Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

#121

Post by globnomulous » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 4:59 PM UTC

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #22

I’ve been dealing with chronic reflux for about 8 mos now. On PPIs and they don’t seem to do much. But once I get away from my typical routine of work/dadding then all the symptoms vanish, even to the point of being able to eat foods that are not good for reflux: spicy things, tomatoes, a bit of coffee. In my case, this is absolutely a downstream symptom of something mind-body. Already been scoped and got a diagnosis…

Just a sidenote: GERD can lead to Barrett's Esophagus (precancerous changes in tissue), and erosive damage to the esophagus can accumulate over time and abruptly become life threatening. After decades of terrible GERD, my father nearly died from exactly such an undetected gastric bleed, losing 11/12 of his blood (which doctors replaced as it coursed out) before an emergency-medicine team finally found and sealed the rupture.

He almost certainly suffered minor brain damage during this episode, and later, after about a decade of taking anti-protonic medications for reflux, developed exactly the abnormally rapidly growing abdominal cancer that patients who take anti-protonics apparently develop at a higher rate than similar GERD patients who don't.

I don't mean to give medical advice. I can only describe what happened in my family (which has a heritable deformation in the esophagus, leading to severe GERD). Take it with a grain of salt (and an antacid) as what it is: an anecdote from some anonymous nonexpert on the internet.

Anyhow, good luck. I'm glad to know you're working actively on the problem, not ignoring it as my father did, and I hope you find some long-term relief and peace.

Re: Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

#122

Post by littlexsparkee » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 5:07 PM UTC

kianN wrote: post #58

“As pain becomes chronic, it is increasingly associated with activity in the affective and motivational systems tied to avoidance and less closely tied to systems encoding nociceptive input” [1] I’ve been on the slippery slope of chronic pain. Minor post surgery issues caused me to change my routine and avoid certain activities which only exacerbated the issues, which led to more avoidance. Eventually I couldn’t walk…

I learned this the hard way, got achilles/ankle tendon issues trying to rest from a joint problem instead of ramping up activity which would've made me more resilient.

Re: Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

#123

Post by mattgreenrocks » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 5:09 PM UTC

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #118

PixelForg wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9550520/ This exercise fixed it for me. I was diagnosed with GERD last year, I already had it for 2-3 years before that, but it got worse last year. I got ppis for a couple of months and when I finished all of them it came back worse. Fortunately I found this article, and I started doing the exercise daily morning after I woke up(and still do it). I can now eat tomatoes, food…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42528399 Since reading the above HN comments, I have lost ten pounds and (mostly) stopped drinking carbonated beverages. My GERD is vastly reduced. ¢¢

Thanks for this, will add it to the experiment queue while I work on losing the slight dad bod I have going on.

Re: Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

#124

Post by xyst » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 5:10 PM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #10

> Before moving forward - I’m not a doctor. Just a bit of a nerd with a blog. Please do not sue me or use these posts as a replacement for medical care. unnecessary disclaimer here. when it comes to chronic pain treatment doctors are mostly useless or even harmful, proposing surgeries or drugs that will do more bad than anything else because they have no interest in learning how to customize their approach and will p…

It was enabled by doctors but they were deceived by Purdue Pharma and Sackler family. They also deceived the (understaffed) FDA, paid off researchers to get their exact wording approved. Purdue used their wealth and influence to launch a nationwide campaign and lobbyist group advocating that mistreatment/mismanagement of patient pain will lead to litigation.

Those stupid pain face charts you see at hospitals, physician offices. Purdue marketing, nothing else.

Everybody is shitty here. This is what happens when a market has loose regulations.

Re: Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

#125

Post by mattgreenrocks » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 5:13 PM UTC

ruthvik947 wrote: post #52

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #22

I’ve been dealing with chronic reflux for about 8 mos now. On PPIs and they don’t seem to do much. But once I get away from my typical routine of work/dadding then all the symptoms vanish, even to the point of being able to eat foods that are not good for reflux: spicy things, tomatoes, a bit of coffee. In my case, this is absolutely a downstream symptom of something mind-body. Already been scoped and got a diagnosis…

I had this for about a year, and it really only went away when I quit my job. It wasn't even a particularly demanding job, but I guess the lifestyle + the fact that I felt I was wasting my life away might have played a role. Nothing else is really different.

I have had near-debilitating non-GI physical symptoms when it was time to leave a job in the past. I might just be bad at responding to those before it gets to be a five alarm fire.

Worth mentioning is I got the same symptoms (tendinitis) a few months prior to this, but went to PT and got them resolved. Bodies/minds are fun!

Re: Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

#126

Post by xyst » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 5:13 PM UTC

varispeed wrote: post #102

Why this has so many upvotes? This is very much a wall of text with just waffle and very little substance. The "mind-body" thing is a great tool for doctors who are into abuse and take pleasure in having power over their patients. "You are still having chronic pain, because you are not working hard enough!" "No, I will not prescribe you medication. The pain is in your head!" Oh and abusive partners also love this cra…

It has many upvotes because HN loves to think of itself as "against the establishment." The alternative medicine folks tend to think this.

In reality , nothing more than grifters. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a book or "masterclass" pitch at the end of this series.

Re: Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

#127

Post by agumonkey » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 5:17 PM UTC

glasscannon wrote: post #2

I recently decided to go all in on addressing chronic pain - a condition which affects an estimated 1/5 adults in the US[1] and nearly the same proportion in my country of Australia. This is the first of several blog posts exploring this invisible condition. If you're passionate about this space feel free to reach out, thanks! [1] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7215a1.htm [data from 2021] - [Edit] Thanks so…

Hi, thanks for the thread, what are the websites you follow the most to read about this topic ?

Sometimes I wish there was a medHN

Re: Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

#128

Post by e40 » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 5:17 PM UTC

aspbee555 wrote: post #34

I felt like I was dying at 35 years old, my body was completely betraying me, exhausted, constant pain, no life as absolutely no energy on days off and still exhausted starting the next week. Even years in the Army never left me feeling like that I had no idea it was the misery of the IT job that was causing most of my pain and suffering, and it had nothing to do with the job itself, it was the endless insanity of ev…

Stress is so damaging to our bodies. Glad you got relief!

Re: Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

#129

Post by mattgreenrocks » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 5:27 PM UTC

eddythompson80 wrote: post #41

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #22

I’ve been dealing with chronic reflux for about 8 mos now. On PPIs and they don’t seem to do much. But once I get away from my typical routine of work/dadding then all the symptoms vanish, even to the point of being able to eat foods that are not good for reflux: spicy things, tomatoes, a bit of coffee. In my case, this is absolutely a downstream symptom of something mind-body. Already been scoped and got a diagnosis…

> In this case, docs just don’t know why. (I think it kinda pisses them off not know, tbh). And finding out is not really in their wheelhouse. Chronic reflux as a symptom is almost always initially treated by PPIs because the cause among white collar workers is assumed to be chronic stress[1]. Since doctors can't "treat stress" only its symptoms, they will just tell you to try and manage stressors in your life yourse…

> it started 8 months after accepting a role shift from engineering into management. I was cautiously excited initially, but it just soured very quickly.

Thanks for the edit that added this. Very similar experience as this.

It's BS that IC ladders top out at quasi-management roles, but perhaps part of the issue is believing that professional growth is as tidy as a FAANG career ladder (since most companies just copy them wholesale), and that not reaching those rungs reflects on me in any way.

It feels a bit taboo to say, but I believe not everyone can flex into management easily, even part-time. I'm alright at it, but it clearly isn't long-term sustainable.

Re: Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

#130

Post by rendaw » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 5:35 PM UTC

qzw wrote: post #42

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #22

I’ve been dealing with chronic reflux for about 8 mos now. On PPIs and they don’t seem to do much. But once I get away from my typical routine of work/dadding then all the symptoms vanish, even to the point of being able to eat foods that are not good for reflux: spicy things, tomatoes, a bit of coffee. In my case, this is absolutely a downstream symptom of something mind-body. Already been scoped and got a diagnosis…

> I think it kinda pisses them off not know, tbh Oh definitely. Some doctors are physically incapable of uttering the words “I/We don’t know.” I know a few doctors, and have asked a couple of them about this. In private, they’re very frank about the limits of modern medicine. But in front of patients, they’re afraid any sign of uncertainty will lead to patients concluding that some other quackery is just as good as a…

I'd be fine with that if the posturing didn't go along with unnecessary medication and the lack of suggestions to search for treatment somewhere better equipped.