Freedom From Fear: A German New Medicine Podcast · Ashlee Newberry and Abigail Puccioni

Ep 39 - Unpacking “Lyme Disease” and Other Diagnosis Labels

·1 hr 15 min·5 clips

They paid $1,000 for Lyme testing, and the result came back “positive” for current and old Lyme.

1. Freedom From Fear: A German New Medicine Podcast centers this episode on Mia’s Lyme disease label and other diagnosis labels. 2. Ashley Newberry and Abigail Cuccioni host the show, and Mia returns as the guest because part one covered her allergy history. 3. The episode asks what “Lyme disease” means from the German New Medicine perspective and why her symptoms were repeatedly relabeled. 4. Mia says she was diagnosed with Lyme disease in high school, after a tick bite she remembers from Florida in the 1990s or early 2000s. 5. She says the high-school period also included a rash over her entire body and a later red meat allergy. 6. Mia recounts gastroparesis, several specialists, and repeated explanations that amounted to “that’s just what you got.” 7. After high school, she moved to Peru for three years and says she had typhoid, dengue fever, and other health issues there. 8. Back in the United States, she says she was diagnosed with celiac disease after losing a lot of weight and struggling to keep it on. 9. She also describes blood pressure drops, stomach pain, body aches, and fatigue that left her needing to lie down. 10. Mia says she later adopted the label “spoonie,” a term she explains as shorthand for people with chronic illness and limited energy. 11. After moving to Tennessee and starting a job at a company headquarters, she says she developed gallbladder problems, interstitial cystitis, pancreatitis, osteoporosis, ovarian failure, hypotension, and adrenal insufficiency. 12. She says her husband and a wave of naturopaths looked for protozoa, H. pylori, leaky gut, and other explanations, but nothing fit consistently. 13. Mia says her husband eventually spent about $1,000 on the best Lyme tests they could find, and the results came back positive for current Lyme, old Lyme, and another unexpected finding. 14. She says that result felt like relief because it seemed to explain the red meat allergy, the chronic illness, and the long list of strange labs. 15. Ashley responds by reading a Google list of common Lyme symptoms, including fever, chills, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, swollen lymph nodes, rash, facial paralysis, irregular heartbeat, and arthritis. 16. Ashley then asks how often those same symptoms appear in people with other diagnoses, and Mia agrees that many of them resemble generic healing-phase symptoms. 17. Mia says the diagnosis can create a “finally someone believes me” effect, especially for people who have felt dismissed by doctors. 18. Ashley adds that protocols, tinctures, and supplements can shift a person’s sense of agency even when the tool itself may not explain everything. 19. The conversation is interview-style, reflective, and explanatory, with frequent back-and-forth between personal story and German New Medicine interpretation. 20. People interested in chronic illness labels, Lyme testing, and GNM will get the most from it, while listeners wanting a conventional medical treatment discussion may skip it.

As heard by us

A personal health story that reframes symptoms through fear, conflict, and recovery.

The episode follows Mia as she talks through Lyme disease, allergies, stress, and the way her body changed under pressure. It moves through chronic food allergies, emergency steroid treatment, hospital scares, and the relief of getting life back.

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Why you'd press play

Hear Mia trace 20+ years of chronic illness, severe allergies, and Lyme through a German New Medicine lens.

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