Living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), or Myalgic encephalomyelitis, can be challenging. It comes with several symptoms such as extreme tiredness, random headaches, and problems with concentration, among others, making it hard to carry out your day-to-day activities. These were some of Miguel Bautista's struggles.
For over 4.5 years, Miguel Bautista struggled with CFS and spent a good amount of time in hospital halls, which greatly affected his mental and financial status. However, despite Miguel's prevailing circumstance, he did his best to be an optimist and held on. He believed that your reaction to circumstances was what matters, so he didn't let CFS stop him from trying to live his life to the fullest. While life handed him a lemon, he was able to make a fantastic lemonade out of it, and he has rewritten his story breaking down how he went from survivor to thriver.
Miguel Bautista has joined the growing number of those who have fully recovered from CFS and is now helping others. Having walked the journey and seen both sides, he says his goal is to support as many people as possible and help pull them out of the same trenches he was stuck in not too long ago. He shares what learned and applied along the way to help others recover from CFS as he spreads hope and shows his audience that there are proven ways to make progress. You can have your life back.
It is challenging to deal with CFS as one is forced to put life on hold. Miguel added, "Considering that the symptoms vary from one patient to another and there is no well-known cure or approved treatment, it makes the journey seem impossible and you feel like you’re going crazy at times." However, he also emphasizes that challenging does not equate to impossible; he urges people currently faced with CFS that the golden ticket out of this illness comes down to one powerful phrase – your success in recovery is determined by how well you respond to symptoms. Miguel has transformed his life to enjoy a new chapter free from chronic pain and fatigue. He now uses his journey to help others suffering from CFS see from a different perspective – that it is possible to truly live a life of thriving health after experiencing something this debilitating.
Almost five years ago, Miguel Bautista, now 27, was living a completely different life. He went from an energetic young dreamer with a bright future ahead of him to spending countless nights in hospitals, at home in bed, and was forced to watch life pass him by. At one point, Miguel was entirely bedridden for over eight months.
After consulting with over twenty doctors, specialists, and health practitioners, during Miguel’s two month stay in a hospital, he was paired up with a doctor who helped him better understand his condition and what he could do differently to not just manage, but once and for all overcome his hypersensitive nervous system disorder. When his doctor broke down the science of what was happening in his body, something clicked in his mind and his life trajectory changed forever. It felt like an internal switch was flipped. The big, heavy, unbearable burden of being sick seemed ten times lighter, and for the first time ever, he saw a way out of this mystery illness.
His motto, "be a thriver, not a survivor," is spreading hope as he helps people overcome CFS and lead a life of thriving health without chronic pain or fatigue. Miguel has a YouTube channel, CFS Recovery, and a health program, Recovery Jumpstart, where he shares his experience and research tips to help others overcome their conditions.
While Miguel spends dozens of hours each week to increase awareness of how to lead a better life for people suffering from CFS, he believes that there are always more ways to get this information into the hands of more people; thus, he continues to explore even more avenues to get the word out; even more recently, he began writing a book - Thriver, Not Survivor: How to Beat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which is set to be published and released by August this year.
As the number of CFS cases increases and with no approved cure, Miguel uses his journey to help others. He is restoring lost hope and showing people that they, too, can fully recover from CFS. Miguel went from being bedridden for over 8 months to being able to travel, exercise, reconnect with friends, and live a life of thriving health. He believes there's no better time to be a light to others than now.
