Eagles' Lane Johnson Discusses Anxiety After Recently Missing 3 Games

Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson told reporters Sunday he's feeling "stable" after withdrawal symptoms he experienced when he stopped taking an antidepressant medication—including "a lot of nausea, a lot of vomiting"—caused him to miss three games in October.

Johnson returned to the Eagles last week after driving back to his home state of Oklahoma on Oct. 3, the same day the Eagles faced the Kansas City Chiefs.

"Football wasn't even a question at the time. It was something that I felt even before the season," he said after Sunday's 44-6 win over the Detroit Lions. "I told a few close friends but really kept it bottled up because I felt ashamed of it, I felt like it was a crutch. But coming back, the support I've had from the team, from my friends, from my family, I couldn't ask for nothing better. And getting out here and playing football again, you're reminded of how lucky you are to be in the position that you are in. So, taking it day by day."

Johnson said he was first diagnosed with anxiety when he was at the University of Oklahoma, and, like teammate Brandon Brooks, would vomit before games. Brooks has also been diagnosed with anxiety.

"The real message is, just don't bottle it up. It's easy to do that," Johnson said. "The bad news is that I think a lot more people have it than what meets the eye. I think it's easy to put on a poker face. ... I remember hearing a stat at the combine that 40-50 percent of people in the NFL have some sort of condition. [The game] can do a lot of things for you but a lot of times it can be detrimental."

Johnson also spoke with Fox Sports' Jay Glazer in a segment that aired before Sunday's games:

"It’s a beast, man," Johnson said. "It's one of those things, it goes to bed with you, man. It wakes up with you, it's there all the time. So (if you can't) get a sense of how to control this, how to manage it, it will eat you up."

"I was living in hell for a long time," he added.

Johnson, 31, has long been one of the game's best right tackles, with three Pro Bowl selections and a 2017 first-team All-Pro selection in his career. He also won a title with the Eagles in 2017.