I’ve had issues with this throughout the years, but I also have periods of time where it comes easy and I can retain it. I talked to my therapist 2 days ago about the book I am reading, and it was nice to discuss a topic that made everyone in the room open to a conversation. I know it’s not any sort of mental training because I didn’t do anything different, I just gained the ability again after a long time of not being able to read 3-5 sentences of a book and not being able to understand it. I know I cannot read any of the classics because my level of literacy isn’t that high, they wrack my brain, but some books I can read and with ease.
Although this post is a question I want to offer hope as well.
If you feel like you wouldn’t be able to read again after onset, I have a testimony that I was able to.
I had problems with certain medications and my fusiform gyrus. I could not recognize my own face in the mirror for years. I guess this correlates to reading ability, according to wikipedia. It’s gone now. I can and do read when I want to.
@John_Raven After my onset, the only book I read in high school was catcher in the rye and I was completely delusional when I read it. Have you tried buying a tape recorder yet?
Oh, that’s good to hear! Glad your grades are going up! Even if you don’t have a lot of symptoms happening, they still come in handy. My mother uses one for her masters degree. Some people have them on their computers too in class where they just keep their computers out, and go on an app that records.
Negative symptoms can make it difficult to focus. Cognitive issues can create difficulties with processing. These things combined I imagine could make reading very difficult.
Oh okay, from what I know about sz is that negs, and cogs don’t get treated from meds, so that makes it even more of a anomaly that it would come and go for periods of like 1-3 years at a time. I know for a fact my retaining ability is the best its ever been though, and I am also taking my medicine everyday, so maybe meds do treat that stuff and scientists just don’t know it.
The truth is we don’t really know how the illness works. Some people, like myself, don’t have negative or cognitive symptoms at all. For you it fluctuates. Other people have them relentlessly. There could be different mechanisms and causes behind all our illnesses, but because scientists don’t have any way to physically distinguish that yet we’re just all clumped in the same category.
When I read words appear different than what they actually are. I have to reread it four or five times for it to make sense. I used to read all the time but now it’s hard
Sometimes that happens me, I would describe it as word assumption, like I looked at the work engine today and had to look 2/3 times because I thought it said English.
I think it’s because I’m trying to focus on something quiet, and the voices tend to creep in like when I try to go to sleep. I don’t have trouble with audio books or movies or video games, just traditional written books.
Thanks for explaining that, regarding neg symptoms, can some meds give your face a flat affect? Because I don’t recognize myself compared to who I was in December. And that is when I started taking everything as prescribed and the injection started to build up. The previous years I was never consistent
As much as I love to read, and I read very long books, and classic books too. I can’t remember anything that I’ve read shortly after having read it. I don’t worry much about that. I’m just reading for fun anyway.
Yeah I also have trouble remembering what I’ve read, I can’t remember anything from the Salvatore novels except for a few moments which stood out. The general narrative is gone. I’ve never had a good long term memory but it might have gotten worse after getting sz. I just concentrate on remembering the last couple days.
Even if you don’t have a lot of symptoms happening, they still come in handy. My mother uses one for her masters degree. Some people have them on their computers too in class where they just keep their computers out, and go on an app that records.