Comment by pm | Hacker News Reader

Comment by pm | Hacker News Reader

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I would usually attribute this to burnout, but there might be other factors at work. I was exhausted on and off for three years, had many days off and would eventually get to the point of not being able to complete my work. I thought it might've been sleep apnoea or chronic fatigue. Eventually at the end of last year it got to the point where I could barely work at all, and I knew it wasn't burnout (been there, done that, don't stress about fuck all now).

I ended up being diagnosed with cancer, and after a bout of chemoradiation, it disappeared completely (as far as scans can tell). Let me tell you, the difference in energy was nothing short of amazing.

I'm really not trying to frighten you, but I was lucky that it wasn't aggressive and got caught relatively early. Chances are it's not, but it could just as easily be another medical condition and it's worth seeing a doctor. There might be indications of things in bloodwork or other measurements, so be patient but firm with your doctor if they tell you to just "forget about it".

Thanks for this. I am going to go see a doctor. The more I think about it, the more I realize it might actually be a medical issue. It's not just coding. Yesterday I had the same reaction just listening to a voicemail prompt. Any set of rules or procedures that requires even a little bit of focus sends my mind reeling. It feels as if I've somehow lost the part of my brain that is "smart."

I second seeing a doctor as digestive diseases for example result in vastly reduced energy levels. EX: "Albumin levels low" = your starving even if your eating plenty of food.

But, I would also add getting even modest regular exercise can make a massive difference. Even just 1 hour a week split over 3-4 days can also dramatically change mood and energy levels.

I very strongly second the suggestion of exercise.

Exercise (especially bodyweight exercise, which you can do pretty much anywhere, without any equipment) can be a sort of free, always available destress button. Whenever I get really stressed these days, I have the option of just putting a lot of the wound-up, stressed-out energy in to some exercise (like pushups) and it's amazingly effective.

I've never really realized until recently just how much of this mental stress I've been experiencing my whole life was so intimately connected with my body and how much physical things such as diet and exercise can affect it.

Exactly, it could be so many things. Even if results come back inconclusive, it doesn't mean something's not going on.

On that note, I could be totally off and the OP might just be regular old stressed, but there's no way anybody can really tell from this post. Everyone will project their worst experiences onto it.

A bit off topic, but I would be curious to hear about the process in which your doctor(s) diagnosed your cancer. Mostly because I would not think to attribute fatigue as a common symptom of cancer.

It wasn't the fatigue. I had rectal cancer, was bleeding out of my rectum after drinking too much (first 8 months of last year I stopped drinking because I thought that might've been the issue). I didn't think much of it until the end of the year after a bender and bleeding profusely for 3/4 of the day. Went in and had a colonoscopy a month later, and was then diagnosed.

However, I didn't have those symptoms until the cancer was Stage 3, and I was lucky it was rectal. If it was up further in my bowel, obvious symptoms may have appeared too late (and I'm 36, so too young to be considered for regular colonoscopies).

However, it should be noted that fatigue is a common side effect of many cancers, and shouldn't be ignored if you've been fatigued for a while.

Thyroid could be more likely than cancer (less critical to catch immediately, of course).

As I said in another comment, it could be anything, I was just using my experience as an example that sometimes it's not necessarily burnout, but an actual physical issue. Burnout is such a common problem with programmers that we just naturally assume that's the issue without regard for other medical factors.

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