Fibromyalgia Podcast®

"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®.