[mmaaz]

Good advice. I didn’t have a stroke but a couple months ago I developed blindness in my left eye. It came down to my optic nerve being inflamed. I was later diagnosed with a rare autoimmune condition called MOGAD which “attacks” the optic nerve. Thankfully my vision is approx 95% recovered by now. But I still can’t read, eg code on my laptop, which is scary (my right eye is basically making up for it). And I’m scared of another attack happening. So I’ve been really looking after my health and trying not to do the 12+ hr coding benders I used to do. I appreciate these tips!

[WalterBright]

> 12+ hr coding benders

Even when I was young, I discovered that after a certain level of fatigue my coding became garbage, and after a night's sleep I had to delete it and redo it. After this tipping point, I just stop doing the hard stuff. If I still want to work, I work on routine things that didn't take much concentration.

I never understood how people can write complex code when fatigued. I just get negatively productive trying that.

[throwawayffffas]

> I discovered that after a certain level of fatigue my coding became garbage, and after a night's sleep I had to delete it and redo it.

My best work happens at 2am, at about 4am I am too tired and get slow and get stuck, I think even then code quality suffers only a little bit.

That's just my experience, I believe it happens because if I am working at that time, I am hyped and or in the zone. There is a sort of second wind involved. The lack of distractions also helps I guess.

[mmaaz]

Tbh the code I was writing wasn’t that complex from an engineering perspective. During my PhD I was writing “research code” which is more like writing scripts, not a full blown application or library. The most challenging part was translating the math/algorithms to code. And I would just get into a flow state sometimes and could not stop haha. I had a (bad?) habit during my PhD that whenever I was stuck on a problem I just kept bashing my head against it until I solved it (code or math).

[padolsey]

Thanks for sharing! I feel the fear of another attack with epilepsy too. It is terrifying. The doom and the walking on thin ice constantly hoping you're not gonna over-step or do the wrong thing. And all that at the same time as trying to live your life fully. Do you have any devices or aid software to help with the not-reading thing? I imagine it's all really fresh still and you're just taking it a day at a time?

[mmaaz]

Wow, I feel for you, that sounds really scary. Honestly no, I’ve scarcely changed how I work, except for being more strict about keeping a rigid schedule, forcing myself to take breaks, etc. It’s only my left eye that can’t read, the right eye is totally fine. But I do feel the eye strain come on sooner from relying on one eye.

[ares623]

Doesn’t the immune system attack the eyes if not for a protective wall? Or is that just a myth.

[mmaaz]

Hmm not sure what you mean. In the case of MOGAD, it actually attacks the lining of the nerve. The MOG means myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, which is a protein in the myelin sheath.