Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Day I Found Out My Life Was Hanging by a Thread (2017)

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–76 of 76 posts

Re: The Day I Found Out My Life Was Hanging by a Thread (2017)

#71

Post by canucker2016 »

The gut punch that keeps on punching...

A bit of web searching yields:

YouTube video from Matt's family and friends about Matt Bencke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbgVvCnvrAk

Matt's wife and friends post to https://www.facebook.com/groups/benckeupdates/ (most content viewable w/o login)

Here's a covid19-related post - https://www.facebook.com/groups/benckeupdates/permalink/6501...

One sad thing is that the domain registration for Matt's personal website has expired. So the web has recycled the website a couple of times.

Now the website content is NSFW. :(

Re: The Day I Found Out My Life Was Hanging by a Thread (2017)

#72

Post by DoreenMichele »

MiroF wrote: post #70
DoreenMichele wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a difference between concluding that someone may need to see a mental health professional to check out that angle and acting like someone is a nutter for being concerned that the failure of doctors to pinpoint the problem might actually prove deadly. One is about getting actual answers. The other is about blowing off the patient, being dismissive and belittling legitimate concerns and it routinely proves dea…

Doctors being wrong is more common than hypochondriacs and overuse of the medical system? I guess we'll just agree to disagree.

Doctors being dismissive, especially towards women and people of color, is excessively common. It's easily googled and it contributes to high mortality in some populations.

Here is just one such article:

https://www.oprahmag.com/life/health/a23100351/racial-bias-i...

I'm a woman and was called a hypochondriac until I got the right diagnosis at age 35. I'm skeptical that hypochondria is as common as people seem to think. I think people with real problems that aren't easily identified and being dismissed is probably far more common that actual psychosomatic illness. Probably somatopsychic illness is the real explanation in many of those cases.

Re: The Day I Found Out My Life Was Hanging by a Thread (2017)

#73

Post by simonblack »

I laughingly went into the cardiac clinic to have a routine angiogram that wouldn't find anything. I even made a play on my surname that I was going to have a "strangiogram".

A bit later, the doctors said "We're not sure if we'll let you go home or not."

I had plaques closing off my main cardiac artery just where it branches. If I got a full blockage there it would be curtains immediately, with no chance whatever.

Stents were no good, if they put a stent in one arm of the fork it would close off the other and vice-versa.

I was literally a walking time-bomb. They eventually said I could go home. Two weeks later I had a triple bypass.

Re: The Day I Found Out My Life Was Hanging by a Thread (2017)

#74

Post by LilBytes »

jotm wrote: post #51
LilBytes wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, based on my experience in the UK and Australia. We get blood tests on pretty much any occasion when we're unwell before we're subscribed to an array of opiates. Shit, I had my wisdom teeth taken out days ago and the dentist was apprehensive to give me anything stronger than ibuprofen and paracetamol. Unfortunately, I think you're mistaken.

Funny that you mention UK and blood tests. I was literally told I don't need one, so I went private for £100. I was right about something being wrong, too. Really can't generalize for the whole of UK, though, some parts are so deprived they might as well have no healthcare.

Yeah, absolutely. There's anecdotes almost for any situation proving a health care to be awful and great. My comment is mostly around the current opioid crisis in the United States of which there's an alarming amount of data to support.

Australia also had, or more likely has quite the crisis too. This is not at all specific to the United States though, I use it as an example as it's demonstratively worse.

In the last few years in Australia, opiates in it's over-the-counter (non-MD prescribed) forms have become controlled and are no longer available over the counter.

https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/addiction-in-austr...

https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/australia-s-overdo...

Specifically regarding codeine:

https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/here-s-what-happen...

Re: The Day I Found Out My Life Was Hanging by a Thread (2017)

#75

Post by nicetryguy »

_bxg1 wrote: post #59
nicetryguy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article was brutal. I think Wired should have put a warning at the beginning of the article, instead of the very end, but; do you really think censoring yourself from all harsh reality and expecting "disney" endings for everything is wise? Should every article contain a hopeful message with mandatory rose colored glasses? Should survivorship bias echoing be enforced? Zealous positivity can prevent you from somber…

You're making a lot of incorrect assumptions about my worldview, and I don't appreciate it. No matter how grounded one's perspective is, each person has a finite amount of emotional energy to spend at a given time. This is a universal truth. Articles like this one can trash one's energy reserves - causing distress - without introducing any meaningful new information or perspective whatsoever. It's simply a bad cost/b…

I am not in favor of censorship. I am not in favor of those in favor of censorship. Good luck with your issues.

Re: The Day I Found Out My Life Was Hanging by a Thread (2017)

#76

Post by Aeolun »

klipt wrote: post #32
Aeolun wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I was kind of waiting for the ‘I beat the odds’ message. Only to find that it wasn’t there...

By definition, most people don't beat the odds...

True, but generally stories aren’t written about those people.
Post reply on HN