Former England captain Michael Vaughan revealed that he has been battling with a stress-related illness for a long time which has affected his life considerably.
Vaughan, who represented England in 170 international matches, opened up that his sickness got to the point when he couldn’t pick up a phone.
The former batter took to his social media account where he posted an update that said, ”Today, I have spoken about the stress-related illness have been fighting for 9 months.”
“I don’t want sympathy as I was lucky enough to see a specialist early to give me the best medication,” he continued. “If this helps one person it's been worth it.”
Vaughan spoke in great detail about his illness and also stated that if he could help anyone suffering through the same, it would only make him happy.
“I’ll be honest with you, I was never going to speak about it,” the Telegraph quoted him. “But then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, there are probably quite a few people who go through similar and stay silent’. I don’t want this to appear as if I’m after any sympathy, because I’m not. I just hope I can help one or two people.
“There were loads of times when I wouldn’t go out, because I was embarrassed. Even climbing in and out of a car was awful. I would try to walk over the road to Starbucks, and I’d be hobbling. Somebody would ask if I was OK. ‘Fine,’ I’d reply. ‘Just a dodgy knee’.”
The 49-year-old emphasised the importance of mental health before urging his fans and followers to seek someone’s help if they think that things are getting worse.
“People always talk about mental illness being the hardest to detect, because it’s not a visible injury, it is just something that happens inside your mind. It’s similar to this illness. Over time, it just builds up,” he added.
“In the end, we’re men, aren’t we? If we can do something tomorrow, we’ll do it tomorrow. But I’ve had this warning in my life, where my state got so bad, so quickly, that I had to go and see someone.
“Don’t ever think you can’t get treated for something or you can’t get through it. And if you do have the signs of some inflammatory disorder, go to your doctor as soon as possible.”
