Michael Vaughan details secret health nightmare: ‘It was killing me’

England cricket great Michael Vaughan has gone public with his stress-related health battle after fighting it in secret for months.

The 49-year-old was at the centre of the sport’s racism scandal in recent years before being cleared of using derogatory language towards ex-Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq.

That verdict was handed down in March 2023 but the saga’s impact on Vaughan took hold later in the year.

He first struggled when he could not get out of bed at a golf tournament at the famous St Andrews in Scotland, and his health reached a new low at the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne six months ago.

Having hoped a summer in Australia would help his ailing condition, Vaughan was instead “absolutely exhausted” and unable to even walk his usual beach trails.

“On Boxing Day, I went to cover the Test between Australia and Pakistan, and I couldn’t lift the microphone,” he told the Telegraph.

“Matthew Weiss, the man in charge at Fox Sports, said ‘you’re going straight to hospital’.”

Vaughan remained behind the mic for the Sydney Test and said he “put up a front for a long time”, trying to hide his struggles from colleagues let alone viewers.

“If you’re fighting something that you feel is wrong, and you’re doing it very publicly, I guess that’s what you do. But it wasn’t really me. Deep down, it was absolutely killing me,” he said.

Vaughan had travelled to Australia after being cleared of any major illnesses by doctors in the UK and given steroids that only briefly helped.

He “genuinely feared the worst” — finding his symptoms similar to what was listed online for Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis — and was no closer to knowing what was wrong.

Vaughan eventually learned he had developed a stress-related inflammatory condition, and the various treatments to that point had in fact slowed his illness.

He is physically well and back in the gym, needing only low levels of medication, while he also now sees a psychiatrist.

“Today I have spoken out about the stress-related illness I have been fighting for nine months,” Vaughan wrote on social media.

“I really don’t want sympathy as I was very lucky to see a specialist early enough to get the right medication to help me.

“I just want to help people who don’t realise that stress can catch up with you without knowing it and if left alone it can be too late.

“Medication has helped me hugely but also many of things I have brought into my life ... ice baths, infrared, breathing sessions, raw milk, hydrogen water and immune daily injections ... they all have helped in some way.

“But the main thing is to always stay positive. Hopefully I can help people who have struggled.”