Schizophrenia, bipolar I patients experience cognitive decline

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According to a Twitter exchange I had with Samei Huda , cognitive decline doesn’t happen to all people with schizophrenia. It does happen more though to those with schizophrenia than those with bipolar…

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It’s been happening to me for a while now. It really sucks.

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It’s also important to know that impairment doesn’t necessarily involve a decline. Not everyone with sz has an identifiable decline but, most likely, everyone has an impairment.

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I’d agree with that. For me it includes visual short term memory,digit symbol substitution, mental rotation,non-verbal memory. Those were there way before being severely mentally ill, and haven’t declined further.

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I will attest I felt some cognitive decline. But I just keep pushing to learn. I think it helps to keep learning new stuff

I get quite a lack of focus. Sometimes I just don’t process information very well. And other times I’m fine

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I think,whether healthy in body and mind or not, there are days when we think more clearly than other days. I know I’ve experienced relative peaks and troughs when it comes to using my brain. That’s always been how it is for me.

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I’m SZA. I heard I have a better prognosis than somebody with SZ?

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Yes. In general, affective symptoms in psychosis are associated with a less severe course. Even depression.

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I was a freshman in HS when I had my first symptoms of schizophrenia…its made it difficult but not impossible to continue on. I was able to get my GED and I have almost enough credits for an associates. My issue was final exams and fear of failure. I would go through an entire semester and then drop out at finals…because I was more worried that I would fail than actually doing the exam despite being straight A and Bs at some points at one point I had a 3.7 GPA… I was too hard on myself and sometimes so were the teachers. I think and never asked for extra time or disability support. I wanted to challenge the idea I had schizophrenia and it really only set me even further back…

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I think the cognitive decline is from low dopamine too.

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idk, I think Abilify doesnt decrease dopamine as much as other meds. But really controlling symptoms would be the best way to prevent cognitive decline because then you can focus on learning and improving your memories. I found it harder to do things when I was on Seroquel though, because it didnt really work just made me tired…

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I have a bucket load of that.

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I think it depends on the dosage of meds.

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Are you on any benzos?

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I am not. I’ve never taken them.

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I see. I have cognitive issues, but they seem to be getting better after benzo withdrawal.

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