I work with the biology of chronic illness — when symptoms don’t make sense and nothing has fully worked.
Autoimmune disease, mast cell issues, hormone dysregulation, trauma-patterned stress, and complex metabolic presentations, all approached as one integrated system.
If you’re here because your body feels unpredictable, reactive, or stuck, start below.
Which of these sounds like you?
Chronic illness rarely affects just one system.
Most people I work with experience a recognisable pattern of overlap across a few key areas.
If one (or several) of these feel familiar, you’re in the right place.
Gut & Metabolic Tolerance
You react to foods, supplements, or dietary changes in ways that feel disproportionate or unpredictable.
Bloating, discomfort, fatigue, or brain fog may appear after meals, fibre, probiotics, or “gut protocols”.
You may feel worse after dietary clean-ups, restrictive approaches, or aggressive gut support.
→ How I work with gut and metabolic tolerance
Immune & Inflammatory Reactivity
Your system feels reactive rather than resilient.
You may notice flushing, itching, food or chemical sensitivity, reactions to supplements, or symptom flares with weather changes, stress, or environmental exposures.
Mast cell issues, histamine intolerance, autoimmune diagnoses, or unexplained inflammatory symptoms may be part of your picture.
→ My approach to immune and inflammatory instability
Hormonal & Circadian Regulation
Your symptoms follow patterns — time of day, sleep disruption, menstrual cycles, stress, or seasonal shifts.
You may struggle with sleep, temperature regulation, energy crashes, mood changes, or thyroid-related symptoms that don’t fully align with test results.
Rest doesn’t always restore you.
→ How I work with hormonal and circadian regulation
Stress Physiology & Recovery Capacity
Your body struggles to return to baseline after demand.
You may feel wired but exhausted, crash after exertion or busy days, or notice symptoms worsen 12–48 hours later.
Exercise, socialising, illness, or prolonged stress may have tipped your system into a state where pushing harder no longer helps.
→ Nervous system load, stress physiology, and recovery
Many people recognise themselves in more than one of these.
My work is about understanding how these patterns interact — and deciding what needs to be stabilised first.
What’s Different About How I Work?
Most people who come to see me have already tried doing “the right things”.
They’ve changed their diet, added supplements, worked on stress, or followed protocols — often with partial or temporary improvement.
What’s usually missing isn’t effort or compliance.
It’s sequencing and context.
I don’t approach symptoms in isolation, and I don’t assume more intervention is better.
My work focuses on understanding why a system became unstable and what needs to be stabilised first so the body can tolerate change.
In practice, this means:
I prioritise safety, tolerance, and timing before intensity
I look for compensatory patterns, not just deficiencies or diagnoses
I work across gut function, immune signalling, hormones, metabolism, and nervous system load as one system
I avoid stacking protocols when regulation is the real limiting factor
The aim is not to “fix” one system at a time, but to restore enough stability that the body can respond predictably again.
This is especially important for people who feel complex, reactive, or worse with well-intentioned interventions.
How to Start
If what you’ve read here resonates, the best place to start is a personalised consult.
This allows me to assess patterns, not just symptoms, and determine what actually needs addressing — and in what order.
This is suitable if you feel complex, reactive, or unsure where to start — not if you’re looking for a quick fix.
About My Work
I’m Lou Chalmer, an integrative nutritionist and counsellor working with people whose health issues don’t fit neatly into single diagnoses or protocols.
My background spans environmental science, nutrition, genetics, and psychosomatic counselling, with a particular focus on how stress, immune signalling, metabolism, and the nervous system interact in chronic illness.
Alongside clinical work, I write and speak extensively on autoimmune disease, mast cell disorders, hormone regulation, and trauma-patterned stress — translating complex physiology into frameworks that make sense to people living in these bodies.
My approach is systems-based and deliberately paced.
It’s designed for people who need clarity, safety, and coherence — not more pressure to “push through” or optimise endlessly.
If you’d like more background on my training and approach, you can read more about my work by following the link below
If You’re Not Ready to Start Yet…
Not everyone arrives here ready to book an appointment — and that’s okay.
If you’re still trying to understand what’s happening in your body, or need time to orient before taking the next step, you may find these resources helpful:
These explore some of the patterns I see most often in people with complex or chronic symptoms, and may help you recognise whether the approach described here is relevant for you.
When you’re ready, the best place to start is a personalised consult.