[Hudson65]

Hi I’m a 52 yr old male with a diagnosis of bipolar 2. I’ve been on over 20 meds. I have been having cognitive problems and I’m going to a neurologist who specializes in dementia. Im really scared because I have been having memory problems. I just don’t know what to do. My anxiety is high and can’t stop pacing. Does anyone have an idea how I can get control of myself? Thanks for any support.

[Wild Coyote]

I am sorry you are going through this! I'd find it very anxiety-provoking to be waiting to see a specialist for a consult on dementia.

Are you on meds now?
Do you have any PRN meds for times your anxiety is high?
Are you able to distract yourself from thinking about this appt?
How soon is your appt for the consult?

I hope you get some relief soon.

WC

[Hudson65]

Originally Posted by Wild Coyote

I am sorry you are going through this! I'd find it very anxiety-provoking to be waiting to see a specialist for a consult on dementia.

Are you on meds now?
Do you have any PRN meds for times your anxiety is high?
Are you able to distract yourself from thinking about this appt?
How soon is your appt for the consult?

I hope you get some relief soon.

WC

Thank you so much for your reply. I’m taking seroquil, Valium and Effexor. I’m working on distraction. I’m trying. My consult is tomorrow afternoon.

[*Laurie*]

Okay, Here's my experience. I'm a 55 year old woman with bipolar disorder, OCD, and PTSD. I've been on a lot of meds. My cognitive abilities have become severely affected by the years of meds. There is no doubt about that. Once upon a time, I was highly intelligent, had an exceptional vocabulary, and was an ace speller. (I sucked at math, but that's nothing new.) Meds have caused me to have an extremely difficult time with my intelligence, with retrieving words, and my spelling has become frighteningly poor.

I completely understand your fear. Please do try to remain aware that meds definitely affect most people's cognitive skills.

[~Christina]

My understanding is many people on Effexor get ramped up. Maybe happening to you ???

I have certainly felt I have been dumbed down since starting meds at age 43

I think it’s good your seeing a neuro , just the unknown is stress inducing tho.

My advice is try mindfulness, it really helps me when my brain is spinning and too loud.

[Hudson65]

Originally Posted by *Laurie*

Okay, Here's my experience. I'm a 55 year old woman with bipolar disorder, OCD, and PTSD. I've been on a lot of meds. My cognitive abilities have become severely affected by the years of meds. There is no doubt about that. Once upon a time, I was highly intelligent, had an exceptional vocabulary, and was an ace speller. (I sucked at math, but that's nothing new.) Meds have caused me to have an extremely difficult time with my intelligence, with retrieving words, and my spelling has become frighteningly poor.

I completely understand your fear. Please do try to remain aware that meds definitely affect most people's cognitive skills.

Laurie, thank you for your information and support.

[Hudson65]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

My understanding is many people on Effexor get ramped up. Maybe happening to you ???

I have certainly felt I have been dumbed down since starting meds at age 43

I think it’s good your seeing a neuro , just the unknown is stress inducing tho.

My advice is try mindfulness, it really helps me when my brain is spinning and too loud.

Christina, thank you so much for your reply.

[Fuzzybear]

I don’t have much to add but I’m sending you my best thoughts and positive vibes. I would be scared too

PS I also have found my cognitive abilities have been affected by meds

I definitely used to be smarter, in particular my memory was “better”.. but I think many things can affect this, meds in particular. I really hope you don’t have the dx you’re afraid of (from what little I know it’s “rare” under ? 65)

Please keep posting

Stretching can be calming. Trying to relax each muscle into the stretch.

[Hudson65]

Originally Posted by Fuzzybear

I don’t have much to add but I’m sending you my best thoughts and positive vibes. I would be scared too

PS I also have found my cognitive abilities have been affected by meds

I definitely used to be smarter, in particular my memory was “better”.. but I think many things can affect this, meds in particular. I really hope you don’t have the dx you’re afraid of (from what little I know it’s “rare” under ? 65)

Please keep posting

Thank you so much. I had my appointment yesterday. The neurologist does not think it’s Alzheimer’s. However, he thinks my anxiety is causing memory impairment. Next, I have to go to the neuropsychologist. Thank you so much for speaking to me.

[*Laurie*]

Originally Posted by Hudson65

Thank you so much. I had my appointment yesterday. The neurologist does not think it’s Alzheimer’s. However, he thinks my anxiety is causing memory impairment. Next, I have to go to the neuropsychologist. Thank you so much for speaking to me.

What great news! Let us know how it goes with the neuropychologist. I've never been to one, but it sure sounds potentially helpful.

[Shippy63]

I am also 55 and had ECT about 6 years ago to bring me out of a severe depression. Yes, it worked and I’m thankful for that but I didn’t know how much my memory would be affected. I was an executive at a large company but couldn’t do that job anymore. My memory is so poor I keep a little notebook to write down everything I need to remember. And I ask my family and friends to send me texts rather than verbally say things to me. It is a unique hell to go from an intelligent, vital quick-thinking person to one that can’t remember much before 2011. But, I have tried to reinvent myself and go back to the interests in life that made me happy and feel fulfilled. However, I am worried about the number of celebrity suicides this year due to bipolar disorder. I can sink anytime into the dark vortex.
This is my first visit to psych central and first post.
I feel so much better knowing others struggle with these issues. My friends and family just don’t get it. So thank you all for reading.

[Hudson65]

Originally Posted by Shippy63

I am also 55 and had ECT about 6 years ago to bring me out of a severe depression. Yes, it worked and I’m thankful for that but I didn’t know how much my memory would be affected. I was an executive at a large company but couldn’t do that job anymore. My memory is so poor I keep a little notebook to write down everything I need to remember. And I ask my family and friends to send me texts rather than verbally say things to me. It is a unique hell to go from an intelligent, vital quick-thinking person to one that can’t remember much before 2011. But, I have tried to reinvent myself and go back to the interests in life that made me happy and feel fulfilled. However, I am worried about the number of celebrity suicides this year due to bipolar disorder. I can sink anytime into the dark vortex.
This is my first visit to psych central and first post.
I feel so much better knowing others struggle with these issues. My friends and family just don’t get it. So thank you all for reading.

Hi. I completely understand. I was a professional but due to 20 years of taking meds and due to my anxiety, my functioning has become slow. I’m here any time you want to chat. You’re not alone.

[Fuzzybear]

Originally Posted by Hudson65

Thank you so much. I had my appointment yesterday. The neurologist does not think it’s Alzheimer’s. However, he thinks my anxiety is causing memory impairment. Next, I have to go to the neuropsychologist. Thank you so much for speaking to me.

Thanks for letting me know. I’m glad that the neurologist doesn’t think it’s Alzheimers. I have a lot of anxiety grrrr (and I live in the uk ). Btw my husband definitely doesn’t think I have Alzheimer’s but sometimes.. well I have a lot of anxiety as I mentioned, and it does cause memory impairment sometimes I wonder what they would say to me if I asked to see a neuropsychologist.. I already have too many medical appointments ..(and I avoid doctors etc whenever I can ) (sorry for the rant)

I hope it goes well with the neuropsychologist

[Blueberrybook]

I think meds have dumbed me down a lot. I used be very good at memorization, I graduated valedictorian of my high school class, "summa cum laude" from my undergraduate university with a B.S. in Microbiology, minoring in chemistry, got an M.S. in Cell & Molecular Biology, researched in the lab, used computer software & learned new software quickly, got 3 or 4 articles published outside of my thesis, one a first author publication (well, was required to have 1 first author publication to graduate with an M.S. from my grad school, so your advising professor made sure you did, but I also got credit on papers, some of which, yes, I had do a part of the research, others in which I basically re-wrote the paper into fluent English. Since I was the only native English speaker in my lab, my advising professor, who was Greek had me proofread every paper they sent out of that lab for publishing before sending it off to a journal for consideration. So I would have to learn details of some research that was not in my area of expertise and used different lab techniques for study. But I had no problem with it. I could need to buy 100 items in a grocery store and remember every single one of them without a list. Now I can go into a store needing 3 items and leave with 1, forgetting what else it was I needed. No exaggeration. I have been on psych meds just over 20 years; I started them at 19, and I'm 40 now. I must lose my cell phone in my own house (and I will know it has to be here because I have not left the house all day) 25 times a day. I couldn't find it by dialing it from the home phone for a long time because it had some issue where you just couldn't increase the volume of the ringer. Then, after having this problem of a quite ringing phone, it occurred to me there must be apps out there with loud ringtones (something the younger me would have thought of after dealing with this issue 1 or 2 days). I finally went and got an app with nothing but super loud ringtones. When my daughter is with me, and my phone rings now, she says it's embarrassing (she's 10 , so she's at that age). But now I can at least call it when I lose it in the house and hear it to locate it. I can't remember words I want to use, so I have to use another word or word the sentence differently, both of which make the sentence very weird. One time, I hadn't even been on meds that long because I was teaching undergraduate microbiology lab in grad school, so I had to be under 25, and my mind blanked; suddenly I could not remember the name of a very commonly used tool in microbiology and especially in undergrad micro lab, which I'd already taught 2 or 3 semesters of until a student said the name and then I remembered. Just this summer, I was typing an email, and I forgot how to spell the word "such".

It'd be interesting if they ever did a study on the dumbing-down effect of psych meds.

I am glad you got good news from the neurologist.

[Hudson65]

Originally Posted by Blueberrybook

I think meds have dumbed me down a lot. I used be very good at memorization, I graduated valedictorian of my high school class, "summa cum laude" from my undergraduate university with a B.S. in Microbiology, minoring in chemistry, got an M.S. in Cell & Molecular Biology, researched in the lab, used computer software & learned new software quickly, got 3 or 4 articles published outside of my thesis, one a first author publication (well, was required to have 1 first author publication to graduate with an M.S. from my grad school, so your advising professor made sure you did, but I also got credit on papers, some of which, yes, I had do a part of the research, others in which I basically re-wrote the paper into fluent English. Since I was the only native English speaker in my lab, my advising professor, who was Greek had me proofread every paper they sent out of that lab for publishing before sending it off to a journal for consideration. So I would have to learn details of some research that was not in my area of expertise and used different lab techniques for study. But I had no problem with it. I could need to buy 100 items in a grocery store and remember every single one of them without a list. Now I can go into a store needing 3 items and leave with 1, forgetting what else it was I needed. No exaggeration. I have been on psych meds just over 20 years; I started them at 19, and I'm 40 now. I must lose my cell phone in my own house (and I will know it has to be here because I have not left the house all day) 25 times a day. I couldn't find it by dialing it from the home phone for a long time because it had some issue where you just couldn't increase the volume of the ringer. Then, after having this problem of a quite ringing phone, it occurred to me there must be apps out there with loud ringtones (something the younger me would have thought of after dealing with this issue 1 or 2 days). I finally went and got an app with nothing but super loud ringtones. When my daughter is with me, and my phone rings now, she says it's embarrassing (she's 10 , so she's at that age). But now I can at least call it when I lose it in the house and hear it to locate it. I can't remember words I want to use, so I have to use another word or word the sentence differently, both of which make the sentence very weird. One time, I hadn't even been on meds that long because I was teaching undergraduate microbiology lab in grad school, so I had to be under 25, and my mind blanked; suddenly I could not remember the name of a very commonly used tool in microbiology and especially in undergrad micro lab, which I'd already taught 2 or 3 semesters of until a student said the name and then I remembered. Just this summer, I was typing an email, and I forgot how to spell the word "such".

It'd be interesting if they ever did a study on the dumbing-down effect of psych meds.

I am glad you got good news from the neurologist.

Thank you for your post. I understand your feelings. It was scary as hell when I couldn’t find my words or do simple tasks. My doctors advised me to file for disability. I’m sad that I can’t return to work because of my memory. Even though it’s not Alzheimer’s, (for which I’m grateful), I still experience the same symptoms you are. I’m scared, so I understand you. For me, my doc is going to take me off the benzos at some point. I’m on your side and sending positive thoughts. You’re not alone. Feel free to contact me any time. I was a social worker since 1991. I have a masters degree. I have to still go to neuropsych to see what else is going on. Thanks for reaching out. You are not alone.

[Hudson65]

Originally Posted by Fuzzybear

Thanks for letting me know. I’m glad that the neurologist doesn’t think it’s Alzheimers. I have a lot of anxiety grrrr (and I live in the uk ). Btw my husband definitely doesn’t think I have Alzheimer’s but sometimes.. well I have a lot of anxiety as I mentioned, and it does cause memory impairment sometimes I wonder what they would say to me if I asked to see a neuropsychologist.. I already have too many medical appointments ..(and I avoid doctors etc whenever I can ) (sorry for the rant)

I hope it goes well with the neuropsychologist

Thank you so much Fuzzybear. I’ll give you an update with neuropsych. I really appreciate you reaching out. I’m sending you positive thoughts!