short-term memory loss associ- and social functioning that led to problems with his relationships and poor money management. Among all CTE sufferers, there’ s a high frequency of depression, drug overdose and suicide.
In the final phase of CTE, individuals can develop loss in motor functions that, as Dr. McCoyd describes,“ looks something like Parkinson’ s disease,” and they may also develop dementia.
In all stages of the disease, chronic headaches( in particular, chronic migraine or chronic tension-type headaches) seem to be common, Dr. McCoyd says. This is what sets CTE apart from Alzheimer’ s ated with CTE. 24 disease.“ The pathology is similar to what we see in Alzheimer’ s, but the Alzheimer’ s patients don’ t seem to have headaches,” Dr. McCoyd says.
It isn’ t clear why headaches are connected to CTE, Dr. McCoyd says. Then again, much of CTE is still a mystery.
Did You Know?
More than 3,500 former NFL clumps close to the interface between the blood vessels on the brain’ s surface and the brain itself. 1
“ When you’ re getting hit in the head repetitively, your brain is shaking and may be bouncing up against these rigid blood vessels,” Dr. McCoyd says.
Chris Nowinski, 34, a former professional wrestler with World Wrestling Entertainment, is on a mission to help the research community better understand the CTE brain. Repeated concussions left Nowinski with severe headaches and depression and ended his sports career. Headaches were a rare event before his sixth— and last— concussion, which he sustained during a wrestling match. After that day he began experiencing short-term memory loss and a constant, dull-aching headache that lasted for five years. Nowinski says medications didn’ t make a dent in the pain. Time was the only healer, he says, noting that he
players have filed lawsuits against the NFL for head injuries. 23 Most recently, former Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle sued the league, fearing he suffers from CTE and alleging that the NFL did not do enough to prevent head injuries. The lawsuit also noted that Gayle suffers from headaches and
UNDERSTANDING THE CTE BRAIN
CTE is difficult to understand in large part because, currently, it can only be diagnosed after a person dies by doing an autopsy of the brain. Pathologists look for tangled threads of tau, a protein that accumulates in the brain tissue of people with CTE and other illnesses that cause dementia.“ Your body can’ t get rid of the protein, so it stores it in nerve cells,” Dr. McCoyd says.“ This clogs up the nerve cells, which makes them unable to work properly or pass messages along.”
Tau build-up is present in both CTE and Alzheimer’ s, yet the tangles are more uniformly widespread in Alzheimer’ s disease. In CTE, tau is typically found in high-density
Christopher Nowinski and actress Sigourney Weaver at the Brain Trauma Foundation 2011 gala.
www. headaches. org | National Headache Foundation 27