Could It Be Lyme Disease? Discussion between an MD and a naturopathic doctor.

This week’s episode features naturopathic physician Dr. Susan Marra. She presents a compelling discussion about vector borne illnesses and the importance they play in many patients.

When Dr. Marra graduated from naturopathic school, she expected to treat the usual mix of fatigue, hormone imbalance, and stress. Instead, she walked into a wave of patients with strange, multisystem illnesses no textbook had prepared her for. Migrating joint pain. Seven-day migraines. Brain fog. Dysbiosis. Symptoms crossing multiple organ systems.

Her instinct told her something bigger was happening — and she was right.

That intuition led her to Dr. Bernard Raxlen, one of the earliest clinicians to recognize chronic Lyme disease. She went on to train with world experts Dr. Richard Horowitz and Dr. Charles Ray Jones, immersing herself in complex tick-borne illness long before mainstream medicine acknowledged it.

And then she got infected herself.

A tick — likely carried in by her yellow lab — transmitted Lyme and Bartonella. She lost vision in her right eye for six months and required IV antibiotics, steroids, and years of recovery. That lived experience, combined with decades of clinical immersion, transformed her into one of the most respected Lyme specialists in the country.

Today, after treating 9,000+ patients, Dr. Marra joins Dr. Peter Crane to dismantle the myths surrounding Lyme, the limitations of standard testing, the rise of co-infections, and why so many patients with “mystery symptoms” are actually living with chronic vector-borne illness.
This is an eye-opening conversation every physician should hear.

Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/doctors-making-a-difference/id1753613285?i=1000739624041