I went through some pretty awful burnout just over a year ago.  Eventually got laid off (fired with pay) while waiting to speak a psychiatrist. 

Psych confirmed burnout and also started treating what appears to be undiagnosed bipolar (I’m guessing I’ve been bipolar for easily 20 years).  Thank goodness this all happened so I’m finally getting the proper support. 

When I suffered from burnout, I lost my smarts. I became so stupid. I would rewrite an email five times and still not feel confident enough to send it. 

After 8 months off, I landed a dream job. I’m loving it!  But I was so afraid my smarts wouldn’t come back, especially now that I’m on a few different medicines and the most recent introduction has been lamotrigine.  

I’m only a few weeks into lamotrigine and I’ve read it can cause issues with word recall and I do feel that, but I swear, everything seems to have slowed down?  Let my brain absorb info?  I don’t know the way to describe it, but man!  I’m smart again and remembering things. The word recall is a bit funny because it makes me describe things really well because the word isn’t available.  

Anyway, if this is being on quetipine and lamotrigine, then bring it on!  I’m finally starting to believe I belong in this skin.  It’s such an unusual feeling to be excited for the future. 

Thank you to this community for how people share openly. It’s been such a gift to be able to read everyone’s stories.