[penguinsfan7]

I've had 2 diagnosed concussions in my life, pretty sure I had 1 or 2 others that weren't diagnosed. None of them ever caused loss of consciousness. I played about 3 years of tackle football (quit when I was 13), and about 6 years of lacrosse (quit when I was 16). I have recently done a lot of research on Dr. Omalu and this whole CTE ordeal, as well as hearing about former NFL players every week taking their own lives and are found to have CTE. I'll be completely honest it scares the **** outta me. I'm really worried about getting CTE in the future. When it came to my concussions, I thankfully had lots of recovery time after each one, however I wasnt very educated about them. I have a severe anxiety disorder, hypochondria, as well as OCD. It seems that lately I have been obsessing about this whole disease and if I will develop it.It just scares me because alot of what this research is saying is that they don't know exactly how many hits is "too much" and they don't know why some people get it and some dont.


I rarely ever get headaches and when i do, I think they are caused by stress/worrying and they are minor. My concentration is pretty good but its sort of a different degree every day. I have some minor memory problems sometimes (like forgetting where I put my keys and things like that) but I think thats due to my anxiety disorder. Don't feel dizzy, nauseous, or have headaches anymore. But it still worries me. I'm 21 years old and have a whole life ahead of me and I want to be successful.

[Mark in Idaho]

penguinsfan7,

There are a lot of things you have control over. Whether you develop CTE is not one of them. Evidence suggests genetics can play a part in who develops problems and who doesn't.

There are no weekly suicides of NFL players. This is your anxiety/OCD speaking. Those that have happened were spaced over years with a few clusters. Many of the brains being studied are from players who have lived long lives or died from other illnesses, cancer/heart disease, etc. Frank Gifford was 85 and his brain was wracked with CTE but is did not cause major problems until later in life.

I suggest you purpose to live a clean life. Minimal alcohol, good brain nutrition, limited stress, healthy friends (no high stress/maintenance friends), healthy thinking, healthy habits, safe activities, etc.

At your age, there is great promise they will gain understanding to treat those few who develop CTE. It has similarities to Alzheimer's Disease and they think treating it will be similar.

So, try to deal with your anxiety, hypochondria and OCD and your life will be much better.