Patient Advocacy Now

From Lyme Disease To Root Cause Advocacy featuring Sylvia Reisman

Greater National Advocates Season 1 Episode 14

In this episode, we talk with Sylvia Reisman, whose passion for patient advocacy began in 1998 when she was researching treatment options for her father who was a five year survivor of stage III pancreatic cancer. ​In 2006, she became mysteriously ill and ran from doctor to doctor, consulting with a long list of specialists in multiple states before  finally being properly diagnosed with Lyme Disease several years later. She became convinced that if she had a knowledgeable professional patient advocate to help her 15 years ago, it would have saved her thousands of dollars, unnecessary suffering, and a timely diagnosis.

​Following her Lyme Disease diagnosis, Sylvia became an avid researcher and discovered functional medicine, a treatment approach that goes outside traditional boundaries to identify the root causes of a medical condition. After experiencing the benefits of functional medicine, she felt a sense of obligation to help people with chronic medical conditions like hers.

She started Purity Patient Advocates LLC, a patient advocacy service that replicates the navigation process she learned from her own personal experiences. Please enjoy this engaging interview with a self-made advocate who started her advocacy practice i8n order to help prevent others with complex medical conditions find answers when the formal health system simply is ineffective.