At the age of 21, after late summer flu, Pete found himself struggling with exhaustion culminating with him passing out at his desk whilst at work.
After several months of continuing to work he lost his job, as fatigue had led to more prolonged time off work. During this time Pete started being prescribed various medications and began a long list of hospital tests and investigations. Due to a chance encounter and seeing a different GP, Pete was referred to Salus and his first support group.
Over many years there was a gradual improvement in my symptoms. Through trial & error I found medications that helped and self-managed my condition (after a decade of learning the hard way about pushing myself too much).
Then a GP at my surgery became concerned with the length of time I had been on a medication for my panic disorder and felt it was masking, and not helping me overcome those issues. A subsequent CBT course with Birmingham Healthy Minds helped me to regain some of the self-confidence I had lost.
I started to understand and deal with my phobias a little but with all my other symptoms I was still very limited. I found myself feeling unable to progress any further with full recovery seeming impossible.
“It took great courage to attend his first Salus support group but even so Pete showed a thirst for knowledge and learning new ways of improving his condition” Ron – Training Officer
Before the illness struck I had been very social but I became withdrawn and started avoiding social situations after bouts of severe fatigue had caused me to panic and leave a few times.
I suffered from a range of symptoms: chronic fatigue (sleeping or resting in bed for up to 20 hours a day); panic attacks; IBS, joint/muscle pain; depression; agoraphobia/social phobia; nausea and vomiting.
I have had various medications, some of which worsened my symptoms, including increased fatigue, IBS and panic attacks.
“After years of self-management I feel that the skills, confidence and support I am gaining from attending Salus will lead to great improvement in my condition. I hope that this continued improvement will help me with a pathway back to work and rejoining the world again!” (Pete)
