Guinevere
"We are blessed and cursed by our times"
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2008
- Messages
- 1,029
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- 426
Well, I know one person who left for college to play football and now he's never the same. If I didn't see him socially, at school, with GF, I would have never believed that he didn't have some mental illness prior to what happened, but used to be absolutely fine. Now it is bizarre psychosis.
Here is the problem: if it is Sergio, or someone at NFL level, we don't even doubt, we know the statistics. Those family members who donated the brains of the deceased athletes, or those athletes who shot themselves into chests...medicine and science owe a lot to them
But what if a person didn't achieve NFL level? I am even thinking, sometimes these athletes may not remember being knocked out at practice. And the coaches might not tell them. It is very complex, sports, money. And diagnosis is not made in vivo. But these people need help. When they chose that football track, who knew about CTE?
CTE used to be known as "dementia pugilistica", in boxers, or "punch-drunk syndrome". I believe that one concussion such as knockdown or knockout could also cause CTE, it mostly depends on where the blow lands.
Here is one old and interesting drug, memantine, for prevention of CTE
Memantine improves outcomes after repetitive traumatic brain injury - PMC
Repetitive mild traumatic brain injury (rmTBI; e.g., sports concussions) is common and results in significant cognitive impairment. Targeted therapies for rmTBI are lacking, though evidence from other injury models indicates that targeting ...www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
This is so True!
My son started playing in Youth football at age 8. He played both sides of the ball. Got hit and knocked silly even at that young age. He played until he hit HS then decided he had had enough hits to the head. He is now a Bio Major in College.
His words to me when he quit in HS, "Mom, I want to go to College for something in the Medical Field". "I don't need to risk the head injuries. It's not worth it."
Some of these kids start playing young. I can not imagine the amount of damage that can be done over extended periods or years. It's sad.
I hope they are able to bring him back before something else Bad happens.
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