[university girl]

I am wondering how many of you feel that since you've become ill with DP/DR your cognitive abilities have declined? Has your ability to follow conversations, to pay attention, to understand, to put together thoughts, to form sentances, to find words, etc. decreased?

 

[Guest]

I do feel as if my cognitive abilities have been affected, but differently then yours. To me it feels as if my brain is not functioning properly. As if the synapses are off. It is hard to describe it but I have sensory and perceptual information coming in but somehow it get's misinterpreted, but only momentarily. I can't even think of a good example right now.

My doctor told me once that if we, people with dp/dr, anxiety give 95% of our thoughts with our condition, then there is only 5% left over for all the other cognitive tasks left in a day. That makes sense to me.

xo
Sassy

 

[peacedove]

Yes my cognitive abilities are declining. And that's why I had to sit here for five minutes thinking of how to put together this oh so brilliant sentence. It fucking sucks! I feel like I'm getting more and more stupid every day.

 

[Ben]

At my worst I remember telling myself that I was getting dumber by the day: not being able to focus, think straight, etc. It seemed more like I was in a constant "dreamy" state or that my brain just felt so damn tired all the time.

It doesn't happen nearly as much as it used to, but, yes I experienced this.

 

[jen]

but...
is this something that really is happening? or is it just something we think is happening?

 

[LOSTONE]

This is my biggest dp/dr problem. I find it almost impossible to communicate most of the time. Anxity from dp/dr and the inability to communicate well will cause me to shiver sometimes. Sometimes my whole nevous system starts fireing all at once. I have gotten used to this but it is still very distressing. Often I wonder why sometimes I feel fine and other times I fell like I am unable to follow the simplest conversation.
Sassy where do you live in Hawaii? I lived in Waimanalo (job corps), China town and Waikiki for about 2 yrs. I just resently moved back to Chicago, it sucks here. People are much more open minded and less stuck up where you live. I am moveing back ASAP!
This also took me about 10 min to wright.

 

[enigma]

Has your ability to follow conversations, to pay attention, to understand, to put together thoughts, to form sentances, to find words, etc. decreased?

Yes (to all of the above).

e

 

[kchendrix]

Yes indeed... it seems dificult to follow conversations especially if it is more then one on one... In a restaurant , at work... I even have a hard time paying attention to the radio when i am driving. I so busy thinking or day dreaming..... monitoring,

 

[grandma-stole-my-wheels]

I totally had this problem completely like my cognition was generally confused or worse in most ways to do with most recall, I was far less able to multi-task and think as my normal self.

I also believe that certain + strong psych meds, can cause these type of negative effects also, as a problem in the first place. It is important to be open-minded and aware of side effects/negative effects which can be far stronger in their profiles in regard to stronger psych-medicines.

Take care,
Grandma.

 

[BMF54123]

Ah, yes...this is my #1 complaint, my worst fear, the feeling that I've become brain-damaged and am losing a few more IQ points every day, or that my nervous system is deteriorating, or maybe a little of both.

Some days, talking to people in person is nearly impossible, as I tend to mispronounce words, use the wrong words, or generally slur entire sentences into a giant BLURBLHUMGLBB (for lack of a better...word?). Every sentence, every time. I sound like I'm either drunk or mentally disabled. I used to give speeches (not my favorite thing, mind you) back in high school, and I was never, ever this bad. Even typing this post is a stressful ordeal; I have to dig really, really deep for some of these words.

My typing and writing abilities are totally shot. Letters and numbers just don't want to come out like they're supposed to, and some days, my signature turns into a mass of squiggly lines, as though my hands and brain have forgotten how to write it...even though I do it EVERY DAY.

Reading is more and more difficult each day. Words just blend together, and I have to reread things several times in order to comprehend anything.

I took a computer programming class in high school, and used to write small amounts of program code in my spare time (up until about a year ago, actually), but now it seems I'm lucky if I can even remember what program code is. Routines that I wrote less than a year ago make little sense to me anymore. Basic math skills have all but disappeared as well; I commonly find myself using my fingers, when previously I could do it all in my head. This is especially frustrating at work, when I'm running a cash register.

My memory is totally shot...it took me almost an entire day to pack for my vacation last month, because I kept getting sidetracked, forgot what I was doing, or simply couldn't comprehend the idea of "packing." I'm amazed I didn't leave anything important behind.

So, in conclusion...yes. I know exactly what you're talking about.

 

[samantha]

Yes to all. Maybe you just lose contact with your self to such an extent that you feel no emotion. Maybe the stress of the whole situation means you cannot focus thoughts and emotions.

Sam

 

[whiterabbit]

Yep, more or less brain dead all the time and preoccupied by it - not able to connect myself to what I am doing or what I am saying.

 

[Guest]

I can't concentrate when people are talking to me.

I've wondered if maybe it's some like ADD but I can never concentrate long enough to find out.

Joke

But I think I know how people with this feel - things just won't sink in.

A shame as I used to be very attentive and able to concentrate - I still can on things like working on cars or PC's but when people are talking to me, I'm on auto pilot.

 

[Brainsilence02]

Definitely yes! I experience this in many ways. The one I can remember right now is like there is not enough motive to try hard enough to get focused on something.

Sometimes, something wonderful happens. I manage to get absorbed by a task that I am doing (a mind task). It's great. My performance is certainly a lot better and I feel so good. Can last even 20 minutes. Err... can't be sure for that though. But then.. what am I sure of?

Sometimes I manage to do difficult mind tasks while feeling that everything goes straight to hell.

Sometimes I can't manage to do mind tasks that seem simple.

And there are certainly times, when I realize that I can't face (process, complete) my current task not because I can't focus enough, but because there is no solution to it (I don't have enough knowlegde or something like it). So, sometimes my "can't focus" thing is just an illusion. I don't if it is always an iilusion.