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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 come together. So often, the problem isn't that you aren't trying hard enough. It's that no one has helped you step back and look at the bigger picture. Bodies are connected systems, and when hormones, stress, inflammation, nervous system patterns, and daily habits all influence each other, healing usually needs a more whole-body approach too. Sometimes the most important shift is moving from fighting symptoms one by one to learning what your body has been trying to say all along. Today, Tami is joined by Lindsie Vizethann, a former nurse, health coach, host of the PCOS Unfiltered podcast, and author of Healing Beyond the Diagnosis. After navigating her own health challenges and seeing firsthand how many women with PCOS feel dismissed or stuck, Lindsie now helps women understand the deeper patterns behind their symptoms. In this conversation, she and Tami explore the overlap between PCOS and fibromyalgia, why common approaches often fall short, and what can change when you start working with your body instead of against it.           Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.  

"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 even sliding backward. That's a really hard place to be. Over the years, what Tami has seen time and time again is that managing your symptoms is not about doing more or trying harder. Pushing into habits, routines, or even healthy changes before your body or your life is ready can actually backfire. When the foundation isn't ready, even good habits won't help. Understanding where you are and what your body needs at that stage can change everything. In this solo episode, Tami introduces the Fibro Hierarchy of Needs, a framework designed to help you understand why progress can feel so inconsistent and what to focus on instead. She walks through the different layers, from stabilizing your body and environment, to rebuilding connection, trust, and eventually expanding your life beyond symptom management. This episode offers a clearer path forward for anyone who feels stuck, overwhelmed, or like nothing is working, and a way to start aligning your efforts with what your body actually needs right now. In this episode, Tami introduces the Fibro Hierarchy of Needs, a framework designed to help you understand where to focus your efforts at different stages of your fibro journey. She shares the stages of the Fibro Hierarchy of Needs, why progress depends on building from the right foundation, why your body needs to feel safe before habits can stick, reducing chaos and creating a supportive setup around you, the importance of belonging and connection, rebuilding trust in yourself after unpredictable symptoms, expanding your life beyond just managing symptoms, why feeling stuck is usually a problem of perspective, how to identify your next step based on where you are in the hierarchy, guidance and support in moving forward with clarity, giving back and becoming a helper once you have walked the path, remembering that the goal is not just symptom management but building a meaningful life, and more.           Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.  

"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 more tense the longer it doesn't happen. Over time, bedtime itself can start to feel stressful, like something you're doing wrong instead of something your body naturally does. What makes this even more frustrating is that the harder you try to sleep, the more awake you can feel. Worrying about sleep, thinking about tomorrow, and calculating how many hours you have left can quietly activate your stress response. Once that cycle starts, it tends to repeat night after night. Understanding why this happens can be incredibly validating and helps explain why sleep struggles aren't a failure on your part, but a pattern your body has learned and can also unlearn. Today, Tami is joined by Dr. Leon Lack to take a deep dive into insomnia and what you can do to start retraining your sleep. Dr. Lack is a sleep researcher and professor emeritus at Flinders University in Australia, who has spent decades studying insomnia and circadian rhythms, and his research has helped shape many of the behavioural treatments used for insomnia today. In this conversation, Tami and Dr. Lack discuss what insomnia actually is, why common sleep hygiene advice often misses the mark, how insomnia becomes a vicious cycle, the different types of insomnia, the need to distinguish between fatigue, sleepiness, and tiredness, why conditioned arousal sits at the center of most insomnia cases, pros and cons of sleep medications, the difference between acute and chronic insomnia, how circadian rhythm disruptions contribute to insomnia, CBT-I and why behavioral strategies are often the starting point, sleep efficiency training and how it helps consolidate sleep, using melatonin and morning light to support circadian rhythm and sleep timing, options for accessing support, and more.     Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

"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. As a parent without a community, it feels like you're navigating everything on your own. For kids living with fibromyalgia, that isolation can be even harder. Their pain is invisible, and they're quietly managing limitations their peers can't see. Finding others who really understand that experience can be life-changing. Connecting with people who are on a similar journey often brings community, validation, and hope for the future. In this episode, Tami is joined by Ann Garner, a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®  and mom raising a teenager with fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, to talk about her family's experience attending family camp held by the Pediatric Pain Warriors program from the US Pain Foundation. Tami and Ann talk about her daughter Lily's early symptoms and the long road to receiving a fibromyalgia diagnosis, Ann's experience as a mother with fibromyalgia watching her daughter develop similar symptoms, the importance of learning to advocate for your child, how Ann discovered the Pediatric Pain Warriors program, what it was like to attend their first camp, how adaptive activities, sports, and support groups create an inclusive environment where kids with chronic pain can feel capable and supported, the strong support network that formed with other families at the camp, navigating the challenge of learning to be authentic about pain, how the camp experience changed Ann's perspective as both a coach and a parent, why community and shared experience matter so much for families navigating chronic illness, and more.     Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

"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 feel better for a week or two and then you have a flare and you feel like you're back at square one. It can feel like nothing is changing, even if things actually are. Improvement with fibromyalgia often shows up in quiet ways. Flares might not hit as hard as they used to. Recovery may happen a little faster. You might start noticing patterns that help you support your body before symptoms spiral. These shifts can be subtle, making them easy to overlook, especially when memory, brain fog, and emotional bias color our perception of our bad days. Learning how to track your symptoms in a simple, sustainable way can help you see those patterns more clearly and recognize progress that might otherwise go unnoticed. In this solo episode, Tami walks through why tracking symptoms can be one of the most powerful tools for understanding your fibromyalgia. Tami talks about what improvement looks like in fibromyalgia, why progress doesn't usually mean immediate symptom elimination, how daily symptom tracking can make a significant difference on your healing journey, Tami's tips for making tracking sustainable, how to use your tracking and symptom logs, how the revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire can help measure meaningful changes in symptoms, the role of assessment, personalized planning, and ongoing adjustments in a wellness framework, normalizing setbacks and course corrections using the analogy of a GPS recalculating the route, common mistakes we make once we start improving, what remission actually means in fibromyalgia, what progress really looks like, the idea of the "sticky middle," when improvement is happening but hard to recognize, recognizing the real life signs of improvement, when it may be helpful to seek specialized support or coaching, and more.             Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

"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 needs help can feel uncomfortable at best and heartbreaking at worst. That's why for so many of us, asking for help brings up feelings of guilt, fear of being a burden, and a quiet voice saying we should be able to do more. The uncomfortable truth we have to learn is that asking for help is not failure. It's about choosing where your limited resources will go instead of spending it all on things that leave you wiped out and unable to show up for what matters most. Being able to name what you need clearly and accept help when it's offered with kindness and grace is good for our health but it can also strengthen relationships and model healthy boundaries. Receiving help cleanly, without over-explaining or apologizing, is a skill. And like any skill, it takes practice. In this episode, Tami discusses the emotional shift when we become less independent, how poor timing makes seeking help more complicated, what happens when you don't ask for help and overextend yourself, what her childhood experience with a house fire taught her about community, recognizing thatreceiving help is a gift that strengthens relationships, how asking for help models empathy, responsibility, and healthy interdependence for children, how delegating can empower others, rewiring early messages we received about the value of doing it all alone, reframing help as a protecting your energy for what matters most, practical steps to start building the skill of asking for and receiving help with grace, accepting help imperfectly, beginning with safe people and low stakes situations, allowing yourself to learn through imperfection, and more.           Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

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 makes a good Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® and who is better suited to be a Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor®, what you need and don't need to become a Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® or Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®, why the world needs fibro coaches, and why you should consider becoming one. In this final installment, I'm digging into the nuts and bolts of how you can become a Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® or Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®; including the exact steps you need to take.       Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. Did you catch our Virtual Open House? Tami answered the top six questions about our classes, plus the differences between our Advisor and Coach training paths, and which one might be right for you. Discover our tuition and payment options, and how our classes are tailored for fibro brains and bodies. Catch the replay of the event here. Don't like waiting? Get the full Be A Coach series NOW! Register to access the complete 'Be A Coach' series, along with several bonus episodes, delivered straight to your favorite podcast app. Use this link to sign up for FREE. Interested in hearing from our alumni about their journey in our courses? Register to receive our complimentary 'Fibromyalgia Stories of Hope' collection, automatically delivered to your favorite podcast app. Use this link to subscribe. Use this link to subscribe. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

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 doesn't come from pushing harder or pretending symptoms aren't real. It comes from learning how to listen to your body, making small shifts that add up over time, and recognizing that improvement can look different for each person. For some, it means finding the right medical care. For others, it's creating routines that protect their energy or realizing that healing can include both self-care and practical changes. Growth is possible even when the path forward feels uncertain. Today, in the twelfth installment of our Stories of Hope and Healing, you'll have another opportunity to hear directly from people living with fibromyalgia who have found ways to feel better. You're going to hear stories from four recent graduates about the growth they've experienced through coaching and what they've learned from our programs.  In this episode, you'll hear about why these stories of hope and healing need to be shared, Sabina's journey to realizing that not all her pain was fibromyalgia, when healing can start with greater awareness and what feels like a step back, Kirsten's fitness background and how fibromyalgia forced her to rethink her ideas on self-care, redefining what is possible with fibromyalgia, what's behind Kirsten's 80% symptom improvement, blending lived experience with coaching, Biani's decision to act quickly after diagnosis, what's behind her 48% symptom improvement, her decision to focus on non-medication strategies, sleep hygiene, and routine adjustments, the importance of consistency and being open to trying different things, choosing supportive communities on your fibromyalgia healing journey, working with personalized coaching support and tailoring strategies to individual needs, Megan's continued improvement even after thinking she had plateaued, the impact of supplements, mindset shifts, and combined strategies on sleep and energy, Megan's coaching goals, and more.           Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

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 better suited to be an advisor. I also covered what you need and don't need to become a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®. In this episode, we're taking a deeper look at why someone would want to become a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®, why the world needs fibro coaches, and why you should consider becoming one.           Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. Did you catch our Virtual Open House? Tami answered the top six questions about our classes, plus the differences between our Advisor and Coach training paths, and which one might be right for you. Discover our tuition and payment options, and how our classes are tailored for fibro brains and bodies. Catch the replay of the event here. Don't like waiting? Get the full Be A Coach series NOW! Register to access the complete 'Be A Coach' series, along with several bonus episodes, delivered straight to your favorite podcast app. Use this link to sign up for FREE. Interested in hearing from our alumni about their journey in our courses? Register to receive our complimentary 'Fibromyalgia Stories of Hope' collection, automatically delivered to your favorite podcast app. Use this link to subscribe. Use this link to subscribe. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

"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 exhausted. Then, when our bodies don't cooperate the way the plan expected them to, we start wondering what's wrong with us. The truth is, most fresh start advice isn't made for fibro bodies. They have quiet assumptions of consistent energy, predictable capacity, and unlimited willpower. But when your nervous system is sensitive, and your energy fluctuates, pushing harder usually makes things worse, not better. A fibro-friendly fresh start looks different. It's gentle, flexible, and based on today's reality, not who you wish you were. Small steps, compassionate restarts, and creating space for healing often matter far more than motivation or perfection. In this episode, Tami shares what a fibro-friendly fresh start looks like and why discipline-based plans don't work for those of us with chronic illness. She explains why discipline-based plans fail for people with fibromyalgia, how the just-do-it mindset activates our threat response and worsens fibro symptoms, why it's not your fault when fresh starts fail, what a fibro-friendly fresh start looks like, why small steps matter more than motivation, recognizing that rest and space are essential for healing, checking in with yourself and choosing one realistic next step, letting go of perfectionism and rules about productivity, focusing on one small change at a time, how to restart gently when things go off track, why kindness is the key to sustainable progress, why rest is not a reward, personalizing your fresh start instead of copying what works for others, understanding your Fibromyalgia Wellness Style℠ and what fits you, why long-term planning can be hard with fibromyalgia, how getting a little better every day adds up over time, and more.         Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

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 because that is exactly what we covered in that episode. In this episode, I'm covering the who. Who makes a good coach? Who makes a good Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®? Who makes a good Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor®? And, how do you know which one you might be? I also cover what I look for in the applications I accept into the training program and what you need and don't need to join us a become a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® or Advisor yourself.         Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. Join us at our next Virtual Open House! Tami will answer the top six questions about our classes. Learn the differences between our Advisor and Coach training paths, and uncover which one is right for you. Discover our tuition and payment options, and how our classes are tailored for fibro brains and bodies. Register for the FREE event here. Don't like waiting? Get the full Be A Coach series NOW! Register to access the complete 'Be A Coach' series, along with several bonus episodes, delivered straight to your favorite podcast app. Use this link to sign up for FREE. Interested in hearing from our alumni about their journey in our courses? Register to receive our complimentary 'Fibromyalgia Stories of Hope' collection, automatically delivered to your favorite podcast app. Use this link to subscribe. Use this link to subscribe. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

"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 didn't come with limits. When you're living with fibromyalgia, the "new year, new me" pressure often leads to flares, overwhelm, and the feeling of starting the year already behind.   For fibro bodies, pushing harder usually isn't the answer. When your nervous system is already sensitive, what it needs most is safety, not force. Slowing down, listening more closely to your body, and treating yourself with kindness instead of criticism can shift how pain, energy, and even emotions show up day to day. Sometimes the most meaningful changes don't come from doing more, but from softening your expectations and meeting yourself where you are.   Today, Tami is joined by Dr. Robin Pfaff, a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®, national board-certified health and wellness coach, and author of Living Your Best Life with Fibromyalgia. Robin has lived with fibromyalgia for nearly 30 years and brings both professional expertise and lived experience to this conversation. In this conversation, Tami and Robin talk about why traditional New Year's resolutions often backfire for people with fibromyalgia, how mindful self-compassion helps calm the nervous system, the three core elements of mindful self-compassion, why January is especially hard for so many people and why that context matters for fibro bodies, treating yourself with the same kindness you would offer a close friend, the difference between traditional goal setting and a fibro-friendly approach, using micro-practices and tiny steps instead of big resolutions, reframing self care as experimentation, simple and practical tools and why small, consistent practices are often more effective than big changes, giving yourself permission to slow down and do less, rethinking routines and noticing when you're over scheduling why fibromyalgia coaching can make a big difference, creating an internal sense of safety that supports healing, finding micro-joys and small rituals that offer comfort and meaning, stories from Robin's clients and how they found renewed hope, and more.     Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

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 better. We all have to find our own magic formula for what makes us feel best. I know from personal experience just how overwhelming it can be to find that formula on your own. That's why I created a training program in 2015 that would teach people just like you how to improve their own Fibromyalgia, and how to help others do the same. In this first episode of a special series where I'll be answering a lot of questions I get about our Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® class and about becoming a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®, I want to start super basic. We're going over what a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® is, how that's different from a Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor®, why you should consider the Advisor class if you're a patient who just wants to feel better, who else the Advisor class is perfect for, what the certification aspect really means, the staggering statistics on how many participants see significant improvements in their symptoms by the end of the Advisor class.       Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. Join us at our next Virtual Open House! Tami will answer the top six questions about our classes. Learn the differences between our Advisor and Coach training paths, and uncover which one is right for you. Discover our tuition and payment options, and how our classes are tailored for fibro brains and bodies. Register for the FREE event here. Don't like waiting? Get the full Be A Coach series NOW! Register to access the complete 'Be A Coach' series, along with several bonus episodes, delivered straight to your favorite podcast app. Use this link to sign up for FREE. Interested in hearing from our alumni about their journey in our courses? Register to receive our complimentary 'Fibromyalgia Stories of Hope' collection, automatically delivered to your favorite podcast app. Use this link to subscribe. Use this link to subscribe. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

"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 lingers longer than it seems to for other people, and pain feels louder than it should. It's exhausting feeling like your nervous system is always braced for impact, even on the days when you're doing everything "right." This constant feeling of being on edge isn't about mindset or resilience. It's about how our nervous system has learned to respond over time. When your body stays stuck in fight-or-flight, it interferes with the deep, restorative sleep you need and amplifies pain and sensitivity throughout the day. That's why getting a deeper understanding of how your nervous system is reacting and supporting it to move away from the fight-or-flight state is often a significant piece of the puzzle in managing your fibro symptoms. Today, Tami is joined by Dr. Andrew Holman, a board-certified rheumatologist with decades of experience working with fibromyalgia patients. Dr. Holman is the co-founder of Inmedix and has spent years studying how stress biology and autonomic nervous system imbalance affect pain, sleep, and healing. In this conversation, Tami and Dr. Holman discuss Dr Holman's clinical observations on fibromyalgia, patterns he noticed over decades treating patients with fibromyalgia, why heart rate variability (HRV) matters, his response to skepticism about fibromyalgia, his perspective on the question of whether fibromyalgia is autoimmune, how sleep deprivation can drive symptoms, why deep restorative sleep matters for pain and cognition, how the autonomic nervous system affects your body, what HRV measures and why it's a useful window into the stress response, how newer HRV tech aims to separate sympathetic and parasympathetic activity more precisely, using HRV and resting heart rate to spot overexertion and help pace activity, what clinical outcomes can look like when autonomic balance improves, HRV as a potential missing vital sign, the usefulness of HRV data for guiding more individualized treatment decisions, autonomic medicine as a growing frontier, practical steps you can take to better support your nervous system, the critical link between sleep apnea and fibromyalgia, addressing comorbidities that may be contributing to your symptoms, cervical cord compression as a possible contributor to autonomic dysfunction, why tenderness matters in diagnosis, where Dr. Holman's new HRV tech is in the rollout process, what he sees for the future of fibromyalgia research, and more.     Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.

"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 and starts to feel personal. You start doubting your body, your brain, and eventually yourself. This is not a character flaw. It's a natural response to living in a body that changes the rules without warning. Traditional goal setting assumes predictable energy, consistent capacity, and stable days; things that fibromyalgia simply does not offer. Instead of trying to force ourselves into systems that don't fit, we need tools that are designed for fibro bodies in the first place. In this episode, Tami shares a completely different approach to goal setting that actually works with fibromyalgia instead of against it. She talks about why starting small is essential when living with fibromyalgia, how managing unpredictable symptoms can slowly erode self trust, why traditional goal setting often fails for fibro bodies, the ferocious turtle metaphor and why steady progress works, why slow is smooth and smooth is fast when managing flares, making goals easier to climb by using small, close rungs, reducing overwhelm and prevent push crash cycles, focusing on rebuilding self trust, not pushing harder, what it really means to set stupidly small goals, how tiny wins rewire the brain, adapting SMART goals so they actually work with fibromyalgia, why flexibility matters, turning SMART goals into SMARTER goals, why awareness is often the first and most important goal, a simple five-step system for setting fibro friendly goals, choosing one small thing and adjusting as you go, how consistent tiny wins rebuild self trust over time, embracing the ferocious turtle mindset, trusting small steps forward, and more. A gentler, more realistic approach to your goals can help you rebuild your confidence and take small steps forward. Remember: slow, steady progress really does count.     Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers. To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. For daily doses of hope, inspiration, and practical advice, join Tami on Facebook or Instagram. Need a good book to read? Download Tami's books for free. Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.