Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 303 posts

Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain

#141

Post by treeman79 »

tluyben2 wrote: post #72

Same exact symptoms (the bass guitar string he heard is a thing that gave me ptsd like symptoms/crippling anxiety for a long time after) I had from a TIA when I was overworked. He waited getting a scan so they could've missed it later; my office was next to the hospital: nothing showed on the CT one hour after but on the RMI a couple of hours after they found a tiny lesion in one of the regions involved in forming sp…

Had very similar symptoms as post. Was getting constant tia symptoms. 3 years of doctors visits later. Oh you have a genetic disposition for clotting. (Factor 5) Started on blood thinners and the TIA symptoms stopped in a few days, brain fog lifted. Plus lots other symptoms.

I had been having minor strokes constantly, just not large enough to show up on MRI.

Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain

#142

Post by DaniloDias »

People who have experienced brain trauma present significant initial relief when they are told they have condition that has a label.

They tend to relapse every two years and select a new diagnosis after they don’t get better. It’s heartbreaking to watch when you know to look for the pattern.

Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain

#143

Post by derangedHorse »

vegardx wrote: post #124

This reads out exactly how a manic or hypomanic person would experience things and rationalize past events and feelings. The idea that it has to be something complex and in a sense grandiose compared to "just being burned out" is often a very telling sign. Perhaps it's Twitter forcing the format a little, but I could see myself thinking like this during a hypomanic episode. I'm diagnosed with bipolar disorder (type 2…

I think that would just be a misdiagnosis. Seizures don’t typically accompany manic episodes and not being able to come up with words that are used in everyday situations is also an oddity.

Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain

#144

Post by bladegash »

varjag wrote: post #138
bladegash wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree and I do not see why it would not be possible to become burned out when your workload is too low-pressure. Some people thrive under such conditions and languish under others. However, some issues unrelated to working too hard are far more universal, such as feelings of being unfairly treated, lack of autonomy, feeling trapped or stuck in a position due to other responsibilities, etc.

I think there is an implication in the name: to burn out you have to burn in the first place. My personal experience, that of some colleagues and multiple accounts of other people I've read over the years suggest that. There are certainly other ingredients than just overwork (despair, low project morale, lack of stewardship, blame culture) that make people fizzle out. But working too much is there in all accounts.

Your anecdotal evidence supports your view, mine contradicts yours. So no, I don't think it can be unequivocally stated that "working too much is there in all accounts".

To your point regarding "burning", flames burn at different intensities and temperatures based on a variety of factors (e.g., material being burnt). The fact that a flame is burning, or has stopped doing so, is not indicative of a specific intensity.

Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain

#145

Post by GordonS »

GordonS wrote: post #103
qart wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with what you wrote, but additionally, one can get glucose deprivation by just starving, for example. I can't imagine a way to deprive just the brain of glucose. In effect, sustained physical activity should also lead to "depriving the brain of glucose".

Maybe it depends how long you starve for? As long as you have the fat reserves, it's possible to fast for weeks with nothing more than water. As long as you have a functioning liver, your body uses glycogenesis to create enough glucose for your brain to function.

Too late to edit now, but I forgot to say that even before glycogenesis, there are stores of glycogen in your muscles that can be used.

Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain

#148

Post by amelius »

misterremote wrote: post #64

I 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…

> but burning out can really destroy your life.

However, does burnout occur when one is doing stuff they like?

I was under the impression that it occurs only when there is some negative aspect to the work one is doing (like setbacks, uncooperative colleagues, impossible deadlines).

Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain

#149

Post by derangedHorse »

tluyben2 wrote: post #72

Same exact symptoms (the bass guitar string he heard is a thing that gave me ptsd like symptoms/crippling anxiety for a long time after) I had from a TIA when I was overworked. He waited getting a scan so they could've missed it later; my office was next to the hospital: nothing showed on the CT one hour after but on the RMI a couple of hours after they found a tiny lesion in one of the regions involved in forming sp…

I wouldn’t go to the hospital either. It’s funny because the more one tries to work and escape debt and financial ruin, the higher the chances are of needing to take an unexpected hospital and getting an unreasonably high medical bill.

Some people aren’t in a place to pay insane medical debt, especially in the case where a multitude of tests need to get run and a problem isn’t found.

There are a lot of weird things that can happen with the body that some have observed goes away with time, and this “wait it out” approach is sadly encouraged by the American healthcare system because the insanely high bills from previous emergency situations (coupled with the subpar treatment) are typically not worth the price.

Re: So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain

#150

Post by varjag »

bladegash wrote: post #144
varjag wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is an implication in the name: to burn out you have to burn in the first place. My personal experience, that of some colleagues and multiple accounts of other people I've read over the years suggest that. There are certainly other ingredients than just overwork (despair, low project morale, lack of stewardship, blame culture) that make people fizzle out. But working too much is there in all accounts.

Your anecdotal evidence supports your view, mine contradicts yours. So no, I don't think it can be unequivocally stated that "working too much is there in all accounts". To your point regarding "burning", flames burn at different intensities and temperatures based on a variety of factors (e.g., material being burnt). The fact that a flame is burning, or has stopped doing so, is not indicative of a specific intensity.

We are right in the discussion threads about a person who worked themselves into unconscious, just saying.

It's not like general workplace toxicity, heartbreaks etc are not equally huge personal problems of their own, but that's why they have their own names.

Post reply on HN