Dr. Susan B. Trachman, MD is a practicing psychiatrist with over 30 years of experience, an Assistant Clinical Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Clinical Associate Professor at George Washington University. Dr. Trachman is also a prolific author and a columnist at Psychology Today.

Dr. Trachman grew up in the Long Island, New York Lyme belt where a passion for law and medicine grew out of a childhood interest in “learning how things worked”. She merged her two passions by focusing her medical school training and attending physician work to become the go-to doctor for “mystery cases”.

In this comprehensive interview, the award-winning Dr. Tractman discusses with Tick Boot Camp:

• How her passion for exploring medically unexplained illnesses taught her to focus on Lyme disease;
• How her Psychosomatic Medicine Fellowship shaped her ability to diagnose and treat the neuropsychiatric presentations of Lyme disease;
• How and why the acute care medical system in the United States is ill-equipped to diagnose and treat Lyme disease and chronic illnesses in general; and
• How the shortcomings of the medical system are causing frustration and trauma to doctors and patients alike.

If you would like to learn more about how the author of the soon-to-be-released book on medically unexplained symptoms is using her medical detective skill set to diagnose and treat neuropsychiatric symptoms of Lyme disease, then tune in now!

PS Dr. Christine Arseneau special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!

Ann Pennington is a blogger, model, philanthropist, and multi-pageant champion. Her pageant achievements include Mrs. USA Earth 2023, Mrs. New Jersey Earth 2022, and United States of America Mrs. 2021.

Ms. Pennington grew up a daughter of the American west and was educated in Asia. She married and moved to the eastern United States to pursue professional opportunities in New York City. She was unaware that her move to the east coast would require her to protect herself and her family from the ever-present threat of ticks and Lyme disease.

Shortly after moving, she began to suffer from migrating health symptoms. Some of her 20 symptoms encompassed multiple joint pains, brain fog, memory loss, rashes, and fatigue.

Her illness progression stole her ability to work and walk without assistance. Despite having access to scores of New York City’s top doctors and medical centers, the cause of her symptoms remained a medical mystery. One of her medical doctor specialists suggested that her extreme weight loss, hair loss, and vision loss were the function of advancing to the “age of 40”.

After winning the Mrs. New Jersey Earth crown, she suffered from a symptom flare triggering her to call her sister. After hearing the description of her suffering, her sister recommended that she request a test for Lyme disease.

At her scheduled visit with an immunologist, she tested positive for Lyme disease with the traditional two-tiered blood test.

If you would like to learn more about how Lyme inspired Mrs. USA Earth 2023 to construct and promote the “Spray Before You Play” campaign to help protect children from suffering caused by Lyme disease, then tune in now!

Tanya J Miller is a 40-year-old author, speaker, coach, strategist, and entrepreneur. She is the owner-operator of a Minority Woman’s Business Enterprise (MWBE) business.

Shortly after starting a “side hustle” passion project, she began to suffer from “major pain”. She initially believed the pain was related to a previously diagnosed chronic illness but quickly discovered “that it was something else”.

Her symptoms forced her to visit between 10 and 12 doctors, all of whom struggled to locate the cause of her cognitive issues, seizures, and “legs going out without notification”. The first hint of a diagnosis came from her chiropractor who noted that her symptoms were similar to a “teen patient that was diagnosed with Lyme disease”.

Following the chiropractor’s advice, she returned to a medical doctor to demand to be tested for Lyme disease. The initial and follow-up blood testing confirmed she was positive for stage 3 chronic Lyme disease.

The treatment that followed helped Ms. Miller to discover her purpose, faith, and resourcefulness. If you would like to learn more about how Lyme disease taught a business professional that her God-given purpose was to represent others suffering from chronic Lyme, then tune in now!

PS Tiara Smith special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!

Adena Sampson is a best-selling author, singer-songwriter, coach, and founder of Outloud Productions and The Unbreakable Spirit Movement.

The multi-talented entrepreneur and artist constructed an almost magical life and career. She became a sought-after speaker, emcee, narrator, and presenter and she graced the entertainment stage across the globe as the opening act for world-renowned artists such as Patti LaBelle and Wayne Newton.

In 2008, everything changed for the worst. “Everything just fell apart - [her] health, [her] relationship, [her] finances. [Her] world came crashing down and so did [she]”. For the next 7 years, her health decline forced her to visit “too many doctors to count” until she was finally diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease.

Following her diagnosis, she traveled a long road to healing. During her travels, she learned 9 principles that allowed her to rediscover the road back to the version of herself stolen by chronic illness.

To share the healing principles she learned while healing, she wrote the 2021 Best Book Award Winner: The Road Back To Me - 9 Principles for Navigating Life’s Unexpected Twists & Turns.

If you would like to learn how Lyme disease taught an entertainment professional the principles for recovery and healing, then tune in now!

PS Cole Elbel special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!

Tony Felice is the 58-year-old founder of Felice Agency, an award-winning branding, advertising, marketing, and public relations firm. He is a dual citizen of Phoenix, Arizona, and San Diego, California.

After a summer vacation trip to tick-endemic Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Mr. Felice returned home with an extensive skin rash, joint pain, brain fog, vertigo, and flu-like symptoms that lasted for months. For the next 2 years, his health steadily declined prompting him to visit 24 doctors in search of a diagnosis.

Unfortunately, the mysterious symptoms were not new to Mr. Felice. Two decades earlier, he lived in Maryland where doctors diagnosed him with “Lowland Swamp Fever” a diagnosis he believes may have been a precursor to the discovery of Lyme disease.

His diagnostic puzzle was finally solved when a Naturopath administered diagnostic tests confirming active infections for Lyme, Bartonella, and Babesia.

If you would like to learn more about how Lyme disease redirected a marketing and public relations expert to lend his talents to Lyme disease advocacy and charitable works, then tune in now!

PS Dani Tygr special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!

Dr. Kent Holtorf, MD is the founder of the Holtorf Medical Group with offices in El Segundo, California and Marietta, Georgia. He is also the founder and director of the not for profit National Academy of Hypothryoidism and Integrative Science (NAHIS). His work has been featured on numerous TV shows including the Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC News, ESPN, CNN and Fox Business.

Dr. Holtorf suffered from and managed a series of undiagnosed childhood and early adult illnesses that caused him to have difficulty getting out of bed. By the time he attended medical school, he suffered from terrible fatigue leaving him barely able to function.

He visited numerous medical colleague practitioners and specialists and was told that he was “depressed or stressed and needed to get more sleep and more exercise”. The standardized diagnostic tests he studied and learned to utilize in medical school “revealed nothing abnormal”.

His undiagnosed medical condition left him feeling hopeless until he tested positive for Lyme disease, Babesia, Bartonella, reactivated viruses and mold toxicity. Finally securing a diagnosis allowed Dr. Holtorf to resolve his symptoms by using innovative treatments including peptides, SOT therapy, NK cells and other progressive treatment practices.

If you would like to learn how a journey with Lyme disease inspired a doctor to open treatment centers to help others who are suffering the way he had, then tune in now!

PS Daisy White special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!

Dr. Miles Nichols is the 37-year-old co-founder of the highly regarded Denver, Colorado based Lyme and mold treatment clinic: Medicine with Heart. He also co-founded the Medicine with Heart Institute to provide professional training to clinicians in the treatment of complex chronic diseases.

Born into a high achieving Ivy League educated family, Dr. Nichols followed the family tradition and was accepted into gifted and talented educational programs through middle school. By the time he entered high school, a multitude of nagging childhood illnesses merged and presented as chronic fatigue causing his grades to decline.

Debilitating fatigue forced Dr. Nichols to seek alternative educational models. He attended a school founded by a Buddhist Monk and then he gritted his way through graduate school. Unfortunately, his physician father and scores of doctor colleagues could not solve Dr Nichols’ chronic fatigue puzzle.

Finally, in 2016, Dr Nichols tested positive on a blood test for Lyme disease. In 2019, he tested positive for Babesia and Barronella. If you would like to learn more about how Lyme disease inspired a doctor to build a heart centered treatment institute in an effort to end suffering caused by Lyme and mold diseases, then tune in now!

PS Micaela Hoo special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!

Kristi Kusske is a 37-year-old Registered Nurse (RN) and Functional Diagnostic Nutritional Practitioner from Lakeville, Minnesota. She is the entrepreneurial founder of Enlightened Integrative Wellness.

Ms. Kusske’s Lyme disease journey is both personal and parental. Despite suffering from classic Lyme disease symptoms, including brain fog and fatigue, she was not diagnosed by western educated medical practitioners until after her daughter was born with congenital Lyme disease.

Her dual roles as Lyme Mom and Lyme patient mandated that Ms. Kusske expand her medical education and training. In addition to her sturdy foundation that included RN, PICU, ER, and Certified Pediatric Nurse, she felt called to study and work with practitioners that would utilize traditional eastern protocols.

Treating for 2.5 years with Lyme Literate practitioners and developing an understanding of the necessity of connecting her mind, body and spirit during healing has allowed the Kusske family to overcome and manage the majority of their Lyme related symptoms.

If you would like to learn more about how Lyme disease inspired a mom and registered nurse to construct and manifest an integrative wellness practice focusing on women’s health, preconception health, and pediatrics, then tune in now!

PS Ashley Belanger special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!

Briana Jamshidi is a 27-year-old Registered Nurse (RN) and certified personal trainer from Charleston, South Carolina. Ms. Jamshidi loved to lift weights, run races, dance, go to concerts, attend music festivals, and was a top performer on her National Guard physical fitness test.

At the age of 21, Ms. Jamshidi suddenly fell ill while attending her annual training with the Army National Guard in Virginia. Shew was first diagnosed with Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and then doctors said it was Interstitial Cystitis (IC) because her urine cultures never grew any bacteria.

Some of Ms. Jamshidi’s early symptoms included severe burning when peeing like glass slicing her bladder, spasms of her bladder and pelvic floor, frequent and urgent urination, urinary incontinence, and painful sex. Her symptoms worsened and she developed severe lower back pain, swollen lymph nodes, neck pain, hives, muscle spasms, hand tremors, extreme fatigue, cognitive decline, constipation, food sensitivities, and the feeling of bugs crawling all over her at night.

Ms. Jamshidi was finally diagnosed with Lyme and Bartonella when she was 24. She treated using antibiotics, Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN), supplements, diet changes, and more.

If you’d to learn how a young woman realized her body is strong and resilient while going through the battle of her life, then tune in now!

PS Sara Brunner, the Lyme Dietitian, special guest co-hosted this interview with Matt from Tick Boot Camp!

Dr. Rosalie Greenberg MD is a Board-Certified Adult, Child, and Adolescent Psychiatrist from Summit, New Jersey. She is known for her expertise in the diagnosis and management of complex problems in children and pediatric psychopharmacology.

Dr. Greenberg earned her MD from the Ivy League Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she served as chief resident and then member of the teaching faculty after completing a fellowship in child psychiatry.

In practice for over 40 years, Dr. Greenberg brings her expertise to a wide range of topics including adolescent suicide, pediatric bipolar disorder, and the many psychological aspects of Lyme disease.

Treating patients living in Lyme endemic New Jersey has granted Dr. Greenberg the opportunity to discover that a large number of the children she evaluated for psychiatric disorders are positive for tick-borne illnesses, despite many never having recalled a tick bite.

Dr. Greenberg is a highly regarded author, researcher, lecturer, and host of an award-winning TV show related to children’s health. For the past several years, she has focused on the psychiatric manifestations of tick-borne illnesses in children.

If you would like to learn more about how a medical doctor is working to stem the tide of psychiatric disorders caused by Lyme disease, then tune in now!

PS Debbie Kimberg from Hijacked Brains special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!