
Symptomatic: A Medical Mystery Podcast
How terrifying would it be to fight an unknown enemy? One you don’t recognize and didn’t see coming? What if that enemy was coming from within; a disease that even doctors couldn’t identify? Nearly half of all Americans suffer from some chronic illness and many struggle for an accurate diagnosis. Every other week on Symptomatic, host Lauren Bright Pacheco unravels the medical mystery of a patient…
Case #37: Grace
Grace Sullivan was only 17 when she was hit by unexplained bouts of uncontrollable vomiting that would last for days, even weeks. Countless trips to the ER, tests with no conclusive results, and no clear indicator for the root cause. After 19 hospitalizations in the span of two years - Grace believ…
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Case #36: Travis
Travis Bolt was a charismatic kid with an old soul…and a natural talent for music. When Travis turns eight years old, he begins to experience uncontrollable muscle movements that continue to escalate in intensity. He starts getting in trouble in school, injuring himself inadvertently, and faces yea…
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Case #03: Zach - Revisited
Let's revisit one of our favorite episodes from Season 1. Zach was your average 11-year-old who loved pizza, sports, and going fishing with his Dad until an incident at a baseball game changed his life forever. As an illness quickly takes hold and wreaks havoc on his body, it’s a race against the c…
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Case #35: Len (Pt. 2)
This is part two of Len Geiger’s story. The last we heard from Len, he was flying over the handlebars of his mountain bike only three months after receiving a miraculous lung transplant that had saved his life. We want to hear from you! Share your own medical mystery or tell us about the episo…
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Case #35: Len
Len Geiger was a perfectly healthy, athletic young man with no signs of illness…but when Len enters his late twenties he starts falling ill with chronic chest infections. By age thirty - Len begins to experience breathlessness so debilitating he can barely walk across a parking lot. 10 years after …
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Case #34: Brendon
Brendon Paradis began to lose his vision out of nowhere. Doctors spend decades trying to stop the unexplained hemorrhaging in his retina with no success. Brendon has attempted to come to terms with his fate but when his son Keegan begins to show a more rapidly advancing version of this mystery cond…
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Symptomatic is back with Season 5!
All new episodes full of medical mysteries are coming soon. Join host Lauren Bright Pacheco as we explore new stories in which patients become investigators, survivors become advocates, and exceptional doctors become heroes. Tune in for season 5 of Symptomatic, starting on September 22nd.
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Case #33: Phoebe
Sarah Marshall knew from only a few months into her fourth daughter Phoebe's life that something was definitely wrong. By the time Phoebe was six, Sarah began to fear for her daughter's life. She underwent countless tests, dozens of surgeries, and was in and out of the hospital for years. Phoebe’s …
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Case #32: Michelle
Michelle Shapiro had built a career helping others get healthy when she was hit with a debilitating health crisis. Doctors were unable to identify the cause of her symptoms - no matter how hard Michelle pushed for answers. So unwell that she could barely function - Michelle made it her mission to g…
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Case #31: Kristen
What began as intermittent rashes that popped up years apart turned into excruciating, long term flare ups with no reprieve for Kristen Willard. Unable to sleep, shower, or even put on pants - Kristen’s quality of life plummeted. With no common trigger to explain the debilitating flares, she was fo…
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