I play competitive Scrabble and i can't seem to learn anymore. Strategy is a weakness. I make the same mistakes over and over. I make errors in points of strategy that i have known for 15 years.

I've just recently taken up listening to classical music and i am memorizing the pieces okay. I've just started using my oven in earnest and i've learned that okay.

It's just Scrabble. I wonder if it is the meds? Or the bipolar? Or my age -- i'm 51. Or maybe i am just not that clever and have reached the highest level of mastery possible.

It worries me because i started studying with a Scrabble expert online and i don't want to waste his time. I also don't want to frustrate myself doing something futile. It's not that i don't have the information; it's that i can't apply it.

Maybe it's the old adage: jack of all trades; master of none. Maybe i can just build a junior level of mastery of skills but that's all. I had to abandon knitting because i couldn't learn the more complex stitches...

Anybody else have trouble refining skills?

I’m struggling with something at work someone would like me to learn. It’s just not my thing; it’s not the type of work I usually do, and it something I haven’t done for over 20 years.

I’m just going to say it’s not my bag.

I’ve noticed I have memory problems, which I think are my meds. That interferes with learning too, but I can cope concerning things I already know how to do.

I can't seem to learn anything and I'm 30!

it's in one part of the brain, then just out the other part

and it used to be so good before DX...

guess that's why I sucked so much in school.

for the record, I can't play scrabble, and I can't play chess

don't feel bad

Ugh, I just ran into someone from where I used to work. I kept struggling to find words. She was giving me funny looks.

I wasn’t on lithium back then. I really think the drug has much to do with it in my case.

I walked away thinking about how that. I wish I were my old self in some ways.

[pirilin]

The drugs, the age, the repetitious way of the game. How knows?.

[Guiness187055]

I know with me I swear the drugs lower my IQ.

[wildflowerchild25]

I’m going through the same thing right now. I can’t learn this math AT ALL. I will understand what we’re fmdoing the day we’re doing it and the n a few days later forget it all. I can’t concentrate for **** either, but that might be the episode I’m in, so might the memory issues as a matter of fact.

[Wild Coyote]

I think you are likely a fantastic scrabble player!

We all want to beat the champs.
I used to play in cribbage tournaments, some 30 years ago. I would win then.
I'd just started playing again this winter. First, I had to learn all over again, as I could not recall how to play. My goal was to be able to partner with my mother in cribbage tournaments, as she is very good at this game. I used to be able to play all day long and would stay "sharp." I now start losing my focus and want/need a nap before I've finished a match. I lose focus and start making quick dumb moves. I do that as long as I have lost focus. I do okay as long as I can keep my mind on the game. I can do it, but it's not as easily done as it used to be. May be age, drugs, depression -- any or all of the above.

Scrabble -- at the level you are playing -- is very difficult. Don't be too hard on yourself! You are obviously a formidable opponent!


WC

[cool09]

Everything I read in books takes me longer to digest. I could never get a master's degree. I have an engineering degree and I could never do that again. As for playing games I'm awful at it. Oh, well.

[MissCathryn]

I agree with most...it's the meds. I havent been as sharp since I started taking Lamictal. I was fine for a while, but then noticed I struggle to find words, trip up over my words, forget things, and find it hard to pay attention.

I wish we didn't need medications.

[*Laurie*]

I feel very fortunate because medication has helped me so much, most of the time. Unfortunately, I also recognize that meds have profoundly affected my level of intelligence and my ability to learn new information because of the inability to remember things.

I barely (I mean, barely) socialize because I cannot recall names and other information. I used to be quite a talented writer; now I struggle to write literate sentences and paragraphs.

You are not alone...none of you are alone.