Various social media interactions and posts on Reddit provide insight into the life of the man accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.

Luigi Mangione, age 26, seemed to share details about his ongoing health struggles, along with multiple symptoms that affected his daily activities for over ten years.

Using the username “Mister_Cactus,” Mangione posted on Reddit, as shown in a post referencing a GitHub page he managed, which is a platform for sharing computer code.

Although his Reddit account was disabled on Monday, some of his posts are still accessible through archived websites and users who saved his previous content, even from accounts that have been suspended.

In August 2023, he made a positive post on a subreddit dedicated to spondylolisthesis, according to a review by YSL News. This condition, characterized by the slipping of spinal bones, often leads to chronic pain in the lower back and legs, as noted by the Mayo Clinic. His post aimed to uplift others dealing with back pain.

“It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the horror stories circulating online,” he commented under the name associated with Mangione. “When my spondy worsened last year, it was a tough blow for someone who was athletic. It felt like the internet was filled with stories dictating that I would face chronic pain and be stuck at a desk job for life. Such portrayals were horrifying, misleading, and deeply impacted me until I understood that many fusion surgeries have high success rates.”

He shared advice on stretching routines and recommended seeing a physical therapist. His posts often conveyed a sense of community support, affirming that “the feelings you’re describing are awful and completely legitimate.”

He documented the onset of his pain in January 2022. By July 2023, he mentioned that his “back and hips became immobilized after an accident, leaving my lumbar and hips misaligned.”

Responding to another user on July 29, 2023, Mangione described enduring bladder and genital discomfort, back pain, and sciatica stemming from his back injury. He also began experiencing numbness in his groin and bladder as well as below his right knee. He noted, “For me, it’s due to the tightening of my piriformis/hip muscles to compensate for my injury. This tightness compresses my nerves. It hasn’t shown on an MRI, and no doctor has really confirmed it.”

In a discussion regarding surgery related to the lumbosacral joint, known as L5-S1, he recounted his personal experience: “The surgery turned out to be far less frightening than I anticipated, and I recognized it was the right choice within a week.”

A banner on social media linked to Mangione displayed an X-ray of his back procedure, depicting a spinal fusion with bolts used to join his vertebrae.

In other posts under “Mister_Cactus,” he mentioned battling Lyme disease during his teenage years, which he described as resulting in “brain fog.” He shared that he missed soccer tryouts at age 13 due to Lyme disease, which also led to a perceived decline in his cognitive function by age 15. He indicated that his symptoms significantly worsened in 2017 while studying at the University of Pennsylvania, but further Lyme tests returned negative results.

In July 2018, he discussed issues with restless sleep, and in August of the same year, he sought dietary advice in a group focused on irritable bowel syndrome.

Though Mangione was once active on social media, having about 1,200 friends on Facebook, he had fallen silent in recent months. He had not posted on X since June and hadn’t updated Facebook in several years.

In an April post on X, he suggested an article saying “Christianity’s decline has unleashed terrible new gods.”

In January, he expressed gratitude for his modern education, stating, “I feel fortunate to have a 21st-century education. This allows me to absorb the knowledge of those before me, enabling me to tackle new challenges they would never have conceived.”