Long term stress and low quality of life prior to surgery

VitoScaletta

Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2022
Messages
398
Location
Palestine
I've been disproportionately unhealthy in contrast to my young age for multiple years now (insomnia, estrogenic body fat disposition, Hypothyroid symptoms such as easily cold extremities for example) and generally unhealthy (acne, gynecomastia) and I've been stressed for more then 6 years now and extremely stressed for more then a year and half now, causing even worse health and vice versa.
I feel like this stress has been causing me to age physiologically and has caused my puberty to be sped up, my skin looks extremely bad despite my young age, my sexual health is not top-tier, my Testosterone levels are ~500 ng/dL Total Testosterone, not the best considering I'm 18.

I'm having surgery in less then 2 days on the 14th of December for my slightly impacted cervical disc which is causing myelopathy at the adjustment spinal cord level.
(the disc is very small and it's unusual for it to be causing problems and in-general it's unusual but not unheard of to have disc problems at such an age, but I did a lot of bad things to my spine and neck together and it seemed to have caused it to become slightly impacted over a long period of time). I'm not experiencing any pain as it's very small and not touching the spinal cord, I'm only experiencing very very minor sensorial issues which is why I was recommended to do an MRI and how I discovered this problem in the first place.
I'm going to undergo ACDF (Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion) at C5-C6 level, I've seen a very large amount of good neurosurgeons, spinal orthopedic surgeon and a 2 good neuroradiologists to interprete my MRIs in a short period of time due to the privileges of having doctors in my family, they all agree regarding surgery. The surgery is relatively low risk and should completely resolve the problem, and it's not that complex or not as traumatic as neck surgeries which require multiple discs to be removed or various plates to be put in connecting the vertebrae.
Overall, fairly benign issue considering spinal cord issues and will be completely resolved after surgery, and I will fully recover physically 6-7 months after the surgery and be completely unrestricted.

My current concern is that I'm aware of "physiological stress and health" and I'm aware of surgical stress, I'm already unhealthy and have been under long term stress before this. I know that opioids decrease Testicular function and in-general the trauma of surgery should also cause quite a bit of physiological stress. I'm already very physiologically stressed and unhealthy as it is and it sucks I'm going to undergo even more stress and will disproportionately age myself even more, maybe more then the usual person as people on this forum may argue I'm in a compromised state, although not in the typical way (smoking, diabetes, autoimmune problems) but because of subclinical Hypothyroidism and bad "physiological health", of course no one will really understand beside the people on this forum albeit understandably not everyone has such problems

I've been ruining my life and have been the cause of unhappiness for myself for a lot of years now; my stress, unhealthiness, depression, being lonely and unlikable, being stepped on by people and being neurotic and pretty every single problem in my life including this impacted disc have all been due to my weak personality and the decisions I deliberately chose to make because they were easier. I have the same opportunities and same amount of inherent difficulty as the average person and have been causing my own pain for many years, and I continue to act pathetic and continue to hurt myself and occasionally my family and I think I will choose again after this surgery to continue with this lifestyle of patheticism, like I'm doing right now.
I'm in a low position currently, but I can climb out of it and prosper as everything is in my control, I understand this better then anybody, I have the opportunity to become wealthy and develop socially and develop as a person, and I also have to opportunity to evolve into a man

I know there is such a wide spectrum of people in this forum alone and in the world who are in much, much greater misfortune and pain then me, but I want to be heard at least. With my current bad predicament in my life and character, and my sentiment that "I will choose to continue to do nothing and live like a fortunate but pathetic person", I have nothing to look forward to after the surgery.
I'm dwelling if the stress and month of pain and discomfort is worth it.
 
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Immanency

Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2022
Messages
59
Location
France
@VitoScaletta Hi,from my experience,if i would have something that would be consider as a"problem that require surgery"yet i feel no pain,i would cancel the surgery,would do further researchs and experimentations to see if the non painfull feelings i am experiencing can disappear with out surgery,a good skepticism to begin with,"does having a non painfull feeling require people to open my neck?no"that is what i would think.

"I've seen a very large amount of good neurosurgeons, spinal orthopedic surgeon and a 2 good neuroradiologists to interprete my MRIs in a short period of time due to the privileges of having doctors in my family, they all agree regarding surgery"from my perspective,a lot of peoples agreeing with each other do not prove that they are right,or that it is optimal for you,or that the benefit/risk ratio is high enough

from my experience,i went from 0 acné to a few very painfull acné spots with marks after it for almost a year,grass fed grass finished young lamb liver from healthy animals in warm weather fixed it instantly and it did not come back,i can eat the very same foods that caused me very painfull acné such as meat/eggs/dairy with zero acné.from my experience acné goes together with symptoms that could be associated to low DHT/high E2

from my experiences for 99.99% of peoples feeling suboptimal health/energy,can reach optimal,potentially better than ever health/energy in matter of days in in the right context relative to the person,No one is doomed
 

EustaceBagge

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2021
Messages
331
Location
Amsterdam
If your 18 you have a lot of options ahead of you, why give up when your just 18?

Even if you only work at McDonalds you can use it to build up social skills and invest the money in something larger 2 years ahead. That is the worst option possible but still very available.

I think your putting yourself in a position of: "Look at how desperate I am". Many people are in your situation yet think nothing of it, maybe stop social media/watching fitness influencers for a while and if you insist read self help books.
 

stoic

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2020
Messages
271
Never forget that you have many decades of incredible opportunities ahead of you.

The only thing stopping you from conceiving them is your learned helplessness, which is understandable but can always be surmounted.

You clearly have enough self-awareness, so I am confident that you will eventually make it.
 

ChadGPT

Member
Joined
May 27, 2022
Messages
99
Location
USA
I wish I thought of all this stuff when I was your age. You are going to have a huge competitive advantage in life because most people don’t think about anything. You are right to think about the stress of surgery. I believe the stress of the surgeries I had as a child permanently screwed up my fight or flight response. Make sure they control your pain after surgery and that your glycogen and oxygen are saturated and you’ll be fine!
 

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