I want to share my experiences of having an inner monologue and somewhat losing it later on.
For most of my life up until I was 17 I had an inner monologue. This was almost constant, always some kind of monologue occurring in my head. It was almost a little bit overwhelming, and while I was not diagnosed, I'm 100% sure I had OCD. Would constantly check stuff even though I knew it didn't have to, repeating things in my head to calm anxiety etc. - textbook OCD.
I remember at my "peak" I scored 128 on the Norwegian Mensa IQ test on the first attempt. Not saying that means I had that high IQ, but I'm mentioning it because nowadays I can't score more than 100-110 on the same test.
Anyways, when I was 16-17 there was a lot of fucked up personal shit I don't want to mention, but it was out of my control. I did not use drugs and I wasn't particularly irresponsible, not more than others at that age anyway.
I had gone to the doctor because I was experiencing fatigue. This was shown to be linked to low vitamin D (though it was had more to do with my home environment). The first day I took this supplement, my inner monologue quieted down. It was still there somewhat, but not as active. The next day I took the supplement again it was even quieter. I think I took for a month until I stopped because I didn't feel like myself, inner monologue was basically gone. Even though I stopped it did not return fully. This was compounded by the fact that I decided I needed to lose weight, so I did lots of water fasting, not eating for 2 days at a time. While fasting does provide some benefits, it is not recommended for someone who's brain is still developing. Malnutrition can have permanent effects on your development, which it did in my case. My inner monologue was basically completely gone at this point.
After awhile I actively tried to quiet my brain down because I had such an awful home environment, I would just watch YouTube videos with sound on full blast so I didn't have to hear what was going inside my head or in my living area (family issues). This was right before turning 18.
Ever since, things have not been the same. This was 5 and a half years ago, and things have never been the same again. I do not think as quickly, I don't "get" or understand things as quickly. Like if I read a text or hear someone say something, I may have difficulty understanding it (reading comprehension). This was almost never the case before.
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