Weird Reading Issue

[paranoid_cataclysm]

Anyone have this happen with them now or as a kid and know what this might be?  I used to have this happen all the time when reading anything and this story usually makes people laugh which is good that I can humor people with it at least.

I was playing Super Mario All-Stars when I was 12, which was before I realized I wasn't reading things correctly, and I thought "quit" said "quiet" on the inbetween rounds screen on the Mario 3 versus mode and I actually argued with a family member that it said that and then afterward I actually looked finally and was like ...oh.  I knew how to spell both "quit" and "quiet" so I don't know what was happening.  That was the event that called to my attention I wasn't reading things correctly.  Now today I think I only do it by accident occasionally.  I used to not understand what the hell I was supposed to do in things that required a lot of reading because of not reading things correctly and thought it was supposed to be that messed up way and didn't realize the context of what I had understood it as saying was not correct at all.

So did you have that happen to you and do you know what it sounds like it might be?

[Sidney91]

Guys I get this,always have today I thought a car was named torino but it was tronio. May take u guys afew seconds to c that those are two different words lol.
It's dyslexia wich apparently many bipolars have due to the overreaction in the creative part of the brain and the underactive logical and numerical part.
U can't stop dyslexia it *****....u may hav handi coordination issues too? As most dyslexics also hav dyspraxia..wich affects balance,judgement,accuracy and instruction following.
All linked.

:-)

[accordiangel]

It sounds like you are all sound sensitive...some of us are not particularly visual, but more sensitive to sound, which might explain why someone else talking while you are trying to read does not work.
If you read out loud to yourself, do ideas you are reading become clearer?

there are many ways people learn....look up Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory

i am sound sensitive and also kinesthetic...learn music easily, usually have to handle something to understand it....

School systems did not take this into account for a long time. It takes awareness and an observant teacher to see.

Stop picking on yourself for who you are and become interested in how you best learn. You will feel more like contributing your best to the world, whether in big actions or small.

[ILADVOCATE]

Well I had some form of learning disability as a child. They are still not sure exactly what it was. I do know that I did well on the S.A.T. except for the spacial relation part which I believe I failed. There were a lot of neurological issues going on even before I started medication and they may have been worsened. They are looking into that. That might have made some aspects of reading more difficult. I know I was given the accomodation in college to take any tests untimed. One thing I can say that was definitely from the schizoaffective disorder before my current recovery is a word that had an appearence similar to another word that had a malevolent or unpleasent tone would be that word to me or an unpleasent word I fixated on from a psychotic delusion would "jump" from the page. Now though as per standard bipolar on a day such as today which is the last day of the Catapres application so there is some emergent moodswings it is harder to read because things are speeded up and its harder to concentrate on the book itself so there is a lot going on for me and some of it may apply to other people.

[rogelio63]

One of the comments I can relate too,,,I cannot,,,cannot,,study/read while music is playing that has lyrics to it.  Classical music, fine.  Anything instrumental,,fine,,gregorian chants are okay.  I don't know if this has anything to do with anything,,I just thought I'd mention it.

[Jester2005]

posted wrong link - correct one?

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Bipolar-Disorder/how-to-make-help-your-spouse-understand-BP/show/1158884?personal_page_id=1003078

[paranoid_cataclysm]

Some people are like that and think we choose to be mentally ill.  They couldn't be further from the truth.

[Jester2005]

TY for the links.... it makes me feel so much better to know that I'm not alone in my ways; the ways that I think, feel, and process it all... I just wish that Hubby would understand it all, too, sigh... he truly believes that I "choose" to be this way, which of course angers me and starts that roller-coaster (I have a LOT of roller-coasters, lol...) pdoc says I'm BPII but I think I'm combined with mixed state and rapid cycling since my moods change throughout the day... either way, if Hubby understood the symptoms and how they affect me, I think he would be less angry with me all the time (now I'm off topic and venting, but that's allowed here :) haha, love this site - my new "diary" )... we have our 2nd couples' counselling session today and I'm hoping to make some progress.

I'm gonna post a new thread about my concern:
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Bipolar-Disorder/show/160

[wj74]

I didn't even think about that being the same thing, but I guess it is sort of.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

LOL I have the same thing happen with the "off in my own world the whole time.... then I get to the bottom of the page and realize I don't know and can't remember what I just read" bit.  I think this is probably due to a lack of concentration.  Also happens sometimes when people are talking to me and they have to repeat themselves.  Combined with the gibberish problem I just posted in another question it can frustrate some people.

Question is here:
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Bipolar-Disorder/Words-sounding-like-gibberish/show/1156406

Your thought process slamming on the brakes when people talk to you is sort of the same problem if I'm understanding correctly as this question I posted about not being able to think while talking if not medicated properly.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Bipolar-Disorder/Thinking-while-Talking/show/1149503

[Jester2005]

OMG, ROFL... My neighbour asked me to type something for her and I'm slow. She's reading aloud every word I type. I had to cut her off and as politely as I could, tell her I can't "literally" think when she talks. The thought process slams on the brakes or swerves into the ditch is the best way to describe it for me (and I just thought of it now as I'm typing, hehe)... so I get it. It's not about them being rude, it's about us not being able to function, hahaha... I tell people I have a "disorder" that slows me down in some ways and leave it at that :)

[wj74]

Glad it's not just me anyway. :) It's happening again and I'm more on the depressed side than anything...I could see it happening while manic too. The weird thing is it really bothers me when people talk while I'm trying to read. Not because it's rude but because I truly am unable to read while hearing something at the same time.

[Jester2005]

at first I thought you had "dyslexia" but then I read some more and I have something similar... I get words like Massachusetts and Michigan confused for example. I'll hear one word and interpret another. I don't read any more (which I should really pick up again) so for me it's mostly hearing words. I always thought it was just me because I have "brain-damage" from when I was a baby (long story short, I had meningitis at 2 weeks old, caused me to flat-line multiple times) and I have a hearing disorder, too, from the same thing... but after reading that so many other ppl experience what I do (Xila31, I joke that I have numerical dyslexia because I always get numbers reversed, especially at work. luckily my customers are good-humoured about it) I think it's just another side effect or "symptom" of BP.


TO wj74: for me, either the page starts to blur all as one, or, mainly I start to day dream. it's so weird because I can read the page and kinda process the words but not really and I'm off in my own world the whole time.... then I get to the bottom of the page and realize I don't know and can't remember what I just read... frustrating... prolly why I quit reading

[paranoid_cataclysm]

Maybe it has to do with a lack of concentration or something?  I could easily see mania causing you to lose concentration and unintentionally look all over the page due to that.

[wj74]

Hmm. Sounds different. I wonder if it is when I'm on the hypomanic side? I should pay attention to that. I'm not now and I can read...

[paranoid_cataclysm]

I sometimes have it where my eyes jerk around for a second or two from side to side in four or five jerks but I don't think it's the same thing as what is happening for you.  If I remember right this happened even before I took antipsychotics so I'm not sure what is causing it.

[Xila31]

wj74: Yes! I have this when I am going hypomania. It takes me forever to read something and I get frustrated. I also start to lose my ability to focus on what I'm reading. Sometimes I force myself to read when I'm like this and it takes me forever to get through a page.

corlen: I have that happen sometimes. I also mix up my numbers very easily, especially 3 and 9. This is often a problem since I have to dial a lot of phone numbers at my job. I am constantly dialing the wrong numbers. :(

[wj74]

No, but I have another weird reading thing. Anybody else not able to read long paragraphs because their eyeballs move all around the page instead of tracking the sentence you are supposed to be reading? Sometimes it gets really bad, I hardly ever read books because of this.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

Should clarify a little bit, in the above example I actually saw "quit" but it processed as "quiet" for some reason.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

I do see words incorrectly as well like that sometimes but I also had this happen where I see the word correctly but it registered incorrectly as a different words.  It is frustrating at times, ja.

[starbunny]

It's funny you said that because it's started happening to me lately. The word that my mind replaces the 'real' one always seems to reflect something deep in my subconscious mind though, like a fear of some sort, and it can be ages before I realise I am mis-interpreting it. I nearly wrote something on this site that would have been irrelevant to the other person because I mis-interpreted the words a couple of weeks ago. It's made me more careful of late.
As to what it might be? haven't a clue but if you find the cure - let me know!