Laura Fowler-Watt's FULL recovery from ME/CFS

[@HealwithLiz]

This was an inspiring one with many gems! We shared similar epiphanies. FYI: In the first 20 seconds, you may here 3 tiny squeaks which were my sons running about the house with their papa exuberantly screaming (Zoom caught some of the echo). The rest of the video should be good. I will have the transcript up next week on my website.

[@jackiegroden416]

Those sweet little boys

[@LauraFowler-Watt-pr5mi]

Thank you so much Liz ~ you do such amazing work and it was a wonderful full circle moment to be able to share my story on your channel after having been helped by those that came before. Xx

[@nolamayer4101]

Thank you for this interview Liz and Laura, sooooo many great points here. It really resonated with me when Laura said that she was trying so hard, rather than leaning into it and giving ourselves love and compassion. I also love the visualisations Laura spoke about. I think that if we could gather all the people in the world with CFS in the one place and have a garage sale with all our supplements that didn’t work it would be “the sale of the ages” it would be so big !! 😂😂Wishing you all the best in the future Laura 🥰

[@laurafowler-watt2092]

Thank you so much for your lovely message ~ I completely agree a garage sale of tips and tools would be amazing for the CFS community! 🥰

[@nolamayer4101]

Your most welcome Laura 🥰@@laurafowler-watt2092

[@germanside7890]

Thanks to you both for the lovely interview! Sending much much love from Germany :-)

[@ceciliamac4283]

Beautiful and so touching. Thank you Liz and Laura for sharing this story 🤍🫶🏼

[@ZsuzsaPataki-o3i]

I've been waiting for this interview since your newsletter! It is very useful that you talked about the difference between CBT and body-mind work & brain retraining. And it gave me an extra push to finally realize my vision board 🙂

[@nolamayer4101]

Oh yes that “bloody “ vision board I have been meaning to do for so long as well ! This is the year 💃

[@lauracowan100]

This was amazing Laura! Thank you for sharing 🙏 I'm still on my journey and incorporate alot of what you say. It's my dream to be a nervous system coach like you! Love what you've done and what you offer. Your best tip I've taken away is to give yourself what you need in the moment. ❤sometimes I get disappointed, down and frustrated when sensations return that I forget to think/feel and give myself what I truly need. It's hard because I have young children and other stressful factors but I know eventually I will get there. Congrats on your healing and nurturing business 👏 x

[@laurafowler-watt2092]

Sending you love & strength 🥰

[@Toru-x2t]

Thanks for other inspilational interview!!

[@MariaSotiropoulou88]

Oh Laura, Your story with health anxiety and CFS is so so relatable. I’m an actor too 😅 Recovered now but I would love to connect with you. What is better? Email, instagram? Thank you both for this wonderful interview with all the valuable details and knowledge ❤

[@karenschindler2871]

To anyone that has healed: did you ever have a white tongue and did it go away after healing? I’ve had a white tongue for years which I associate with EBV/mono/glandular fever.

[@HealwithLiz]

Hey Karen, this was one of my biggest things that I was concerned about when I had CFS and your message today made me realized I haven't checked my tongue in ages. My worst crashes were linked to EBV acute reactivations. But I actually was told by an acupuncturist this was a gut health thing (not an EBV thing) - I also had gut issues. I became hyper fixated on it and other mouth related symptoms to gauge my gut and overall health. I would encourage you to explore different brain retraining programs or apply one you already got, to weaken and eventually eliminate this association and then it may just improve on it's own 🙂. Yes, you can completely rewire even the most strong negative associations, and then things can overall improve. That said, somatic and self-discovery modalities can also really help people return their bodies to wellbeing, along with good lifestyle practices, but initially for this linkage, the brain retraining specifically can help. It has for me.

[@karenschindler2871]

⁠thanks so much for your input here. Would you mind telling me what you did specifically for your gut health? I am trying to dissociate symptoms with illness related connotations but if there’s something I can do to help improve my overall health I’d like to try. I have struggled with what is the best approach for gut health. The low inflammatory diet does not work for me. Most green veggies including salads, fodmaps, beans, nightshades, etc and most foods in general are inflammatory to me. I take enzymes to help but overall I can’t find a healthy balance. I’d appreciate your input or anyone else’s input on the thread. Thanks again for your responsiveness!!!

[@HealwithLiz]

@@karenschindler2871 Not medical advice, but if this is your current situation: Paleo with cooking or steaming (can do using a double boiler) veggies can make things easier to digest. AIP can provide relief- but I'd encourage you not to label foods as inflammatory when you think about them, rather framing it what you can have. Because they're not, it's just that your body doesn't currently have an amazing reaction. I wouldn't try to worry about finding the exact perfect foods neither would I be hard on yourself for not having the most varied colorful plant diet. For me, the diet sensitivities were the very last thing I rewired/healed. I would also consider looking into stories of people who stopped trying to be perfect and fix things. I was the biggest militant weirdo with my diet, and I was for 3 years during CFS and a full year after I got my health back, but I just ate a chipotle kids meal with fresh crispy lettuce and a square of chocolate. And my digestion now is picture perfect. LOL.

[@HealwithLiz]

One thing that really helped me was having a few calls with a coach, Lindsay Mitchell of Vital-Side, she's expensive and I'm not sure if she does 1-2-1's anymore, but she was like "yeah, I have another brain retraining client who only ate 3 foods and now eats anything" and just simply knowing that (besides the little tips she taught me for rewiring the food stuff), was really powerful. Don't be too hard on yourself if you're very limited, but also realize that there is no exact perfect diet that will heal you (ie don't be like "if only I figured out the exact foods, or supplements, or treatments then I will heal" and put all that pressure to do that - I did that for a long time - and went down lots of naturopath rabbit holes). It's really about taking your body to calmer waters and then through a multi-lateral strategy rebuilding your health. It's not the diet perfection that gets people out. And if you have something that gives you a symptom, that's an opportunity to both acknowledge and respond in a new way, not fear and blame. It can improve and you will improve!

[@karenschindler2871]

Thank you! Yep. Initially I went down that rabbit hole of fear with food and developed ARFID. I’m not too worried about it now. Just want to make sure I’m healthy. Thank you for all of the information! PS the chipotle sandwich sounds delish!

[@lisabennett1253]

Interesting she mentioned groups. I too am too empathetic (and I do believe you can overdo that empathetic stuff). When my husband died suddenly people were saying "Ooh! There are lots of groups for that!" I tried it and it was awful! I was not only grieving myself but also for them. I had to get out of that. My question is, I wonder what percentage of us are overly empathetic and have taken on other people's pain along the way? I know now that I had my own trauma and took on other people's crap too.

[@HealwithLiz]

Yes, I used to feel everyone else's feelings, and I'm still an empathetic person, but I think this journey made me realize that it's not good to carry/feel/solve everyone's burden and the best thing I can do is just take good care of myself so I can show up for myself and those that I love. I realized this after I got way too involved with advocacy groups and then had setbacks. I also started to get into Abraham Hicks books at the time, which was more about aligning with what you want to feel (rather than fighting against what's wrong).

[@HealwithLiz]

It definitely seems like a large portion of people who get ME/CFS are empaths from talking to so many people. I'm glad you realized, after all you have been through, that you deserve to put yourself first. Sending you good vibes!!

[@prathamrballal1229]

Did u suffered from panic attack maigraine body pain weekness can't walk for long distance dizzy sensitivity to sound light heat cold

[@LauraFowler-Watt-pr5mi]

Yes I definitely experienced some of these ~ sending love

[@lisabennett1253]

Just happened to see an old Golden Girls rerun from 1989 where they tried to tackle chronic fatigue. Wow! Twenty five years ago and they STILL gaslight us! Just sayin'.

[@HealwithLiz]

I watched the Golden Girls in 2020 and when the CFS episode came ... with Jeffrey Tambor as the gaslighting doctor no less... I was like THIS HITS TOOOOO close to home. They were always ahead of their time!

[@omygod9062]

Diet of no wheat, gluten, additives, alcohol, get B12 checked, sleep apnea checked, vitamin D , coq10 , pace energy, get rid of people that don’t make you feel good, do something that makes your soul sing