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So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain
61–70 of 303 posts
Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain
#62> I "depleted my brain of dopamine and glucose" causing "Functional Neurological Disorder" (FND - DSM-5 code 300.11) Is this a real thing? I can't find any evidence of Google about this and the author didn't link any sources. "300.11" is pretty vague and seems to refer to a problem that doesn't match any other criteria. I can't find any reference to it being caused by glucose or dopamine levels. Edit: https://twitter…
Functional Hypoglycemia is a real thing. I did a high school paper on it back when I had a rotary phone and pet dinosaur. At the time -- nearly four decades ago -- there was no known cause and the only useful treatment was diet and taking high doses of vitamins. When glucose levels get depleted, the body starts drawing on stored stuff in the liver. The mechanism for releasing that is adrenaline. When the liver stores…
When your body runs out of glucose in blood and glycogen in liver, it starts creating new one from protein and fat [1] for the few processes that need it, while switching most metabolism (including brain) to use fat-derived Ketone bodies as fuel [2].
This normally happens when fasting, and is no big deal. It's how people survive days without food.
Now there's something going on with how brain processes ketone bodies and glucose differently and there some research about how that affects things like Alzheimer's disease but I don't know that much about that.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis
Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain
#63My takeaway is the organisational design (one week hacking / writing report / planning) is not working at a sustainable pace.
The problem is finding ways to work at a sustainable pace, even ignoring medical emergencies.
Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain
#64I don't know about the glucose ...
... but burning out can really destroy your life. I know it destroyed mine. It took me years to recover, and I'm still not 100%.
I started working for an early stage startup right after school when I was 19yo. I didn't sleep. I didn't eat properly. Our team was small. Responsibilities super high. And I burned out.
Oh, I have so many stories from this time... like when I hadn't slept for 3 days and my body shut down when I was driving home from the office – I was so tired that my body went to sleep behind the wheel.
I wrote about it here: https://remotehunt.com/blog/4-day-work-weeks-in-remote-compa...
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Edit 30m later: I went for a run after writing this comment (you know, to be outside and be less stressed out), and while running, I remembered that I once had a "pop" in my head too. My "pop" could have been different from the author's, of course, but I would describe it as a "pop."
I went to the ER immediately, and they did some basic blood pressure tests, etc. Then concluded that I probably had an anxiety attack (they get this often). Docs gave me some pills that took my anxiety away, and I was fine afterward. It was another sign for me to slow down.
But it's hard to slow down when you're already far down the burnout road. In debt, but a family to support, etc.
If I hadn't had a family at the time, I would have probably just quit the whole society game. Moved to a small hut somewhere near the beach. Alone, without a phone to reach me.
Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain
#65> It was a physical issue.
> My physical brain ran out of physical fuel.
A bit limiting of a view on the events in my opinion. Our mental state directly influences our health. Attributing these kind of symptoms solely to physical factors misses the point, that the mental space is as real as the physical one and ignoring it has real effects. In an effort to be more like machines I think programmers forget that we do not operate by the same rules.
Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Functional Hypoglycemia is a real thing. I did a high school paper on it back when I had a rotary phone and pet dinosaur. At the time -- nearly four decades ago -- there was no known cause and the only useful treatment was diet and taking high doses of vitamins. When glucose levels get depleted, the body starts drawing on stored stuff in the liver. The mechanism for releasing that is adrenaline. When the liver stores…
When your body runs out of glucose in blood and glycogen in liver, it starts creating new one from protein and fat [1] for the few processes that need it, while switching most metabolism (including brain) to use fat-derived Ketone bodies as fuel [2]. This normally happens when fasting, and is no big deal. It's how people survive days without food. Now there's something going on with how brain processes ketone bodies…
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Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain
#67I don't necessarily doubt the author, but how do you chronically deprive your brain of glucose? Afaik you would get glucose back whenever you ate anything. Unless you were doing keto, but then your body and brain run on ketones. And if you did somehow deprive your brain of fuel, you would get symptoms in a much shorter span. Maybe undereating, but he doesn't list weight loss, and if you're rapidly losing weight and s…
I'm not an expert but it does seem incorrect. As I understand it (correct me if I am wrong), the brain cannot function alone on ketone bodies and always needs some glucose. Even when fully depleted and in deep ketosis, the liver will synthesize glucose via gluconeogenesis.
Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain
#68Seems more related to starvation than hacking.
Yeah, or some form of diabetes. The body is great at making glucose out of pretty much anything, specially muscle and fat tissue. I don’t buy the diagnosis, there has to be something else on the metabolic side that’s missing if that were the case. Occam’s razor points to a psychological disorder, he went straight to psychiatric medication with no attempt to deal with the compulsive component of his behavior.
I don't see how at any point a person can be so deprived of nutrients brain convulsions occur. Something had to be wrong before hand, maybe he should get his wife's side of the story.
Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain
#69I don't necessarily doubt the author, but how do you chronically deprive your brain of glucose? Afaik you would get glucose back whenever you ate anything. Unless you were doing keto, but then your body and brain run on ketones. And if you did somehow deprive your brain of fuel, you would get symptoms in a much shorter span. Maybe undereating, but he doesn't list weight loss, and if you're rapidly losing weight and s…
The brain actually burns a lot of energy so I think its not unreasonable to expect it to burn the fuel it has access to. There was this study on chess players or something in a competition, I don't remember what the study was called exactly, but they found the chess players despite sitting down the whole time burnt an extraordinary amount of calories.
In China there is even sort of a common saying for this. Generally when someone starts sort of acting stupid or in a daze its commonly related to, half jokingly, as “低血糖” or "low blood sugar"