This conversation originally aired on The Dr. Haley Show on September 8, 2026, as Fibromyalgia Is NOT All in Your Head: Tami Stackelhouse on Symptoms, Remission, and Hope.
Fibromyalgia is real — but it doesn’t look exactly the same in every person.
I recently joined Dr. Michael Haley on The Dr. Haley Show for a wide-ranging conversation about what fibromyalgia really looks like, my own journey from disability to remission, and what I’ve learned from nearly 20 years of helping people with fibromyalgia feel better.
We talked about pain, fatigue, brain fog, and poor sleep — but also about the other health conditions that can sometimes contribute to how you feel. In my own journey, discovering and addressing things like thyroid disease and a sleep disorder were important pieces of the puzzle.
And that led us to one of the messages I most want people with fibromyalgia to hear:
Just because you haven’t found answers yet doesn’t mean the answers don’t exist.
“Managing symptoms is not the same thing as being able to live your life.”
— Tami Stackelhouse
Dr. Haley’s summary of our conversation captured my approach beautifully:
“Tami’s central message is that a lack of answers from one provider does not mean that no answers or helpful options exist.”
— The Dr. Haley Show
His summary also highlights something that matters deeply to me: feeling better usually isn’t about finding one magic answer. It’s about learning to listen to your body, improving things like sleep and pacing, addressing other conditions that may be contributing to how you feel, building the right care team, and making manageable changes over time.
I especially appreciated getting to explore all of this with a doctor who wasn’t dismissive of fibromyalgia.
Thank you, Dr. Haley, for using your platform to have a thoughtful conversation about fibromyalgia — and for helping more people understand that it’s real, complex, and should be taken seriously.
If you’re tired of being told there’s nothing more you can do, I hope this conversation leaves you with something important: not having answers yet doesn’t mean there aren’t answers.
Because ultimately, the goal isn’t to spend your whole life getting really good at managing fibromyalgia.
The goal is to get back to living your life.
If you'd like to learn more about the resources and support discussed in the interview:
Check out the original interview on The Dr. Haley Show
- Header photo: Screenshot from The Dr. Haley Show, used with permission.
