When the Diagnosis Doesn’t Add Up
There’s a certain kind of frustration that comes when you know something isn’t right… but you can’t quite prove it.
That’s exactly what this episode dives into.
In this conversation, Susan sits down with Nicole Bell to unpack a story that is both deeply personal and incredibly important. What started as subtle changes in Nicole’s husband, mood shifts, memory lapses, and personality changes—quickly turned into something much bigger.
And yet, the answers weren’t easy to find.
The Reality of Lyme (That No One Talks About)
When most people think about Lyme disease, they picture a tick bite and a bullseye rash.
But that’s not how it shows up for most people.
In fact, many cases don’t include a rash at all. Instead, symptoms can look like anxiety, brain fog, fatigue, joint pain, or even cognitive decline. This is part of what makes Lyme so difficult to diagnose, it doesn’t follow one clear path.
Nicole’s story highlights just how complex this can be. Her husband was initially misdiagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, while the real root cause went undetected.
Why Testing Often Misses It
One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is how flawed traditional testing can be.
Most standard tests don’t actually look for the pathogen itself—they look for your body’s response to it. That means if your immune system isn’t reacting in a typical way, the test can come back “normal”… even when something is clearly off.
This is where newer approaches, like the testing from Galaxy Diagnostics, are changing the conversation. Instead of guessing, they focus on directly detecting what’s actually happening in the body.
And that shift? It’s huge.
It’s Not Just One Thing
Another important piece: Lyme is rarely just Lyme.
Many people are dealing with multiple infections at once, along with inflammation, stress, and other environmental factors. When you zoom out, you start to see why symptoms can feel so all over the place, and why quick fixes don’t work.
This is where a more personalized, root-cause approach becomes essential.
Learning to Trust Yourself
If there’s one message to take from this episode, it’s this:
You are allowed to question things.
You are allowed to seek deeper answers.
And you are absolutely allowed to advocate for your health.
Because your body is always communicating—it’s just a matter of whether we’re listening.
Learn more about our guest Nicole Bell
Nicole is an experienced executive in the medical device and diagnostics industries in roles ranging from science and engineering to business development and marketing. At Advanced Liquid Logic, a company that sold to Illumina for $96M, she ran product management and interfaced with top companies across medical diagnostics. At TransEnterix Surgical, she served as the Vice President of Research and Development, driving the development of the surgical robot from breadboard design to FDA submission in 3 years and propelling the company’s market cap to over $500M.
She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from MIT in Materials Science and Engineering, as well as a Master’s of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University. Her best-selling and award-winning memoir, What Lurks in the Woods, vividly details her family’s experience with undiagnosed tickborne infection. This firsthand knowledge of the devastating impact of misdiagnosed chronic illness fuels her passion to drive a new diagnostic standard of care for the industry. She also served as the primary author of “The State of Lyme Disease Research in the United States,” and regularly collaborates with the Center for Lyme Action to change the political landscape for Lyme Disease and related coinfections.
RESOURCES:
Connect with Nicole Bell:
Website: https://www.galaxydx.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/galaxydiagnostics/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/galaxydx
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GalaxyDiagnosticsVideos
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/galaxy-diagnostics-inc-/posts/?feedView=all
Connect with Susan: https://healthyawakening.co/
Visit the website: healthyawakening.co/podcast
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Connect with Susan:
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Learn More about Susan Robbins:
Susan is a retired law enforcement officer and an accomplished Certified Epigenetic Human Performance Coach with a diverse and extensive background in wellness. She began her wellness career in 2015 as a holistic health and stress management coach. Her passion for helping others led her to expand her expertise into epigenetics in 2019, where she discovered the missing piece of the health optimization puzzle: Personalized health.
As a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Certified Level 2 Apeiron Zoh Epigenetic Human Performance Coach (DNA), and Certified PH360 Coach through Precision Health Alliance, Susan has developed a unique approach to health and wellness through completely personalized health. She is the proud recipient of the 2023 Precision Health Alliance Coach of the Year award. Susan works with clients to elevate their health and overall quality of life by understanding their unique needs based on their genetic makeup, taking out the guesswork, and getting results.
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