Kyle Okposo shares a heartbreaking story about the concussion that changed his life
In 2017 Kyle Okposo was working his way back from a broken rib and hoping to find his way back to the NHL. While working with a rehab coach completing in a simple drill Oksposo fell and struck his head bounced off of the boards. On the play Okposo's head struck the glass sideways, it seemed like a harmless play but immediately proved otherwise.
While on the Spittin' Chiclets 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.
Luckily for Okposo he was able to find the help he needed and ultimately was able to return to the NHL. Okposo goes onto speak about how he understands just how difficult and challenging mental health struggles are now.
Given the information released today about Bobby Ryan this is just another instance of a player openly 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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