I hate feeling not as sharp because I was extremely intelligent in school. I'm sure it's not a side effect everyone gets though. The meds also make me less creative. I used to write stories all the time and can't think of plots any more. I used to draw in pencil & charcoal, mainly faces, and I was good at it (as long as I could work from a picture). I found a bunch of those drawings I did cleaning my office, signed and dated '96. I don't think I've drawn since then. I should probably re-try my hand at it. I have a nephew would took up painting and is getting very good at it, starting from very basic concepts that were nothing outstanding. He lives 4-6 hours away though. But there are times my parents keep my 2 nephews, and then they are closer. The nephew who paints is 13 but strangely outgoing and not isolating the way you'd think a lot of teenagers would (his 11 year old brother definitely isolates, he barely comes out of his room whenever I visit my sister). But my mom already had the boys a couple weeks this summer; she probably won't have them over again. I need to ask though.

Oh, and there are also the medications that make you randomly forget common words you know. I taught microbiology lab to undergraduates when I was in grad school, and one of the meds I was on had me forgetting the names of very basic microbiology equipment, microscrope parts, even E. coli, for crying out loud! College microbiology labs use strains of E. coli that do not pose much threat to humans (well, I wouldn't eat them off an agar plate or drink a media tube of them). They are basically the gold standard in college micro. I had to go off whatever med that was.

But I still are on some that make me forget common words from time to time or form sentences that are a little weird because I can't think of what I want to say the right way when I'm talking. The words all come out, just in a very strange order. It doesn't happen all the time, thank goodness.

The other issue I always get is dry mouth. I hardly have been on any psych med without that side effect. I chew a lot of sugar-free gum because it. My dentist also says the dry mouth is not good for the health of your teeth.

One med gave me ringing ears, either Effexor or Wellbutrin, I can't remember which, but it went away when I stop the med.

Some meds cause fatigue, like Seroquel. But for me, the Seroquel I take puts me to sleep at night and by morning, I don't deal with the fatigue. If I'm up later than intended after I have taken my night meds, I really start slurring my words, like I'm drunk or something. It is very noticeable by both my husband and daughter.

Some people deal with weight gain, but I only had that issue on the first psych med I took, Remeron, which I never researched. I was always hungry (never full) and tired on it. When I researched it, I found out that nearly everyone on Remeron reacts to it this way, so it is not often prescribed (I was recovering from anorexia, but uncontrollable weight gain and not feeling full is not the way to do it).

There are tons of side effects, varying person to person and in intensity too, changing with the med cocktail you usually take as well. Medication is not an exact science.