I came to the same realization two years ago. I was quite sad at first, but then kept reminding myself that we are humans, we adapt with whatever card we're dealt with. And POIS is the card we're dealt with in life.
I started to think of it as an extra limb of my body, something I'll live with and take to my grave. Thus I adjusted my entire outlook of life accordingly. Kept my expectations in check, abandoned any grand ambitions and dreams I would've accomplished had I been cured. And focused just on how to lead a balanced life to get the most joy out of it.
Abandoning is a harsh word, but I seen many people like Quantum in this forum who despite the worst that come out of pois, you can come out of it just fine. You'll just have to live with whatever treatments work for you. Some took 5 years, others took 10 or 20 or even 30. These guys fill me with inspiration that at the end of this road, a balanced life is waiting for me. Yeah it is not perfect, but it's the card we're dealt with.
Only after reaching the balanced life goal I might think of chasing any grand ambitions or dreams left, where POIS wouldn't affect me emotionally that much.
Thanks to this mindset, I can now focus more on treatments accurately instead of the cure.
In the past I would abandon the experiments quickly even if the treatment works partially, because I was so obsessed in the idea of CURE that I would dismiss anything else. But now that I put the idea of a 'CURE' is out of the picture, I can focus, analyze, and execute experiments more thoughtfully and come out with actual results. My mindset right now is more of a "If I mix treatment A that worked and treatment B then C, it might lead me to a balanced life where I choose the RIGHT time for me to suffer the symptoms, and recover from them as fast as possible", instead of the mindset of "if this treatment doesn't cure me, I willl abandon all hope."
