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Congratulations, you have earned the achievement “chronic condition”. Your rewards are as follows. You have max exhaustion at all hours of the day! Exercise
by treeman79 6y ago
Congratulations, you have earned the achievement “chronic condition”.
Your rewards are as follows.
You have max exhaustion at all hours of the day!
Exercise recovery is bumped from next day to 2 weeks!
Your pain level is now on par with dying cancer patients!
Everyone now considers you lazy and incompetent!
Doctors now blame all symptoms on anxiety!
You gain +1 to medical research ability. But -20 to Reputation.
You now get spontaneous and useless medical advise from people that believe in essential oil.
You are now on timer with your job until sympathy runs out!
Disability now can mock you openly as clearly your faking and don’t have a real condition!
You are now a burden to your family!
+10 sneak score; you quickly learn to hide your suffering!
+20 to loneliness!
-20 to persuasion! Asking for help gets little from doctor's.
+10 Planning! Your kids may be orphans soon, make sure they get taken care of. Read fine print on death benefits.
——-
Staying positive when you have a chronic condition is incredibly difficult.
Your not going to get through it without losing your mind now and then.
- sosuke 6y agoDamn you really hit the nail on the head. "Invisibile illness" is how I've heard and referred to it. Losing your mind now and then is absolutely okay. --- I'm paraphrasing someone close to me --- God is giving me only what I can handle. Making me stronger in the process. Something even worse is coming down the line so get ready.
- treeman79 6y agoFor a dank [religion] perspective. This life is a test for what comes next. How will you be graded? Pretty sure a pile of gold doesn’t win points.
- jdthedisciple 6y agois this sarcasm ?
- treeman79 6y agoTold in a sarcastic tone. But all are true. Had some really bad years before figuring out what was wrong. Found support groups. All of those points are sadly the norm.
- tokai 6y agoWould have loved to read a proper post by you on that. Instead of this list you wrote out.
- koonsolo 6y agoSo what was wrong?
- treeman79 6y agoFactor 5 & Sjogrens as primary underlying conditions. Lots of secondary conditions. Basically everything in body was inflamed or damaged and I was having weekly minor strokes. Also extremely hypersensitive to most meds.
- koonsolo 6y agoGood thing you were able to find what was causing it. Thanks for the reply! :)
- neuronic 6y agoYep, got a part of these issues after Epstein-Barr virus and especially > Doctors now blame all symptoms on anxiety! hits hard.
- flybrand 6y agoCeliac here, “are you sure you didn’t eat any gluten?” Now a part of every health care provider conversation.
- hathym 6y ago> > Doctors now blame all symptoms on anxiety! Doctors are sometimes like developers, when they don't find the root cause of an issue they blame it on the network or the OS
- treeman79 6y agoI read medical reports periodically. It is insanely hard.
- JackFr 6y agoIf the process has been working for years and you just had a release and now it's crashing, you're gonna blame the release. (But to continue the analogy, a reason to be scrutinize this paper is, because the process has been working fine for years no one has looked at the logs in an age, and when they do, oh my .... there are many things going wrong might not related to the release at all.)
- briffle 6y agoThis makes me curious.. As a sysadmin, the firewall is almost always blamed (or some imaginary change in the "system"). But often, simple things like DNS are the actual cause. I wonder what the equivalent most common blame and actual cause are in the medical world.
- epmaybe 6y agoI think it depends on what field you're in within medicine. I think I would be willing to bet strokes would be high up on that list. There's a lot of neurologic conditions that strokes can mimic depending on severity. One that gets missed a lot of the time is vision related strokes (like a central retinal artery occlusion or a branch retinal artery occlusion), since a lot of doctors aren't super confident in their ophthalmology training. Or mimickers like migraines.
- kzrdude 6y agoYou now have impostor syndrome (because you don't feel pain, and your exhaustion and other symptoms are really not that bad, but you have some problems)
- treeman79 6y agoOh that’s a good one! Nurse once asked me pain level, I said 8. She lectured me that’s ER level of pain, not to use it anymore, I must be a pill seeker. It was an 8.
- tasuki 6y agoWhat does "level 8" pain mean? [Edit: I really meant to ask, how do you know it's an 8 rather than a 7 or a 9? Isn't this very highly subjective? What does the number even tell us? Have you read https://xkcd.com/883/ https://xkcd.com/883/?]
- ceejayoz 6y agoSomething different for every person, which is why I hate the 1-10 pain score. Some people will declare a stubbed toe a 10; others will self-amputate an arm and deem it a 6 because they weren't on fire while doing it. Medical staff don't really help by describing a 10 as "the worst pain you can imagine", given variance in imaginations. I much prefer the "Hyperbole and a Half" author's pain scale. http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/02/boyfriend-doesnt-have-ebola-probably.html http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/02/boyfriend-does...
- tasuki 6y agoThank you - this seems a very reasonable scale. I think I might have never felt more than a six.
- darkerside 6y agoThat's way more meaningful. Had gout, experienced at least an 8.
- Tasboo 6y agoOof. Been dealing with this for over 3 months now. Thank you for your post. I'm very sorry this has affected you. FWIW, it's somewhat comforting to me to know someone else understands what I am going through.
- solinent 6y agoOh, and also even though we don't know why you're ill we also know for certain you'll also never get better, so here's some chemo drugs to take for the rest of your life.
- iagovar 6y agoYeah man, and not even in the US...
- intricatedetail 6y agoIn my case I got great help with medical cannabis, but access was only possible this year. All the suffering I endured during these years just because suits didn't want big pharma to lose money... I am bitter about this that justice won't be done. I hope one day karma will reach those people who block access to medicine. I am not saying cannabis is a miracle, but it has changed my life for better.
- save_ferris 6y agoI'm glad that substances like cannabis are enjoying wider legal access, but you're right that they aren't always miracles. I was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and in the months since I've completely stopped all cannabis-related products, my mental health has improved considerably without having to take prescribed medication.
- steve_adams_86 6y agoI got a taste of this from a severe case of pneumonia. I always took my health granted, but never realized how much I took other people’s health for granted too. It’s hard to imagine a lack of ability or capacity when you’ve been healthy your entire life.
- chris5745 6y agoRoll me a constitution check.
- treeman79 6y agoYou got a 12 https://rolladie.net/roll-a-d20-die https://rolladie.net/roll-a-d20-die Your mystery illness has now been correctly diagnosed. It’s somewhat treatable. You are given access to a support group that knows your pain.
- effingwewt 6y agoSeems to me contracting covid would also have a permanent HP deduction as well as constitution and willpower checks.
- C1sc0cat 6y agoIts interesting I have chronic kidney failure and I was asked to fill in a questionnaire about broadly mental issues it was a densely packed two page one. The only one I had was feeling a bit upset about how it effected my skin some horrible looking scabs. edited for spelling
- verelo 6y agoThis is a horrible part of COVID that no one seems to get. Chronic conditions are life changing, and no part of it is good. It's different, but as an example, I injured my back (i don't really even know how) and was in intense pain for approximately 8 months. You know that feeling when you burn your hand on something? It normally last 5-15 minutes, well it was like that, but inside my lower spine all the time, for a solid 4 months...and then in duller state for another 4. I am still struggling with pain from time to time, but i'm once again able to sleep a full night (something i couldn't do for around 5-6 months), do physical things and not regret every movement. At the start of the injury, i was probably the fittest I've ever been, but now i'm probably the least fit i've ever been. It's seriously sucked. Who am I kidding, it still sucks...coughing hurts...but its improving and that gives me hope that one day it'll be 'normal' again. Until you've had a long term injury, you have no idea how to sympathize. Right in the middle of this i had a close friend get upset with me that I came over when I knew he was painting, and didn't offer to help. I was frustrated he even considered it a possibility, i was struggling to sit in a car for more than an hour, how was I going to paint a wall or ceiling? People just don't understand. To everyone suffering with something that inhibits their ability to enjoy life, i'm sorry but wish you the best. To everyone looking in from the outside, assume its 10x worse than what you see and reconsider your next move.
- treeman79 6y agoI hear you. Blew a disk in high school. Set me back decades. A few years ago I got serous on stretching videos, finally found the ones that “fix” it. Doctors and chiropractors were helpful, but it never lasted
- bonecrusher2102 6y agoWould you mind sharing the videos?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- treeman79 6y ago
- AgloeDreams 6y ago> Staying positive when you have a chronic condition is incredibly difficult. > You're not going to get through it without losing your mind now and then. Why does this read like a Mountain Goats song?
- treeman79 6y agoMore so Weird Al. https://youtu.be/JE37e1eK2mY https://youtu.be/JE37e1eK2mY Looks like Mountain Goats is a successor though.
- tarsinge 6y agoWell I suffered from that for more than a decade but in the end in turned out in was indeed "anxiety". Your thoughts can make you sick. It took me a long time to realize that idea, to admit that psychosomatic effects are real and strong, that it's not craziness, and yes doctors are usually not very useful with that. Simple test: what were your thoughts and emotions 5 minutes ago? 1 hour ago? since this morning? and how were you breathing (slowly with good posture or rapidly)? If your brain is constantly circling thoughts with no cool-down with bad posture it's guaranteed you will have physical problems. For me the cure was a combination of: - Slow breathing exercises - Mindfulness (to learn to listen to the body and emotions, an to be aware and able to "control" thoughts). No mysticism bullshit, just having a brain and body at rest and present. - Stoic philosophy : not worrying with things not in my control, not being affected by outcomes (e.g. objectively did my best and the boss/client is not happy? That's fine for me) - Strength training - Nutrition - Financial security (I know I'm lucky but that doesn't change the point) - Edit: "reconnecting with nature": again no mysticism, just outdoor walks, gardening, and taking the time to observe and appreciate while being fine doing nothing The best I could describe my default state now is as being relatively at peace, with no negative thoughts circling, slowly breathing with good posture (that I can maintain while coding long hours for example). I'm still of anxious nature and still worry about the future, but only on the time period I will allow it (and not as a the permanent background noise). YMMV obviously.
- brainfish 6y agoThat's great for you and all, but this reads like you are dismissing other people's very real and debilitating experiences of chronic illness.
- tarsinge 6y agoSorry if that’s what you got, my intention was only to bring my experience that these symptoms can indeed come from « anxiety », not that it’s the exclusive cause.
- gidan 6y agoI identify a lot with parent comment. Had a lot of chronic pain resulting in very intense and sharp pain near the nose, I really thought it was linked to sinus cavities being inflamed. At the end it was very linked to my mental state, it took me half a decade to figure it. As parent comment is suggesting, slow breathing to remove tensions near your rib cage can help. The most useful tool for me is to smoke cannabis, I then identify pain points in my body and massaging them with my hand vigorously is effective. Hope it can help people having « the same kind » of chronic pain.
- newcrobuzon 6y agoCancer survivor of 20 years here. You sir seem to understand exactly how things are. This is how it is, not bad, not good, just the nature of life i guess.
- ASalazarMX 6y agoThis is such a millennial take on the article, just needs a couple of suicidal jokes. From the article: "Anxiety, depression and insomnia were most common among recovered COVID-19 patients in the study who developed mental health problems". It isn't about long COVID. We're living in a uncertain, stressful time. Even people who haven't got COVID-19 have some degree of anxiety, of course getting it and not knowing if you will end up in a ventilator will have a bigger impact on your mental health.
- ManBlanket 6y agoCovid reporting is rife with statistical murder for the sake of hyperbole. If someone paid attention to the first week of a statistics course they'd learn about sample bias, false causality, cherry picking, Simpson's paradox, etc. Ahem, publication bias. Small wonder mental illness is up with a constant news cycle abusing fallacy to monopolize the public's attention and a status quo of blaming whomever strikes convenience for the disease. Let's just pull some data from this cohort of people who had Covid... and there we have it - Covid causes mental illness. In my state deaths from child abuse outstripped deaths from Covid until a recent outbreak in a couple of nursing homes. Guess we can conclude it causes deaths by child abuse. What's the tragedy reported in the newspapers? School closures forcing children from broken homes out of the only place people cared about their safety and success are now dying from abuse? The generation of poor and minority illiterate 3rd graders who will never catch up? Nope. People literally waiting to die in a nursing home are dying. A tragedy. Small wonder mental illness is up indeed...
- bigbubba 6y ago> People literally waiting to die in a nursing home are dying. This is why I've said from the beginning that impact to life expectancy should be the metric which guides public policy. It accounts for lives of children being worth more than the lives of the elderly, because the elderly have less life to lose.
- anorwell 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year
- butbutemails2 6y agoThis! This. This. Thank you so much. Some days you can feel so depressed about the recovery process. Hang in there. The cold weather made me relapse on postCovid and I feel like shit rn
- gabereiser 6y agoDad? For real, this may be satire but it's 100% on message with how we treat those who are suffering from an invisible-externally disease. I wish this wasn't true. Heart goes out to all those suffering from an illness the world thinks they should "suck it up".
- jacquesm 6y agoI'm definitely aware of some cognitive impairment since dealing with COVID, with me it seems to center on some fine motor skills leading to trouble with typing faultlessly, which I could do without a problem before and now I need to review what I type three times before I'm confident I didn't mess up. Besides that, the tiredness is mostly gone now (it had better be after a good 8 months), though every now and then it can still recur and then I'm 'down' for a bit. As for planning, I updated my will a week ago with all this at the back of my mind. So while I recognize some of it I am happy that I apparently had a 'mild' case of this, and I feel very sorry for anybody that had it worse (and their families as well).
- DoreenMichele 6y agoB vitamins are water soluble, so they are easy to become deficient in under any kind of duress. They are known to be important to neurological function. A quick google of "b vitamin deficiency fine motor impairment" brings up B 12 repeatedly in references. Some B vitamin or other was one of the supplements medically recommended for children with autism that I gave to one of my sons when he was about eight years old and his handwriting issues improved. (I would have to try to dig up old notes, if they still exist, to say exactly which b vitamin.) https://neuromuscular.wustl.edu/nother/vitamin.htm https://neuromuscular.wustl.edu/nother/vitamin.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4476750/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4476750/ https://www.symptoma.com/en/ddx/fine-motor-coordination-problems+paresthesia+vitamin-b12-deficiency https://www.symptoma.com/en/ddx/fine-motor-coordination-prob... https://www.b12deficiency.info/blog/tag/poor-motor-skills/ https://www.b12deficiency.info/blog/tag/poor-motor-skills/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12_deficiency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12_deficiency (I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice for anyone, much less for the OP. This is just a general observation for anyone interested.) Edit: Yep, my old notes still exist and B 12 is one of the three B vitamins listed (I never found DMG but gave the three B vitamins and magnesium to my son and after a few months saw improvement in social issues and handwriting). Excerpt from an old blog post: "In 1996, I found some information on the Internet about a vitamin therapy that doctors sometimes prescribe for autistic spectrum children. Recently, I found the crumpled, pathetic slip of paper that I originally wrote my notes on. My original note has the following bullet points written willie-nillie, all over the place: (DMG) Dimethylglycine 125mg tablets or capsules take 2 - 3 weeks ("then add"), vitamins B6, B5 then add B12/magnesium Okay, I take that to mean that all the doses are supposed to be 125 milligrams. They did suggest you start things either one at a time or in pairs (and I take my notes to mean that the pairs are 'B6 with B5' and 'B12 with Magnesium') and observe if there were behavior changes with the addition of each thing. I think 2-3 weeks is how long you should have the child on each supplement before adding the next one."
- brnt 6y agoGot Covid 4 weeks ago, got better two weeks later. This weekend I went out for my first walk, about an hour. Although I didn't have any lung issues during the really-ill period, I definitly can't walk as fast or long as I used to, one hour felt more like two or three. I really had to pace myself. I broke out into heavy sweating going up a small hill. When I got home, I laid down in bed and dozed the rest of the day. Pure exhaustion. After I got 'better' I thought it was comparable in severity to a bad flu. It's becoming rapidly apparent that the real impact shows itself after sickbed. I'm 33. I feel like I've aged a few decades in the past month. I really hope this will pass.
- elhudy 6y agoDid I miss something? Everyone is discussing their anecdotal chronic condition stories, but the article is not about chronic conditions. We know the following from the article: - 1 in 5 people will have a first time diagnosis of a mental illness (including but not limited to anxiety) within the first 90 days of being infected. This does not mean the diagnosis is chronic or even lasts beyond the duration of the disease. There have been studies done showing that about 2% of people still have symptoms resulting from coronavirus after 12 weeks [1]. We should not be conflating people getting anxiety from having coronavirus, with people developing chronic mental illness. [1] https://covid.joinzoe.com/us-post/long-covid https://covid.joinzoe.com/us-post/long-covid
- treeman79 6y agoChronic Condition will give you a mental illness was original point. The fear of such a condition or death can also create tremendous amount of anxiety.
- y-c-o-m-b 6y agoThis has been the past 5 years for me. It's amazing how accurate all of those are and how each point is a major problem on its own, let alone all of them! -20 to my trust and confidence in the healthcare establishment
- katties 6y agoThis is seriously sound real