Have you tried yoga.

Have you tried losing a little weight.

Some people just have a lower pain tolerance.

If you live with fibromyalgia, you've heard some version of every one of these sentences.

In this episode, Dr. Kelley Reis starts with something most patients don't know: there's no blood test, no imaging, and as of 2010, no physical exam for fibromyalgia. The tender point exam was retired because it missed a quarter of real cases. The current diagnosis is entirely two self-report questionnaires run through a formula, confirming a pattern exists without ever asking what's causing it.

From there, she explains central sensitization, the real physiological mechanism behind fibromyalgia pain, and walks through what almost never gets investigated. Chronic low grade infection. HPA axis dysfunction. Mitochondrial impairment. Gut permeability. The alpha-delta sleep intrusion research showing disrupted deep sleep may actively generate fibromyalgia pain, not just accompany it. The link between physical trauma, post-traumatic stress, and fibromyalgia onset, including why car accidents specifically show up so often in patient histories. And a newer, genuinely underdiscussed finding: a 2021 study showing antibodies from fibromyalgia patients can transfer the condition to healthy mice, pointing toward an autoimmune mechanism in at least a subset of cases.

Including the story of a woman who lived with fibromyalgia for nine years before anyone connected her symptoms to a mono infection, a difficult divorce, and a gut history she'd always dismissed as unrelated.

You were never making this up.

You, Restored is hosted by Dr. Kelley Reis, Naturopathic Physician and founder of Liberty Natural Wellness — a fully virtual direct-care practice rooted in nervous system regulation, gut health, and hormones.

Learn more at libertynaturalwellness.com