Episode 582: From Brother and Advocate to Lyme Doctor: Dr. James Bruzzese, MD
When Julia Bruzzese became seriously ill and lost the ability to walk, her brother James was beginning his medical education. Rather than allowing his family’s experience to drive him away from medicine, it gave him a new purpose: to become the kind of doctor his sister and other complex Lyme disease patients desperately needed.
In this deeply personal Tick Boot Camp Podcast episode, special guest co-host Nicole O'Donnell, co-hosts Rich Johannesen and Matt Sabatello welcome Dr. James Bruzzese, MD, founder of Bruzzese Medical. They are joined by returning guest and Lyme advocate Nicole O’Donnell, who brings her perspective as a patient, mother, and member of a family affected by tick-borne illness.
Julia’s story reached people around the world in 2015, when Pope Francis approached and blessed her on the tarmac at JFK Airport. She later appeared in the Lyme disease documentary The Quiet Epidemic. Behind the public moments was a close-knit family navigating medical uncertainty, debilitating illness, insurance barriers, and the painful experience of watching Julia’s symptoms be misunderstood.
James was present through it all. He attended appointments, accompanied Julia to hospitals, studied medical research, and advocated for her care. Those experiences shaped how he now listens to patients, evaluates complex symptom patterns, and approaches Lyme and tick-borne disease.
When Lyme Disease Becomes Personal
Dr. Bruzzese explains that he had already entered an accelerated medical program before Julia became critically ill. At the time, he was still questioning whether medicine was truly his calling.
Watching his sister become paralyzed, lose her independence, and struggle to obtain answers removed that uncertainty. He describes how helplessness and anger became motivation to study Lyme disease, challenge incomplete assumptions, and advocate for patients whose experiences were being dismissed.
The conversation also explores the effects of chronic illness on the entire family. While one person carries the physical burden of disease, parents and siblings may become caregivers, researchers, advocates, and witnesses to tremendous suffering.
Why Doctors May Miss Lyme Disease
Dr. Bruzzese offers an inside look at how Lyme disease is addressed during conventional medical training. He recalls receiving approximately two hours of Lyme education and being taught to consider other explanations before Lyme disease when evaluating symptoms such as a swollen joint.
He argues that medical education relies heavily on pattern recognition. That can help physicians work efficiently, but it becomes dangerous when doctors were never taught to recognize the shifting, multisystem patterns that can accompany Lyme and other tick-borne infections.
The result may be a patient whose fatigue, pain, neurological symptoms, dysautonomia, cognitive difficulties, or migrating symptoms are divided among specialists without anyone examining the complete clinical picture.
Medical Gaslighting, Bias, and the Patient Experience
Nicole O’Donnell shares what it felt like to remain sick while doctors and family members questioned whether Lyme disease explained her symptoms. The group considers whether clinicians deliberately gaslight patients or whether inadequate education, institutional pressure, limited appointment time, and rigid diagnostic frameworks produce an experience that feels like gaslighting.
Dr. Bruzzese discusses how patients, particularly women with complex combinations of pain, fatigue, dysautonomia, neurological symptoms, or autoimmune diagnoses, can become labeled as difficult before their complete histories are investigated.
Whatever the intent, the consequences are real. Patients may feel disbelieved, families may begin questioning them, and necessary evaluation or treatment may be delayed.
Building a Different Model of Lyme Care
Dr. Bruzzese describes his vision for Bruzzese Medical, a virtual practice focused on Lyme disease, tick-borne infections, and complex chronic presentations.
His goal is to provide individualized, patient-centered care that considers:
- Lyme disease and common tick-borne co-infections
- Multisystem and neurological symptoms
- Mold exposure and heavy-metal toxicity
- Immune, inflammatory, hormonal, and nutritional contributors
- Medication and supplement interactions
- Chronic and neuropathic pain
- Dysautonomia and peripheral neuropathy
- Quality of life during longer-term treatment
Rather than applying the same protocol to every person, Dr. Bruzzese emphasizes listening to the patient’s full story, studying how symptoms developed over time, and adjusting care according to individual response.
He also discusses the value of coordinated treatment planning. His family once had to determine how to organize and separate the more than 80 pills Julia was taking each day. He believes patients experiencing brain fog, exhaustion, and neurological symptoms should not be left to navigate complicated medication and supplement schedules by themselves.
Treating Pain While Addressing the Underlying Illness
Pain management is an especially important part of Dr. Bruzzese’s vision. His anesthesia training and work as a pain medicine fellow give him a perspective that is not always incorporated into Lyme disease care.
He explains that addressing an underlying infection and improving a patient’s immediate quality of life do not have to be competing priorities. Some people need relief from neuropathic pain, anxiety, sleep disruption, or other disabling symptoms while their medical team continues investigating and treating deeper contributors.
The discussion includes neuromodulation, chronic pain signaling, neuropathy, and why every intervention must be selected for the individual rather than offered as universal advice.
Expanding the Next Generation of Lyme-Literate Providers
Dr. Bruzzese does not want his work to stop with the patients he can personally see. Bruzzese Medical uses a team-based model with nurse practitioners, allowing additional clinicians to learn how to care for people with Lyme and tick-borne illnesses while expanding appointment availability.
His clinical perspective was influenced by extensive exposure to Lyme patients and training with physicians including Dr. Richard Horowitz and Dr. Somer DelSignore.
His message to patients is simple but powerful: whether someone has experienced a recent tick bite or has remained sick after visiting numerous doctors, their story deserves to be heard and investigated.
Key Topics Discussed
- How Julia Bruzzese’s illness affected James and his entire family
- Julia’s meeting and blessing from Pope Francis
- Her appearance in The Quiet Epidemic
- Why James pursued medicine and Lyme disease care
- Gaps in medical-school education about tick-borne disease
- The limitations of diagnosis through pattern recognition
- Why complex patients may feel dismissed or gaslit
- The effects of insurance and institutional pressures on care
- Clinical evaluation when testing does not provide a complete answer
- Lyme disease co-infections and environmental contributors
- Individualized treatment instead of blanket protocols
- Medication and supplement coordination
- Neuropathic pain and neuromodulation
- The role of anesthesia and pain medicine in chronic illness care
- Bruzzese Medical’s team-based virtual practice
- Training more healthcare professionals to serve the Lyme community
- Why patients need validation, communication, and continued hope
Work With Dr. James Bruzzese
Bruzzese Medical currently offers virtual appointments when appropriate and permitted by state regulations. The practice is private-pay and does not accept insurance for appointments.
Patients can learn more, request an appointment, and access the practice’s booking portal through the Bruzzese Medical website.