The Medical Detectives
The Medical Detectives is a weekly podcast where medicine meets mystery—told by the very people who’ve lived it. Hosted by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Erin Nance and content creator Anna O’Brien, each episode unravels strange and surprising medical tales from the people who lived through them. Think of it as a detective story—only here, the clues are hidden in blood tests, x-rays, and patient files. From curious, unsolved diagnoses to behind-the-scenes accounts of what really goes on in hospital corridors, Anna and Dr. Nance guide you through the ups, downs, and jaw-dropping moments of life in the medical...
Episodes
Sleuth Stories: Gloria Ramirez AKA The Toxic Lady
In this Medical Detectives Sleuth Story Anna tells Dr. Nance the baffling case of Gloria Ramirez, known as The Toxic Lady. In 1994, Gloria was rushed to a California ER where 27 of the 37 staff members treating her fell ill, some requiring …
Carrie's Story: The Beach House Mystery
A healthy 54-year-old mom goes from beach-week brain fog to 103° fevers, crushing fatigue, chest spasms, and organ dysfunction in a matter of days—ping-ponging through a possible UTI, pancreatitis, and pneumonia diagnosis before landing in …
Sasha & Nela's Story: A Life Saving Friendship
Two friends, Sasha and Nella, join us to unravel how years of “it’s all in your head” dismissal, mounting pain, and endless referrals finally led them to a rare-yet-underdiagnosed culprit. In a story powered by patient research and friendsh…
Claire & Suzanne's Story: TwinTuition
Get ready for double the mystery and double the disbelief. In this episode of The Medical Detectives, identical twins Claire and Suzanne share a lifetime of parallel symptoms, and a decade of debilitating GI problems, that left doctors baff…
Michelle's Story: The Patient Becomes the Medical Detective
When a healthy, outdoorsy vegan develops burning foot pain after a bout of COVID-19, months of sleepless nights, dead-end appointments, and dismissive doctors follow, until Michelle turns herself into a one-woman research lab. In this episo…
Dana & Ivan's Story: Watching Your Child Disappear
When 16-year-old Ivan suddenly lost weight, slept through class, and found that eating hurt, doctors called it “disordered eating”—but Dana’s gut said something else. In this gripping, hopeful conversation, a midnight ER dash, blue lips, an…
Elizabeth's Story: The Generational Mystery
In this powerful episode of Medical Detectives, Elizabeth traces an intergenerational medical mystery. This story starts not with our guest, but with her mother, whose lifelong health concerns gave a clue into Elizabeth's own medical myster…
Lori's Story: Let Her Eat Cake
A healthy 33-year-old runner and new mom develops sudden, stabbing chest pain after childbirth that’s dismissed for years as reflux. What follows is a 12-year odyssey of sporadic esophageal spasms, misreads, and missed chances, culminating …
Zoe's Story: 24 Hours from Paralysis
Zoe’s story is a masterclass in “collect the dots so you can connect the dots.” After years of migraines, numbness, GI chaos, and escalating sciatica, her symptoms were brushed off as “stocking-and-glove neuropathy,” weight, or stress. Her …
Sleuth Stories: The Nuclear Whistleblower
Introducing our new series, Sleuth Stories, spotlighting the medical investigators who solved some of the biggest medical mysteries in history. In this premiere, we follow Dr. Alice Stewart, the physician-epidemiologist who studied a rise i…
Re Release: Chan's Story - The Mystery of the Protruding Eye
This is a re release of a past episode, but we will be back next week with brand new content!On this episode of The Medical Detectives, we sit down with the incredible Chan, known to many as @chanplante on TikTok, to hear her harrowing med…
Katie & Steve's Story Part 2: The Wife Who Wouldn't Give Up
A love story becomes a masterclass in advocacy. In this gripping part two, Katie takes us inside life with a rare brain disease, and shows how fierce care, ingenuity, and impossible choices collide with a messy healthcare system. You’ll hea…
Katie & Steve's Story Part 1: The Wife Who Wouldn't Give Up
In this two-part episode of The Medical Detectives, Katie shares the story of her husband Steve’s long and heartbreaking journey toward a diagnosis. Katie takes us back to the early days of their relationship, painting a vivid picture of S…
Emily's Story: Diagnosed by a Podcast
In this episode of Medical Detectives, Emily shares her staggering 17-year diagnostic odyssey, starting at age 17 with a seemingly mild ankle sprain that never fully resolved, and winding through years of dismissals, generic compression soc…
Catherine's Story: The Cost of a Cure
This emotionally powerful episode of The Medical Detectives follows Catherine, a devoted mother and academic, as she shares the gripping journey of seeking answers for her young son George’s mysterious motor delays. What begins as a typical…
Tracy's Story: When the Doctor Becomes the Patient
In this episode of The Medical Detectives, we sit down with high‑risk OB‑GYN Dr. Tracy. When her own health takes a puzzling turn, she must become her own Medical Detective. What starts as vague aches, mysterious rashes, and alarmingly low …
Rachel's Story: Not Just Anxiety
In this deeply moving episode of The Medical Detectives, Dr. Nance sits down with Linda, speaking on behalf of her daughter, Rachel Yaffe. When Rachel was a freshman in college she had unexplained aches that were labeled as psychosomatic by…
Kara's Story Part 2: Burning From the Inside Out
In this intense two-part episode of The Medical Detectives, what began as a routine backpacking trip among Arkansas oaks quickly spiraled into a baffling medical mystery. A misdiagnoses of UTI, strep and “pink eye,” a terrifying drop into s…
Kara's Story Part 1: Burning From the Inside Out
In this intense two-part episode of The Medical Detectives, what began as a routine backpacking trip among Arkansas oaks quickly spiraled into a baffling medical mystery. A misdiagnoses of UTI, strep and “pink eye,” a terrifying drop into s…
Kerry's Story Part 2: The Invisible Scars
This episode is the finale of our very first two-part case. Kerry was a fearless hockey player who felt invincible when her cough started, but what began as a minor inconvenience spiraled into a terminal diagnosis. Tune in, stay hopeful, an…
Kerry's Story Part 1: The Invisible Scars
This episode lays the groundwork for our very first two-part case. Kerry was a fearless hockey player who felt invincible when her cough started, but what began as a minor inconvenience spiraled into a terminal diagnosis. Tune in, stay hope…
Robin's Story: From Dizzy to Dead in 27 Days
Robin always knew her mom as a vibrant, fiercely independent nurse who seemed invincible, until one spring day when a sudden bout of dizziness and confusion sent her spiraling into a whirlwind of tests, missteps, and sleepless nights. In th…
Krystina's Story: 10% Chance of Survival
After a scheduled C-section, Krystina experienced escalating postoperative complications that ranged from losing her taste to fever and extreme pain. Her condition rapidly deteriorated, leading to an emergency transfer, an induced coma, and…
Hailey's Story: Choking Hazard
This week on The Medical Detectives, we share Hailey’s decades-long ordeal with sudden, terrifying “stuck throat” episodes—from rural Yukon ERs and improvised home remedies, to the social anxiety of hiding her symptoms, until a late-night t…
Kalla & Ivy's Story: Fighting to Breathe
Trigger Warning: Discussion of infant medical crisis and loss.When baby Ivy couldn't breath doctors said it was normal, but Kalla’s instincts told her something was terribly wrong. Dismissed repeatedly, she fought through fear and isolation…
Tracy's Story: The Blistering Truth
This week Anna and Erin welcome Tracy, whose years long struggle with bone-deep exhaustion, persistent sore throats and sudden blood blisters led her on a winding odyssey from GPs to specialists, with inconclusive tests and tough treatments…
Trevor & Angela's Story: The Wife vs. The White Coat
This week on The Medical Detectives, Erin and Anna tackle their first-ever male patient story, delivered by the one person who never stopped believing him: his wife, Angela. From childhood Guillain-Barré and a hidden battle with addiction t…
Chelle's Story: The 35 Year Headache
For nearly 35 years Chelle lived with daily headaches, nausea, numbness, and overwhelming pressure in her head—symptoms repeatedly dismissed as anxiety or depression. But when her child’s medical crisis taught her to trust her instincts, sh…
Rita's Story: All in Her Head
In this deeply emotional and eye-opening episode of Medical Detectives, we sit down with Rita, whose medical mystery spanned nearly a decade of pain, misdiagnosis, and dismissal. From being a young mother and nurse with a sudden onset of te…
Leah's Story: The Vampire Diagnosis
Leah grew up never seeing a real doctor, but learning from her homeopath mom how to listen to her body. As an adult, she was told she was allergic to the sun, iron, and bread. But when she landed in the ER on her 40th birthday, vomiting, in…
Bethany's Story: En Pointe & in Pain
In this extraordinary episode of The Medical Detectives, we meet Bethany, a former professional dancer whose body, once built for movement, began betraying her in small, painful ways that no one could explain. What started as stiffness and …
Jill's Story: The Shrek Disease
In this gripping and emotional episode, we dive into Jill’s extraordinary journey — a story of relentless persistence, unanswered questions, and one life-changing discovery.For over a decade, Jill battled mysterious and increasingly alarmin…
Jennifer's Story: The Symptom That Saved Her
In this gripping episode of The Medical Detectives, we meet Jennifer — a working mom whose life was turned upside down by mysterious and debilitating symptoms. From a racing heartbeat to progressive numbness, poor sight, and immobility, Jen…
Brianna's Story: Sleepwalking Nightmare
In one of our most intense and eye-opening episodes yet, we sit down with Brianna, whose journey through the medical system took years of misdiagnoses, dismissal, and frustration before she finally got the answers she needed. What started a…
Simone's Story: The Hidden Illness That Stole Her Organs
In this gripping episode of The Medical Detectives, we sit down with Simone, whose harrowing medical journey took her from being an active, adventurous athlete to navigating years of misdiagnoses, medical gaslighting, and life-altering surg…
Kim's Story: The Postpartum Nightmare
In this special international episode, we sit down with Kim from Brisbane, Australia, to uncover a medical mystery that will leave you stunned—especially if you're a mom. Kim’s story is one of resilience, misdiagnosis, and the shocking trut…
Rachel's Story: The Century-Old Mystery Uncovered by AI
In this episode of The Medical Detectives, we dive into one of the most astonishing medical mysteries we've ever encountered. Rachel takes us on a 132-year journey through her family’s unexplained health conditions—joint pain, heart problem…
Chan's Story: The Mystery of the Protruding Eye
This week on The Medical Detectives, we sit down with the incredible Chan, known to many as @chanplante on TikTok, to hear her harrowing medical journey from an invisible illness to a visible one. Chan takes us through the baffling medical …
Caroline's Story: When Food Turns Fatal
In this deeply moving and inspiring episode of The Medical Detectives, Dr. Nance and Anna sit down with Caroline, a vibrant and determined young woman navigating life with a mysterious syndrome that makes her allergic to most foods. From he…
Kathy's Story: The Case of Mysterious Double Vision
In this shocking episode of The Medical Detectives, Dr. Erin Nance and Anna O’Brien sit down with Kathy to unravel a years-long medical mystery that took her from a diagnosis of ADHD in childhood to a harrowing journey through depression, b…