Former NFL star found dead in hotel room had CTE, family says

[Jilly_in_VA]

Former NFL wide receiver Vincent Jackson, who was found dead last February in a Florida hotel room, had the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, his family announced Thursday. Dr. Ann McKee, who directs the Boston University-based research center where his brain was examined, said in a statement the 38-year-old was diagnosed with stage 2 of the disease.

"Vincent Jackson was a brilliant, disciplined, gentle giant whose life began to change in his mid-30s," McKee said in the statement. "He became depressed, with progressive memory loss, problem solving difficulties, paranoia, and eventually extreme social isolation. That his brain showed stage 2 CTE should no longer surprise us; these results have become commonplace."

CTE, which can only be diagnosed through an autopsy, has been found in former members of the military, football players, boxers and others who have been subjected to repeated head trauma. One recent study found signs of the debilitating disease in 110 of 111 NFL players whose brains were inspected.

In February, sheriff's officials in Hillsborough County, Florida, said Jackson's family initially reported him missing and deputies tracked him down to a hotel two days later, spoke with him and canceled the missing persons case. Jackson was found dead days later. The New York Times reported Thursday a cause of death wasn't announced by the county medical examiner's office.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vincent-jackson-stage-2-cte/

[mopinko]

1. they maybe cant say cte w certainty til autopsy

but we're getting way better at tbi's. turns out a lot of ptsd is rly tbi. the va has been sorting that out.

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. CTE

is the result of multiple TBIs. A concussion is one TBI. Another concussion is a second TBI. And so on. Many concussions, especially in younger kids, are not treated properly. The name of the condition is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Emphasis on Chronic.

Now as for PTSD, I can only talk about my kid. On his second Iraq tour, he could not (as in, was not allowed to) tell us where he was. When he came home he was different and since I am a nurse with some limited skill in neurology from working ICU and stepdown, I could detect some signs of what I was pretty sure was post-TBI syndrome as well as psychological symptoms of PTSD. Unfortunately, like a lot of people, he self-medicated. The VA did not serve him well either. He committed suicide.

[mopinko]

3. lordy, i'm so very sorry.

it's so frustrating that great science is out there, but your son wasnt in the right place at the right time.

my youngest had a skull fracture as a little one, but we didnt know. seemed like a normal childhood goose egg. nothing odd.
15 years later it turned out to be behind seizures that were mistaken for psyche symptoms. on top of autoimmune diseases, she was a wreck a good chunk of her life.
dx'd w ptsd, but didnt rly have trauma to cause that level. but it felt like it to her,
and shrinks accepted it. but turns out the ppl she thought were following her were hallucination seizures. lots of other weird stuff, too.

dont even get my going on brain health v mental health.

[Jilly_in_VA]

5. Oh, me either

I have enough neuro behind me to make me very, very wary of shrinks. Not that I don't think they have their place, but any one of them that thinks they don't need to order a complete battery of neuro testing on people with suspected severe psych problems doesn't deserve the title of psychiatrist. Non-psychiatrists need to be alert to that kind of stuff too, at least enough to know the questions to ask. Like, "Have you ever had a concussion? Skull fracture?" etc.

[mopinko]

6. of all the silos in medicine, the shrinks v neuros is the most damaging, imho.

afaik, the neuros are the only ones upset about that.

having autoimmune diseases, it amazes me that general health isnt connected to brain health.
now that i'm old, i can look back and say-yeah, that wasnt about my marriage, it was about my exhaustion. which was related to a viral disease. which no one connected.

so much of my life spent spinning my wheels. le sigh.

[localroger]

4. They've done the autopsy.

He's been dead since February.

[Eugene]

7. Former NFL player died of 'chronic alcohol use,' autopsy shows

Source: CNN

Former NFL player died of 'chronic alcohol use,' autopsy shows

By Kay Jones, CNN
Updated 7:58 PM ET, Thu December 23, 2021

(CNN) — The death of former NFL player Vincent Jackson was due to "chronic alcohol use," according to his autopsy.

The Hillsborough County, Florida, medical examiner's report, released this week, shows that Jackson's death in February was considered "natural" and the cause was listed as "chronic alcohol use."

Jackson, who was 38 when he died earlier this year, played for the then-San Diego Chargers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during his career. He was found to have Stage 2 CTE, as CNN reported last week.

He was found dead in a hotel room on February 15 in Brandon, Florida, with no apparent signs of trauma, officials said at the time. His family had reported him missing less than a week prior, CNN reported.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/23/sport/vincent-jackson-nfl-autopsy/

[Jilly_in_VA]

8. This is bullshit

They're going to say the same thing about my grandson's cousin's daddy when he dies, which is only a matter of time. The whole extended family knows that he almost certainly has CTE. He's a big guy who was a big kid and started playing football at 5 or 6 in pee wee leagues. Played in the NFL. Too many concussions. He drinks to deal with numerous mental health issues, most likely. Autopsy will almost certainly show CTE and they'll say "chronic alcohol use"...maybe to absolve the NFL?