Findings Infant body ‘at risk’ Immunity/health building practices Moral work and the ‘Mom Network’ Discussion References Chapter 8: The pharmaceutical imaginary of heart disease: Pleasant futures and problematic present 1 Introduction and background Healthy living in the 21st century Selves and imageries of statins Methodology Findings Optimising the future Being (bio)prepared Abduction and the sense of being off-time Concluding remarks Note References Chapter 9: A shot in the dark?: Ontario girls, informed consent and HPV vaccination 1 Introduction and background Methods Findings Volition Knowledge: Human papilloma virus Knowledge: Gardasil vaccination – risks, benefits, alternatives Discussion Consent Voluntariness Privacy and confidentiality Information provision Harm Conclusion Note References Chapter 10: Reflections on the use of antiretroviral treatment among HIV+ men who have sex with men (MSM) in Nigeria Introduction Context: ART program and same-sex criminalisation in Nigeria Methodology Initiating and taking ART Benefits of taking ART Challenges to taking ART optimally Nature of ART Patient-related challenges Inability to keep to time Forgetfulness MSM lifestyle Social/structural level challenges Lack of financial capital and sustenance Living arrangements Stigma and discrimination in everyday life Discussion and conclusion References Chapter 11: Opioid analgesics, stigma, shame and identity Introduction Patients and medicines The role of opioid analgesics in pain Stigma, shame and identity Recognising opioid analgesic stigma, shame and identity What role for opioid analgesics? Conclusion References Chapter 12: The drama of medicines: Narratives of living with postural tachycardia syndrome Introduction Background Telling stories about medicines Medication narratives and late modern illness experience Stories about medicines as dramas Postural tachycardia syndrome Methods Stories of living with postural tachycardia syndrome Analysing medication narratives Findings Dramas of embodiment: Medicines in the body Dramas of signification Dramas of experimentation: Solving the riddle of illness Discussion Conclusion References Chapter 13: (Developing) pharmaceutical solutions to COVID-19: Navigating global tensions around the distribution of therapeutics and vaccines Introduction Background Social inequalities in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality Anticipated pharmaceutical solutions Therapeutics for COVID-19 Vaccines Discussion Conclusion Notes References Chapter 14: Conclusion: What of pharmaceutical lives? Introduction Medicines’ varied effects Pharmaceutical healthwork Medicine access and medicine use in social and political contexts Conclusion References Index "Increasingly, pharmaceuticals are available as the solutions to a wide range of human health problems and health risks, minor and major. This book portrays how pharmaceutical use is, at once, a solution to, and a difficulty for, everyday life. This book is of interest to all those studying and researching social pharmacy and the sociology of health and illness"-- Provided by publisher