Does schizophrenia reduces intelligence?

Schizophrenia doesn’t reduce intelligence it just gets in the way of our performance. A lot of extra work for sure but we can accomplish our goals with meds, support and determination

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Schizophrenia:::~

The Question Arrives:::~ Performance For Who?. And or What?. And What Reason?. And or Purpose?.

Does it Serve Our Needs?.

Our Requirements?.

Or Those Outside of Our Illusions And or Realities?.

And What Meaning Does it Serve to Serve Someone Else’s Meaning?.

Sincerely,

DJ Nosferatu Bat Beam (sleepoptimistic)
:latin_cross: :yin_yang: :latin_cross:

I just meant to be able to drag my arse to work or even in the tub, for that matter

I Wasn’t Aware That The “tub” Was a Sense of “performance”.

No Need For Apologies. I Mistook Your Comment With The Word ‘Performance’ For Something Upon a Higher Standard.

My Bad.

Sincerely,

DJ Nosferatu Bat Beam (sleepoptimistic)
:latin_cross: :yin_yang: :latin_cross:

No bad, I just used the word “performace” for activity. Im old.

Hmm.

What’s Considered “old” in These Modern Electrical Wiring Times (???).

If Yuu Don’t Mind Me Asking.

Sincerely,

DJ Nosferatu Bat Beam (sleepoptimistic)
:latin_cross: :yin_yang: :latin_cross:

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Oh, 51. I was diagnosed in 1990, age 21. Been a long ride, still here though!

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Some of the meds can reduce your IQ.

One med I was given shut down part of my “self”, meaning, part of me was now gone, and any access to any memories of that part of me were gone as well, thus it was as though that part of me had never existed. It was not until I was taken off that drug did I suddenly become aware of what was missing. It was shocking to now realize just how much of my self had temporarily vanished. Sorry, but I can’t recall what specific medication that was since that was over 20 years ago.

It was intense to such a degree that would be about the equivalent of losing all awareness of happiness and all prior memories of it. Thus you would also lose all memories of any prior occurrences of ever being happy, rather than just lose awareness of happiness itself.

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I made a poll on this once. Maybe you could make another one.

https://forum.schizophrenia.com/t/poll-how-much-has-this-illness-decreased-your-cognitive-abilities/

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There is research that shows that training with the dual n-back task improves intelligence. There are lots of dual n-back apps for Android OS.

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My intelligence has been unharmed.

I am operating with an illness of Schizophrenia, and a diagnosis of ASD, however, these things have been in my life now for years, and I work around my short falls.

Luckily I am gifted with being able to apply what practical and intellectual abilities that I have, and although they may not be as sharp, it’s enough to get me by, so I am not bothered if in certain areas I struggle, as you have to play to your strengths and weaknesses.

As far as I am concerned, these labels are just an integral part of who I am, and they’re inseparable from my living experiences.

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How’s your meds reduction going?

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To be honest the withdrawal I assume I felt lasted only about 5 days. I felt really light headed and off balance, and I felt nauseous as well.

It has settled now thankfully on the new dose of 600mg.

The pdoc says not to drop again for 4-6 weeks.

I won’t drop 200mg (25%) again. Next drop will be 100mg (50mg of morning and 50mg off night)

Then another 6 weeks, repeat and stop at 400mg which is the lower dose range for Amisulpride.

If I can stay well on that dose I will be very happy, but no one can tell what’s going to happen, so it’s a bit risky

Thanks for asking @Aziz

Have you met your new pdoc yet?

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No, I convinced my current pdr to prescribe Vraylar when its out. I told him I want to change him if he doesn’t prescribe Vraylar. He prescribed me Rexulti but I phoned him back and told him to cancel it. I had to tell him about the addictions and hypersexuality warnings for Rexulti and Abilify on the FDA and Health Canada government website. I had these while on Abilify. They’re also written on the bottle I believe. I am still on 4mg Risperdal, no positive symptoms, no hypersexuality and no addictions.

That’s an improvement, but you really need help with the negatives, as I see you struggle a lot with those.

Meds is part of it. One thing I have recently started doing is exercise. It seems to be helping me a bit. I go swimming and I enjoy having it and I regard it as a hobby now.

Makes me feel much better. There are probably so many other things you can try.

I really feel for you @Aziz as I have the negatives, but somehow I manage to push myself enough.

Hopefully they will come up with something soon.

Vraylar seems good to me side effects wise, but please don’t put too much stock in this, as if you build your expectations up too high you might get disappointed

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I had peaks and troughs of cognitive ability way before any overt signs of serious mental illness . Has having a serious mental illness worsened things? I don’t think so. Age is far more likely to be a factor in any decline.

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Responding to unreal thoughts, voices is surely a sign of low intelligence.

Visual hallucinations are a greater indicator of cognitive impairment and severity of illness.

It seems @Aziz that you are on the right track. I’ve found with the schizophrenia that it’s made my mind a mess, it feels like there’s a pile of books stacked up in front of me, pages are missing and the spines are broken, but then again my schizophrenia is more based upon anxiety and a sense of being disabled that yours seems to be. I honestly feel like “I can’t do anything”. I can only make myself pasta or a frozen pizza and can make Coffee/tea. I take Zuclopenthixol at 400mg each month or every 4 weeks. I have always felt very sedated by the drugs. I’m still hopeful that one day I’ll get off them, because I’ve read similar stories of people who had problems coming off in the past, yet eventually succeeded. Yet you have to be very careful, I personally want to continue taking my drugs until next year and luckily I’m on a medication that reduces gradually in the body, so doesn’t need tapering to the same degree.

I see no reason why you couldn’t become a doctor if you wanted to become one, probably the main concern will be staying focused, for a long while now I’ve found that my concentration lapses, perhaps because of the drugs, or perhaps due to the [schizophrenia]. It really upsets me when I tell my Mum that I should have achieved more by now and she mentions that I’ve “been ill”, when of course I have, but want to put it to the back of my mind. If I’m successful in the future I will keep my schizophrenia a secret, I’d rather be cured of it and then abandon such issues. I’ve never had hallucinations or heard voices anyway. I take 500mg of Niacin per day, it’s not enough, but my parents won’t agree to buy me any more of it, it’s very good for schizophrenia and changes the biochemistry of those suffering from this illness, to become more mentally resilient.

I don’t think the cognitive decline in schizophrenia is as bad at the acute phase, because at AS level in the UK (second to last year of secondary school) I achieved a D and E in History and Business, respectively. In the A2’s (the last year) I bumped it up to a C and a D and did so via distance learning, after my schizophrenia diagnosis. So anything is possible.

Strangely enough I’ve found time without a computer to have made my mental health worse, the keyboard on my ASUS laptop is knackered, it no longer works, most keys fail.

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