Junior Seau Dead at 43

[WestCoastLady]

25+ year San Diegan here - and I think that anyone that has lived here *knows* just how much Junior meant to San Diego.....

I think most of us women (and some of the men!) would admit to having a crush on Junior while he played with the Chargers. He was so charismatic, so charming, so enthusiastic.

When I think "Mr. San Diego" I think of 2 sports figures - Junior Seau and Tony Gwynn....

RIP Junior. We'll miss you.

[Steely Dan]

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/co...icle840958.ece

Seau's death another jolt to the system
By Jerry Sullivan
News Senior Sports Columnist
Published:May 4, 2012, 12:12 AM

The image I can't shake is the one of Luisa Seau, sobbing uncontrollably outside her son's Oceanside, Calif., home Wednesday after Junior Seau was discovered with an apparent self-inflicted fatal gunshot wound to his chest.

"Take me. Take me, leave my son!" she cried. "But it's too late. It's too late."...

[JDB]

Hopefully this might answer some questions as to why.
His family is allowing to have his brain examined . I also read another article talking to and ex teammate Gary Plummer about concussions. Gary said over his 15years he had over 1000 varying from seeing stars to knocked out. And since Junior played 5 more years he is saying Jrs are more than likely close to 2000 of varying degrees. Juniors ex-wife also said she knows he had them he played football and no one escapes from them playing.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...to-be-studied/

[arielilane]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/J...suicide-060112

Former NFL great Junior Seau, who committed suicide a month ago, suffered from insomnia for years and relied on prescription drugs to help him sleep, USA Today reported Friday.

At least four friends told USA Today they believed Seau took Ambien, or a generic form of the drug zolpidem.
The prescribing information for Ambien, approved by the FDA, warns that suicidal thoughts can be exhibited by depressed patients taking the class of drugs.

[shana]

Ambien has dosage restrictions. I remember how upset I was that my elderly father's doctor prescribed it to him as a nightly med with NO mention of when to quit it. This was in the spring of 2003. I had a computer near my Dad and I researched the drug and got him OFF of it, pronto. Not sure what is established today some 9 years later, but you can read more at the following URLs:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000928/

Zolpidem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zolpidem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zolpidem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Sorry, would have hyperlinked, but I'm just feeling too ... right now.)

~jmo~

[arielilane]

Thursday, May 31, 2012 By Matt Thetonia


Junior Seau of the San Diego Chargers committed suicide on May 2. He was a retired veteran and was the eighth person to die from the Chargers Super Bowl team of 1994 before the age of 45. Seau lived in Oceanside, California and was found dead in his home by his girlfriend. Seau was one of the all time greats, being selected to 12 pro bowls in his 20 seasons as a professional football player. He played with three different teams including the New England Patriots for three years.
http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/...nior_Seau.aspx

[arielilane]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Junior-Seau-plagued-by-insomnia-years-before-suicide-060112

Former NFL great Junior Seau, who committed suicide a month ago, suffered from insomnia for years and relied on prescription drugs to help him sleep, USA Today reported Friday.

At least four friends told USA Today they believed Seau took Ambien, or a generic form of the drug zolpidem.
The prescribing information for Ambien, approved by the FDA, warns that suicidal thoughts can be exhibited by depressed patients taking the class of drugs.

[JBean]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/sp...ease.html?_r=0

Seau Suffered From Brain Disease
The former N.F.L. linebacker Junior Seau had a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma when he committed suicide last spring, the National Institutes of Health said Thursday.

[JBean]

A team of scientists who analyzed the brain tissue of renowned NFL linebacker Junior Seau after his suicide last year have concluded the football player suffered a debilitating brain disease likely caused by two decades worth of hits to the head, researchers and his family exclusively told ABC News and ESPN.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/junior-seau...ry?id=18171785

[Steely Dan]

There has to be another contributing factor to these brain problems, other than just hits. Steve Tasker played special teams for the Bills for at least twelve years and he was the gunner. He also returned punts. He was hit, and he hit guys as hard as he could and got what they could give. Yet he's a broadcaster and I met him a couple of years ago and he's fine.

Bruce Smith was a one man wrecking crew and I haven't seen anything about him.

Joe Delamielleure is a HOF offensive lineman who played in the 70's when helmet technology was less and he was hitting his helmet every play.

There are a lot of guys who retire and yet never suffer anything.

BTW, the argument is that players are bigger and stronger now. Steve Tasker is about 5'7ish and he was considered small back then and yet he's ok. I wonder what the other contributing factors are?

[TrackerSam]

I agree. I never heard of a boxer aquiring such a disease.

[michmi]

Originally Posted by TrackerSam

I agree. I never heard of a boxer aquiring such a disease.

When you never look for it, you don't find it.

I also discount statements that say "he looked fine" "they never had it" because we don't know what lesser-known players had or have.

What we do know is we have a high number of men in 1 sport with this disease who have died at young ages, many by their own hand.

[wfgodot]

An estimated 15-20% of professional boxers have a variant of CTE.

Dementia pugilistica (Wiki)