“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.

“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.

“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.

“The general public and even health professionals are not fully aware of the power of our circadian rhythms.” – Dr. Leon Lack

If you’ve ever felt tired, foggy, and flared up when the seasons or the clocks change, you are not alone. Light is one of the most powerful signals to the brain, and when your body’s internal clock, your circadian rhythm, becomes disrupted, that can influence your energy, pain levels, mood, and focus. For those of us already living with fibro’s sensitive nervous system, even small shifts in daylight can have a significant impact.

Understanding your circadian rhythm can help you find balance with your energy, sleep quality, and other fibro symptoms. Morning light, evening routines, timing your wake-up, and even the type of light you’re exposed to all influence how your body functions. When you understand how they all work together, light can become one of the simplest and most effective fibro-friendly tools for improving sleep, stabilizing your mood, and boosting your energy all year.

Today, Tami is excited to be joined by Professor Leon Lack, one of the world’s leading experts on sleep, circadian rhythm, and light therapy, to talk about why light affects us so deeply and how light therapy can support you. Dr. Lack is also the co-inventor of the Re-Timer light therapy glasses, one of Tami’s favorite things for 2025.

In this conversation, they discuss what a circadian rhythm is, how it drives daily sleep and wake patterns, how light exposure shifts the body clock, the effects of social jetlag, inconsistent schedules, and sleep debt on mood, alertness, and pain, why some people are true evening types with delayed sleep phase challenges, how strategies like Tami’s Lights Out Sundays can help reset body timing, what studies show about how natural light rapidly resets sleep, why morning light timing matters, how to identify your circadian low point to shift your rhythm more effectively, how light therapy works in cloudy or low-sunlight regions, the evolution from early light boxes to modern wearable devices, how light entering the eyes resets the brain’s clock, Tami’s experience using Re-Timer glasses, which wavelengths are most effective for shifting the body clock, why consistent morning light matters most, practical steps for shifting your sleep earlier, how winter darkness worsens mood and sleep, why jetlag adjustment varies from person to person, strategies for travel recovery, how evening light therapy can help early risers sleep later, best practices if you tend to sleep in, the risks of driving during circadian lows, why shift work remains so dangerous, and more.