ABSTRACT
This chapter examines chronically-ill women's negotiations of health care. There is no secret that Western-style systems of health care, which are organized around allopathic medical traditions, are better suited to address the needs of people affected by acute or even fatal illness than those living with chronic conditions such as fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). Family doctors are the cornerstone of Canada's health care system: not only do they provide essential primary care and preventative care, and ongoing symptom monitoring for people managing chronic illnesses such as FMS, but they also serve as gatekeepers to secondary and tertiary care. Throughout the processes of data collection and analysis it became clear that the women shaped their experiences of the health care system and their experiences as patients, which in turn was shaped by the structure and organization of this same system. Geographers have highlighted connections between the macro and micro in the context of relationships between individuals and state-run institutions.
