If we’re open to it, fibromyalgia can be a path to self-discovery and personal growth. It teaches us about ourselves and how to let go of perfectionism and unrealistic expectations. It highlights the value of embracing small victories. It reminds us that rest is an intentional practice, not a passive activity.

Over time, our bodies change, and we have to adapt. Life doesn’t always go the way we expect it to, and the best thing we can do is to create systems that support us in our lives and that allow us the flexibility to adjust when we need to.

Becoming a Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® or Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® can help with this by educating, encouraging, and supporting you in your journey with fibromyalgia. As people with fibromyalgia ourselves, we can give you real tips and tricks from our own lives and things that have helped us with our fibromyalgia.

Today, in the tenth installment of our Stories of Hope and Healing, Tami shares inspiring excerpts from our January 2025 event. You’ll hear from three graduates about their stories and how they’ve been able to improve their fibromyalgia symptoms. On average, our graduates improve their symptoms by about 50% during the program, and in this group, their symptoms were improved by a staggering 63%. All of these graduates ended with a revised fibromyalgia impact questionnaire score of 26 or less, which is very close to what some would consider to be remission.

In this episode you’ll hear about Clara’s recognition that self-care means more than fine-tuning nutrition and exercise, how self-care now looks for Clara, treating rest as an intentional practice, Clara’s insights from working with two different coaches and how each helped her in different ways, how Clara’s Book of Me helped her to better understand her body, why Clara decided to become a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® to help other women veterans, the main factors that contributed to her 84% improvement in symptoms, Clara’s message for veterans, busy moms, or perfectionists who are struggling with managing their fibromyalgia symptoms, Kim’s perspective on the gift of feeling better and the joy of helping others through coaching, why Kim decided to become a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® despite having multiple other coaching certifications, the unique hands-on experience and the rounded curriculum of the program, avoiding burnout while managing fibromyalgia and maintaining a sustainable approach, adapting to life’s changes, how a life crisis impacted Kim’s fibromyalgia symptoms, lessons learned from a recent fibro flare, celebrating your progress and day-to-day accomplishments, the various strategies that contributed to Kim’s significantly improved fibromyalgia symptoms, how Kim has helped clients overcome insomnia and manage sleep apnea, why she loves working with women with strong personalities, encouragement for you to seek support and guidance in your fibromyalgia journey, Viktoriia’s decision to join the Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® program, understanding the importance of self-compassion, adapting your life to your fibromyalgia reality, lessons that fibromyalgia teaches us, essential elements in Viktoriia’s recovery journey, the importance of flexibility and adaptability in managing stress and fibromyalgia symptoms, how coaching helped Viktoriia on her journey, the value of community and support among fibromyalgia patients, differentiating coaching from therapy, focusing on proactive management of fibromyalgia rather than coping strategies, the lack of resources for non-English speakers and the importance of bridging this gap in fibromyalgia support, and more.

In the US, approximately 1 in 13 women and 1 in 20 men are diagnosed with fibromyalgia. To put those numbers in perspective, breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women, cervical cancer affects 1 in 13 women, and colon cancer affects 1 in 25 women and 1 in 23 men. Yet, even though the prevalence of fibromyalgia is in a similar range, screening for these cancers has become mainstream, and fibromyalgia remains on the sidelines of medical training.

As patients, we have to be more proactive than ever and be as knowledgeable as possible to make good decisions about our care. In many cases, we know more than our doctors, who – despite being compassionate – just don’t know how to help you. Unfortunately, it’s just the way the system is set up.

This is the reason Tami created the International Fibromyalgia Coaching Institute. A Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® or Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® can help fill this care gap by educating, encouraging, and supporting people with fibromyalgia. As people with fibromyalgia ourselves, we can give you real tips and tricks from our own lives and things that have helped us with our fibromyalgia. On average, graduates of our Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® class improve their symptoms by about 50% during the three-month class, and graduates of our Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® class are often nearly symptom-free, with an average improvement of 75%.

In today’s ninth installment of our Stories of Hope and Healing, some of our recent graduates share their fibro journeys and how they’ve improved their fibromyalgia symptoms.

Most of us with fibromyalgia have to spend a lot of physical and emotional energy teaching the people in our lives about our condition. From friends and family to doctors and coaches, it can be draining.

That’s just one of the ways working with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® transformational. It’s invaluable to have someone in your corner who knows what you’re going through because they’ve been there and have the tools to guide and support you.

What would it be like to improve your quality of life significantly? How would your life change if you could improve your symptoms by 50%?

Today, in the eighth installment of our Stories of Hope and Healing, Tami shares inspiring excerpts from our January 2024 event. You’ll hear from four graduates about their stories and how they’ve been able to improve their fibromyalgia symptoms. On average, our graduates improve their symptoms by about 50% during the three-month program, and many people’s lives look dramatically different today than they did before starting.

In this episode, you’ll hear about Julie’s diagnosis and how she went from years of just one to two down days per year to four years of barely being able to get out of bed, why the journey of becoming a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® was transformational for Julie, learning to give yourself grace on your bad days, why Julie wrote Chronic Illness at Work, her passion for advocating for the fibromyalgia and chronic illness communities, how she’s set and surpassed goals she never believed she ever could, the importance of setting goals and celebrating your successes, why Kaylynne ultimately decided to join the Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® program, what surprised her (as a skeptic) about working with her fibro coach Brenda, why being able to address her fatigue had a massive knock-on effect on many areas of her life, prioritizing your energy for restoring yourself, the changes that made the biggest impact on improving her fibromyalgia symptoms, developing a positive relationship with your body, Kaylynne’s message to high achievers and perfectionists who are struggling with their fibromyalgia, Viktoriia’s early symptoms of fibromyalgia and how traumatic events in her life made it more difficult to manage, her move to Canada and search for relief from her increasing symptoms, the huge reduction in symptoms Viktoriia experienced after joining the Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® program and working with fibro coaches, the series of difficult events and experiences that led Viktoriia to join the Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® program for a second time and what she did differently, her recognition that she has to actively choose to support her body every day, Viktoriia’s new approach to life management, the tools that have made the most significant impact on her fibromyalgia, the impact of food on her well-being, how her coach Robin helped her with emotional overwhelm and her mental health, the challenges of managing stress and emotions, letting go of perfection, Deb’s decision to become a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®, how changing her approach resulted in an improvement in symptoms of 68%, the value of experimentation and her experiences working with clients, what it’s like living with an invisible illness, why being a coach helps you with your fibromyalgia, the significance of focus and tools to manage fibromyalgia symptoms, focusing on living in the current body you’re in and making necessary changes for managing fibromyalgia, reducing stress and allowing time for the body to heal, how you can join the next Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® program, what you can expect from the course, and more.

If you’re looking for ways to feel better, you’ll be inspired to hear their stories.