So I finally sorted out what happened to my brain • Hacker News Board

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

#201

Post by Robotbeat » Sat, May 01, 2021, 2:10 PM UTC

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’m not going to say this doesn’t sound manic or hypomanic, but “just being burned out” is not an actual explanation.

Being burned out like he’s describing is a physical phenomenon, like many neuropsychological problems. It’d be nice if we advanced the state of our knowledge about these things beyond “just being burned out.” I’m skeptical as well about “burned the glucose out of my brain” being a good physical explanation, but there’s a physical thing going on.

We often treat burnout as an idea thing. (And this somewhat makes sense as ideas are incredibly powerful.) Having more insight into the physical (ie chemical and/or mechanical) mechanism of burnout would be interesting and probably very helpful.

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

#202

Post by vegardx » Sat, May 01, 2021, 2:15 PM UTC

Robotbeat wrote: post #201

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’m not going to say this doesn’t sound manic or hypomanic, but “just being burned out” is not an actual explanation. Being burned out like he’s describing is a physical phenomenon, like many neuropsychological problems. It’d be nice if we advanced the state of our knowledge about these things beyond “just being burned out.” I’m skeptical as well about “burned the glucose out of my brain” being a good physical explan…

It wasn't supposed to read like that, but I can see how you'd read it like that. It was definitively not meant as a put down to those that suffer from being burned out, whatever the cause might be.

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

#203

Post by sneak » Sat, May 01, 2021, 2:19 PM UTC

Robotbeat wrote: post #197

sneak wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “Burning out all of the glucose and dopamine in your brain” isn’t a thing. This sort of narrative-based grandstanding is something the author is previously known for. His "lol oops I hacked too much" doesn't hold up to scrutiny, otherwise this would be an extremely common thing in overworked knowledge workers. It's not.

I’ve had similar things happen. It’s not uncommon. It is a physical thing. I’m not sure it’s caused by burning out all the glucose or whatever (as that is short term addressable). Dopamine, that’s possible. In my case, it was caused I think by not getting enough sleep combined with cognitive load, perhaps exasperated by high sodium, and poor nutrition. Stimulants (such as caffeine, but also Ritalin, adderall, etc) if…

There's nothing in your comment to suggest that your constellation of symptoms is in any way related to the constellation of symptoms (or purported underlying cause(s)) in TFA.

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

#204

Post by dTal » Sat, May 01, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

mjgs wrote: post #180

dTal wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your brain. All sound perception ultimately comes from there.

It’s wild that the brain can just make sounds up like that. Now I’m wondering how much of the soundscape I hear is real. Seems like that’s something that could be exploited.

It's more than that; the soundscape you hear is all in your head. You don't have "direct" experience of anything! So there's not really any distinction between "real" and "made up" sounds.

And yes, it's exploited in every lossy audio codec.

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

#205

Post by tartoran » Sat, May 01, 2021, 2:22 PM UTC

tluyben2 wrote: post #140

fho wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Not sure, but I had 'lighter versions' of that sound before getting a migraine after this(never had migraines before the tia): those episodes immediately caused extreme anxiety, as in: it is happening again, while I knew it was not because I had no speech issues or foggy brain, just an aura floating in front of my eyes. This is a long time ago and the way of getting rid of all of this was getting rid of and learning…

How do you not feel stress anymore? I started taking on less and expecting less in order to manage my stress levels and it worked. I also started listening to my own rhythm but that translates sometimes to brain dead days and other times with very productive days. I accepted that and am no longer pushing. But I still take on things but at a slower pace. Id still avoid taking on as much as I was doing in my early 20s, that would not end up well for me. How do you manage it?

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

#206

Post by WarOnPrivacy » Sat, May 01, 2021, 2:23 PM UTC

I told my firm. They put me "on the bench" for a couple of weeks.
After a couple of weeks, they told me they couldn't pay me anymore.
I wasn't bringing in money at that point.
Mind you, I brought in millions of dollars leading up to that point.

But I wasn't producing...

Seriously.

Compulsive corporate apologists can byte me.

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

#207

Post by Out_of_Characte » Sat, May 01, 2021, 2:24 PM UTC

ackbar03 wrote: post #69

Jakobeha wrote: post #45

I don't necessarily doubt the author, but how do you chronically deprive your brain of glucose? Afaik you would get glucose back whenever you ate anything. Unless you were doing keto, but then your body and brain run on ketones. And if you did somehow deprive your brain of fuel, you would get symptoms in a much shorter span. Maybe undereating, but he doesn't list weight loss, and if you're rapidly losing weight and s…

The brain actually burns a lot of energy so I think its not unreasonable to expect it to burn the fuel it has access to. There was this study on chess players or something in a competition, I don't remember what the study was called exactly, but they found the chess players despite sitting down the whole time burnt an extraordinary amount of calories. In China there is even sort of a common saying for this. Generally…

I might be wrong but I dont think the brain actually expends 'more' energy in intensive cognitive tasks in the way you suggest.

"As Harrington explained, "The brain is able to shunt blood [and thus energy] to particular regions that are being active at that point. But the overall energy availability in the brain is thought to be constant." So, while there might be significant spikes in energy use at localized regions of the brain when we perform difficult cognitive tasks, when it comes to the whole brain's energy budget overall, these activities don’t significantly alter it."

"Elite chess players are under intense pressure that causes stress, which can lead to an elevated heart rate, faster breathing and sweating. Combined, these effects burn calories over time."

https://www.livescience.com/burn-calories-brain.html

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

#208

Post by sneak » Sat, May 01, 2021, 2:24 PM UTC

kayodelycaon wrote: post #183

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…

This sounds exactly like a psychotic break to me. I had a massive one and it started with a pop in my mind followed by half a year of similar symptoms. In the end, I was diagnosed Bipolar type—1. Some people often ask, the story is here: https://kayode.co/blog/4106/living-with-psychosis/

The words on that webpage were in no way what I was expecting when I clicked on that link.

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

#209

Post by sneak » Sat, May 01, 2021, 2:26 PM UTC

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #206

I told my firm. They put me "on the bench" for a couple of weeks. After a couple of weeks, they told me they couldn't pay me anymore. I wasn't bringing in money at that point. Mind you, I brought in millions of dollars leading up to that point. But I wasn't producing... Seriously. Compulsive corporate apologists can byte me.

The employment agreement is one of work hours for money. It's not a revenue share; for that, you need equity or to start your own business. For-profit corporations not being charities for the benefit of their current staff members is fact, not an apology.

This is what insurance is for. Per the author's own admission, he didn't qualify because he didn't have a diagnosis when he made a claim.

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

#210

Post by Balgair » Sat, May 01, 2021, 2:27 PM UTC

p_l wrote: post #167

Jakobeha wrote: post #45

I don't necessarily doubt the author, but how do you chronically deprive your brain of glucose? Afaik you would get glucose back whenever you ate anything. Unless you were doing keto, but then your body and brain run on ketones. And if you did somehow deprive your brain of fuel, you would get symptoms in a much shorter span. Maybe undereating, but he doesn't list weight loss, and if you're rapidly losing weight and s…

The trick is that your burn rate of glucose might exceed supply rate. Especially if stress conditions or dietary situation results in misbehaving supply, too. Not to mention getting warning signs and pushing through, which I'll be honest I'm guilty of doing as well (though I never got that far, and mostly it was sleep deprivation)

That does happen, but the body is very good at making sure that levels of blood-glucose are maintained. If it is not, as in the case of diabetes, then very bad things happen. Things like a diabetic coma.

As other commenters have said, absent any extreme weight loss or undiagnosed metabolism disorders like diabetes, there is nearly no chance that glucose burn-out occurred in an otherwise 'healthy' person.

We may all be wrong, or missing some key information, at which point I look forward to the cuhbbyEmu video on it.