Do you think your BP has positively or negatively affected your intelligence? What about BP medications and intelligence?

Maybe I'm the odd duck, but I feel that my untreated BP really f***ed with my thought processes. Though, now that I'm on medication, I'm able to think much clearer than before. Seriously, my mind was so foggy that I could barely think straight. I literally felt so stupid.

[Miss Laura]

I think I'm less intelligent now a days. Reading and writing is an effort and I'm not as good as I use to be. I think it's a mix of not having a job and meds

Sent from my SM-A300FU using Tapatalk

[Nammu]

I was a lot smarter before I started the drugs, but I've had three closed head concussions ( one that put me in the medical hospital for a week)and multiple ODs 0n psych drugs which caused seizures, so it hard to blame the BP. Actually I feel like the BP made me smarter, but maybe that was just the mania? I very much doubt I'd get the same high score on any IQ test now.

[Unrigged64072835]

I know the meds can do some cognitive hits on me, but I'm also getting older and not keeping my brain active. I don't think BP itself has done any damage.

[pirilin]

Yes indeed.

[fishin fool]

BB I feel like you do, I think I have always been fairly intelligent but the untreated
bipolar made it impossible for me to focus or see things clearly.
Now that I am on meds I feel my mind is a bit dull and cloudy.
Just can't find that perfect place where my thoughts are just right.

I don't understand the question. =P

[BleakGeek]

The treatment of my BP affected my intelligence. I used to be a lot sharper, which was great for my career. Now my mind is cloudy and I can't remember anything. It is so hard to think. I imagine it will eventually get to the point where I won't be able to work in my field anymore. There's always fast food!

[annielovesbacon]

Absolutely. BP has severely affected my attention span, so I find VERY difficult to read and to me, reading is a huge part of learning. When I'm depressed, it's so very difficult for me to get out of bed and do anything, let alone focus on reading news, watching informational videos, doing puzzles, anything.
So I guess BP hasn't made me lose intelligence, but it's taken away my ability to learn, which makes me feel very unintelligent

[Christopher1990]

I don't see how any mental illness can positively improve intelligence especially with the effects of psych meds. The only positive effect I could see is it had has made me more open and self conscious. I definitely feel smarter when hypo but that never lasts.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

[Wander]

Definitely. After severe episodes my brain feels like mush. It tends to recover but takes time and often by then I am in another episode.

[xRavenx]

I feel that at first, people have the impression of me being intelligent, but then I appear less intelligent with time, when people are around me long enough to see how I am in an episode. In other words, when I'm in an episode (usually mixed, manic, or hypo), my concentration isn't there at all....I'm so bad at directions and miss all the important things I should remember.

I have to ask people to repeat questions a lot and feel that I'm in my own little world at times, in my imagination. I don't like others perceiving me as "ditzy," but I think I give off that impression sometimes, when really I'm just stuck in my thoughts. So it might not make me necessarily less intelligent, but definitely less "with it" and focused. Sometimes others are very impatient with me as a result, and it's frustrating. I hate feeling the need to always apologize for my limitations too....it embarrasses me.

[BipolaRNurse]

I most certainly have lost some of my intelligence. I feel like a real doofus some days, and even on my good days I tend to struggle a bit with word finding and concentration. Part of it is meds, the other part is having had repeated bipolar episodes IMO. Plus I'm getting older and my memory is crap. Lol

i'm honestly not sure

on 1 hand, bp has affected my memory- so any new information i'm given about a topic does not stay in their long (so i'm unable to gain any new information, and it sucks!)

on the other hand the little that's their from the schooling i was able to get through is still their

so i guess both positive and neggative

[whoamihere]

I am definitely not as smart as I used to be. The meds make me feel fuzzy and unfocused