Does anyone feel dumber than they used to be. Do you find filling out forms more challenging than before? Is it the drugs? Or the disease?
yes and i’m not sure why
I would say the disease itself. Cognitive deficits are very common in sz. They are a symptom of the disease, independent of other symptoms like hallucinations and delusions.
Here is an article about the subject.
Blessings,
Anthony
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Not sure i feel dumber but one thing i find challenging is filling out forms where a positive response is dependant on what i put. Things like disability forms for example. Forms just requiring factual details like name/address etc are not challenging.
If you don’t use it, you lose it, at least that’s how it feels. I know that I felt more confident in my abilities when I was in college and actively learning. I know I’m not less intelligent now, it’s just that I’m not really exercising my brain as much.
I’ve been noticing lots of cognitive lapses. I find it hard to remember the names of people I know very well. I lose my train of thought easily. The list goes on. I’m 55 years old, and I wonder if I could be coming down with early onset alzheimers. My mom died of that disease less than six months ago. I’m sure that alcohol plays a role too.
In my case, there was a combination of medications that I took for my chronic fatigue and its complications that seemed to disrupt my cognition. My cognition seemed to be mostly solid before that point, but it was when I added a particular medication into the mix that my cognition suddenly became far worse than ever and never seemed to return to its old level. So, in my case, there was a distinct point when I started feeling much less on top of things than how I felt previously, and it was right after I took a particular medication and relatively shortly before my positive psychotic symptoms began. For others, it’s likely different.
When I’ve left my zyprexa off the night before I function better mentally.
I definitely notice a difference. When I was in fourth grade I was given an IQ test and scored a few points shy of genius. I entered the mentally gifted program in school until I graduated 8th grade. I then went to a mentally gifted high school where you had to be accepted. I’ve always retained facts well, personal data not so much. There are days when words seem to come easily and my ideas flow, but I can’t think as clearly as I used to. It could be this illness, the ECT, being on meds for years, or the drugs I’ve done. 
IQ tests don’t measure things like creativity and character.
I feel very much dumber than before I got ill.
I used to be very sharp and focused. But now I am quite slow. The speed of processing information is low. Also I have a short span of attention. I think this is because the meds we are taking. I noticed my brain became sharp again when I quit medication 2 years ago. However that quit of meds resulted in a dreadful relapse and hospitalization.
You took the words out of my mouth. My concentration is much lower than it used to be. I have thought a lot that if I were to study something else instead of mathematics then I would fail because of this.
And when I don’t take the drugs I feel more alive… but I have to take them so… 
I notice a difference in how sharp I am now compared to before I got sick and when I was working or in college…it’s the reason I don’t return to my field of being an architect…my concentration level is so low I can’t even read books.
I feel like my brain doesn’t work as well as before I was diagnosed and put on drugs. I don’t know if it’s the disease, or the drugs. But my concentration is short, and I don’t remember things as well.
I find myself misunderstanding often, but then, there was a time when I couldn’t understand at all.
What is intelligence? I’ve met some people who are supposedly really smart but they are extremely lacking in depth and compassion. I think Eckhart Tolle made a good point when he said that many people (not you guys of course) have a shallow understanding of intelligence. Besides this, nobody is smarter than you are. In other words, nobody has authority over your ability to find personal meaning and fulfillment in life - which is ultimately, I think, what the universe wants you to do.