I am a 20 year old male who has played football as an offensive linemen 7th grade through present (currently going into my junior year of college). I play at the D1 FCS level. The risks of CTE are something that I have always kept in the back of my mind, but I am now considering them more than ever.

This spring, I suffered a major ankle injury and am slated to miss part of the upcoming season. Having the extra time on my hands has made me think strongly about quitting the sport. I have seen the literature about the risk compounding each additional year you play a sport like football, and have wondered if quitting now would help my chances.

I have never had a diagnosed concussion, but I most definitely have had a few. I can't tell if I have any of the symptoms of CTE, but I am worried about them coming in my future.

The problem is that I am on a scholarship that I would most likely lose if I quit the sport out of fear of CTE. I love the school I am at, and it is a prestigious school that would be very beneficial for my career (If I graduate from there). However, the tuition is insanely expensive, and I can only afford it with my scholarship. I am super conflicted about what I should do. My parents think I should stick it out to get the degree, as I only have 1 and 2/3 of a season + one spring ball left. But they never played football or combat sports, and don't have a ton of knowledge on CTE.

If anyone has insight about their experience with CTE, any suggestions, or knowledge on being able to medically retire and keep a scholarship, it would be much appreciated. My dream scenario is to keep my scholarship, but not play football anymore.

Because i read that it is the 100s of small hits that causes CTE, thats why American Football and Boxing have a big CTE risk? But what about big hits? At the same time people call Power Slap one of the worst sports for CTE, even if you take max 3 hits in a match. How do few big hits cause CTE compared to 100s of small hits?

Australian football is facing a growing brain health dilemma as evidence accumulates around repetitive head impacts and CTE. Researchers and clinicians say the focus on concussions alone may miss a larger issue: the thousands of smaller impacts players absorb over years of participation. The AFL says it is making safety changes, but several experts interviewed believe action is not keeping pace with what emerging evidence is showing.

Key points:

• CTE has now been identified in 33 former Australian Rules football players, including players in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

• The youngest Australian football player diagnosed with CTE was 23 year old Nick Lowden.

• Dr. Ann McKee, who has diagnosed CTE in hundreds of athletes and examined thousands of brains, argued that there is “nothing magical” about age 14 and said she would prefer delaying tackle sports until athletes are old enough to understand and consent to the risks, potentially 18 or older.

• The article emphasizes that CTE is increasingly viewed as a disease tied to cumulative head impact exposure, not just diagnosed concussions.

• Experts are calling for stronger prevention efforts, including reducing contact exposure in training and rethinking youth contact rules.

I probably wont get any responses but ill just throw this out there because why the hell not. 

okay i will dumb this down a LOT. so basically my younger brother has severe autism/learning disabilities. he can speak but he’s considered nonverbal because he cant actually form a sentence thats coherent. he needs help washing, eating, going to school etc. 

so heres the thing. when he has a meltdown (which is often and can happen because of literally nothing) he gets violent and aggressive. one of the things he does and has always done is bashing his head against walls. 

now im very aware that you cant diagnose cte until someone is dead and im also aware he literally can’t communicate if he has something like this. but when i learnt about cte more i started thinking that maybe he might have this. im just worried. hes always been violent and know hes growing and getting stronger. i know cte can make you paranoid and have violent outbursts. but im worried that he is going to get worse. 

ive always lived in a hostile environment but i get to leave in a year and 6 months. my other younger brother doesnt get to. what will happen when he gets MORE violent? my parents and the disability support team isnt going to assume cte, thats for sure. what if he kills somebody? thats something thats been running through my head. 

all i want to do know is if this is possible or likely. thats it. 

I've been recovering what my doctors think is just PCS for about 7 or 8 years now. The usual garbage: headaches, anxiety, dizziness. That exciting headache where it feels like your brain is pressing against the front of your skull.

I've been fighting for the past 4 years to try and do my highschool equivalency, and I'm seeing some real progress. I'm still a sharp guy, just in controlled settings I suppose.

Things are on a good track, I'm hoping to get a part time job soon (I'm on disability rn), and my tolerances before I get overwhelmed with symptoms are getting higher. Just slowly. At the moment I really struggle with crowds, but exposure therapy is working.

I guess I just wonder, is this recovery only going to be temporary? Am I already so damaged I'll be miserable in my 40s and beyond? I know I need to keep at it no matter what, but I just really don't want to get CTE. It's terrifying to me.

I have had a lot of concussions over the years. I've lost count, but we're looking at 10+ at least in my teenage years from sailing and hockey. They progressively got worse. The first ones just meant I had to take a few weeks off some of my harder courses, but by the time I was 16/17 I had a few knocks that made me take a few months away from school outright, and then the big one when I was 17 that forced me to drop out and I'm still dealing with it.

Is the fact that I'm getting better an indicator I'm not "destined" to get CTE? Or is it still likely my progress will only be temporary, and I won't get to have many more happy decades?

I'm sorry if this is gloomy, I'm trying, it's just scary.

For those with suspected CTE or prolonged Post Concussion Syndrome, how did you arrive at your symptoms?

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Was it a gradual appearance of "something's not right" years after your last head impact? Was it a bad final head injury that you never recovered from? Something else?

Hey everyone. I have no idea if I have CTE or not. I boxed amateur from ages 14 until age 22. I fought about 2 or 3 times a year. Im 30 now. I had some really bad head injuries and I have been knocked unconscious more than once.

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Well ever since 2020 I lost my ability to watch movies and TV. I know you may be wondering why is that. Its because I cant keep up with the storyline of it at all. I could watch a 2 hour movie from start to finish and not remember the characters names or plot of anything that happened at the end. I also noticed the movement, light and sound from the screen makes me motion sick.

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Who else can relate?

I personally have trouble with this, as I forget certain words mid sentence and have a hard time retaining information.

Title.

Brain Injury is life on hard mode. What keeps you going when things get difficult and you know they'll only get more difficult?

CBC examines the current state of Canadian led CTE research and the effort to develop a reliable method of diagnosing the disease in living patients.

The article follows a military veteran participating in a study using a new PET imaging tracer designed to detect CTE related tau pathology. It also explores what researchers currently know about the disease, how CTE is confirmed after death, and why a living diagnosis could be critical for future treatment development.

In addition to athletes, the article highlights growing evidence of CTE among military veterans, victims of domestic violence, and other populations exposed to repetitive brain trauma.

Just curious if you experience this and how regularly. With the last TBI, I had convergence insufficiency/ eye teaming issues. I believe when I'm ill, have poor sleep, stressed, it can aggravate this tendency for the room to look like it's moving and my eyes move to "catch" it first thing in waking.

If I blink, it resets and drifts again until I'm more fully awake/ close eyes a couple minutes. I'm not sure if it's related to CTE specifically or just my last injury because it affected my vision so greatly, so I'm curious if you experience the waking "drift".

Right now I'm not sure if I have cte or not. I'm 29 and played football for 8 years through high school. Then I had several other concussions playing recreational sports in college. I've dealt with recurring pains in the back of my head where I hit it the most. Which has now progressed into really bad issues with insomnia and I've had some anxiety that has come out of that.

I've been going down rabbit holes for insomnia but I figured it would be helpful to see what you guys deal with and what helps. Right now I'm taking trazodone and melatonin which help a little. As well as a supplement called remade that my doctor recommended(has glycine, ashwaghanda, mag glycenate, theanine, etc). I'm also doing magnesium threonate, b vitamin complex, vitamin d, omega 3's, and turmeric.

Just interested to see what feedback you guys have. I'm not sure if I should continue with trazodone and melatonin long-term but they've helped me get back to about 5 hours of sleep a night right now while I also did a cbt-i program. It was really bad before that I got to a point where I was barely sleeping at all.

I appreciate any feedback.

Hi,

I had a number of concussions growing up from ice/street hockey amongst other things, dealt with stronger than average headaches over the years but felt my symptoms were mild otherwise.

I had an analysis by a neuropsychiatrist today because I was hoping to deal with some depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and difficulties with memory and motivation - I’d assumed these stemmed from mental illnesses like adhd and possibly bdp or something similar.

I was told I meet the criteria for PPCS (persistent post concussion syndrome), MDD (major depressive disorder), GAD (general anxiety disorder), and ADHD. CTE strongly believed to have either been the cause for onset of, or worsening the severity of all listed (except adhd).

Outside of prescriptions and coping mechanisms to rewire parts of the brains response to triggers, I was lead to believe there’s no real cure or things to be done? I’ve been avoiding contact sports for the better part of 15 years and am currently 32. Was hoping some people had advice or stories to share for processing the diagnosis and going forward.

I’ve got a script for anti depressants, anti anxiety, and another that’s supposed to aid memory. Haven’t begun any yet.

I’m 22, and the more and more I hear about CTE in media has concerned me that maybe I could be at risk at some point in my life, and it’s pretty scary.

Just to clarify I don’t think I’ve ever been medically diagnosed with a concussion, and I don’t believe I’ve lost conciseness with any hit. I also never played any contact sports, except for a few years of mma.

So as a kid I feel like I hit my head quite often, if I had to guess how many concussions I’ve had since I was about 5 would be maybe 4-8. When I was younger I would throw tantrums and fling myself backwards with no regard and sometimes would hit my head on things, I probably did this at least 2-3 times?

Also had a few incidents where I’d fall off of something and hit my head. Playing at recess and smacking heads with another kid. So about 2-3 incidents there.

I also did mma for a few years while I was about 8-13 and would spar with other kids. I remember having a few hits back then too, but I’m not sure how bad those could be since we had padded gear.

The last time I had any head injury was in 2021. I was laying down in my bed and flung myself backwards without realizing how close I was to the wall, and hit the back of my head lol.

The more and more I think about it, I just get more scared that I’m basically guaranteed to get CTE later in life due to these injuries. I know there’s nothing I can do about it now, except to make sure I don’t get more lol. But I still can’t help but think I’ve ruined my future with all of these incidents growing up. If any of you have any advice or anything to share, that would be great.

pledged my brain to the Boston brain bank upon death. Much love #55

I'm was diagnosed at 44yrs old with bipolar 1 phychotic features years before I was diagnosed through a nuero phychoigical test to have tbi also numerous concussion doctors suspect cte in my medical records but cannot diagnose cte until I die. I have also pledged my brain to the Boston brain bank a place we're former college and professional football players donate there brain after death I played from the age 8yrs old until 23yrs old were I received a full scholarship to a D1 football University were I started 45 straight games on the defensive line and was a team captain 1 of 3 my senior year. I have thousands of hits to my head. Mods won't allow me to post my picture. I suffer every day but I would like to tell you that you are not alone take your meds and just do the best you can.

I have a thing. CTE can only be diagnosed posthumously, and I try to live by that, but I have a thing. I've had 8 major concussions starting with a loss of consciousness event at age 4 and significant minor head impacts including head hitting behavior as a child and teen and an excessive amount of belegarth. Headshots don't score, but incidental impacts between a 12oz bat and the head occur regularly.

I've been in inpatient psychiatric care 7 times, most recently about 8 months ago when my diagnosis was upgraded to schizoaffective disorder. I have an application into SSDI office for government disability, which is taking forever. To make ends meet, I am Doordashing.

About two weeks ago, while Doordashing, I stepped off a curb without noticing it. I did not fall to the ground, but I felt the impact travel up my leg and through my spine and ...jostle?... my brain. Since then, I've bumped my head getting in the car (super tiny) and I stepped off another smaller curb in the same way as the first.

I am trying not to have a concussion. I had a diagnosed work concussion before/as this escalated to a disability that put me out for 6 months and I got all the PT/OT training on how to exercise balance and eye training. I haven't been doing as much exercise as the training showed me as I could have been... So I know what to look for, but I've been so far from baseline in the past few years, which included most of the hospitalizations, that I can't tell the difference, but in the last two weeks, I'm definitely more prone to outbursts, irritability, and general fuzziness.

So my question is this: Could these minor impacts be to blame for my current symptoms?

I try to be careful. I know I'm more sensitive to impacts than the general population, so my question is how much.

Once rugby’s greatest tight-head prop, the former All Black shares his experience living with the symptoms of brain injury for more than a decade and the impact on his emotional state.