"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, minimized, or just passed along. After enough difficult experiences, it's easy to start believing that good care is a bonus instead of something we genuinely deserve.

When you live with a chronic illness like fibromyalgia, care matters on a nervous system level. Feeling safe, informed, supported, and understood doesn't just change your emotions. It changes how your body experiences pain, stress, fear, and recovery. The way you're cared for can completely shape how your body responds to that experience. The same is true for how you care for yourself. Rest, preparation, support, comfort, medication, boundaries, asking for help - that's support for a nervous system that's already carrying a lot.

In this episode, Tami talks about why good medical care changes the entire physical, emotional, and nervous system experience for people with fibromyalgia, her fantastic experience getting a mammogram-assisted biopsy, how lived experience can deepen empathy in healthcare, practicing unapologetic self-care, the importance of planning for recovery time, recognizing the nervous system impact of medical stress, advocating for your needs with family, employers, and your support system during difficult periods, how the right care can physically change the body's experience, whole-person care that recognizes both physical and emotional realities, practicing more self-kindness and challenging the harsh inner critic, 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®.

"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 unanswered questions that over time can make you start believing that maybe this is just how things are have to be.

Unfortunately, most medical training doesn't spend much time on treating fibromyalgia so even doctors who want to help may never have been taught how to do so. That doesn't mean your situation is hopeless. It just means there are gaps in the system and you probably have to expand your support system to get the best possible outcome for your life with fibromyalgia.

In this episode, Tami discusses the common experience of feeling dismissed, unheard, or neglected by doctors, how repeated disappointment can slowly create a sense of hopelessness, why many doctors don't have better answers for fibromyalgia despite wanting to help, the little pain management training many medical schools provide, why a doctor not having answers doesn't mean there are no answers, the importance of becoming an expert on your own body, why the goal is has to be more than just symptom management, the value of building an fibro support team, how the Fibromyalgia Wellness Style℠ Quiz can help identify your strengths and challenges, why we need to redefine fibromyalgia awareness, 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®.

"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 experiences can be exhausting for people actually living with fibromyalgia.

In this special 2026 Fibromyalgia Awareness Day episode, Tami shares a personal message to the fibro community about why awareness matters, why many people with fibromyalgia are already more than aware, the long gap between research and real-world patient care, why a lack of answers is not the same thing as a lack of options, and why improvement is absolutely possible.

Other resources mentioned:

• Register for the Fibromyalgia Association's 25th annual Fibromyalgia Awareness Day conference at ManageFibromyalgia.org. This event features Dr. Andrea Chadwick and Sharon Waldrop, NBC-HWC, and is held via Zoom so anyone can attend no matter where you live. The Fibromyalgia Podcast is proud to be a sponsor of this event.
• Episode 105, Talk To Your Doctor Effectively with Dr. Andrea Chadwick

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®.

"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 is the huge impact that uncertainty can have on us. Not just emotionally, but physically too. When there are unresolved issues hanging in the background, your body doesn't just ignore them. It uses energy to process and hold on to it. For those of us already living with fibromyalgia, that drain can show up quickly as fatigue, brain fog, and a lower capacity for everyday life. You're not making excuses, it's not a lack of effort, and it's not a character flaw. Your body is responding to something very real.

In this episode, Tami shares a very personal peek into what she's navigating in her life right now and how uncertainty has been impacting her energy, focus, and capacity. Tami discusses what happened to trigger her realization of how exhausting constant uncertainty can be, why she had to shift away from her podcasting plans, recognizing the difference between an excuse and a response to real life, the weight of not knowing, how uncertainty can intensify fibromyalgia symptoms, how the different Fibromyalgia Wellness Styles℠ respond to uncertainty, learning to adjust your expectations, finding ways to create calm when life feels unpredictable, living with the everyday uncertainty that fibromyalgia brings, giving yourself grace and flexibility, focusing on the type of support your body needs, 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®.

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®.