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Losing My Hands

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Re: Losing My Hands

#41

Post by CipherThrowaway »

Aeolun wrote: post #29
CipherThrowaway wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a bizarre omission from the article given the number of tangents and topics covered. My guess is that going down the traditional medicine route lead to him being told there was no organic basis to the pain. As someone who went through a similar experience, I would not be surprised if the author's pain is/was entirely psychosomatic (this doesn't diminish its severity or significance). Probably a direct resu…

Psychosomatic pain is the worst. At least there’s generally something you can do for actual physical pain.

Yeah, I agree. In some sense, tendons remodel more easily than the brain. Somatic pain disorders can easily ruin someone's life.

Re: Losing My Hands

#42

Post by tgaj »

bauta-steen wrote: post #31
vkazanov wrote: post #8

Had this experience about 6-8 years ago, when I was 30ish. You know, a bunch of programming hobbies + a programming job + active writing as a hobby + not enough cardio activity. It all started with a mild discomformt. Then the discomfort becomes something like mild but constant pain in fingers, hands, arm joints where the nerves are. Not pain-pain but unpleasant sensation. Then my fingertips went numb. And it was get…

When you mention: > 3. No mechanically clicking keyboards and mice. That's is a nerve hit 1000s right there times a day. I'm curious how do you go about replacing the keyboard? You can replace the mouse with touchpads, touchscreens, trackballs etc. but what is you effective keyboard replacement (speech to text maybe)? Or do you mean no clicky-switches (for example Cherry blue)?

I think he meant "no mechanically clicking" as "less typing mindlessly".

Re: Losing My Hands

#43

Post by blantonl »

Given that this individual talks about all kinds of treatments he's tried for what happened to him yet no discussion of a medical diagnosis, I'm going to go out on a limb (no pun intended) and just posit that the vast majority of what happened here is mental illness related.

Re: Losing My Hands

#44

Post by sevagh »

aldarisbm wrote: post #35

There's a few things that caught my attention. I am too in tech, but from what I understand and my circle, everyone... kinda worked less during the pandemic (especially at the start). How was this person pressured to work so much? He was doing machine learning for a company that offers clothes. How can you derive actual societal value from that? Not saying that the work was not interesting or challenging, just a bit…

>kinda worked less during the pandemic (especially at the start).

I wouldn't say I specifically overworked for any one employer, but during lockdowns I was definitely spending way more time at a computer overall.

Re: Losing My Hands

#45

Post by bauta-steen »

depr wrote: post #24
vkazanov wrote: post #8

Had this experience about 6-8 years ago, when I was 30ish. You know, a bunch of programming hobbies + a programming job + active writing as a hobby + not enough cardio activity. It all started with a mild discomformt. Then the discomfort becomes something like mild but constant pain in fingers, hands, arm joints where the nerves are. Not pain-pain but unpleasant sensation. Then my fingertips went numb. And it was get…

>3. No mechanically clicking keyboards and mice You mean you don't use a mouse or use it infrequently?

Not OP either, for me due to RSI I've switched to use a touchscreen when I can, and alternate the mouse between left/right when I have to use one (Ergo mouse and similar never seemed to do anything for me). As well as a super light/smooth keyswitch keyboard (Fujitsu Libertouch with cut domes).

Re: Losing My Hands

#46

Post by saos »

CipherThrowaway wrote: post #19
saos wrote: post #7

It’s not clear from the article. What was author diagnosed with? They said it was an injury…

Seems like a bizarre omission from the article given the number of tangents and topics covered. My guess is that going down the traditional medicine route lead to him being told there was no organic basis to the pain. As someone who went through a similar experience, I would not be surprised if the author's pain is/was entirely psychosomatic (this doesn't diminish its severity or significance). Probably a direct resu…

You recovered?

It sounded like rheumatoid arthritis.

Re: Losing My Hands

#47

Post by slightlydisgu »

Had issues with my hands too.

But wtf man making 500k? And not having some reasonable exit plan at this point?

How uneven do you have to be to be smart enough to make it that far and not just exiting?!

Re: Losing My Hands

#48

Post by CipherThrowaway »

saos wrote: post #46
CipherThrowaway wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a bizarre omission from the article given the number of tangents and topics covered. My guess is that going down the traditional medicine route lead to him being told there was no organic basis to the pain. As someone who went through a similar experience, I would not be surprised if the author's pain is/was entirely psychosomatic (this doesn't diminish its severity or significance). Probably a direct resu…

You recovered? It sounded like rheumatoid arthritis.

I recovered, but it took a long time.

I don't know about RA. OPs blog post sounds a bit too optimistic for someone living with untreated RA for 3 years.

Re: Losing My Hands

#49

Post by coffeebeqn »

melling wrote: post #3
theGeatZhopa wrote: post #2

It's a sad story and a good reminder to always keep in mind YOLO! but I think it's bit exaggerating to say losing my hands, while they're still "there". What about the guys who had their limbs amputated? They even can't swim anymore, don't even talk about cooking or putting on trousers (or self love..) It's a drama. Yes. I feel for you. I also feel/see a lot of self pityriasis in your thinking/text, like paying lots…

Dealing with hand pain when you’re a computer programmer can be difficult. Here’s the creator of TCL discussing dealing with it in the 1990s https://web.stanford.edu/~ouster/cgi-bin/wrist.php An important excerpt: “My experience suggests that once you start having RSI problems it is very difficult to get rid of them: it will probably be an issue for the rest of your life, and if you don't act quickly things will get…

It is possible to recover.. but you need to rest the joints which will mean no typing for some weeks at least. I’ve had RSI on my ankle and had to not use it for some weeks (walking with sticks). But it’s back to normal now and hasn’t been an issue for years

Re: Losing My Hands

#50

Post by plorkyeran »

aldarisbm wrote: post #35

There's a few things that caught my attention. I am too in tech, but from what I understand and my circle, everyone... kinda worked less during the pandemic (especially at the start). How was this person pressured to work so much? He was doing machine learning for a company that offers clothes. How can you derive actual societal value from that? Not saying that the work was not interesting or challenging, just a bit…

I know quite a few people who worked very long hours during the pandemic. All the other things they normally did with their time went away and they just defaulted to spending more time on work.
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