Kyle Okposo shares a heartbreaking story about concussion that changed his life
Back in 2017, NHL veteran Kyle Okposo was working his way back from a broken rib and during a rehab stint, he fell during a drill and struck his head on the boards.
What appeared to be a harmless incident, instantly proved otherwise.
While on the Podcast, Okposo shared the following details of just how bad things got:
"I remember coming off the ice and I grabbed a shake. I grabbed a shake and hadn't had one of those shakes since college. Something happened in my brain that just completely switched how I was thinking and how I was processing. So I went into this mode of I need to fix everything. I need to fix Buffalo, I need to fix the Sabres, I need to fix every relationship in my life, I need to do all these things, and I couldn't stop. So I couldn't sleep. I was manic, that's what it was. So I didn't sleep for six days, and I essentially lost my mind. And then I could not sleep. I knew I needed to sleep, but I knew something was wrong with my neck, and I needed it fixed. And I just couldn't shut it off."
"Super scary, I ended up in the ambulance, and I ended up calling Mark Lindsay he's a legend. He's a magic man. That's how I got fixed. Fast forward six weeks, I was on, I ended up taking all these different drugs just to calm me down. Antipsychotics, antidepressants, like I've never had any sort of mental health issues in my life, and that was my first bout of paranoia, anxiety, whatever you want to call it. So I do do things with mental health now after going through that experience."
"Fast forward six weeks, l'm still on three different drugs.. knew that something was still messed up in my neck. It never fixed the problem, it just masked it. So I call Linds and l'm like Linds I need you, I need you to fix me. So he's like alright, we're gonna take a chopper to Kingston. So we get in the helicopter and he's doing his thing, and he's like "how ya doing?" And l'm like "not good. Like I'm super anxious," whatever. We do some imaging on my brain, get an MRI, and we look at those results and then he treats me. If this guy gets his hands on you, it's just different, his hands are different."
"So he goes in my mouth and he gets the spot, and my eyes roll back into my head. When I was in the hospital, I had seizures. He goes, "that's the spot buddy" He goes, "if I take my hand off, you're gonna have another seizure again." He ends up treating me for like an hour and a half, and after he adjusted me, he treats me for an hour and a half and then finally gets the adjustment that he wants, and I start bawling."
"Started absolutely bawling my eyes out, and it was a watershed moment. went home and slept for three hours, then slept for nine hours that night. It was the first time I slept more than four hours in eight weeks."
"Super scary, I ended up in the ambulance, and I ended up calling Mark Lindsay he's a legend. He's a magic man. That's how I got fixed. Fast forward six weeks, I was on, I ended up taking all these different drugs just to calm me down. Antipsychotics, antidepressants, like I've never had any sort of mental health issues in my life, and that was my first bout of paranoia, anxiety, whatever you want to call it. So I do do things with mental health now after going through that experience."
"Fast forward six weeks, l'm still on three different drugs.. knew that something was still messed up in my neck. It never fixed the problem, it just masked it. So I call Linds and l'm like Linds I need you, I need you to fix me. So he's like alright, we're gonna take a chopper to Kingston. So we get in the helicopter and he's doing his thing, and he's like "how ya doing?" And l'm like "not good. Like I'm super anxious," whatever. We do some imaging on my brain, get an MRI, and we look at those results and then he treats me. If this guy gets his hands on you, it's just different, his hands are different."
"So he goes in my mouth and he gets the spot, and my eyes roll back into my head. When I was in the hospital, I had seizures. He goes, "that's the spot buddy" He goes, "if I take my hand off, you're gonna have another seizure again." He ends up treating me for like an hour and a half, and after he adjusted me, he treats me for an hour and a half and then finally gets the adjustment that he wants, and I start bawling."
"Started absolutely bawling my eyes out, and it was a watershed moment. went home and slept for three hours, then slept for nine hours that night. It was the first time I slept more than four hours in eight weeks."
Thanks to our friends at BladeOfSteel for pulling the quote!
Luckily, Okposo was able to find the help he needed and was able to return to the NHL. Given the recent news about Bobby Ryan, this is just another case of an athlete sharing the struggles they go through.
Hopefully, this helps us all remember that we all struggle and it's okay to ask for help!
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