Fibromyalgia Podcast®

After our last Ask the Coach episode, where Tami covered the three FDA-approved medications for fibromyalgia, we received many follow-up questions from listeners. Questions like: What's the difference between being addicted and being physically dependent? How can you safely come off your medication? When is it time to reduce or discontinue certain medications? In today's episode, Tami is excited t...

Many of the symptoms people blame on fibromyalgia are actually due to coexisting conditions. Too many people go too long with the wrong diagnosis, taking inappropriate medications, and following unnecessary protocols because their provider didn't identify the correct cause. This topic came up a lot in the last cohort of Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® training. As we went through the program, the...

"I'd like to try Lyrica, but I worry about if I ever had to come off. Should I try it?" For today's Ask The Coach episode, I'm answering this question sent in by Sarah in the UK. When treating fibromyalgia, we have to attack it from two sides. The first is addressing the fibromyalgia itself and the amplification of pain signals; the second is treating the pain that your fibromyalgia amplifies. In...

So often with fibromyalgia, we're given negative news: there's no cure, your life has changed, and the list continues. Once again, we're on a mission to break that trend and show you that there are still adventures for you. Tami is excited to be joined by Melissa Swanson to share the recent epic hiking adventure that, not too long ago, neither of them would have thought possible. Melissa and Tami...

There's so much hope that comes from hearing the healing stories of other people on the fibromyalgia journey. Often, that's where we first recognize that a better future is possible for us. Today in our fifth installment of Stories of Hope and Healing, we're sharing the inspiring stories of four recent graduates of the Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® program. During these conversations, you'll hea...

Don't blame everything on your fibromyalgia. Your pain, fatigue, sleep issues, and brain fog might not be from your fibromyalgia. We need to dig deeper. Tami encountered this topic a lot in the last few months of the Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® training program. We're not saying you don't have fibromyalgia - what we mean is, sometimes symptoms can be caused by something else in addition to or...

Everyone can get better. Even in remission, Tami feels that there is always something we can do to feel better on our fibromyalgia journey. And because we have to focus on taking care of ourselves, in many ways, we can get to a place where we feel better than the average person. Tami is excited to share this interview with Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®, Julie Schiffman, where she shares her story...

To get better, we have to change. Maybe you're trying to make healthier food choices or exercise more. Maybe you've realized you need to be firmer with your boundaries in certain relationships. Whichever area of your life it might be, the closer you get to the edge of your comfort zone, the more uncomfortable it's likely to be. That's where self-sabotage or Upper Limiting comes into play. The conc...

Many people with fibromyalgia also deal with a lot of anxiety. With your nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight mode, you have a diminished capacity that can put you closer to the panic threshold. What that looks like in day-to-day life is that you might find yourself often pushed over the edge by something objectively small. To help you learn more about managing anxiety and panic attacks, Tami i...

So much has changed in the seven years since my first book, Take Back Your Life , was released. I'm excited to announce that I have just expanded, updated, and released a second edition! From a new chapter on brain fog to massive progress on my fibromyalgia journey, I'm excited to share this updated version with you. To celebrate the release, I invited my friend, Ramses Rodriguez, to interview me....

Quitting is a key skill. Understanding when it's time to put something down temporarily or permanently is an important skill. Strategically quitting for the day, the weekend, or even for an hour or two might be just the thing you need for your sanity. Tami quits frequently and considers that to be one of the keys to her success and to keeping her fibromyalgia in remission. In this episode, Tami sh...

Befriending your nervous systems starts with recognizing the unique patterns that may not be serving you and empowering yourself while getting to a place of balance. Tami is excited to share this conversation with coach and Somatic Experiencing expert, Sarah Kleiner. Sometimes these techniques can sound a little bit woo-woo or like magic but Sarah shares the science behind the therapy as well as p...

"When will the pain end?" For this entry in my Ask The Coach series, I'm answering this question which was sent in by a listener. It's such a loaded question and there are so many details I'd need to know to give a full answer but today I'm going to answer it in a broader way. The thing about fibromyalgia is that it's not the type of illness that shows up for a while and runs it's course then reso...

Long COVID, sometimes called "long haulers" or "post-COVID syndrome", describes the lingering symptoms patients have after contracting COVID-19 and recovering from their initial illness. The experience of these patients often mirrors our experience with fibromyalgia and other conditions, such as ME/CFS. In this episode, Tami talks with Dr. Jessica Drummond about her personal experience with Long C...

In this episode, Tami is giving you a little peek behind the curtain by walking you through an assignment she gives her students in her Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor℠ training program. During this assignment, she'll help you create your Flare Survival Plan. Tami is also sharing a worksheet to help you create your plan, some ideas for what can go in your kit (not all of which are physical items),...

Tami is so excited to bring you this conversation with her friend and personal physician, Dr. Kaley Bourgeois. In this episode, Tami and Dr. Bourgeois chat about what a Naturopathic Physician is and how it's different from a regular physician, what functional medicine is and how it's different from conventional medicine, how Dr. Bourgeois' mother's lack of comfort with doctors led to an early pass...

Welcome to our fourth Stories of Hope and Healing episode! In this special episode, you're going to be hearing from five different women who are from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. All five of these women will be sharing information on what they've done over the last few months to improve their fibromyalgia. As you hear their stories, you'll notice they all have done different thin...

It struck Tami recently that if you only ever focus on treating your fibromyalgia, but don't pay enough attention to your general health, you're leaving some pretty significant things out. With the leading cause of death for women being heart disease, and February being American Heart Month, Tami feels it's the perfect time to bring you her conversation with Lisa Steele George. In their conversati...

I'm so excited to be bring you this first new episode of 2022! Today, we're going to be talking a little bit about perfectionism. Specifically, how it's actually holding you back from feeling as good as you could. In this episode, I share some examples where perfectionism may have gotten in your way, how the social media highlight reels of others help fuel our desire for our lives to be perfect, m...

We don't love New Year's Resolutions, but it's that time of year. A lot of people are making resolutions, like: I'm going to get in shape, I'm going to eat better, I'm going to get control over my finances. Well, the ideas and intentions are good, but resolutions don't really set you up for success. In this episode, Tami will teach you how to create the foundation that you need, the support that y...

The experience of chronic pain can bring you to your knees. When our suffering is acute and unceasing, we often start asking questions that medicine and science can't answer. Tami gently wades into these waters with us, offering viewpoints from a range of faith perspectives. Perhaps we can find a little solace in these true stories. Perhaps we can begin to develop and share a more robust theology...

"Don't be sorry for me. Fibromyalgia is the best thing that ever happened to me." This may seem like a radical statement, and I know most of you aren't in this space yet, but even small gestures of gratitude can make a big difference. A growing body of research shows that people who practice gratitude are more optimistic and have greater satisfaction in their lives. They have been shown to make fe...

The holidays can be super challenging, no matter who you are. Often we invest so much of our time and moxie into the holidays that the celebration begins to feel more like obligation. Add fibromyalgia to that picture, and it's even more tiring and stressful, because we have limited energy to begin with. There is a way to make the holidays meaningful without all of the overwhelm. Follow the tips in...

Do you ever have those days or periods in your life where it seems like everything is going wrong? If so, you're not alone. That's why, this week, Tami is talking about what she does when everything goes wrong for her. In this episode, Tami shares how it's okay to not be okay, the stressful situation she's been experiencing with her beloved cat that has resulted in more than one sleepless night, h...

Tami is continuing this week with the What Does Tami Do series by answering a question one of her clients asked her a few weeks ago. In this episode, Tami explains whether or not she follows a particular protocol to manage her fibromyalgia or if she continually tries new things, how she knows if a particular treatment is working for her, six things people do wrong when they're trying new fibromyal...