It's a tricky question. I used to work with people who had dementia and were violent, either because they hada form of dementia that caused violence or they had long-term mental illness that caused dementia. It used to really freak me out but then I realized that the people in that situation had been treated with horrible treatments that none of us have endured. I don't know if there are people who've been on the drugs we use now long enough to know what will happen to us.

I have had definite cognitive decline myself but it is better than it was at its' worst. My memory isn't as good as it once was (by a lot) and sometimes I have word-finding problems or have trouble thinking my way through something logically.

I'd had some degree of this anyway (always worse with episodes) and then almost 4 years ago I had surgery and had a bad reaction to anesthesia plus I had a Mirena IUD put in and the hormones, tiny though they are, made things horrible. That stupid Mirena was in 9 months and during the entire time I was very suicidal and basically unable to think at all, it seemed. When the Mirena was removed things stabilized and I was just at a not where I was, needs help with some things but better than it was place but thankful to be better than I had been.

For me menopause has helped. I have fewer episodes for one thing but in general with fewer hormones my cognition is somewhat better. In the early part of menopause when the hormones really were fluctuating it was a lot worse and has gradually improved. In general hormones have been a bad thing for me, whether it was the pill, Mirena or early menopause. And in each case there were cognitive symptoms that improved as things changed/were removed.

I am no longer the person who could remember the detail of all 50 of my patients whose care I was supervising. I know longer can call someone once or twice and remember their number. I don't always know what day of the week it is. I need help translating some bills into understandable language.I sometimes make mistakes I never would have 5 years ago because I don't focus as well as I once did. But overall I'm better than I was 3 years ago. Much, much better.