I have experienced cognitive decline. In fact, there are chunks of time from when I was a teenager that I can never recollect. My mom will say "do you remember when...?" I will have no clue even if it was a big event. For this, however, I blame Zyprexa.

Currently, I am the jester to most of my family, in part due to my memory issues. I have no idea what causes them. I also have been in numerous (small) accidents in the last year and sometimes say things that aren't even coherent.

I have also read that cognitive decline is common in both depression and especially bipolar disorder. It is scary and sad. Perhaps working crossword puzzles, playing scrabble frequently, and finding challenging games for your mind can help with this? Maybe it can help in the present and in the future. Good luck to you; I hope it gets easier.