Cognitive impairment in psychosis/sz?

So I have Psychosis and OCD.I started having cognitive symptoms such as poor working memory, poor attention/concentration after my first psychotic episode. I’m not sure if they are from my mental illness(psychosis) itself or maybe from the drug side effects.I’m right now on clozapine(100mg), fluoxetine(20mg), modafinil(100mg) and propranolol 20mg.

So I’m curious has anybody able to fix their cognitive symptoms from schizophrenia/psychosis through drugs ? What meds help you with the cognitive deficits associated with your illness ?

If you need to keep track of your cognitive functions, try something like Lumosity.com or mybraintrainer.com. They are online brain training sites with lots of statistics.

I’ve thought about doing that. Do you think it really works to improve attention? I know that video games helped my attention span.

There’s also a few video games on the nintendo ds called brain age that might help. They helped me when i first got sick but i lost the power cord for my ds and my brother sold my games.

It’s pretty likely due to the Inderal plus the Cloz, though the Nuvigil, and to a lesser extent, the Prozac, are probably countering those effects. I wouldn’t just stop taking the Inderal or Cloz, but I would definitely get with your p-doc to see if the dosage(s) can be adjusted a little.

(Cloz and Inderal together. Yikes. I’d be crawling on the floor.)

Were you pretty manic before you were “successfully” medicated?

Actually studies has shown that computer and video gamers have improved logical abilities from more connections in the brain. In the same way that taxi drivers has an increased georaphical brain centre. Its called neuroplasticity.

However you need to play upwards to 30 minuttes a day of these Lumosit games for the full effect. But it can show you however, if a new med is causing problems if your scores are suddenly lower. I use it for that purpose. Lumosity is actually quite fun too.

Inderal I know from experience is even worse than AP Meds for memory.

Great info thanks.

I don’t think i can afford lumosity as i am only 18 and already have to pay for spotify

mybraintrainer.com is only like 4 dollars a month. max

I checked it out, have you tried it before?

Sure. I used it at a time where I was really affected by Abilify, and my thinking was very bad. I could see that as I switched to another med, my scores improved. But actually I think that playing video games might be just as good.

I can recomend Lumosity for brain training though. Not so much mybraintrainer.com as it gets boring fast.

here is the link

its kinda comlicated but it says that you will become smarter from playing video games. Lumosity claims to do this more easily, but it is the same thing.

However if a med is causing you problems you might consider switching

CONSCIOUSNESS HAS MANY COMPONENTS.

When I was first trying numerous meds to find the one that worked best for me, one of them removed a significant portion of my “Self”. The scary part was that it also removed access to any memory of this portion of me ever existing at all. Thus part of me disappeared yet what was left of me was completely unaware of this. It was not until I got off this drug that I said OMG since now that it had returned it was clear that such a part of me was a very important part of me indeed.

Just imagine if someone stole your car and also gave you a drug that removed all memories of you ever having a car, and then kept this approach up until you had nothing left at all. Meanwhile, from your point of view, you have lost nothing at all. The perfect crime. Freaky !

WIll shifting propranolol at bed time fix the problem ? Maybe the side effects will go away by the morning ?

Will using nootropics like piracetam and citicoline help with cognitive symptoms? Anybody tried that ?

That’s a definite possibility. Discuss for sure with your prescriber because he may be using it to potentiate the “compressive” effects of cloz for some reason. (Most of the prescribers I know would combine those two only for brief periods of time, but your circumstances may call for the combo.)

@clinic Second gen antipsychotics are less likely to cause cognitive numbing. And checkout sarcosine thread on this forum.

1 Like

Yes - check out this thread: