Fibromyalgia Podcast®

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 of going from thinking she was dying to feeling healthier than ever. In this episode, Julie talks about her long health journey and years of painful symptoms, her diagnosis with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome over 20 years ago, the mental toll of chronic pain, how to deal with guilt, frustration, and uncertainty around a vague diagnosis, Julie's medication rollercoaster, finding hope for living a great life with fibromyalgia, why becoming a coach brought Julie so much healing, the confidence that comes with knowing you can control your symptoms, why Julie decided to become a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® after completing the Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® program, what it looks like to do the best we can with the bodies we have, balancing helping others with taking care of yourself, the deep meaning Julie has found in her life since becoming a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®, what it would look like to work with Julie as your coach, and more. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Julie and that it sparks new ideas and brings you encouragement and inspiration. 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®.

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 concept of Upper Limiting was made famous by Gay Hendricks in his book, The Big Leap, which Tami highly recommends. It speaks to the idea that as we reach the limits of our comfort zone, we start to do things to bring ourselves back. Tami has experienced this and seen it a lot with fibromyalgia clients. In this episode, she's sharing why we self-sabotage, how you might be sabotaging yourself, digging deep into why you want to improve your fibromyalgia, developing a step-by-step plan that leads you out of your comfort zone, what it might look like when you're sabotaging your fibro journey, the benefits of having help through this process, the importance of starting with self-reflection, how to find the support you want and need, 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®.

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 is delighted to bring Ramses Rodriguez back to the podcast to share his expertise. Ramses has a great way of blending research and science with the down-to-earth and practicalness of someone who has lived through it themselves. In their conversation, Tami and Ramses discuss his journey with panic attacks and anxiety, how anxiety impacted every facet of his life from career to relationships, how Ramses has gotten to a point where his panics are in remission, common symptoms of a panic attack, why it's crucial to see a doctor if you think you have panic attacks, the key to getting your panics in remission, the physical toll of having anxiety, the metaphysical aspect of anxiety, practical steps you can take to bring down your anxiety baseline, exposure therapy for treating anxiety, why some breathing exercises make anxiety worse, the three major factors that cause anxiety, creating a regular practice to manage your anxiety baseline, the benefits of having a coach and a personalized strategy, 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®.

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. In this episode, Ramses and I talk about the exciting changes you'll find in the new edition of Take Back Your Life, why it was so important for me to include a whole chapter on brain fog, how I break down the science into practical tools for everyday life, the story behind the title of the book, how getting a health coach changed my life, red flags that might mean you need more support than your current doctor can provide, how a fibromyalgia coach can support you as part of your health team, and more. I hope you enjoy my interview with Ramses and that you enjoy the new book. I'd love to hear what you think. 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®.

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 shares what's different for her about this year's Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, why she uses strategic quitting and how you can too, the harmful nature of our culture's all or nothing view of success, some of the exciting events and documentaries coming up in the world of Fibromyalgia advocacy, 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℠.

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 practical tips you can try to begin to tune back in with your body. In this episode, Sarah shares how Somatic Experiencing helped her on her journey with anxiety, people-pleasing, and burnout, why working it's important to work on both mind and body, the science behind somatic experiencing therapy, how trauma impacts our nervous system, the importance of creating small moments of safety for the nervous system that are felt, not mental, why you don't need to justify how you feel, the reason certain breathwork techniques may not be working for you, why calm may not be what your body actually needs, physical symptoms of nervous system imbalance, and more. I hope you enjoy this conversation and that the information Sarah shares will not only give you some new ideas but, more importantly, that you will be very validated in how you feel in your body. 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 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 resolves itself like a cold. It's also not something that you'll outgrow or that goes away when you get to a certain age. It just doesn't work that way. That doesn't mean there's nothing you can do - you're going to have to change your path if you want a different outcome. For most people, with the right treatment and lifestyle changes, your fibromyalgia can be in remission and you can feel better. In this episode, I share several resources you can use on your journey of helping the pain to end, the major turning point in my fibromyalgia journey, how you can teach your body not to process everything as pain, why you should reframe your journey as a marathon, not a sprint, how you can educate yourself about fibromyalgia, the importance of becoming a student of your own body, and more. 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℠.

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 COVID. You may remember Dr. Drummond from Episode 68, where Tami interviewed her about endometriosis. What you probably didn't know was that she was dealing with Long COVID even as that episode was recorded! As someone with a chronic invisible illness, you'll appreciate and relate to Dr. Drummond's experience. Even as a medical professional, she dealt with colleagues, friends, and providers who kept trying to figure out what she did "wrong". Why does she have Long COVID when others don't? In this episode, Dr. Drummond shares how she contracted COVID-19, how the first seven days of her experience vastly differed from everything else, the ups and downs of her journey with Long COVID, the eight typical categories of things people with Long COVID experience, the various treatments and management plans she's implemented to aid in her recovery, what it was like for her getting the vaccine while having Long COVID, and more. At the time of this episode's release, Dr. Drummond is still working on compiling the resources mentioned in this interview. This site will be updated as soon as those recourse become available. 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℠.

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), and some thought exercises to help you figure out what needs to be part of your plan. 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℠.

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 passion for the work she does now, Dr. Bourgeois' approach to working with clients who have fibromyalgia or other chronic illnesses, what IV therapy is and how glutathione is Dr. Bourgeois' "most favorite thing ever", what medical ozone therapy is and how it differs from cortisone injections, things she frequently sees in her clients that often get missed by other doctors, Dr. Bourgeois' own journey with chronic pain, what Dr. Bourgeois wants you to know about working with multiple doctors, Dr. Bourgeois' advice for people who feel hesitant to go to a new doctor for fear of repeating past experiences with doctors who weren't a good fit, Dr. Bourgeois' suggested resources for where to do your own research, what being in fibromyalgia remission actually means, 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℠.