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>My girlfriend did a lot of damage to her mitochondria with cocaine. I'm familiar with the literature linking cocaine use to altered (often pathological) mitoc

>My girlfriend did a lot of damage to her mitochondria with cocaine. I'm familiar with the literature linking cocaine use to altered (often pathological) mitochondrial function. I wonder, though, how did you determine that your girlfriend had mitochondrial damage? Again, I understand that cocaine causes such damage, but my question pertains to how you evaluated her specific case.

tcj_phx 10y ago
> Again, I understand that cocaine causes such damage, but my question pertains to how you evaluated her specific case. She invited me into her world a little at a time. As the months went buy, I observed her buy and smoke a lot of crack cocaine. The first hospital told me they wouldn't let her go because they found cocaine in her bloodwork. At the time I didn't know about cocaine's effects on the mitochondria - that HN submission was 209 days ago [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10956058 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10956058 My evaluation is based on observation and inference. Her doctors don't care to check her mitochondrial function, but I'm sure there are appropriate lab tests.
- omginternets 10y ago
  >My evaluation is based on observation and inference. Right, I'm asking what you observed.
  - tcj_phx 10y ago
    The main observation was "cocaine use". The inference was that this drug had damaged her mitochondria. She'd turn into an anorexic, and become more psychotic. I'd feed her, and she'd get better. It seems to me that she needs to eat more regularly than a normal person. I have a couple 'therapies' that help restore energy metabolism. Some of these obviously helped, but she was a difficult patient, and wouldn't use them regularly.
    - omginternets 10y ago
      >The main observation was "cocaine use". The inference was that this drug had damaged her mitochondria. That's an enormous inferential leap...

tcj_phx 10y ago

> Again, I understand that cocaine causes such damage, but my question pertains to how you evaluated her specific case. She invited me into her world a little at a time. As the months went buy, I observed her buy and smoke a lot of crack cocaine. The first hospital told me they wouldn't let her go because they found cocaine in her bloodwork. At the time I didn't know about cocaine's effects on the mitochondria - that HN submission was 209 days ago [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10956058 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10956058 My evaluation is based on observation and inference. Her doctors don't care to check her mitochondrial function, but I'm sure there are appropriate lab tests.

omginternets 10y ago
>My evaluation is based on observation and inference. Right, I'm asking what you observed.
- tcj_phx 10y ago
  The main observation was "cocaine use". The inference was that this drug had damaged her mitochondria. She'd turn into an anorexic, and become more psychotic. I'd feed her, and she'd get better. It seems to me that she needs to eat more regularly than a normal person. I have a couple 'therapies' that help restore energy metabolism. Some of these obviously helped, but she was a difficult patient, and wouldn't use them regularly.
  - omginternets 10y ago
    >The main observation was "cocaine use". The inference was that this drug had damaged her mitochondria. That's an enormous inferential leap...