MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries - Ep. 68 | Just Like the Movies/Headache from Hell

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

“Just Like the Movies”A popcorn factory worker comes down with a painful, frightening rash on his arms – and then, he struggles to breathe. He and his wife are convinced something at his job is triggering these seemingly unconnected symptoms. But nobody believes them… until other workers start getting sick, too.“Headache from Hell”When a man in Orlando, Florida begins experiencing severe headaches, he figures it’s the same chronic migraines he’s dealt with for years. But this time, the pain won’t go away, and it turns out he’s dealing with something much more serious – and more revolting – than a headache.  Follow MrBallen's Medical Mysteries on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes publish for free every Tuesday. Prime members can binge episodes 65-72 early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Wondery+ subscribers can listen ad-free--join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey Prime members, you can binge episodes 65 through 72 right now and ad free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. In the winter of 1999, a middle-aged man rolled out of his bed, scratching at his hands and reaching for the lotion by his bed. He'd been battling dry hands since the summer, but these past few days it was like his hands had been burning. He rubbed the lotion into his hands and up his arms as he shuffled down the hall to the bathroom. Once he was inside, he closed the door behind him so he wouldn't wake up his wife, and

then he turned on the light to get ready for work. The man grabbed Vaseline out of the medicine cabinet, hoping that it might soothe his skin better than the lotion had. But as he began working a glob of it into his hands and his arms, he felt loose skin flaking off between his fingers. Then he looked down into the sink and he saw dozens of what at first looked like inch-wide paint chips around the drain. The man instinctively looked up at the bathroom ceiling, hoping to see that maybe the paint was just chipping, but it looked perfectly normal. Then he glanced at the mirror and he saw his arms were completely covered in strips

of peeling skin up to his elbows. And where the skin had fallen away into the sink, his forearms looked red and raw, like uncooked meat. Now the man was really getting worried. He thought he just had some dry patches. But now he looked like a snake shedding his entire skin. What in the world was happening to him? From Ballin Studios in Wondry, I'm Mr. Ballen and this is Mr. Ballen's Medical Mysteries,

where every week we will explore a new baffling mystery originating from the one place we all can't escape, our own bodies. So if you liked today's story, the next time you're house-sitting for the follow button, turn on one of their faucets and then just leave. Unless you're a massive hypochondriac, you very likely don't go through life thinking about all the different things that could get you sick. Sure, you wash your hands after you sneeze, and you very likely don't eat food off the floor, but generally, it's not really something most of us think about on a constant daily

basis, again, unless you're a hypochondriac. But for the people in today's two stories, it's something they should have been thinking about. The first story is about a popcorn factory worker whose daily routine led to a devastating respiratory illness. And the second story is about a guy in Florida whose lifestyle leads to the world's most painful headache. The Grinch is back again to ruin your Christmas season with Tis the Grinch holiday podcast.

Listen as his celebrity guests try to persuade the Grinch that there's more to love about the holiday season. Follow Tis the Grinch holiday podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Grown-ups, enjoy bonus content of Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast exclusively on Wondery Plus. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made, a seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune and lives

can disappear in an instant. Follow Hollywood and Crime, the Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. And now here's our first story called, Just Like the Movies. On a cold fall morning in 1999, 51 year old Martin Henry walked across the linoleum flooring at the Glister Mary Lee Popcorn Plant in Jasper, Missouri.

The fluorescent lights overhead glinted on all the stainless steel machinery that covered the manufacturing floor. Workers bustled around their stations, already hard at work despite the early hour. A young man followed behind Martin as he walked the plant floor. He was a new hire and he was taking notes as Martin pointed at different machines and explained how they worked. He gestured at the dozens of employees working all around the room and jokingly told the new guy that he should try to meet everybody. The new guy just started laughing. That's because the new guy knew everybody here already. Jasper was a town of just 1000 people and the popcorn factory employed about 15% of them. Martin had instantly

recognized the new guy from around town the moment he had showed up that day. Martin led the new hire over to the workstation that he knew best. The mixer room where he had worked for most of the past two years. Martin manned the machine that coated each popcorn kernel with buttery flavoring. He liked to think of himself as the guy who made the popcorn taste just like it did at the movies. Martin took a key ring out of his pocket and turned on the mixing machines. A moment later a puff of yellow mist leaked out of the top of the largest mixer and right away this wonderful buttery scent filled the air. Martin peeled off his rubber gloves and grabbed a new pair, then he showed the new guy how to work all the different buttons

and toggles in the mixing room and what the different level readings meant. Then he pressed a few buttons and the machine hummed into action. Martin stepped aside and told his new trainee to give the mixers a try. So the young man turned on the spigot on one of the two smaller mixing tanks, letting butter flavoring pour out into a plastic five gallon bucket. As Martin stood there with his hands on his hips, he felt proud of his work. But he also felt distracted because his arms felt so dry and itchy. They had been that way all week, something he blamed on

the changing weather. He was glad that his thick rubber gloves and long-sleeved white coat prevented him from scratching. Otherwise, he feared he might scratch himself bloody. But after only a few minutes of standing there, Martin just couldn't stand the itching any longer. So he excused himself from the new hire and then hustled over to the locker room where he could scratch himself to his heart's content and douse himself in more lotion. A few months later, Martin's wife, Linda Henry, rolled out of bed and began walking over to the bathroom she shared with her husband. As she did, she heard her husband moving and she turned and saw him roll over in bed and reach for the phone on the nightstand.

To protect his skin, Martin's hands were actually wrapped in plastic bags, which crinkled as he punched in the phone number he was trying to press. He was calling in to work, letting them know he needed a sick day to deal with his ongoing skin problem. She heard him say that the pain was unbearable, which to her seemed like an understatement. She heard him say that the pain was unbearable, which to her seemed like an understatement. Linda walked into the bathroom and opened up the medicine cabinet and grabbed a half empty jar of Vaseline. For the past few weeks, her husband's hands had been so chapped and flaky that Linda had been coating them in Vaseline and then wrapping them in those plastic bags while he slept,

both to prevent scratching and to keep his skin from falling off onto their sheets. For the past couple of weeks, the skin on Martin's hands and legs had gotten so papery and ashen that it had started falling off in 2-3 inch chunks. Now historically, Martin did typically get dry hands in the winter, but it had never gotten this bad before. Linda couldn't imagine what might be causing this severe skin condition, but she was very worried about her husband. He seemed to always be in pain. At first, she blamed his job at the factory. Constant hand washing and changing rubber gloves and

cleaning the machines with harsh chemicals couldn't be doing him any favors. But Martin assured her that none of his symptoms got worse while he was at work, and they didn't improve while he was home. Besides, none of the other employees had developed skin conditions. Now, Martin's reasoning made enough sense, but now, as Linda helped Martin remove the bags from his Vaseline-covered hands, it was clear at least to her that something was terribly wrong here and almost certainly it had to do with his job. What else could it be? And so after saying as much to her husband, Martin finally relented and said that he would

file for workers' compensation insurance, claiming he had developed the skin disease from work. Two months later, Linda was just about to start making dinner when she heard the mail fall through the slot in their front door. Her eyes widened when she saw it was an envelope from the factory's insurance company. She hoped it was good news about her husband's workers' compensation. She carried the envelope into the living room where Martin was sitting back in his easy chair.

His hands were covered in bloody red patches where his skin had fallen off off but now Martin had more to worry about than just a skin disease. Over the past few weeks Martin had also developed severe difficulty breathing which really frightened Linda. He'd gone to the doctor but the doctor said very likely his shortness of breath was unconnected to whatever was going on with his dry skin. The doctor said his breathing issue seemed like a standard case of bronchitis or maybe he developed asthma. But none of the medicines the doctor prescribed for these conditions had helped Martin's breathing.

And so Martin spent most days coughing and wheezing and sometimes even gasping for air. He could barely get up the stairs to their bedroom at night. The recliner was the only place he felt somewhat comfortable. When Linda entered the room, she could see her husband was asleep in the chair. She could hear his soft wheezing. But she felt like this envelope was worth waking him up for. They really needed some good news and this could be it. So she walked over and tapped gently on her husband's shoulder and he opened his eyes and immediately just began hacking and coughing as always.

Linda handed him the letter and when he saw what it was his eyes went wide. He was eager to see what it would say. By this point, because of Martin's medical issues, he basically didn't leave the house anymore and he hadn't come back to work ever since that day he called in sick two months earlier. And he and his wife were just at a loss. They couldn't understand how Martin, a seemingly healthy 51-year-old man, could become this sick so quickly. And out of the two of them, Linda was also very convinced that whatever was going on with him really did have to do with his job. It had to be the cause. Also by now, rumors were starting to spread that other workers at the factory had also become ill. Although they didn't seem as bad off as Martin, their symptoms were similar, weeds and cough, trouble breathing, and this horrible skin rash.

And so as Linda watched her now very frail husband open up this envelope, causing bits of his skin to flake off and fall to the carpet, she hoped the other men from the factory would also apply for workers' compensation too, because clearly something was terribly wrong at that factory. Linda watched Martin take the sheet of paper out of the envelope and read it over. Then Martin cursed and told her bitterly that his workers' compensation claim had been denied. The company's doctor had evaluated Martin before his breathing problem started, and so the only thing he had been evaluated for was his skin condition. And there wasn't enough evidence to prove his dry, flaking skin was caused by conditions

at the factory. And so if Martin and Linda were going to get some financial help, it would have to come from somewhere else. A few weeks later, in April of 2000, Dr. Thomas Carter reviewed some paperwork at his desk in Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Carter was an occupational health physician, and he'd been alerted to the strange medical cases coming out of the popcorn plant in Joplin. Over the past few weeks, Dr. Carter had interviewed Martin along with seven other popcorn factory workers, all of them struggling to breathe and suffering rashes all over their bodies. He now had medical records for all eight workers, and the details had shocked him.

All eight had been given different diagnoses, like asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema, but their symptoms were almost identical. All eight men were struggling to get air into their lungs, and medication had been ineffective in treating their symptoms. One of the workers was 44 years old, but his lung capacity had been reduced to that of a small child. Given all the evidence, Dr. Carter had drawn a chilling conclusion. In his opinion, Martin and the seven other workers had a rare but often fatal lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans, which literally meant the obliteration of the lungs airways.

Most people with this condition die within five years as their airways become increasingly inflamed and then scarred, making breathing extremely difficult. It can also cause the painful skin condition Martin was experiencing, although many doctors don't make the connection. And so while Martin and his co-workers were grateful to now have this information about what was happening to their bodies, at the same time they were devastated. This condition they had was irreversible and unless they got a lung transplant they would die. In all of Dr. Carter's 25-year career, he'd only ever seen this disease three times. And now there were eight cases in a single town of only

a thousand people and all eight of those people worked at the same factory. Those were epidemic level numbers. And so Dr. Carter picked up the phone and called the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services. Six months later, in November of 2000, Dr. Rebecca Roberts stood on the factory floor at the popcorn plant, watching several factory workers breathe into small plastic devices called spirometers. Dr. Roberts had flown into Jasper the night before from Washington DC. She worked at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and this popcorn facility had been on her radar for a while now. Over the summer, Dr. Roberts and her team had learned

about the eight factory workers who had developed the terrible respiratory disease called bronchiolitis obliterans. She also knew that investigators from another agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, had inspected the popcorn facility. But the OSHA investigators didn't find any health or safety violations. But despite their findings, Dr. Roberts just couldn't get around the idea that there had to be some connection to this factory. I mean, the idea that eight workers all at the same plant all developed the same rare lung disease, it just couldn't

be coincidence. So that August and September she had personally conducted two walkthrough investigations of the popcorn plant. Now during those visits Dr. Roberts had not spotted any obvious red flags, but she still was not convinced that this factory was safe. So she had decided to return to the factory one more time, and this time she brought a medical team to do a more detailed survey.

Today, her team was interviewing workers at the factory and using these spirometers to measure their breathing. While Dr. Robert's team talked to workers on the main factory floor, she turned her attention to the mixing room where Martin once worked. There was only one man in the mixing room, moving buckets of butter flavoring from one vat to another. When Dr. Roberts introduced herself, he shook her hand and said that his name was Simon.

Then he began to cough into the crook of his elbow, and as he did he kind of shook his head, cursing under his breath. Dr. Roberts asked him if he was coming down with something. Simon told her he'd had a cough for a while now. He laughed and said it actually helped him fit in, because pretty much everybody who worked in the mixing and packaging rooms had asthma or bronchitis or something like that, and so everybody was coughing all the time. After this short conversation, Dr. Roberts climbed up a nearby metal staircase to the mezzanine which looked out over the mixing room.

There were a few men working there and she quickly waved them over. A tall guy with a hairnet came over first and Dr. Roberts asked him if he had breathing problems too. The man nodded and said the doctors diagnosed him with asthma. He said he'd developed it over the past year, but for whatever reason, asthma medications did not seem to help at all. By the time Dr. Roberts left the factory an hour later, she had no doubt that there had to be a serious health problem at the Glister Mary Lee popcorn plant, and that it very likely started in the mixing room. But she still could not pinpoint exactly what the problem was.

So she decided that investigators would need to visit the factory one more time. And this time, they'd take samples of everything. The popcorn, the flavoring mixtures, the cleaning products, and any hint of dust or mold. Whatever was in there making these workers sick, she was determined to find it. A few weeks later, inside of a lab, Dr. Roberts, along with two lab researchers, stared into a big plastic rodent cage full of rats that they were using in an experiment. Dr. Roberts and her team had tested all the samples they had collected from the popcorn plant.

They'd identified 100 different potentially toxic compounds in those samples, but none of them seemed to be what was making people sick. Dr. Roberts had been very frustrated, but she did have one more idea. There was one more chemical that she wanted to test on the rats. This chemical was normally considered to be safe to eat, but there had been very little research done on what would happen if someone inhaled it. And sure enough, after the rats breathed in a large amount of the chemical, their breathing

became shallow and labored. Later, when examined under a microscope, their lungs were revealed to be inflamed and scarred. Just like human victims of bronchiolitis obliterans, Dr. Roberts finally had her answer. This seemingly innocent chemical was causing the disease plaguing Martin and the other workers. The tests that Dr. Roberts and her team did proved that it was the delicious smelling butter flavoring mixture that was making the workers sick. Specifically, a chemical in the mixture called diacetyl.

Diacetyl is a naturally occurring substance found in things like beer, butter, cheese, and coffee, and it can be used as artificial flavoring. No one suspected diacetyl because the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, had already determined it was safe to eat. But Dr. Roberts realized the FDA never tested whether diacetyl was safe to breathe, and it definitely was not. And the factory where Martin worked was using three times the diacetyl found in most butter flavorings at other factories. The deadly fumes wreaked havoc on employees' skin and lungs, creating irreversible damage.

But Martin and his coworkers were not the only popcorn factory workers in danger. In October of 2001, there were 140 popcorn plants in the United States, and they were all using this butter mixture with dangerous levels of diacetyl. Even worse, there were thousands of other businesses that either made or used butter flavoring with diacetyl. That meant thousands of workers nationwide were at risk of developing what came to be called popcorn lung disease. In December of 2003, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health issued

warnings to more than 4,000 businesses that either made or used this butter flavoring. In response, 80% of American popcorn makers stopped using diacetyl in their butter flavoring and switched to something else. Now, this made current and future workers much safer, but this did nothing to curb the damage that had already been done by the diacetyl poisoning. One of the workers at Martin's factory was awarded 20 million dollars for the damage to his health, and part of that settlement was intended to go to the factory's other victims, including Martin Henry. However, the comfort from that settlement would be short-lived,

because Martin would die on May 22, 2010. He was only 62 years old. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made, a seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. When TV producer Roy Raden was found dead in a canyon near LA in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death. The last person seen with him was Laney Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who desperately

wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry. But things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing. From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of The Cotton Club Murder early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus.

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And now here's our second story called Headache From Hell. In the late winter of 2023, 52-year-old Jacob Malloy stretched out in bed. He'd woken up late and was enjoying a lazy Sunday petting his cat Gizmo who splayed out next to him on the bed. Finally, Jacob's stomach started to grumble so he rolled out of bed and pulled back his curtains. A bright beam of sunshine filled his bedroom with light. He cracked open his window just enough to feel a cool but pleasant breeze sweep through

his room. Jacob lived in Orlando, Florida, so even though it was February, it was a mild 60 degrees outside. Jacob heard the coffee maker percolating downstairs, and he knew that it was time to go join his wife Jessica for breakfast. So he went down to the kitchen and quickly invited Jessica to sit at the table while he made them both food. Thirty minutes later, Jacob had bacon frying in a cast iron skillet on the stove while he poured pancake batter onto a searing hot griddle. After a minute, he flipped the pancakes, then he turned back to the stove to take the bacon out of the skillet. He timed it just right. The bacon was still soft and flopped gently onto his plate. He hated when bacon got too crispy. It tasted too dry. He

used the grease from the bacon to fry up some hash browns and eggs, then carried two loaded plates over to the table. Jessica brought over the pot of coffee and then thanked her husband for the extravagant breakfast. Jacob winked and told Jessica not to tell his doctor. She laughed, but Jacob actually wasn't kidding. He was overweight and had type 2 diabetes, and so his doctor had told him a few times to lay off the greasy food. But Jacob figured what the doctor didn't know wouldn't hurt him. He dipped a fork full of hash browns into the golden yolk from his fried eggs and took a big satisfying bite. A few weeks later, Jacob was out in the yard mowing the lawn when a sharp

pain erupted in his temple. Jacob stopped the mower and beeline for the garage. He got migraines about once a month so he knew what it felt like when one was coming on. Jacob called out to Jessica as he walked in through the garage door and jogged up the stairs. He got some headache medicine out of his nightstand and took two pills before collapsing onto his bed. Within a few minutes, a familiar ache began to pulse behind his temples. But instead of moving forward towards his forehead like usual, the pain seemed to migrate toward the back of his skull. And his migraine medication wasn't helping at all, which was unusual. It was

strong stuff and until now it always seemed to do the trick. And so Jacob had no choice but to just bury his head in a pillow and ride out the pain. Finally, sometime that evening, the throbbing at the base of his skull subsided. It had been a shorter migraine, but so painful it didn't feel like he'd gotten off easy. Four months later, Jacob sat in his primary care doctor's office chatting with his physician while a nurse took his blood pressure. She frowned when she read the numbers aloud on the blood pressure sleeve. Jacob's doctor admitted they were a little high, but otherwise his vitals did seem fine.

Jacob nodded. He expected a little bit of high blood pressure vitals did seem fine. Jacob nodded. He expected a little bit of high blood pressure given all the greasy food he'd been eating. But it was not high blood pressure that had brought Jacob to the doctors that morning. It was his migraines. Ever since that day he was out mowing his lawn, they'd become more and more frequent. Weekly instead of monthly. And they were really beginning to interfere with his life. Most recently, he'd been spending just about every weekend laid up in bed.

The doctor found this very concerning and he asked if Jacob was experiencing any other symptoms like seizures or numbness or sensations he couldn't explain. Jacob thought for a moment but then said no, everything else felt normal. The doctor nodded and told Jacob that he wanted to order a CT scan. If there was something going on in Jacob's brain, the CT scan would show it. An hour later, Jacob and the doctor looked at the CT scan image of Jacob's brain on a computer screen. The doctor pointed to small circular areas in the middle of the scan, and he said that they looked like cysts within the white matter of Jacob's brain.

Cysts are tiny fluid-filled sacs. The doctor said cysts in the brain are never good news because they can cause a painful pressure buildup and even vision problems. The doctor explained that his biggest concern amongst the cysts was the cluster of cysts located at the bottom right-hand corner of Jacob's brain. He thought that those could actually be causing Jacob's symptoms, the headaches. Jacob reflexively moved a hand and touched the base of his skull.

He told the doctor that actually now that he thought about it, there had been one change in his migraines besides their frequency. Instead of throbbing right above his eyes the way they normally did, the pain had sort of moved to the back of his skull to right where that cluster of cysts was located on the CT scan. The doctor told Jacob he was admitting him to the hospital immediately. He suspected that Jacob might have a rare condition called congenital neurological cysts, meaning that these cysts have been present in his head for his entire life. But now they could be growing and pressing against Jacob's brain, causing these intense headaches.

If more tests showed that was the case, Jacob would need brain surgery to remove the cysts and stop the pressure. Jacob's breath caught in his throat. The thought of brain surgery terrified him. He asked if he could have a few minutes to call his wife and have her come down to the hospital. Later that afternoon, Jacob sat upright in a hospital bed, with Jessica sitting beside him in a chair. A neurologist stood at the foot of the bed, holding a new scan of Jacob's brain on his tablet.

He explained that the location and distribution of the cysts in Jacob's brain on his tablet. He explained that the location and distribution of the cysts in Jacob's brain were unusual. In his opinion, Jacob did not have congenital neurological cysts. Jacob perked up and asked if that meant he didn't need brain surgery. But the doctor said he wasn't sure yet. There was definitely still something in Jacob's brain that shouldn't have been there. Then he began asking Jacob questions about his travel history, whether he'd ever visited a farm and what his house and living conditions were like. Jacob felt mildly confused, but answered the doctor's questions as best as he could. Neither he nor Jessica traveled very much. The last time they left home was two years ago when they'd taken a cruise from

Miami to the Bahamas, and he'd never been on a farm. The closest he got to animals was petting his cat, Gizmo. The neurologist asked Jacob to walk him through a normal day in his life, including everything he liked to eat at mealtimes. Jacob was a bit embarrassed, but he admitted to the lavish breakfast that he liked to make on the weekends. Jacob had barely started talking when the neurologist stopped him and told Jacob he'd be right back. Then he hurried out of the room. Jacob was a bit surprised, but it seemed like the doctor had a new idea, and soon enough the neurologist was back. He informed Jacob that he was ordering a full workup to test for infectious diseases. Jacob nodded feeling

as curious as he was frightened. But the next day, the neurologist gave Jacob a diagnosis that he couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams. The neurologist confirmed that Jacob did not have brain cysts, and Jacob felt instantly relieved by that. But the neurologist told Jacob to brace himself for the rest of the diagnosis. His migraines were being caused by foreign organisms that had somehow gotten into his brain. The round things that the doctor saw in his brain scan were living creatures, tapeworms, to be precise. And the neurologist said they got there

because of the fancy breakfasts that Jacob loves so much. Specifically, it had to do with the bacon. Jacob didn't like crispy bacon. He liked soft, chewy bacon, something he told the doctor. But that indicated that the bacon was undercooked. And so the theory was, at some point, some of that undercooked bacon must have been infected with tapeworm larvae, and then those larvae were not killed in the frying pan. Had it been cooked long enough, they would have been. But even so, the neurologist explained that the tapeworms would never have reached Jacob's brain if not for a second problem.

The neurologist said that the tapeworm can only infect the brain when someone touches the feces that contain the tapeworm larva. The neurologist suspected that after Jacob ate the tapeworm larva from the undercooked bacon and then had a bowel movement containing the tapeworm larva, he must not have washed his hands properly and then touched his nose or mouth. After that, the larvae made its way to Jacob's brain. Thankfully, the problem was treatable. The neurologist put Jacob on a two-week regimen of anti-parasitic and anti-inflammatory medications

which killed the tapeworms in his brain. Once the tapeworms were gone, his migraines improved. And so ultimately, Jacob learned listen to new episodes of Mr. Bollens Medical Mysteries early and ad free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. And also, Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Mr. Bollens Medical Mysteries ad free. Join Wondry Plus today. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at ListenersSurvey.com. dramatic purposes. And a reminder, the content in this episode is not intended to be a substitute

for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This episode was written by Aaron Lann. Our editor is Heather Dundas. Sound design is by Andre Pluss. Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan. And our coordinating producer is Taylor Sniffin. Our senior producer is Alex Benedon. Our associate producers and researchers are Sarah Vytak and Tasia Palaconda. Fact checking was done by Sheila Patterson. For Ballen Studios, our head of production is Zach Levitt. Script editing by Scott Allen and Evan Allen. Our coordinating producer is Samantha Collins. Production support by Avery Siegel. Executive producers are myself, Mr. Ballen, and also Nick Witters. For Wondry, our head of sound is Marcelino Villapondo.

Senior producers are Laura Donna Palabota and Dave Schilling. Senior managing producer is Ryan Lohr. Our executive producers are Aaron O'Flaherty and Marshall Louis for Wondry. Hello, it's Dan Harris from the 10% Happier Podcast. Is the whole new year, new you thing getting a little overwhelming? Wondery's New Year New Mindset collection has the essentials to help you have your best year yet and to do it simply and sanely. From 10% Happier and Daily Stoic for personal growth to unruffled for parenting wisdom,

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