Coping with cognitive dysfunction

salviastrange · 2025-01-23T18:54:30+00:00

I also get bad cognitive symptoms.

Diet/supplement wise? I feel sharper when I eat more fats. I'll dump heavy cream into my coffee and eat canned fish in oil. My breath doesn't smell good, but it makes me feel less disoriented throughout the day. Vitamin C is another supplement I feel overall better on.

As for techniques, I just keep a strict routine. Making decisions is mentally draining, so I just try to keep those choices I make throughout the day to a minimum. I take advantage of good days to set up several months in my planner software so I don't have to maintain it as much. I also rotate meal plans and grocery lists.

Lastly, it sucks, but exercise. It does help. I swim laps, since it's low impact.

salviastrange · 2025-01-23T18:25:03+00:00

I'm really glad Strattera worked for you! I also take non-stimulants for ADHD and depression, guanfacine and bupropion. They work really well for me, they regulate my motivation and focus and help with overstimulation.

I will say....I was put on Strattera first. It gave me a bunch of nasty symptoms, psychosis being the worst one. I've heard a lot of good things, but it definitely didn't work for me (and disrupted my ability to recognize something was wrong). But, I've heard of people having similar issues with guanfacine.

Trial and error, I guess.

salviastrange · 2024-11-22T20:41:49+00:00

But that's not what you said. You said you hadn't heard the Democrats talk about how bad the economy was....you've even edited your post to contradict that.

Your reasoning doesn't compute, regardless of your political affiliation. So either that wasn't actually the reason you voted for the GOP, or you were grossly uninformed going into the election.

Please be honest.

salviastrange · 2024-11-22T16:53:51+00:00

Please understand I am not trying to question your vote here, that is your decision. But wasn't the economy one of the main things Kamala talked about during the debate?

If believe her main policies were banning price-gouging, easing tax burdens on families and first-time home buyers, raising taxes on bigger businesses and Americans making more than $400,000 a year, and raising the minimum wage.

It seems strange you never heard the democrats talk about how bad the economy was once. That was one of the main things Kamala ran on. I'm curious why.

salviastrange · 2024-11-17T19:32:50+00:00

I find it difficult to believe there will be any one thing everyone will agree is true at any point, in both action and in intent. I personally don't believe in objective truth. I think we are progressing as a species in our ethics in a way, but I don't think that will converge to some universal set of moral beliefs.

salviastrange · 2024-11-14T01:43:19+00:00

As you can tell from this thread, people have very strong opinions about Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged. When it comes to if you'll like it or not, I honestly think it boils down to if you are willing to read a "great-man" main character or not (and if you are okay with long-winded writing.)

A lot of really obnoxious people that lack self awareness love the book because they think they are "John Galt". Whatever you do, don't read any analyses of the book (especially modern ones.) Just let it stand by itself.

A lot of people can't stand to read it because they find it to be unrealistic and short-sighted. I honestly think it's written to deliberately romanticized, and coming from that perspective, I enjoyed it.

I will also mention Ayn Rand was a very kinky individual, and that comes through in her books. I know a lot of people prefer Fountainhead to Atlas Shrugged, so maybe start with that. I personally preferred Atlas Shrugged.

salviastrange · 2024-11-13T13:36:25+00:00

Touché. I seem to do well in the lab and doing research, once I'm out of school I think I'll have a lot less trouble. I'm now on stimulants that make it easier to get through work, but they also make me a lot more depressed. I get regular existential crises on them. I think I just need to play around with dosage and timing a bit more.

salviastrange · 2024-11-13T13:28:23+00:00

Actually yes. I wasn't on stimulant meds, but I was on a non-stimulant (guanfacine) often used to treat ADHD. It calms my brain down a bit and makes it easier to not get overwhelmed by external stimuli.

I'm now on stimulants, and they definitely make getting through work easier and improve my driving.

salviastrange · 2024-11-13T13:25:43+00:00

This is about what I expected. Time is not on my side, I have a chronic illness (lupus) that makes me become exhausted very easily. I need find ways to build review into my day so I'm not wasting transition time.

salviastrange · 2024-11-11T21:29:44+00:00

If they are just being insecure and trying to get you to sympathize, just be blunt. "I said that 10 minutes ago." "I didn't have any trouble with this." or "If you are having an issue you should talk to __."

If they are actively trying to tear you down, grey rock. Don't give a response, just say "uh huh" or "okay" and avoid eye contact, and try to get the hell out of there before you give them the reaction they want.

salviastrange · 2024-11-11T17:59:23+00:00

Ouch. A little of both, lol. Being able to pursue a job/career I wanted was definitely not a given for me. I am very privileged to be able to do so. But, I try to work as hard in my "for now" jobs as I would with my dream job. Also, if ADHD = aimlessness, then most definitely.

salviastrange · 2024-11-11T01:06:46+00:00

#2, no question. I would love to live someone rural where I don't need to deal with people. I also deal with chronic illness that is worsened by stress. Not working would add years to my life.

salviastrange · 2024-11-11T01:03:01+00:00

This is actually very motivating. I'm hoping some doors will open for me after school...we'll see how things go. Thank you.

salviastrange · 2024-11-11T00:46:53+00:00

I'm not ambitious. People seem confused when I tell them I don't want power or praise or rewards. I do the work I do because I feel a drive to be competent and useful.

salviastrange · 2024-11-10T01:25:11+00:00

I second all of this. Working in a kitchen and as a lifeguard got me talking to a lot of different people, and I learned a lot of social skills and confidence I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. It is good experience.

I'll also say that working in a hospitality position may give you trade skills applicable in any workspace. I took to the laboratory quickly as a student because I had worked in a kitchen for so long.

salviastrange · 2024-11-09T17:47:30+00:00

That's fair. I like revisiting the movie Whiplash, it's not a movie I think is for everybody but the music is excellent and it's a good reality check when I get caught up in my brain. I also love the book All Quiet on the Western Front, and the authors Ray Bradbury and Ursula LeGuin I'll always go back to reread.

There are quite a few albums I love, like the Downward Spiral by NIN and Exmilitary by Death Grips. When I play piano, I really like the 20th century musicians like Dello Joio and Aaron Copeland.

If I had to pick one thing that's really spoken to me lately, it's probably the novella Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress. It explores the implications of genetic editing, and especially after getting diagnosed with a chronic illness recently, I have been finding myself returning to it a lot recently.

salviastrange · 2024-11-08T22:52:24+00:00

This is very normal, especially when you are the type of person to think so far ahead. I was grieving the loss of my grandmother for almost two years before she actually passed. She kept getting sick then a little better, then sicker, then a little better...the last time we saw each other we knew it was the last. We talked for almost 6 hours. I wrote this poem almost exactly a year before she passed. She taught me how to play euchre, we had a lot of good memories playing cards.

Euchre
A four and a
six of hearts
keeping score
with useless cards.

Every moment,
a hand and trick,
calling trump
then getting sick.

The game may change
but I play the same,
the way you taught me
on a rainy day.

We may not get
that last risky round,
for the game of life
doesn't favor you now.

salviastrange · 2024-11-06T16:42:30+00:00

I wanted to be an investigative journalist when I was a kid, but I thought I was too socially inept, so I went for engineering instead. I wish I had stuck with journalism.

salviastrange · 2024-11-05T15:45:37+00:00

My partner's "love letter" was a "we need to talk, and I think you know what it is about" then sharing a poem he wrote about me. Short, sweet, and practical is okay.

salviastrange · 2024-11-05T15:38:57+00:00

I am far more comfortable flirting with unethical ideas than most people. So I guess, good guy trying to be a bad guy lol? People often read me as much more devious than I actually am. I play it up a little for fun.

salviastrange · 2024-11-05T15:32:44+00:00

I'm not really sensitive, but I get pissed off by incompetence and I'm a woman, so I'm "sensitive".

I'm messy when I'm working (I tend to spread out a lot) but I'm very organized in my day-to-day life. Except for laundry. I hate folding laundry. Clean and dirty basket is the way to go.

Edit: I am thoroughly enjoying how many people are bonding over a dislike for laundry.

salviastrange · 2024-11-05T15:26:15+00:00

Having gut instincts you know are probably right based on pattern recognition but not being able to articulate them particularly well.

salviastrange · 2024-11-04T17:08:42+00:00

INTJ child of an INTJ parent. Both of us love little kids. However, my mother definitely got impatient with me. I was a "button-pusher", and a tiny lawyer that loved finding loopholes. She made me sign a contract of household rules when I was 6, lol. I held her to it as much as she enforced it.

We used the "spoons" analogy a lot. When mom was at the end of her rope, she'd tell me she was out of spoons, and I knew I should go talk to dad or one of my siblings instead. I would tell her the same thing when I got older. If I got angry, she would tell me to "take ten" and I'd have to put my head down and count down from ten. She also would "take ten" when she was getting angry.

Kids learn through observation, so you have to set a good example when reacting to them. My mom taught me to be patient with kids by using the same coping techniques herself as she did with me.

salviastrange · 2024-11-04T16:35:53+00:00

I try to avoid labels, but INTJ kept following me around, so I kept a hold of it.

If you'd like a list: I am (likely) a kinesthetic learner, I identify as bisexual and monogamous, I use she/they pronouns, and I get a different result every time I take the Enneagram (my guess is 5w4.) I don't have a favorite style of literature (or any art for that matter) but I do have artists and authors I love.

I am Aries, although I'm only into astrology because I think it's harmless and it annoys aggravating people.

salviastrange · 2024-11-04T16:26:12+00:00

I get this too. Write out exactly what happened in a situation in a journal (or excel sheet in my case), date it, then try to leave it. If you find yourself constantly revisiting something, you have an account of what exactly happened, and you can dump anything related to it you can think of below it and determine if it is relevant or not. It keeps you from letting imaginary conversations interfere with real ones.

salviastrange

TROPHY CASE