Does anyone here suffer from lack of attention span?
Difficulty seeing things through?
Is this a side effect of the antipsychotics, or a part of the illness?
Yeah go to do something then a hour later remember I was going to do it, can’t focus on a whole movie or long posts
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Do you think that is the same as just not caring, or finding it too difficult to complete a task? I want to know if I have negative symptoms or just depression. But I also don’t think the medicine helps.
Could be both really, I have depression, but things I want to do just forget to do them, and being alone 99% of the time it’s hard to stay happy and focused
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I can’t focus on anything long. I try to read the bible every night but I don’t make much progress each night past a few verses.
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its normal for me, earlier in the course of illness when i was on zyprexa i had major issues paying attention, it was even worse on geodon before that
Attention span? What’s that?
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Do you find that it interferes with your ability to self motivate i.e. Complete tasks? I can’t tell if this is a cognitive deficit or a side effect of the antipsychotics now
It definitely dampens my experience of doing things. But I get as much done as I did pre-sz, I just don’t take as much pleasure in it. I think its the medications personally, thats why I’m trying to reduce seroquel and add on latuda. for me the issue is focusing and getting passionate/involved in something. The passion just isnt there
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Well I’m on latuda and the weight gain isn’t as bad as it is with seroquel so maybe you’ll lose a few lbs. it’s the best one of these lousy meds in my opinion but it still sucks in a lot of ways. I’m pretty sure it causes some powerful brain fog and passion. Im not very passionate about the things I used to be passionate about. Jogging, lifting, girls, tv, money, working, success, all got sapped initially by a high dose of geodon and haven’t come back even though I switched to latuda. Gonna get on a stimulant soon so maybe that’ll help.
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Interesting. I’ve never associated attention span with follow through. I just thought I was lazy. So my family says.
But yes lack of attention span,not retaining what I do in adobe or read yes frustrating.
So how much harder fo we try?
you ought to be careful with stimulants, some make sz worse, but then you’re officially bipolar, right? You’re also on 40mg latuda if i remember correctly, i know latuda is good for bipolar. you are on a much lower dose than what I would be taking, im starting at 60 or 80 mg. I need high doses, but thats just me. hopefully i don’t get the libido issues you have. My libido is great on seroquel
I’m pretty sure that inatention is a cognitive symptom although it could be depression or even the medication. I just realized today that it is one of the biggest reasons for my disability. I can’t focus long enough to really enjoy anything. I’m gonna say it’s the meds or depression tho because I don’t want to believe that it’s somehow related to my dysfunctional brain.
Lack of attention is really kicking my ass. It makes it so hard to distract myself from the bad thoughts.
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Yea I was suprised when the doctor mentioned stimulants to me. I told her that I can’t focus and that I self medicate with caffeine and she brought them up. I do have bipolar but I’ve got psychosis lurking right beneath the surface. I hope the stimulants don’t activate it. Anyway yea 40 mg of latuda is what I take. It’s no where near as bad as some of the others in the side effects department. I’m not too overweight and I can drive and function ok physically. I’ve got depression as well so my libido is shot, but I don’t think the latuda helps it any. It’s a good antipsychotic though,but like everybody else I’m sure, I would prefer not to be on it.
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Yea it’s true. I’m the same way. You would at least think the bad thoughts wouldn’t be there but they stay and all the good stuff goes
I got some benefit from antidepressants but I think it is more complicated than that. I definitely think the APs contribute to it as well.
Did you? Are you still on them? I’m taking Prozac and yes it does help but only to a point. I believe you that the atypicals cause the rest. It’s a real catch 22
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Yeah I take 60mg of Prozac. Helps a bit but this last year the negative symptoms have had it in for me.
The doctors seem to be more concerned about delusions and hallucinations but this negative stuff is a bigger problem for me now.
what is this thread about, again? 
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