“This Might Be Your New Normal…” Storytelling Amidst Uncertainty and Medically Unexplained Symptoms

ABSTRACT

The medical diagnostic journey can be filled with uncertainty, anxiety, tension, and complications. This essay moves between first-person storytelling and analytic memos to illustrate defining moments of a diagnostic journey. It brings to life the complexity of navigating the healthcare system through the eyes of someone with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). Additionally, it presses into the complex nature of the medical world and how one communicates through those tensions with healthcare professionals, loved ones, and colleagues when their illness is questioned and doubted.