I have a medical condition that causes poor concentration and memory, and I was wondering if anybody had any advice, should I give up? I love poker, but I have noticed it is more difficult than it should be sometimes, for instance trying to remember what he called my preflop raise with 3 hands ago etc, I have the hand histories for that but it makes it kind of well, frustrating. I think poker improves my thinking and ability to think, aswell as really its an exercise in memory, im not the greatest player and for a long time was not a thinking player, but now i find myself trying to be its difficult, not always but can be.

Any medical condition can be frustrating to overcome, but with patience and determination it is possible to compensate for the deficiency. Only you can determine if you are going to give up. Besides poker there are other ways to improve memory, which you might want to consider in conjunction with your playing.

All personal achievements are going to be difficult; it's a matter of your dedication to determine if you can achieve them.

Maximizing one's inherent mental abilities is critical in not only poker, but many aspects of life. To do this, I recommend trying to live a healthy lifestyle. Drink Water. Exercise. Stretch/yoga. Eat fruits/veggies. Meditate. Personally, I notice there's a tangible difference in my mental clarity and recall when I'm eating right and being active vs eating garbage and being sedentary.

We're each born with our own set of abilities and challenges. We can ultimately only be ourselves, but we can become the best version of ourselves through conscious effort and honest self-reflection.

Nobody can determine your relationship with poker except for you. Give yourself the opportunity to be the best version of yourself and listen to your inner compass. Control what you can and give an honest effort in trying to improve yourself each day. You'll know.

Good luck.

Have you thought or tried playing a different game instead of poker for a while? Maybe a fresh challenge will help dust out the cobwebs.

Plz the fog you talk about is not somme grass fog or drug?

3 hands ago?????????? What do you think about using a 3th party tool like heads up display or history stuff to help get what happened while you play?

Because i reaaaly don't advise you to play more than 1 table, then you have time to write down on white paper the history yourself, last hands vs players etc, all the hands even ya got the time. I know writing and memory work well together, of course when you forget what you wrote 3 seconds ago just look at the paper, that's what it is, use both paper and HUD and you be a fearsome player

I'm actually a lot like you. My short term memory isn't that wonderful, and neither is my concentration. However, quite often this lack of concentration has to do with the fact that I'm simply not interested in certain things. If I am, my focus can be a lot better.

I don't advice on giving up. If poker is a passion of yours, pursue it for yourself. Start at the bottom and slowly build your way up. Remembering hands and certain actions become second nature after a while. If you're just starting out in poker your brain has a lot more to work through since a lot of information is so new to the brain. This makes it harder in the beginning to focus on hands and spots. As poker becomes a routine endeavour your brain will start to have less difficulty with remembering hands and certain spots.

Also, livingonathineline is right in the sense that a healthy lifestyle can be very contributing to a healthy grind style. A healthy lifestyle includes being organised and structured throughout your life, certainly if you have attention problems.

Good like mate!

I didn't catch what your condition was exactly but there are several things that can contribute to brain fog.

Getting a food allergy test can be very useful in determining whether something in your diet is causing this. I haven't been tested but have been following a ketogenic diet for a while and my previous energy swings and brain fog have lifted dramatically from getting rid of grains.

There's also a big world of nootropics and supplements that can improve brain function. Something like vinpocetine(sic) and choline can have a big impact by increasing blood flow and mitochondrial function in the brain. Then if you really want to go deeper look into the racitams. I've taken a nootropic stack before during a ******ed heavy school load (32 credit semester) and there is a HUGE benefit to looking into this stuff.

Forgot about this thread lol!

Thanks for the response guys, yeh Im using a HUD and I have the replayer - I think getting my diet right might be a real factor I suffer from statin damage, Im young and should never have been on them but listened to my doctor which ended up with me having an allergic reaction to this drug - now I know it depletes coq10 - disrupts pathways in the body, damages mitochondria.

The issue is quite complicated.

Albeit not as bad as it sounds - however I had read recently about a woman reversing her memory loss with a ketogenic diet - she actually forgot seeing people and had transient global amnesia.

I have now something akin to dysautonomia and pots syndrome, which is basically, the nervous system not regulating things such as heart rate, right. Which can also lead to lack of blood to the brain. The problem I have is I don't know if it is that, or pathway disruption and mitochondrial damage that is causing the memory issue - I'd probly venture the latter, as when im laying down my hr is normal and bloodflow seems normal. But you hit on an important point kcernest.

I basically had an allergic reaction to a medication statins to be precise - I never researched them and was given them by my doctor as I had high cholesterol - Im not overweight its genetic - but my cholesterol is now back to normal however my body seems to be functioning differently as it disrupts pathways in you rbody.

I now have researched statins and its interesting what you say kcernest because they deplete coq10 and disrupt pathways in the body and your mitochndria - So I dont even know if the damage can be repaired - or if it would improve with training because it is a dysfunctioning in my body itself.

I am very interested in the nootropics you stated, but the statin also gave me other issues, like ectopic beats and fast hear rate, indigestion issues etc. So I wonder if the nootropic's increase heart rate, as my heart responds badly to anything like stimulants - i get away with coffee but wouldnt risk a few energy drinks, big meals will make it go pretty bad also not life threatening but 140-150 area and pounding with ectopics, i never had any of these issues before the statin.

Thanks for all the responses guys.

*I am not a doctor and do not play one on the internet*

If I were in your position I would start with a natural whole foods ketogenic diet for 30 days and just see how you feel. Do some reading on it and you will be impressed. I think it's important to focus on whole, real foods and not hot dogs and processed meats though. Remember to eat as many leafy and cruciferous vegetable you can. Get your fat from olive oil and coconut oil.

Uneducated people will say it's unhealthy to eat that much fat, "your brain needs carbs" and other nonsense but the research is overwhelming on the benefits to your brain and nervous system. There is evidence it actually repairs nerve endings and improves endocrine system function. Again, just read.

Supplements should be just that. Drugs, which statins are, should be a last resort, like surgeries. Sadly in America that is the easiest and first course of action but is only a band aid that does not correct a root cause.

I'm not advocating dropping whatever protocol you were given cold turkey but the goal should be to reverse the course.

“The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease. ” - Thomas Edison

Do you have references for any of your claims? When I've looked up similar types of things in the past, I find the evidence to be very lacking yet some articles misleadingly positive. For example, we might know that ailment X is associated with low levels of Y in your body, and food Z can raise levels of Y. Even if we get some reversal of X by giving rats food Z, that doesn't imply strongly enough that humans with X would benefit from Z. The human body is almost never that simple, and there are innumerable factors that get in the way of what otherwise seems to be a simple, logical solution.

This is typically a big advantage of pharmaceuticals drugs on average compared to other solutions. The pharmaceutical compounds have been tested in the right way -- that is, they directly test whether X improves given the drug vs not. Often, but not always, things like supplements and diets haven't been as rigorously tested.

I wouldn't distrust pharmaceuticals just because of their source. Drugs are chemicals that we take in, just like the chemicals that make up the foods we all eat and the supplements some of us take. Each chemical or diet should be held to the same standards of testing when evaluating their risk:benefit ratio.

Gangstaman, regarding prescription drugs: they only have to beat a placebo in one test right? Regardless of whether or not they've failed to beat a placebo in the previous 30.

G-Man

There have been anthropological studies on indigenous tribes with no exposure to grains or high carb sources in their diets. None of these tribes have any instance of metabolic disease or arthritis. The study I saw was done in the fifties I think, I imagine these types of people are few and far between these days.

The thing about drugs is they are meant to deal with a symptom, not a cause. In a number of areas drugs are the absolute answer. Personally I don't think metabolically they have a place and should only be a last ditch effort.

Sorry about not posting references, I'm just too lazy to look around and post links when everyone here should know how to work the Google machine.

I always advocate reading research papers over 'bro-science' but the problem is funding for research that could potentially hurt a multi billion dollar industry doesn't really exist. Nobody is out there writing checks to do research that doesn't lead to sales of a new product.

Well, 2 trials, not 1. It's not much, but it's more than vitamins/supplements/other things which don't require any studies of any quality.

The issue is that while I know how to work google well, I wasn't impressed with what I read. There are animal studies that look good, and some data with Alzheimer's, but nothing good with 'normal' humans. So I was curious if you knew of studies that I didn't find.

Of course, there are certainly reasons that such studies typically don't exist. I'm not as cynical as you to think that the issue is that a successful study with the ketogenic diet would hurt the pharma industry, but I do agree that since no one can really make money off it no one's willing to put up the money to fund studies. So we're left with studies that are a step removed from what we actually want to know (like I reference above), or studies like you mention here that have too many possible confounding factors to know what to make of them.

I'm a child/adolescent psychiatrist, so I'm actually quite used to recommending treatments with a poor evidence base. There are times when you don't have much choice because the evidence simply doesn't exist. But I try to be honest about it, at least, and try to avoid putting down other treatment options that are as supported in the literature.

I don't know that we can say supplements or diets are really any different. For many things, we don't quite know the cause so no treatment can really be designed to treat the cause. And for many other things, the cause just isn't treatable yet. I don't know that addressing symptoms is really all that bad when we don't know how to reverse the cause.

These replies about living a healthy lifestyle are spot on and could really help. Another thing you might consider is that no one has a perfect memory. Unless you are some sort of autistic-savant, you are going to have a hard time remembering what happened on every street of every hand EVEN for the last 3-4 hands. Most people can only remember at most 4 things at once, http://www.livescience.com/2493-mind-limit-4.html, in their working memory. And with the incredible amount of information being processed during a live game, it is hard to truly retain even a small amount of it.

What is important is that you remember the important information that should stick out to you, but this is not some "God-given" ability that is set in stone but something one develops over years (something I have not). So instead of beating yourself over not remembering something that you obviously thought was important, focus on recognizing similar patterns so they stick out to you more and you remember them better. Also, if you can't remember what someone bet, you just may not have found it important or significant. So just remember what you can and make the best decision based on what you remember.

I once really struggled with bad brain fog from severe depression and anxiety. I can tell you that stressing yourself out over it only makes it worse. Just relax and realize your brain is plastic and any imbalances or damage will repair itself with healthy lifestyle choices and time.

Also try some vitamins, fish oil, l-carnitine, lion's mane helped me.