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Re:Ask HN: How do you deal with chronic illness? by h2odragon on Sunday October 18, 2020 @09:34PM (#24822638)
Chemistry can help. balance its cost vs the cost of the stress making you worse / slowing your healing, and it may be a bargain worth making... or not. We haven't got Fukitol(tm) but the natural pharmacopeia offers many options and human genius has expanded that beyond the bounds of absurdity.

we mammals are good at ignoring things, too. Ignore the things you can't do, enjoy the things you can all the more. Ignore the things you can't prevent and ignore the regrets of the things you couldn't do.

Re:Ask HN: How do you deal with chronic illness? by nforest on Monday October 19, 2020 @09:48AM (#24826316)
I think that, even if you ignore or don't notice pain, it still will have, in the long run, some effect on your psyche. The same way prolonged background noise will turn you insane even if you're not hearing it. I think in a lot of cases, chronic conditions are co-morbid with depression not because people actively weep over being in pain, but because a constant pain signal ends up having an effect on how the brain is wired. In my case, even though I ignore/don't notice pain most of the time, it definitely increased my general sensibility to regular pain and discomfort, physical or psychological. Ignoring your own body also leads to derealization, also in my case. But if I sit down and practice mindfulness, it makes it easier to deal with. Something I think about often is that picture of the Tibetan monk setting himself on fire. He's not ignoring the pain, he's very much aware of it, but he's detached from it.
Re:Ask HN: How do you deal with chronic illness? by DantesKite on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @03:57AM (#24834887)
I think about that photo often too.