Fibromyalgia Podcast®

Whether we're talking about pain, fatigue, or brain fog, there's a massive difference between preventing your symptoms and trying to treat them after they've flared up. Getting your symptoms back to a manageable place in the middle of a fibro flare is like trying to catch a runaway train. Sometimes, when that happens, the only thing to do is to let the flare run its course. Feeling helpless or out...

"Listening to your body is one of the key things you need to do to make everything else work." Over the past ten years of teaching people about fibromyalgia, Tami has seen certain issues repeatedly come up that get in the way of the healing journey. Last week, during our Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® training class, a student raised an important question about how we identify these issues when we...

"Good care changes how your body experiences what's happening to you." - Tami Stackelhouse Have you ever felt tension as you walked into a medical appointment, already bracing yourself for a bad experience? Tami talks about a sort of "doctor PTSD that comes with too many experiences with practitioners where you had to explain your fibromyalgia symptoms for the hundredth time just to feel dismissed...

"Your doctor not having answers doesn't mean there aren't answers." - Tami Stackelhouse One of the hardest parts of living with fibromyalgia is what happens after the diagnosis. Maybe you finally get a name for what's happening, but then instead of clarity, you're handed a pamphlet, a prescription with no explanation, or generic advice to manage stress and exercise more. You're left with unanswere...

"If I could give you one thing for Fibromyalgia Awareness Month, it wouldn't actually be awareness… it would be your life back." - Tami Stackelhouse Fibromyalgia Awareness Day and Month can feel emotionally complicated. Awareness matters. Better research, education, and medical care matter. But at the same time, constantly explaining yourself, proving your symptoms are real, and revisiting painful...

"This isn't just you being a hot mess… this is real." - Tami Stackelhouse Have you ever found yourself in a moment where everything feels a little off? Your energy is lower than usual, your brain is foggy, and you keep dropping the ball. At the same time, because nothing obvious has happened, it's easy to start questioning yourself. "Why can't I get it together right now?" What we often overlook i...

When symptoms don't fit neatly into one box, it's hard to know where to turn. Many women with fibromyalgia are also dealing with things like painful or irregular periods, stubborn weight changes, fatigue, mood shifts, or feeling like something is off even when tests come back "normal." When every symptom gets treated as a separate issue, it's easy to end up with pieces of advice that never quite c...

"You're not failing because you're not trying hard enough. You're probably just doing the right things at the wrong time." - Tami Stackelhouse Have you ever felt the frustration of doing everything you're supposed to be doing, but nothing seems to be working? You're following the advice and showing up for yourself as best you can, but instead of things getting easier, it feels like you're stuck or...

"Anxiety from insomnia triggers our fight or flight reaction and that's not conducive to falling asleep." - Dr. Leon Lack There's a particular kind of exhaustion that comes with fibromyalgia, the kind where your body feels completely drained, but your brain just won't turn off. You lie there, waiting for sleep to come, watching the clock, knowing how much you need rest and feeling your body become...

"It kind of felt like it was just her and I against the world." - Ann Garner When a child develops fibromyalgia or another chronic pain condition, it can feel incredibly isolating for the whole family. Parents are trying to understand the condition themselves while also advocating for their child with doctors, teachers, and even extended family members who may not fully believe what's happening. A...

"We don't go from severely symptomatic to fibro-free overnight, right? Improvement with fibromyalgia can be subtle, and it does take time." - Tami Stackelhouse Going through life with fibromyalgia, many of us quietly hope that one day we'll wake up without pain, fatigue, or brain fog. Unfortunately, in reality, improvement is small and can be hard to see while it's happening. Sometimes you might f...

"Asking for and receiving help is not about being less capable. It's about using your limited energy for what matters most." - Tami Stackelhouse  If you've been living with fibromyalgia for some time, you can probably identify with remembering how different thing were before when you were the capable and dependable one who everyone relied on. Shifting from being the helper to being the one who nee...

Welcome to the final episode of our special Be a Coach series. So far, I've answered questions about our Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® class and what it takes to become a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®. Some of the topics covered in the first three parts of this special series were what a Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® and a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® is, the difference between the two, who m...

There aren't enough stories out there of people with fibromyalgia who actually got better. Too often, we're told that we'll need to learn to live with the symptoms we're experiencing and that that's going to be our new normal. But while fibromyalgia can be debilitating and will change your life, it's not true that nothing can be done, and the stories we're sharing today are proof of that. Hope doe...

Welcome to episode 03 of our special Be a Coach Series. In this series, I answer questions about our Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® class and what it takes to be a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®. In episode one of the series, I explained what a Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® is and what a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® is. Episode two of the series was all about who makes a good coach and who is b...

"A fibro-friendly, fresh start isn't about staying on track forever. It's about gently correcting your trajectory when things drift off." - Tami Stackelhouse Fresh starts are supposed to feel hopeful, but with fibromyalgia, they can feel heavy instead. The start of a new year brings many of us pressure to get it together, do better, and somehow reset everything at once, even when we're already exh...

Welcome to episode 02 of our special Be a Coach Series. In this series, I answer questions about our Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® class and what it takes to be a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®. I cover all the basics… the who, what, when, where, why, and even the how. Don't understand what a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® or Adviser is? No problem. Just pop on over to episode one of the series be...

"Pay attention to what your body is telling you and treat yourself with kindness." - Dr. Robin Pfaff   The end of the year can be a lot and by the time January arrives, we're already worn out. There were big demands on your time and energy to meet holiday expectations, the darker days don't help and, once we reach the new year, there's pressure to reset, improve, and push forward as if our bodies...

As a master Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®, author, and fibro podcaster, the questions I'm asked more than any others are: How do I get better? How do I improve my Fibromyalgia so I can get back to living the life I want to live? While those sound like simple questions, they do not have simple answers. We all have similar symptoms, what helps you feel better may not be the thing that helps me feel...

"Fibromyalgia patients have lived with, 'Well, it's nothing. We're giving you nothing, and don't come back.' We're not doing that anymore." - Dr. Andrew Holman Living with fibromyalgia, you know what it feels like to live in a body that never really settles down. Even when we're resting, there's a background tension that doesn't fully release. Sleep doesn't restore us the way it should, stress lin...

"Fibromyalgia can completely break your relationship with yourself when your symptoms are unpredictable." Tami Stackelhouse For many of us with fibromyalgia, goal setting doesn't just feel hard. It feels painful. You make a plan on a good day, only to wake up the next morning in pain or exhausted, and suddenly everything falls apart. After that happens enough times, it stops feeling like bad luck...

"The general public and even health professionals are not fully aware of the power of our circadian rhythms." - Dr. Leon Lack If you've ever felt tired, foggy, and flared up when the seasons or the clocks change, you are not alone. Light is one of the most powerful signals to the brain, and when your body's internal clock, your circadian rhythm, becomes disrupted, that can influence your energy, p...

"Fibromyalgia can take a lot from us, but it doesn't have to take everything." - Tami Stackelhouse One of the hardest parts of living with fibromyalgia is how much joy can quietly disappear from your life. Activities you used to love start feeling out of reach and even simple things like going out with friends or spending time on a hobby can feel too draining. Over time, it's easy to lose sight of...

Last year, Tami introduced her favorite things list. The list highlighted the top seven things from 2024 that she used in her everyday life and wouldn't want to live without. Now, she's sharing a sneak peek of her list for 2025. If you've ever heard of Oprah's Favorite Things list, this is like that, but with a fibro focus. Some important things to keep in mind are that this is not a random list a...

Have you ever wished people could truly understand what fibromyalgia feels like, or what it's like to live with a condition that never really goes away? You are not alone. Explaining fibromyalgia to the people you love is one of the hardest parts of living with an invisible illness. From the outside, you might look perfectly fine, but inside, you feel like you've been run over by a truck. It's eve...