I’m not as mentally sharp as I was before I got sz. This is probably a result of the illness, but I feel I’ve dumbed down a lot, unfortunately. How about you? How is your cognition since you’ve had sz?
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When I was fist hospitalised I complained to the doctor before I left that I no longer felt mentally sharp. I must have thought he could do something which of course he couldn’t.
I’d say 50% is due to the disease (specifically frying my brain with a psychotic break) , 50% meds.
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So you noticed it right away after your first psychotic break?
I think in my case, it’s been a slow decline. I used to get good grades in HS and college, but it all went downhill after I started isolating myself. This was 8-9 years ago, and I feel I’m just now starting to notice the effects.
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not to be a smart ass but
What would you do with a brain if you had one?
jk
I feel neither more nor less sharp
I think I could still pull off good grades if it were presented.
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I’m more sharp than I’ve been since I was about ten years old. Recovery has been good to me.
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I still feel sharp in the sense that I’m aware I’m intelligent.
What frustrates me is how slow I’ve become. I think slower, I react slower, that sort of stuff.
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yeah my reactions and motor skills have taken a hit. I used to play sports, but now I don’t think I’m able to. That could be a combo of just having the confidence to do so, and loss of motor skills.
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Phil says I never listen to what he says
my recall is a bit off
but to this day I can remember whole passages of books I’ve read
which not a lot of people can do.
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Some days i’m sharper than others. When i’m manic I feel brilliant. My bigger problem isn’t how sharp I am but how crowded my mind is with thoughts, some brilliant and some not.
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Same here. I dont work or have friends. I isolate myself. I try to read and stuff but I feel I lost at least 10 IQ points from meds and maybe the illness. My doctor said some people have cognitive decline.
I lost social skills and I am more clumsy.
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Verbal is okay. Different types of short term memory…not so much. Trialling lamictal. We’ll see what happens.
My semantic is better when I wake up.
I’m no where near as sharp as I used to be. I think meds play a big role.
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I have noticed I always had things I was weirdly bad at. I didn’t learn to tie my shoelaces until a few years back. Even now, I just squeeze my feet in there.
I honestly don’t know. It’s up and down. All the other stuff negative symptoms and positive symptoms make it worse. Right now I have big issues with memory as a result of mania.
I’m afraid that I’m quite dumbed down too. Ever since I was 23 years old, I’ve been dumbed down quite a bit. Before that, I was quite bright even.
Something is seriously wrong with me.
I’m really getting worried.
I’m slurring my words still, I’m having a hard time expressing myself, I’ve been zoning out, I’m extremely fatigued and I’m having a difficult time understanding things.
I hope to God it’s not early onset dementia!
I feel that I have become dumber. However my typing speed is unaffected. I still type ridiculously fast. If I lost that I wouldn’t feel very much like myself. I think I’ve drawn some stares in the computer room of the Johnson Center over at George Mason University for my typing speed. That was a long time ago, I don’t really type around other people anymore.
Keyboarding… best seventh grade elective I ever took. Heck, best class I ever took, ever, and that includes college.
Dumb people think they’re smart. Smart people think they’re dumb.
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When I was first ill I was browbeaten into not engaging my brain much with a mixture of parental " It’s a shame but maybe in a hundred years they’ll find a clue" and mental health staff telling me not to tax my brain . That was the climate back then in the mid 70s and early 80s.
It took getting online for my dormant intellectual curiosity to really be reignited.
It could be I’m slowing down now , but if so it’s more due to age than illness or medication.
In certain ways I’m highly intelligent and in other ways I struggle. The dubious joys of having a spiky profile.
You gain some you lose some. That is medication for me!
Yeah I’m not as bright for sure but I’m also less paranoid. I’m less likely to worry about what people are saying or doing. I’m less emotional and far more reasonable. I’m fatter, dumber but way more content with my life than I ever was pre meds.
Yes. Medication comes with some costs but I, for one, don’t mind paying!
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With the sedative medications i gave up control over my life to the psychiatrist. Its a scary thought to become a mental loafer. They say i have nothing to worry about. Yes i don’t have nothing to worry about, but some environmental criminals destroying the planet for their capital gain.