I have never tried it but I have friends who did. They did not try to keep up with the demands, they set standards lower and one of them changed jobs to one not needing a lot of cognitive skills.

I guess that is how you do it. Adapt the surroundings. If you are prone to forgetting, set alarms for everything. I have not really seen anyone improving their cognitive skills on the med, so if this med is so valuable for you, you simply have to adapt your world to a more low functioning version of you.

I would never ask someone not to take a med that prevented something harmful as mania, but at the same time it can be stressful for people around not to have the "same person" to talk to anymore. True friends accept if a friend changes out of their previous roll, but it isn't painless. I will not lie, I missed the depth in my friends who took the med. I still stood by them. Just saying that cognitive deficits doesn't only affect multitasking, keeping on task and memory, it does affect relations as well. Keep good people around you.