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

151–160 of 303 posts

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

#151

Post by vegardx »

derangedHorse wrote: post #143
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.

Seizures during a manic or hypomanic episode is very common, it's often what lands undiagnosed people in hospital to begin with. Lamotrigine and Lithium was primarily used to treat epilepsy, now they're also used to treat mood disorders like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia as well.

The problem is often that there are compounding issues. There's nothing that stops you from having TIA at the same time. People often describe being overworked and stressed as burning the candle from both ends. Hypomania can more aptly be described as setting the entire thing on fire.

My post wasn't meant as some form of medical diagnosis, more of an observation from someone that lives with this. The feeling of numbness and having some sort of brain fog is how a lot of people with mood disorders like ADHD and bipolar disorder would describe things.

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

#152

Post by derangedHorse »

dcolkitt wrote: post #147

I’m dubious about the diagnosis. If sustained overthinking could regularly cause seizures, I think it’d be ubiquitous in competitive chess players. Based on the authors description it sounds much more due to lack of sleep and stress.

I also believe it was a multitude of factors. Creative thinking being a catalyst just doesn’t add up. I can’t speak for the physiology of others so it may very well just be that for him, but it’s be nice to get more details on what the doctors diagnosed.

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

#153

Post by derangedHorse »

amelius wrote: post #148
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).

I think it can but in a very different way. When I burnout from something I like working on, I want to work more but just don’t have the energy to do it. In cases where I’m not passionate and I’m doing something stemming from a place of need, not only is my energy depleted but my stress levels rise, I won’t be able to think properly about the problem, I get obsessive about finishing work at the cost of quality, etc

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

#154

Post by bladegash »

varjag wrote: post #150
bladegash wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The person was not diagnosed with burnout. People have died playing video games too long and too hard - is that burnout? We're going to have to just agree to disagree here as I'm not sure either of us are really going to persuade each other from our respective viewpoints. I did enjoy the conversation though and thank you for taking the time to offer your perspective on the matter!

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

#155

Post by tluyben2 »

derangedHorse wrote: post #149
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 t…

Ah sorry, I am in the EU, so I guess it is slightly different. I see your point if this risks paying yourself. These visits cost me 0$ even in countries I frequent but am not resident in the EU.

But yes, since this scare, I definitely go faster, especially considering how bad this can get. You might wake up in a better or in a far worse state.

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

#156

Post by tluyben2 »

treeman79 wrote: post #141
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.

My old-aunt had this. She would have small ones a lot even with blood thinners.

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

#157

Post by cgio »

fho wrote: post #93
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…

Is that "bass guitar string" thing common? I had it twice, both times in a hot and cramped train and shrugged it up to "heat stroke".

In a hot, cramped train it could also be a panic attack. Go see a doctor in any case.

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

#158

Post by mjgs »

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…

What the f is there in the head that can make a sound like a bass guitar string?

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

#159

Post by emteycz »

amelius wrote: post #148
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).

Burnout is from overpressure. You might love programming but if the startup is failing, the boss is slowly going mad and you don't know what bug to fix first, love won't help you.

Or it might be entirely internal and kind of caused by your love, e.g. turning insane from your inability to focus on programming and finish anything due to undiagnosed ADHD (my case).

No pressure - no burnout, I think.

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

#160

Post by op00to »

mjgs wrote: post #158
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…

What the f is there in the head that can make a sound like a bass guitar string?

Neurons constantly oscillate - firing at least to us randomly. It makes sense that after a “reboot” of sorts, your neurons may fire in something resembling the “frequency” that triggers “bass string” experience. Like the “bong” when you boot an old Mac.
Post reply on HN