«I have ants in my pants»: Metaphorical Framing in Female’s Conversational Narratives of Osteoporosis

Some changes that humans undergo in their bodies as they grow older are accompanied by a decline in health. Exclusively from the patients’ perspective, this paper is based on narratives of lived experiences related to osteoporosis, one chronic disease that usually develops unnoticedly as age increases and that is more frequent in females than in males. The general aim is to delve into the linguistic expressions used by women suffering from osteoporosis to talk about their condition. More specifically, the study focuses on the metaphors that patients use to describe or share their real insights and experiences with the disease and how these contribute to project an image of women themselves, on the one hand, but also to provide peers with further information and support, help them improve their lives and understand the inherent complex changes, symptoms and difficulties that they, their bodies and bones (may) experiment, on the other. To fulfil these purposes, a sample of conversational voluntarily produced narratives of women diagnosed with osteoporosis has been compiled, where metaphors have been identified and analysed following the cognitive metaphor theory. The results reveal an alternance of positive empowering and negative metaphors, where women face the suffering and complexities of the disease, but they present and see themselves as brave and empowered patients with dreams and non-stigmatised lives.