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"I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

waldo.jaquith.org

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Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#71

Post by burpee »

It's funny, because Lyme is one of those diseases where "it could be anything" to the outsider because there are no external indicators that something is wrong with them.

Back when I was younger I got Lyme disease at the age of 13. I got treated for it by some quack without antibiotics and then went on with my life - essentially untreated. Between the ages of 14 and 17 I have barely any memories. There are snippets of events that I can recall in my memory, but in total they must be less than 20 snippets over the course of 3 years of my life. If I try my very best to go back to other moments in there, there is nothing, kind of like after having had a few too many drinks and being unable to remember how you got home, but then having that feeling for about 3 years of your life.

Much like stated in the post, your memory is affected by Lyme disease. You actually still have the capacity to think complete thoughts, but after only a few seconds your thoughts are gone.

One of the few snippets of memory that I have left, is the sudden strong realisation that I tried my very best to remember what had happened in the last 7 days - and the complete and utter inability to recall even one single event over those 7 days. I wasn't even able to remember what I ate for lunch 3 hours earlier, or what I had been doing for the previous 5 minutes. I remember getting really upset that I felt that that memory was also fading and I kept on repeating it in my head to prevent it from disappearing. It was scary.

I am apparently fortunate enough to continue functioning well after Lyme disease, but I can guarantee you that the experience being written in this post is absolutely identical to the experience that I had.

It's bizarre, it's scary, but fortunately for Waldo: he won't remember a thing anyway.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#72

Post by colomon »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #47
quark83 wrote: post #17

I created a throwaway account so it's not associated with my normal handle on here. This post brings up something I've been wondering about, and it's something that's really been bothering me the last few years. I feel like I've become significantly less intelligent over time, and I can't figure out if that's really the case, or if it's a different issue that simply makes me feel less intelligent. When I was in high…

It sounds like you have sleep apnea disorder. I have the same disorder and am on a CPAP machine now, and I sleep much better. The symptoms are exactly as you described -- tired all of the time despite 8+ hours of sleep a night, decreased motivation, lack of concentration, inability to learn, and the apneas happen entirely while you're asleep so you do not wake up or realize anything is wrong with your sleep except th…

For me, it reached the point where I several times fell asleep sitting up in my office chair -- in the middle of a conversation!

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#73

Post by kzsee3 »

Why is the first comment always negative? The author of the link wrote an article based on his experience. I find that every first comment on HN is a tear down of the original post. The tone of every top comment seems to want to prove the com mentor's genius over the author.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#74

Post by jwdunne »

derefr wrote: post #19
marincounty wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your post, except this part, "mimic clinical depression (serotonin/norepinephrine imbalance), or ADHD (dopamine imbalance), generalized anxiety (GABA imbalance), seasonal/chronic fatigue (acetylcholine imbalance), and so on. " They really don't know what causes anxiety, or clinical depression. The are having a horrid time finding the true cause of these ailments. If anyone is seeing a MD who claims to kn…

> They really don't know what causes anxiety, or clinical depression. True in spirit, but untrue definitionally. The thing is, the psychiatric profession still basically subscribes to a Behaviorist theory of mind when it comes to treating neurological problems. There's no consideration of what's going on in your head when you have a neurological malady; your head is a black box, where drugs go in, and altered behavio…

I agree. Although drugs don't attack the root cause, which appears to be unknown and can come from a variety of life experiences, they can lessen the symptoms such that the sufferer can explore and tackle the issues leading to the depression within themselves, perhaps even via the help of therapy.

Depression is, as we know, very deadly. The method it uses to kill is to destroy happiness, self-worth and motivation. This could mean a person with depression feels helpless, feels deserving of the ill feeling and could also have zero motivation to help themselves. With these symptoms lessened, it can give suffers the room they need, so to speak, to identify and overcome all of the issues in their lives.

We say depression has no clear root cause but that makes a lot of sense. A person can only have so many little negative experiences before every single experience looks negative. If dozens of insignificant but still negative events happen in my life, I can bet my mood won't be that great and I will have a hard time pin-pointing exactly what's making me feel this way. Sometimes even big negative issues which you believe you have overcome could still have left latent habits which can wreak havoc on your mood.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#75

Post by theorique »

quark83 wrote: post #17

I created a throwaway account so it's not associated with my normal handle on here. This post brings up something I've been wondering about, and it's something that's really been bothering me the last few years. I feel like I've become significantly less intelligent over time, and I can't figure out if that's really the case, or if it's a different issue that simply makes me feel less intelligent. When I was in high…

Competing with 'average' high school students on 'average' high school material and still coming out on top is easy for many highly gifted people (indeed, that's sort of the definition).

As you get more advanced and specialized in your level of education, the material gets harder and the peer group gets more focused on a narrower area or field.

Even if grading is not done on a formal curve comparing students to each other, a test aimed at graduate students' skill level is going to assume a greater level of baseline knowledge, and more facility with techniques and tools of the field. So it will take more of even a 'gifted' person's time to perform far above average at graduate school.

The sleep disruption thing is another possible explanation. Another comment mentioned sleep apnea. You might want to get that checked out.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#76

Post by girvo »

derefr wrote: post #19
marincounty wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your post, except this part, "mimic clinical depression (serotonin/norepinephrine imbalance), or ADHD (dopamine imbalance), generalized anxiety (GABA imbalance), seasonal/chronic fatigue (acetylcholine imbalance), and so on. " They really don't know what causes anxiety, or clinical depression. The are having a horrid time finding the true cause of these ailments. If anyone is seeing a MD who claims to kn…

> They really don't know what causes anxiety, or clinical depression. True in spirit, but untrue definitionally. The thing is, the psychiatric profession still basically subscribes to a Behaviorist theory of mind when it comes to treating neurological problems. There's no consideration of what's going on in your head when you have a neurological malady; your head is a black box, where drugs go in, and altered behavio…

When I talk to people about my depression, I try to point out that "depression" is a really really loose label for what seems to affect people very differently (as anything that deals with the brain would, of course). For myself, I will have a depressive episode that just hits me, for no reason, and means that I can't get out of bed or face the world, and have suicidal thoughts every single day.

That's my depression. I'm also one of the lucky ones that SSRI's help -- I use them the same way you would a band-aid; I take them for a couple of months, and the episode passes as long as I keep up my job, exercise, healthy sex and social life.

All of this (and CBT) lets me manage my depression... but it's just that, MY depression, how my symptoms manifest, how I can fix it, etc.

Good post.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#77

Post by girvo »

skunkworks wrote: post #4
jonnathanson wrote: post #2

"Depression, at least as I’m experiencing it, is the absence of emotion, rather than negative emotion. I don’t mind it, not yet, but maybe depression is what keeps me from minding depression." More likely, what you experienced was anhedonia, a symptom of certain types of depression. Anhedonia is technically defined as the inability to experience pleasure from once-enjoyable activities, but those I know who've suffere…

A salient point re: the existence of different types of depression. Some cause a physical slowness (can't get out of bed), some cause anhedonia, some are the dementor type, etc.

I personally cannot get out of bed and face the world, I am suicidal at nearly all points of the day (but in a curious way; it's more I picture myself killing myself, but not in a "MUST DO THIS NOW" way. Its very odd and disconcerting). I can still experience emotions (all of them), but they are heavily skewed to the negative. I ignore the future, and focus on the past and present.

It's a shit disease.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#78

Post by fhd2 »

david927 wrote: post #51

Intelligence is an immutable characteristic I get so tired of seeing this. We can't even really define intelligence but I'm guessing this is based on a previous assumption that IQ was static, which we now know it not to be. We need to remember, also, that IQ is not a measure of intelligence.

The author is obviously using colloquial definitions of "intelligence" and "stupidity", but those are even more flawed than the scientific definition attempts. Is a lack of ambition really caused by low intelligence? Can we really put intelligence on a linear scale like that?

Makes the whole piece pretty condescending.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#79

Post by 3327 »

Hey. I Actually agree with your article because I HAD lyme 1 month ago too. And felt the same. You are probably on the 14 day Doxy. After it you start to feel better pretty quickly. I went to a great infectious disease doc (if you are in Seattle). You probably tripped out like me and went reading about it on the internet for hours if not days. 99% of lymeand post lyme disease is BS. No such thing as post lyme disorder. Its highly sensitive to doxy . I caught mine a month after and 2nd day of doxy started feeling better.

But man such a strange feeling. Depression was a first for me i don't know if its from the toxins that inhibit certain stuff or psychological but its strange. Anyway get well soon and don't believe the lyme stuff you read I can assure you. You reach 100%. Just don't have unprotected sex as that shit is real depression material !

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#80

Post by rlanday »

david927 wrote: post #51

Intelligence is an immutable characteristic I get so tired of seeing this. We can't even really define intelligence but I'm guessing this is based on a previous assumption that IQ was static, which we now know it not to be. We need to remember, also, that IQ is not a measure of intelligence.

Citation needed on both points. Most evidence points to IQ scores being valid measures of intelligence, in that they have some predictive power, especially for average life outcomes for groups of people, and are mostly stable throughout life. For example, look up the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth, which examines life outcomes based on SAT scores at age 12.
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