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Comment by 01100011 | Hacker News Reader

I am very curious to see where this research goes. At the risk of sounding like an absolute nut-case, I've been experiencing significant cognitive decline since getting divorced and becoming sexually active. Granted, I went through a traumatic experience(divorce), developed sleep apnea(treated for ~2 years), and am in my mid-40s, so my concerns are probably unfounded. That said, I've had my apnea under control for some time, I've gotten fit, and tried every combination of supplements I can think of. My hormones and blood work all look fine. Maybe I'll try some valacyclovir and see what happens.

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Make sure you get 8 hours of sleep each night. Eat healthy. Exercise daily. Keep anxiety in check.

Yep. I had insomnia for a while but that seems to be in check now. I started intermittent fasting a few weeks ago. No big changes yet, but I'll see how it goes. I also started 750mg of NMN. I've been going back to my old supplement regimen since it seemed to work better for me(moderate dose of vitamins, ashwagandha, CDP choline, high-DHA fish oil, NAC). I tried eliminating a lot of them for several months but it just seemed to accelerate the decline.

How have you been measuring your cognitive decline?

I have much shifted priorities from when I was in my 20s and was never that smart to begin with, so I’m note sure how I would even start to measure it.

I wish I had an objective test. All I can go by is the difficulty I experience solving problems and my progress at work. There are certain classes of problems, boolean logic for instance, which used to be second nature to me but now leave me feeling blank and without even a hint of what the answer is. It even shows up in everyday life. I encounter more and more situations where I can't take the available information and generate a solid decision... I end up 'YOLO'ing it a lot and just taking a guess. I'm trying to come up with coping strategies, like writing things down and using visual tricks, but it doesn't work most of the time. It's frustrating and scary. I don't even know if I could transition from a tech role into management because I am so unfocused and unable to think.

It depends on how you define the cognitive decline. If it’s losing your creativity, generating less ideas, not being able to be focused on a book - it may be a psychological trauma. I would recommend going to a good psychologist and trying to see if something is behind your current state.

Hard to find a good psychiatrist in this town. I just blew $300 on a guy that was obsessed with explaining the details of Passover to me. I had to keep bringing him back to discussing my history and he didn't seem overly interested in it.

I'm pretty sure I have some mix of OCD, mild type-II bipolar, and ADHD. It never seemed to get in my way throughout my 20s and 30s, but lately things have gone downhill.

I have a similar experience except younger but the antiviral doesn't seem to do much for cognitive decline IME. I'm waiting to get jaw surgery in the hope of ditching CPAP.

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