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Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

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Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#91

Post by osclarto »

raspberry1337 wrote: post #82
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #77

I’ve had two breakdowns. The first was out of the blue and had no real immediate cause. It left me with a perennial feeling of anxiety, paranoia and depression that lasted almost 8 years. It was only fixed with medication - a 3 month course of SSRIs that miraculously brought my back to my old self almost immediately. The second breakdown was precipitated by medication - withdrawals from Gabapentin, a medication presc…

[flagged]

grow up. This is such a moronic comment and I hope at some point in the future you reach a level of maturity in your life where you'll understand why it is. someone opens up with a touching and personal story and you nitpick them with a trivial detail for no gain

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#92

Post by kanzenryu2 »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #77

I’ve had two breakdowns. The first was out of the blue and had no real immediate cause. It left me with a perennial feeling of anxiety, paranoia and depression that lasted almost 8 years. It was only fixed with medication - a 3 month course of SSRIs that miraculously brought my back to my old self almost immediately. The second breakdown was precipitated by medication - withdrawals from Gabapentin, a medication presc…

I was on Gabapentin for back/leg pain. The doctor warned that it was very important to ramp up the dose gradually, and ramp down gradually. I followed the advice carefully and had no issues. But it was tempting to think "I'm okay now, I won't need to take more pills".

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#93

Post by robertlagrant »

conductr wrote: post #87
INTPenis wrote: post #67

I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…

I've had this happen more often than burnout. For me, it's simple lack of engagement. Even if you never gave much, when you really stop giving a shit, it becomes difficult to give even a bare minimum. It's usually coupled with a feeling that anything else you do with your time is more important than work. Like anything. I recall skipping important meetings to go outside and pick up dog poo from the lawn. Also for me,…

Huh, yes. I remember in my house at uni the washing up was never done more than when we should've all been revising.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#94

Post by [deleted] »

easeout wrote: post #50

(CW OCD) Twice in my life I've become helplessly obsessed with a given topic to the point that nearly everything I saw, heard, or thought about would build a new association back to the topic, forming a feedback loop. The first time it lasted a year. No one could tell because I was just acting like a weird teenager to them, but it was hugely debilitating. I couldn't get off the ride. The second time, maybe fifteen ye…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#95

Post by mlatu »

INTPenis wrote: post #67

I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…

even a wife and two kids cant save you from those thoughts.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#96

Post by mlatu »

John23832 wrote: post #79
INTPenis wrote: post #67

I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…

You're burnt out. We've all been there. Focus on yourself to get better. As far as work, break tasks down AS SMALL AS POSSIBLE. Do a portion and pat yourself on the back. You'll be able to build up from there. Part of burnout is seeing a wall of work and your body/mind having an adverse reaction to it. You need smaller portions to get back on the horse.

oh yeah, keep feeding the grinder, never stop feeding the grinder or else.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#97

Post by camgunz »

Mental stuff is hard; I've had my fair share of problems with depression and anxiety and it's no picnic.

I'm a huge believer in therapy. I don't think it's only for people with mental or emotional health issues; I think everyone should do it (like physical activity or eating salads). If you haven't already, I strongly recommend you do the work to find a therapist you trust and like and start working through your experience.

Also, though I'm not a therapist myself, I think a critical part of your recovery will be letting go of your guilt and forgiving yourself. There's no shame in what you went through: you got sick. That's the end of it.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#98

Post by spaceman_2020 »

kanzenryu2 wrote: post #92
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #77

I’ve had two breakdowns. The first was out of the blue and had no real immediate cause. It left me with a perennial feeling of anxiety, paranoia and depression that lasted almost 8 years. It was only fixed with medication - a 3 month course of SSRIs that miraculously brought my back to my old self almost immediately. The second breakdown was precipitated by medication - withdrawals from Gabapentin, a medication presc…

I was on Gabapentin for back/leg pain. The doctor warned that it was very important to ramp up the dose gradually, and ramp down gradually. I followed the advice carefully and had no issues. But it was tempting to think "I'm okay now, I won't need to take more pills".

My doctor was awful and gave me no such warnings. I was only able to get off it through help from Reddit.

If you look up Gabapentin on Google, the top results will make you think its a Nqyuil-tier drug with mild side effects. But there are entire subreddits dedicated to it, and all of them filled with horror stories of people struggling with withdrawals.

Glad to be off it, but that one month of withdrawals was not fun. I’m as such hypersensitive to most medication and Gabapentin kind of broke me.

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#99

Post by throoowwawaayy »

easymodex wrote: post #51

My wife went through psychosis in december for the first time and is still recovering. As you can imagine it has been a rough few months and I really want to know, in your experience, do you go back to normal afterwards? How long does it take? She is on antipsychotics and is way out of the acute phase, but she still has unusual behaviour like last week she covered up the TV with a towel and says she doesn't like phon…

I don’t know if my situation has any overlap with your wife’s, but it took me 2-3 years after the incident above before I could say I felt normal-ish again. But I’ll never be entirely the same. I hope she gets there, it sounds like you’re taking good care of her!

Re: Ask HN: Did anyone else lose their marbles?

#100

Post by suranyami »

INTPenis wrote: post #67

I've just become completely lethargic lately. And there's some sort of mental block stopping me from working. It's kinda insane because I can work on other stuff, but as soon as there's a simple task for my employer my mind just wanders off. And when I really try to focus I just go blank in my head. Can't explain shit. I'm trying to slowly get back on the pony just because I'm ashamed of all the salary I've collected…

> It might be rooted in the fact that I don't have kids

As a parent: nope, it's definitely not that.

Yes, having children is a rich and beautiful experience. It's also a ruthless grind. So, if you think you're feeling lethargic and it's all a bit futile, imagine doing everything you do now, but also arguing with a smaller, more annoying version of yourself for a couple of decades while sleep deprived, and with 1/4 of the disposable income you have now.

For me, it's a battle between "if I do something, someone's just gonna fuck it up anyway" and "I used to love this. I can still get excited by this, right?" I constantly find myself in a state of paralysis where I know what to do, I know how to do it, I even know how to do it quickly so it can be over and done, but I still just don't want to START anything.

I suspect it's a result of a decade or so of working in startups with borderline psychotic egomaniacs. For instance, one CEO would periodically grab me, walk me a few blocks away from the office and proceed to scream in my face for 20 minutes on the sidewalk. There are many, many other examples, but honestly, it's all too familiar and boring to recount.

At times I feel it may be akin to PTSD. The psych I saw suspected it may well be, but unfortunately there are many more needy patients being treated for far worse PTSD (e.g. Afghanistan, Iraq, etc).

Apparently, there's a term for this "inability to do stuff": executive dysfunction. That's about as much as I know.

One of the other unsettling things that has recently manifested itself has been stuttering. I've never stuttered and always prided myself on being a persuasive and confident speaker. But since the above horror-show I've often found myself unable to string sentences together, getting tongue-tied, long pauses. Maybe it's just age, but it seems correlated time-wise. Yes, I know, correlation is not causation.

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