Episode 47: Understanding Fibromyalgia – with Linda Fraas
Content note: This episode discusses chronic illness, chronic pain, depression, and anxiety.
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Fibromyalgia is invisible on the outside and relentless on the inside – and still too often met with "it's all in your head."
In our first-ever guest episode, occupational therapist and fibromyalgia coach Linda Fraas explains what fibromyalgia actually is, why it's so hard to diagnose, and how people build a livable life around it. Part science, part 25 years of lived experience, all heart.
In this episode:
What fibromyalgia is – and why it's a condition, not an imagined one
The car-alarm metaphor for a hypersensitive nervous system
Fibro fog, fatigue, and the sleep trap
The push-crash cycle and how pacing breaks it
Being dismissed – and why being believed is medicine
Movement, nutrition, tracking, and self-advocacy that actually help
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction & meet Linda Fraas
(01:01) Linda's background and her diagnosis
(04:06) The long road to a diagnosis
(08:05) What fibromyalgia took away
(13:23) What fibromyalgia actually is (the car-alarm metaphor)
(17:29) Beyond pain: fibro fog, fatigue, and sleep
(21:29) The push-crash cycle
(26:37) "It's all in your head": being dismissed
(41:01) Daily life: pacing, movement, and nutrition
(55:30) Self-advocacy and finding hope
(1:21:44) This week's challenge
Featuring Greg with Rich, Liam, and Sarah, plus special guest Linda Fraas (torchlightvitality.com).
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