So I've had bipolar for years, diagnosed 15 years ago, but tracing it back it started when I was in my early to middle teens.During my teens, while at school I was an A grade student, always being in the top 5% of all my subjects. Not to brag, but I was an achiever at school.

Enough said.

That over the last 20 years has changed dramatically. Where I was once fluent in thought and word, I now struggle to put sentences together. Where I could draw from a reasonable vocabulary, now I find myself using the same words over and over. Where I could comprehend either a book, movie or situation, now I am now a deer in the headlights. Where I could recall something (either learned or perhaps a movie) now I can watch, read or learn the same thing a few years later without recalling it. I thought it was just something to do with either my bipolaror medications for. Both my Doctor and a Pdoc's that I have asked in the past have thought likewise - especially in relation to loss of short term memories.

What I have noted on PC however is that there are quite a few on here that seem very knowledgeable, and seem to be able to draw on and recall that knowledge quite easily. And articulate themselves well. They can recall information from the past and put it into words like a pro. Then there is me. Like I can read something someone has written and think "I agree with that, I know that, how come I couldn't say that, or how come I didn't think of that?"

So, does anyone else have experience where their medication or bipolar in general has "dumbed them down" ? Not just short term but long term?