Concussed Pro Athletes Have Psychedelics in Mind

Over the past decade awareness has grown around concussions in sports. Concussion awareness has grown in tandem with the medical field’s progress in treating head and brain injuries. Years ago, people joked around about “seeing stars” or “shaking the cobwebs off.” Concussions aren’t being brushed off anymore, as numerous professional athletes turn to psychedelic options to remedy head injuries and regain their brain.

Athletes and Psychedelics Form Strange Alliance

Former professional athletes suffering from a wide range of mental health issues are seeking out healing and relief in the form of psychedelics. Some well known current and former professional athletes using psychedelic medicine are Aaron Rodgers (NFL), Lamar Odom (NBA), Mike Tyson (boxing), and Kenny Stills (NFL). A number of former athletes have sought out psychedelic solutions in the wake of excessive concussions during their careers. These concussions have the potential to become traumatic brain injuries (TBI) or worse, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Professional Sports Has a Concussion Problem, Especially the NFL

Aside from MMA and hockey, the next most violent sport with a high concussion rate is the NFL. Hundreds of players suffer concussions each year. As the problem has grown the NFL has upgraded helmets and changed the rules to try and alleviate the concussion risk. However, these efforts have yielded minimal results. As recently as 2017, 20% of players“…used suboptimal models that are now banned.”

Since 2012, the NFL has annually averaged 244 concussions with all games combined. That same year, the NFL was forced to start openly sharing data on player concussions. 2012 also marked the first year the NFL donated $30 million to the National Institutes of Health for brain research. Four years later, $15 million of the donation was renounced due to the NFL’s attempt to influence the research.

The NFL’s attitude towards concussions has been largely dismissive. There’s simply too much money at stake. In 2018, the NFL raked in $15 billion, with estimates reaching $25 billion by 2027. With that amount of money, the NFL is more than happy to appease any threats to their business.

In 2013, 4,500 former players reached an agreement with the NFL over head trauma lawsuits. The league awarded them $765 million. Only 3 years later in 2016, the NFL settled with 20,000 former players regarding concussion lawsuits. This time the players were granted a $1 billion payment. When a business is making $15 billion a year, these settlements are a small price to pay.

NFL athletes peak at 25 years old and average brief careers of only 3 and a half years. Not only do they put themselves at great risk during short careers, but this means they can suffer debilitating physical damage for many years to come, even at a young age. A study from 2017 found that 99% of former NFL players show signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE is a progressive disease stemming from TBI provoked by repeated concussions. For this reason, chronic traumatic encephalopathy awareness has increased.

Devastating Effects of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

As noted in this article “CTE is a degenerative brain disease linked to professions with repetitive head trauma—athletes, veterans, and fighters.” Players “…with a history of repetitive head trauma, including symptomatic concussions,” suffer from CTE ultimately resulting “…in the production of abnormal proteins.” As a result of the chronic trauma, a type of protein called “tau proteins,” which are common in central nervous system neurons, experience abnormal clumping. The clumping occurs throughout the brain and kills healthy cells.

The symptoms of CTE are deadly. CTE symptoms run like a laundry list of ill health:

• Paranoia

• Erratic behavior

• Personality changes

• Memory loss

• Confusion

• Impaired judgment

• Impulse control problems

• Aggression

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Suicidality

• Parkinsonism

• Dementia

• Suicidality

Perhaps the 2 most well-known cases of CTE in NFL players are Dave Duerson and Junior Seau. Both Duerson and Seausuffered from CTE and committed suicide after their retirements.

Duerson died at age 50 in 2011. Duerson’s passing was heartbreaking, choosing to shoot himself in the chest. Duerson“…left a note asking that his brain be given to the NFL’s Brain Bank.” Duerson had premeditated his death in hopes that donating his brain to science could help fight the concussion epidemic.

Seau died at age 43 in 2012, just a little more than 2 years after announcing his retirement. Seau, perhaps after learning of Duerson, also shot himself in the chest. However, Seau did not leave a note.

In light of the dire turn that CTE has taken in recent years, any number of former athletes, alive and deceased, have donated their brains towards CTE research. Although the NFL has the most high-profile CTE cases and examples, a number of other sports are prone to concussions as well.

Most At-Risk Sports for Concussions

Even though the NFL has the most public concussion problem, American football isn’t the riskiest sport for concussions. One meta-analysis that studied all concussion research concluded the following sports were the riskiest for concussions:

• Men’s rugby

• Women’s ice hockey

• Men’s American football

• Women’s football (or soccer)

• Men’s ice hockey

• Men’s football (or soccer)

The same study found that women’s “…sports typically had a higher rate of concussion.” Other notable concussion statistics:

• Almost 4 million concussions occur annually in the U.S. during competitive sports and recreational activities with half of them going unreported.

• Men are most at-risk with bicycling, football, and basketball.

• Women are most at-risk with bicycling, playground activities, and horseback riding.

• In sports with the same rules, women have a higher incidence of concussions than men.

• All athletes who suffer 1 concussion have a greater probability of incurring a second.

No current diagnosis methods exist to detect CTE. Even worse, there is no cure. Or is there?

A Psychedelic Future for Athletes?

With this emerging coupling of athletes and psychedelics, psychedelic treatment for CTE could become a sports medicine mainstay. The possibility is already being discussed. Two of the most prominent voices in the conversation are Dr. David Lawrence, an academic sports medicine physician in Toronto, Canada and Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris who is the Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research, Division of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London.

Lawrence and Carhart-Harris co-authored this paper exploring the benefits of psychedelic therapy in sports medicine. The authors outline the unique mental health risks posed by the lives of professional athletes:

Athletes encounter hundreds of distinct stressors making this population vulnerable to a spectrum of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, substance misuse, burnout, and interpersonal-relationship issues. The stressors encountered by athletic populations include: (1) performance and personal issues (i.e. injuries, finances, career transitions, etc.); (2) leadership and personnel issues (i.e. spectators, media, governing bodies, coaches, support staff, etc.); (3) logistic and environmental issues (i.e. travel, selection, accommodation, physical safety, etc.); and (4) cultural and team issues (i.e. teammates behaviour, goals, cultural norms, team support, etc.). A recent meta-analysis and systematic review identified that mental health symptoms and disorders are widely prevalent in athletes and may be higher in elite athletes compared to the general population.

The enormous amounts of pressure must be overwhelming. Pressure to perform for coaches, teammates, loved ones, family, fans, and even for the media must be a reality few can imagine. This type of pressure might make an athlete not speak up about a concussion and lead to some of the problems mentioned above. In light of this, Lawrence and Carhart-Harris conclude by saying:

Sports medicine practitioners should become aware of psychedelic agents and the developing field of research examining their role in the management of mental health and wellbeing. In the future, psychedelics may be an additional avenue to explore to manage not only mental health conditions in the athletic population, but also sport-specific stressors including burnout, retirement and life transitions, and sporting failure.

As the link between TBI and CTE becomes clearer more and more research comes to light regarding psychedelic relief for brain trauma. Even former NFL Neurological Player Care Safety Director Dr. David Brody has joined a pharmaceutical company researching N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in treatment of TBI. However, the latest discovery might be the most promising and impactful.

Stanford Medicine researchers have found that ibogaine effectively treats TBI in military veterans, as well as depression, anxiety and PTSD. As one might imagine, the promise of ibogaine treatment for TBI could be a hail mary for the NFL and other pro sports alike.

Many athletes have turned to psychedelics to alleviate their mental health issues. Here are the stories of 3 professional athletes who used psychedelics to heal their brains.

Daniel Carcillo- Former NHL Player

During his decade plus playing career in the NHL Daniel Carcillo earned the nickname “Car Bomb” for his rugged and rough style of play and role as enforcer. Over that time he was diagnosed with 7 concussions. Carcillo was forced to retire at age 30 due to the repeated head trauma followed by slurred speech, weight and memory loss. Seeking relief much like other athletes, he exhausted all of the mainstream options including SSRIs and psychotherapy to no avail. After reaching a deadend, Carcillo decided to take a chance with ayahuasca.

Months later after the ayahuasca ceremony, Carcillo was pleased to find “…that his insomnia, memory issues, headaches, slurred speech and head-pressure symptoms had completely disappeared, adding that he was experiencing little to no anxiety or depression.”

Carcillo has also used psilocybin mushrooms to treat his CTE. Following up his ayahuasca ceremony with psilocybin mushrooms completed Carcillo’s recovery from CTE.

Carcillo said, “I am cured, for sure, of TBI and any related symptoms. 100%.” He continued saying, “I do not suffer from slurred speech, headaches, head pressure, insomnia, impulse control issues, anxiety, depression or suicidal ideation.I do not suffer from any of that (anymore).”

Carcillo’s recovery inspired him to pay it forward to other struggling athletes. Following the success of his plant medicine treatments, Carcillo has founded Wesana Health. The company is trailblazing a path in studying treatment of TBI in athletes, veterans and others. Wesana’s goal is to provide psychedelic therapies, including psilocybin and other naturally-sourced medicines to treat athletes suffering from TBI and CTE.

Not long ago, Wesana partnered with the World Boxing Council to conduct a clinical research project that will study the potential of psilocybin to support boxers’ brain health. This brings the conversation back to Mike Tyson.

Tyson has partnered with Wesana Health. Because of Tyson’s similar journey back to health, he wants to promote psilocybin’s benefits far and wide and will do so with Wesana’s help. Tyson is an investor in Wesana Health.

Riley Cote- Former NHL Player

Riley Cote played in the NHL for four seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers. Much like Carcillo, Cote was a violent player. What Cote lacked in puck skills he made up with in sheer brutality. As Cote says, “I fought everyone and their brother in my career. I would pick out the biggest guy I could find and challenge him. It was how I survived, how I made a name for myself. I was inflicting all this pain and inflammation on myself, always getting punched in the face, and I had to keep up with this macho type of personality, like, ‘Oh, you can’t hurt me. You can’t hurt me.’”

During his four year career Cote scored only one goal yet racked up more than 400 career penalty minutes spread out over more than 50 fights. The violent streak led to at least 3 concussions, meaning more may have gone undiagnosed. He was medicating his pain away with alcohol, as he pounded beers before shots at the bar, which would lead to harder drugs and staying out until 3 a.m.

After he hung up the skates, Cote turned to psilocybin mushrooms to help heal his brain, and defeat his depression and anxiety. Now Cote has found his true self and teaches yoga in Delaware in addition to being a psychedelic integration coach and recruiter for Wake, a psilocybin retreat company outside of the United States.

Ian McCall- Former Mixed Martial Arts and UFC Fighter

Ian McCall’s 16 year career in mixed martial arts and the UFC lasted 21 fights. In retirement he suffered from TBI symptoms. Worse yet, confusion, anger issues, depression, addiction and suicidal ideation also haunted McCall. After trying brain stimulation therapy with no results, he turned to psilocybin mushrooms. McCall attended an indigenous medicine retreat and took a massive 15 gram dose. His life took a massive turn for the better.

“I am a very loving, happy person, and I wasn’t for a large portion of my life. Because I was just tortured. I was tortured, and then I was confused, and I was addicted, and I was just crazy for a long time,” McCall said.

MMA and UFC fighters run the risk of suffering a TBI in about one third of their fights. Now McCall is a psychedelic integration coach for athletes as well as coaching Muay Thai and jiu jitsu. McCall’s most enduring legacy may be encouraging UFC president Dana White to work with Johns Hopkins University to study the efficacy of psychedelic treatment of TBI in fighters. Perhaps future fighters can avoid the trauma and brain damage that McCall suffered.

Psychedelics and Sports- A Trip Down Memory Lane?

With science, medicine and technology evolving, this provides improved diagnostic tools to identify brain injuries. In turn, the scope of concussions, TBI and CTE grows larger. Public awareness of the problem is increasing. Even a number of former football players have said they don’t want their sons to play football, or at least not until they’re older and their brains have reached full development. Children suffering concussions in youth football leagues is the sport’s most discomforting reality.

If youth football sees declining participation, this seeps over into the same happening for college football. If college football sees a depletion in players, so does the NFL. Concussions are a serious and imminent threat to the NFL and other major, professional sports. Embracing a psychedelic culture in sports may help athletes get their head in the game, before the game gets in their head. Otherwise they may not have a chance to take a trip down memory lane, as professional sports could atrophy to the point of being an artifact of a bygone era.