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Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

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

#191

Post by wysewun »

Have had long term chronic pain. Think possibly due to a combination of tendinitis and lack of movemen as a dev

Our bodies aren’t meant to be in one position for that long no matter the ergonomics unless you know what you’re doing.

Lots of people mock tiktok for the dancing but in observing the dances, I’ve grown an appreciation for full range of movement and trying to increase range of motion in the joints

I was able to find some exercises that helped in this to decompress but I can go into more detail if people want

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

#192

Post by munificent »

foobiekr wrote: post #106

I have a pretty severe back injury - double pars fracture and significant spondylolisthesis from an accident (not a car accident). For many years i was in incredible pain, but it just kept going, sometimes getting a lot worse. When this happened I would go get some imaging done to make sure there weren't degenerative changes that needed to be addressed - you should never, ever get back surgery if you don't need it, s…

> there is an interesting story around chronic pain actually being psychological

I think this is an incorrect oversimplification.

I had a pretty bad accident a year ago and am still dealing with physical therapy and recovery from it. I have spent a lot of last year traveling the land of pain.

It's not that pain (chronic or not) is psychological. It's more that our pyschological state modulates how we experience pain.

If you hit your thumb with a hammer, the pain you feel is absolutely not psychosomatic and entirely in your head. There are real nerves in your hand sending your brain real pain signals.

But if you happen to do that on a day that you're really stressed out, it will hurt worse. And if days after the accident you are still hurting and you find your inner monologue saying things like "See, you hit your thumb because you're such a stupid clutz." then you will experience that pain with greater intensity and for longer than if you had a more positive narrative around the injury.

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

#193

Post by foobiekr »

Aurornis wrote: post #142
foobiekr wrote: post #106

I have a pretty severe back injury - double pars fracture and significant spondylolisthesis from an accident (not a car accident). For many years i was in incredible pain, but it just kept going, sometimes getting a lot worse. When this happened I would go get some imaging done to make sure there weren't degenerative changes that needed to be addressed - you should never, ever get back surgery if you don't need it, s…

> I hesitate to add a link to this on the thread, but there is an interesting story around chronic pain actually being psychological and there are now some high quality studies coming out. This is a misinterpretation of these studies which is common throughout this thread. The research isn’t showing that chronic pain is a psychological condition. It’s suggesting that some cases of nonspecific chronic pain that specif…

I did not say _all_ chronic pain. I would go back and edit that to be "some" if I still could.

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

#194

Post by necovek »

glasscannon wrote: post #176
algo_lover wrote: post #163

Why do all such articles never talk about the meat of the solution? Why do I always feel like I'm being sold something. Why is it so hard to explain the solution briefly, or directly present it to me upfront. Why does it need so much of mystery around it? In this article the OP does not even mention "Pain reprocessing theory" which is what they seems to be talking about (based on the study they have linked)

Hey algo_lover, OP here. Just woke up and this post's traction has surpassed my wildest imagination. Similar to what pedalpete has said, I'm looking to release this in parts to ensure: 1. I am not overwhelming people and losing their interest 2. Quality remains as high as possible (I invested only a few hours into this last week as an experiment). I want this blog to be the most easily accessible, engaging + factual…

Thanks for wanting to help, but:

1. You've lost my interest with no "meat", as the GP stated.

2. There is no "quality" in using a couple thousand words of text to say "I'll be writing about what helped with my chronic pain over time".

3. Here's the signal: I am not in for "weekly" sessions. I do have chronic pain, but what you want to be producing is utterly incompatible with what I need.

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

#195

Post by [deleted] »

necovek wrote: post #194
glasscannon wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey algo_lover, OP here. Just woke up and this post's traction has surpassed my wildest imagination. Similar to what pedalpete has said, I'm looking to release this in parts to ensure: 1. I am not overwhelming people and losing their interest 2. Quality remains as high as possible (I invested only a few hours into this last week as an experiment). I want this blog to be the most easily accessible, engaging + factual…

Thanks for wanting to help, but: 1. You've lost my interest with no "meat", as the GP stated. 2. There is no "quality" in using a couple thousand words of text to say "I'll be writing about what helped with my chronic pain over time". 3. Here's the signal: I am not in for "weekly" sessions. I do have chronic pain, but what you want to be producing is utterly incompatible with what I need.

[deleted]

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

#196

Post by bravesoul2 »

Aurornis wrote: post #24

> For the next 4 years, I continued to accumulate weird and persistent pains in different parts of my body. Anyone who is accumulating weird pains in random, different locations should definitely pursue some of these alternative explanations. Another sign that these techniques are appropriate is if the pains come and go depending on your mood or situation (worse when working, disappear when doing something fun) or ar…

r/cfs ... those are the wise sages. They've heard it all. They know what to do. They know the BS. They warn each other about it.

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

#197

Post by linhns »

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…

I think he has to put that to prevent any crazy things from the law side. You have a great point on doctors there, no wonder why people lose trust in them after so many wrongs.

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

#198

Post by smj-edison »

bravesoul2 wrote: post #196
Aurornis wrote: post #24

> For the next 4 years, I continued to accumulate weird and persistent pains in different parts of my body. Anyone who is accumulating weird pains in random, different locations should definitely pursue some of these alternative explanations. Another sign that these techniques are appropriate is if the pains come and go depending on your mood or situation (worse when working, disappear when doing something fun) or ar…

r/cfs ... those are the wise sages. They've heard it all. They know what to do. They know the BS. They warn each other about it.

That they do. I've been working through chronic fatigue for six years now, and I spent two years thinking it was somatic. No amount of meditation, therapy, socializing, antidepressants, or supplements made a dent. Thankfully I found my way to r/cfs which has fantastic advice on dealing with long-term chronic illnesses. It's a little depressing, but also freeing to accept that there truly is no cure to these horrible illnesses (there should be, but there still isn't). I'm glad I ruled out somatic symptoms so I'm sure that it's not that, but I'm also glad that I now understand that a lot of chronic fatigue is 100% biological. If I ever recover I plan to go into biochemistry to help all of these people who truly cannot be cured with today's technology.

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

#199

Post by matwood »

gleenn wrote: post #138
foobiekr wrote: post #106

I have a pretty severe back injury - double pars fracture and significant spondylolisthesis from an accident (not a car accident). For many years i was in incredible pain, but it just kept going, sometimes getting a lot worse. When this happened I would go get some imaging done to make sure there weren't degenerative changes that needed to be addressed - you should never, ever get back surgery if you don't need it, s…

"You should never, ever get back surgery" sounds like that easily could be wrong. It's annoying to have to always caveat but talking to a (good) doctor is important when making such decisions and not relying on tech forum advice necessarily. I know someone who said they went in for back surgery and walked out feeling permanently cured from the specific problem they had and the pain was completely gone. Details matter…

You left off the 'if you don't need it'. Even back specialists will tell you that surgery is typically the last resort because of the risks of not fixing the issue and/or making it worse. It's not like fixing an ACL.

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

#200

Post by re-lre-l »

algo_lover wrote: post #163

Why do all such articles never talk about the meat of the solution? Why do I always feel like I'm being sold something. Why is it so hard to explain the solution briefly, or directly present it to me upfront. Why does it need so much of mystery around it? In this article the OP does not even mention "Pain reprocessing theory" which is what they seems to be talking about (based on the study they have linked)

Went hospital, took medication. No magic. That's the cause
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