Fibromyalgia Podcast®

"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®.