Ive been reading a lot lately and it’s been exceptionally hard to focus on it for long periods of time. I was diagnosed with ADHD in addition to sza, and i think the two are working together against my attention span. Does anybody have tips for how to focus better on reading? Are there any otc products that help?
I may need to take medicine for ADHD, which my prescriber recommended to me, but id rather not if i can find a way to manage it without prescription drugs.
I am reading an audiobook with printed book to follow along. Its helping.
Actually still a struggle. Lots of rewinding. Re-reading. But I got through 45 pages in 3 days. But I’m really enjoying the book.
I read that fish oil helps cognition.
Maybe it’s just that the book im reading is too complicated to digest easily. I have to read some sentences over and over to understand them.
Have you tried it? I do eat a lot of fish.
Yea I take it almost everyday. I read it lowers triglycerides and bad cholesterol too. Did you ask your Dr for ADHD meds? They are of course more effective than fishoil but Ritalin and Adderall may worsen psychosis.
My doctor asked me if i needed adhd meds and i said no but now im not so sure. I am afraid of how they will interact with my abilify and my schizoaffective disorder.
Maybe just try a low dose and see how you do?
When I began to read after my first hospitalization, which was 6 months long, adolescent ward, I began to read to improve my concentration. I read a Ray Bradbury short story a night, which was almost always ten pages long. I purposely limited myself so I wouldn’t overdo it and not do it the next night. I dreamed of the day I would be able to read for hours and hours and get lost in it. I never was able to do that but once or twice, though I’ve read 10,000 hours in 35 years, and I’m happy to just read ten pages at a time when I read. I don’t count the pages until I reach a point I feel full and look back. I go easy on myself. My intention was always to preserve my sanity. I have gotten lost in other intellectual activities.
Ive been trying to do this but even when i can read, the voices in my head are louder than the words on the page and i have to really struggle to understand any of what im reading.
Yeah, I wouldn’t go on stimulants if your experiencing voices. Also, I’m no psychiatrist, but your adhd might actually just be your inability to concentrate due to sz and not adhd. I think most of us with sz get diagnosed with depression and adhd because of concentration issues early on in the prodome.
I never had that bad a problem. Mine was concentration and later comprehension. Maybe someone else can help. Sounds bad!
But it sounds like you might need a higher dose of abilify.
Audiobook read alongs definitely help as @Kxev mentioned. That’s probably the most helpful.
A few other things that help me are to read out loud. I prefer a whisper but feel free to read on blast. Whatever works for you.
I also like to put earbuds in and listen to ambient noise from YouTube. Something without lyrics or anything too groovy.
My doctor told me that the adhd is kind of a symptom of the sza if that makes sense. I am moving to a higher dose of abilify. Right now im on 7.5mg but im moving up to 10mg in a few weeks.
That sort of helps sometimes but not as much as whispering. It just gets annoying when I have to talk to myself just to understand the words that are in front of me. Im fortunately still making progress on my reading but it’s a lot of work.
The book im reading is called Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
I get that. It makes it especially hard when someone else is in the room. I feel silly whispering when someone comes in so I switch to silent reading and miss half of what I read🤷🏽
I like your book choice. It’s very relevant.
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