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Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

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Re: Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

#51

Post by c23gooey »

javajosh wrote: post #50
AReallyGoodName wrote: post #47

What's the best way to deal with something like this as a friend of someone with something remarkably similar? I have a close friend who's always going to see specialists with some ailment or another. One of the things he has is low magnesium and zinc just like this author. He's also suffered from bouts of unexplained amnesia (is that where the author got the name for his blog from? If so maybe they actually have the…

How another person lives his life is fundamentally his decision, and it is not your responsibility to fix him. Your frustration with him is your problem, not his. At first blush, I would recommend either accept him or walk away, for your benefit and his.

Sounds a bit harsh, i think the OP is looking for advice on how to deal with it. Saying accept it or walk away is not really adding to the conversation.

My suggestion would be to start to talk to your friend about how you feel about his/her situation. Try and get an understanding of just how they are feeling.

Dont just come into a conversation with all your advice ready to go because it will make your friend back off.

Be prepared to spend sometime to get to understand the underlying causes behind his/her need to shut down and not live life.

There are probably some deep seated fears and stresses which are causing him/her to be this way.

Walking away and just turning a blind eye to them is not going to help anyone.

Re: Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

#52

Post by c23gooey »

polemic wrote: post #43

Wow, a lot of the replies here are so typical of what genuinely sick people experience every day . You don't need to posit a cause, you don't need to suggest cures and you don't need to critique his lifestyle. The point of the article is not to try to explain all of that shit to you, but to try to make you understand what it's like to be that sick all the time . Try to take in that message first, and when you think y…

>Try to take in that message first, and when you think you have the slightest idea what it's like to live like that, maybe you are then qualified to add a response.

How ridiculous. Just because a person isn't suffering or doesnt have a true understanding of the same agony as the blogger, doesn't mean they are not allowed to offer help.

Whats so wrong with people trying to help? Should we just say - "Thanks for the insight. Now back to my own world"

Re: Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

#53

Post by westoncb »

appleflaxen wrote: post #49
westoncb wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got to second that it's probably worthwhile for the author to check out and consider the wikipedia article. I pretty much gave up programming for six years, utterly convinced that I had a physical disorder causing me constant pain in wrists, hands, elbows, shoulders, etc. I tried all kinds of physical approaches during that time, many of which would appear to impact it in one way or another, but none that really…

Holy cow. It's brave of you to share your personal experience with this. It's great that you are feeling better, and awesome that you are willing to use your mistakes to help someone else.

I'm trying not to see everyone's disorders as nails for the hammer I found—but I have a definite interest in raising awareness, seeing both how damaging and how widespread these issues are.

Also, as a kind of warning, I can say the literature available is kind of mixed: there are good recommendations on methods for recovery, but the theory behind a lot of it is quite bad: amateurs seeking explanations for the efficacy of their methods. The most popular expositor, Dr. John Sarno, grounds his theory in Freudian psychology. The situation is probably better when speaking with practitioners in mental health, but maybe not by so much: my psychiatrist was utterly unsurprised—was nothing new to him. That said, books on the subject seemed more practically helpful that recommendations from him.

Thanks!

Re: Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

#54

Post by JacksonGariety »

thedufer wrote: post #48
JacksonGariety wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pseudoscience is not necessarily bad. Most of psychology and philosophy, for instance, is essentially pseudoscience.

Can you share your definition of pseudoscience? You are clearly using quite a different one from the rest of the commenters here. Under the usual definitions, philosophy is neither science nor pseudoscience, and psychology is firmly in the realm of science.

Pseudoscience is a non-scientific practice which people ~generally assume~ to be scientific.

There are many areas of philosophy which people believe are done via science. I'd say metaphysics is a pseudoscience because people assume it's akin to physics.

Most modern psychology (not all of it, and not psychiatry) is based on Freud and Lacan's psychoanalytic practice. This practice people generally assume to be scientific because their health insurance covers it, but it has no scientific basis.

I'd also say some people assume political theory to be scientific, as many mistake it for economics and sociology which ~are~ scientific. Political theory is not.

EDIT: Aesthetics and philosophy of mind are other areas which people mistakenly think involve neurobiology, but they don't.

Re: Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

#55

Post by michaelochurch »

As a person with over a decade of life (16-28) characterized by health issues, this resonates. It can get better. I've been mostly normal for 3 years and I'm well-treated, although YC/HN-style startups are out of the question (can't risk going without insurance).

Health problems are like many natural disasters (e.g. hurricanes, earthquakes, heat waves) where it's not the event itself that kills people and causes suffering so much as human failures: looting, under-maintained infrastructure, incompetence by trusted service providers and malfeasance by insurers and various unscrupulous opportunists.

When you're sick, the health problem itself is challenging. The continuing onslaught of people failing you (which you'll frequently blame yourself for, especially if it's not clear what's wrong with you) or exploiting your (no matter how intermittent) weakness is demoralizing.

Now that I'm well I fight back against human failure and indecency and I will not stop.

Re: Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

#56

Post by thedufer »

JacksonGariety wrote: post #54
thedufer wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you share your definition of pseudoscience? You are clearly using quite a different one from the rest of the commenters here. Under the usual definitions, philosophy is neither science nor pseudoscience, and psychology is firmly in the realm of science.

Pseudoscience is a non-scientific practice which people ~generally assume~ to be scientific. There are many areas of philosophy which people believe are done via science. I'd say metaphysics is a pseudoscience because people assume it's akin to physics. Most modern psychology (not all of it, and not psychiatry) is based on Freud and Lacan's psychoanalytic practice. This practice people generally assume to be scientif…

I think you may be behind the times when it comes to psychology. Modern psychology looks down on Freud and isn't based on it at all. As of a couple of decades ago, parts of psychology would probably be well classified as pseudoscience, but that isn't the case anymore.

The ~generally assume~ is an interesting bit. Dictionary definitions of the term typically go with something more like "practices which claim to be scientific". Its not terribly fair to philosophers to call them practicers of pseudoscience just because the layperson sees "physics" and assumes "metaphysics" must be science.

But, then again, life isn't fair. Metaphysics is a pretty misleading name.

Re: Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

#57

Post by polemic »

c23gooey wrote: post #52
polemic wrote: post #43

Wow, a lot of the replies here are so typical of what genuinely sick people experience every day . You don't need to posit a cause, you don't need to suggest cures and you don't need to critique his lifestyle. The point of the article is not to try to explain all of that shit to you, but to try to make you understand what it's like to be that sick all the time . Try to take in that message first, and when you think y…

>Try to take in that message first, and when you think you have the slightest idea what it's like to live like that, maybe you are then qualified to add a response. How ridiculous. Just because a person isn't suffering or doesnt have a true understanding of the same agony as the blogger, doesn't mean they are not allowed to offer help. Whats so wrong with people trying to help? Should we just say - "Thanks for the in…

> "Whats so wrong with people trying to help?"

Because most of the 'help' is in the form of unsolicited advice, well-intended as it might be, and tends to be naive, unhelpful, disheartening, demotivating or downright insulting.

OP outlines what that feels like:

"These people are, in most aspects of their lives, good people. Honestly, couldn’t recommend them enough. But where my illness is concerned, they felt they had license to act like complete jackasses because they couldn’t understand what I was going through."

Sure, anyone can help, but very few of the comments on here are helpful.

Re: Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

#58

Post by AReallyGoodName »

javajosh wrote: post #50
AReallyGoodName wrote: post #47

What's the best way to deal with something like this as a friend of someone with something remarkably similar? I have a close friend who's always going to see specialists with some ailment or another. One of the things he has is low magnesium and zinc just like this author. He's also suffered from bouts of unexplained amnesia (is that where the author got the name for his blog from? If so maybe they actually have the…

How another person lives his life is fundamentally his decision, and it is not your responsibility to fix him. Your frustration with him is your problem, not his. At first blush, I would recommend either accept him or walk away, for your benefit and his.

That's such a bullshit thing to say. We're talking about someone who literally won't survive unless they change their behavior. He's unemployed, has no government benefits available to him and those around him aren't going to support him forever.

Re: Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

#59

Post by innguest »

JacksonGariety wrote: post #54
thedufer wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you share your definition of pseudoscience? You are clearly using quite a different one from the rest of the commenters here. Under the usual definitions, philosophy is neither science nor pseudoscience, and psychology is firmly in the realm of science.

Pseudoscience is a non-scientific practice which people ~generally assume~ to be scientific. There are many areas of philosophy which people believe are done via science. I'd say metaphysics is a pseudoscience because people assume it's akin to physics. Most modern psychology (not all of it, and not psychiatry) is based on Freud and Lacan's psychoanalytic practice. This practice people generally assume to be scientif…

I like that you're debunking Psychology for what it is, but if you still think Economics is a science, you're not quite there yet. For something to be a science it needs to make falsifiable claims. Nothing in Keynesian economics is falsifiable, and in fact following the news and watching them pulling excuses out of their hats is an endless source of entertainment to me.

Re: Yeah, I'm sick. Read all about it

#60

Post by JacksonGariety »

thedufer wrote: post #56
JacksonGariety wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pseudoscience is a non-scientific practice which people ~generally assume~ to be scientific. There are many areas of philosophy which people believe are done via science. I'd say metaphysics is a pseudoscience because people assume it's akin to physics. Most modern psychology (not all of it, and not psychiatry) is based on Freud and Lacan's psychoanalytic practice. This practice people generally assume to be scientif…

I think you may be behind the times when it comes to psychology. Modern psychology looks down on Freud and isn't based on it at all. As of a couple of decades ago, parts of psychology would probably be well classified as pseudoscience, but that isn't the case anymore. The ~generally assume~ is an interesting bit. Dictionary definitions of the term typically go with something more like "practices which claim to be sci…

Modern psychology looks down on Freud almost entirely because of the advancements of Lacan in the 60s. Despite this, psychology is still ~based~ on Freud.

You're right about the "generally assume" part. I had my definition wrong. But I still think it pertains to psychoanalysis specifically, because Freud definitely advertised his methods as scientific.

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