
Dr. Daniel Amen cringed when he heard the news that former NFL linebacker Junior Seau had taken his life by pointing a gun at his chest.
โHe did what players think youโre supposed to do: Save your brain,โ said Amen, a California-based physician and psychiatrist. โThey have to learn thereโs another way. Donโt give up on your brain while youโre alive. Try to fix it.โ
Amenโs research and stated mission โ to rehabilitate a damaged brain โ gets at the heart of class-action lawsuits filed against the NFL. A master complaint was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia that laid out the claims of more than 2,000 former football players. In addition to personal damages, the complaint outlines the need for medical monitoring, a costly undertaking that would require the NFL to pay for medical testing and treatment for the duration of a playerโs lifetime.
โGuys are scared. The Junior Seau thing kicked it into a whole other category,โ said Von DuBose, one of the attorneys representing former players. โThere was a lot of cynicism from folks on the outside looking in. But Junior Seau was NFL royalty. When that happened, it took that layer of cynicism off. It really got folks to thinking, wow, this is a real, real problem. This isnโt a bunch of broke, retired guys looking for a quick payday.โ
Whether a brain thatโs been damaged can truly be fixed is a subject still open to discussion in the scientific community. Amen, though, thinks heโs on the right track and is confident that he can take a player whoโs suffered multiple concussions and improve decision-making, reasoning, depression, mood and memory. Heโs worked with 117 former NFL players and says eight out of 10 have shown improvement.
โI could care less about the politics or even the lawsuits,โ Amen said. โThis is a brain-damaging sport. When we started our research, everyone was actively in denial. Theyโre changing now, and Iโm excited about that. But we got to start talking about the next step: Letโs rehab their heads.โ
Seauโs suicide has not been linked to head trauma, but his death last month sparked renewed discussion about head trauma in football. Nick Bell, 43, can empathize with what he thinks Seau mustโve felt.
Bell, a running back for the Los Angeles Raiders from 1991 to โ93, began seeing Amen two years ago. He weighed 435 pounds then, battled depression and had sleep apnea and mood swings. He found himself walking into rooms and couldnโt recall why heโd entered. Even reaching out to Amen was a struggle.
โI had to fight the shame,โ said Bell, โespecially culturally, of seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist. Itโs a real problem because a lot of guys can get help, but they canโt bring themselves to ask for it.โ
Bell, who is one of the litigants suing the NFL, doesnโt know how many concussions he endured playing football, but he remembers the first. During his rookie season, he was hit so hard that he ran to the wrong teamโs huddle for the next play.
โBack then, you couldnโt tell the coach you had a concussion. There was no way,โ he said. โIf you did, youโre on the bench and you might be losing your job.โ
Bell began a program with Amen that involves supplements, hyperbaric oxygen treatments, fish oil and exercise, all intended to aid the regeneration of the brain cells and boost the neural connections in the brain. Amen said Bellโs most recent testing has shown more than a 30 percent improvement in memory, attention and processing speed.
Amenโs studies have been published in journals, but he says more research needs to be conducted. The medical communityโs understanding of brain trauma has grown rapidly in recent years and experts say work like Amenโs is encouraging.
โI think weโre getting there,โ said Barry Jordan, a renowned neurologist who studies the effects of brain trauma on athletes. โI think thereโs still a lot that we donโt know.โ
The need is great, however, as studies have shown strong links between head trauma in football and depression, dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Half-jokingly, Jordan calls it dementia footballistica.
Amen operates four for-profit clinics, including one in Washington D.C. He says the price of rehabilitating the brain can cost $5,000-$6,000 per athlete. Using hyperbaric oxygen treatments would double the cost.
His clients say the results justify the price tag and they are hopeful the NFL eventually agrees to medical monitoring.
โItโs amazing where I am now compared with where Iโve come from,โ said Anthony Davis, the former running back whose USC career earned him induction in the College Football Hall of Fame. โItโs scary what my head used to be like.โ
When Davis first met Amen in 2006, Davis was 54 years old with a brain that looked like that of an 85-year-old. He was more than 100 pounds overweight and diabetic, suffering from sleep apnea and high blood pressure. Heโd leave his home and have to return two or more times to make sure he locked the door.
โIโm telling you, if it wasnโt for him, Iโd just be deteriorating,โ Davis said. โThis thing, itโs like a silent death.โ
Davis played five years professionally, including two in the NFL. He says heโs โone of the lucky onesโ because he had only two diagnosed concussions.
โIt took me many years to screw it up,โ Davis said, โso itโll take me some years to rehab it, too, to bring back some normalcy. Itโs a process, but I can feel the results.โ
With targeted treatment, you can change your brain and change your life. If you feel that you or a loved one could benefit from an evaluation,ย contact the Amen Clinics Care Centerย today online or call (888) 288-9834.
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