Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine - Now That’s What I Call Weird Medical Questions

Episode Date: February 15, 2022

What question would you ask a doctor if you were sitting next to them? That’s what the goal is today on Sawbones, where “we”, mostly Sydnee, answer listeners’ most pressing weird medical questions. Questions about cool things like ear gauges, absinthe, the strength of car doors, self-advocacy, hydration, and the hole that is your belly button.Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Saubones is a show about medical history, and nothing the hosts say should be taken as medical advice or opinion. It's for fun. Can't you just have fun for an hour and not try to diagnose your mystery boil? We think you've earned it. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy a moment of distraction from that weird growth. You're worth it. that weird growth. You're worth it. Alright, talk is about books. One, two, one, two, three, four. I'm not a sense the escalant my cop for the mouth. Hello everybody and welcome to Sobhones, a metal tour of Miss Guy

and Medicine. I'm your co-host Justin Macaroy. My wife saw her phone. And I'm Sydney Macaroy. And I'm Sydney Macaroy. I'm Sydney Macaroy. That's Dr. Sydney Macaroy phone enthusiast. No, it's, so our parents, my parents, are watching our children while we're recording.

And mom just offered to get Charlie started on her Valentine's box that is due for tomorrow. Oh, oh, don't. Yeah. Oh, that's due tomorrow. You know what else we didn't do? Get Valentine's for everybody. Give them a give them lunch.

My parents will take care of it. They know where all the food is. So we need to get Valentine's. Hey, everybody, how's it going? This is a box guy at the Arlen all the food is. So we need to get found. Hey everybody, I was like, this is a podcast. The air listening. Thanks have been rough. It's a whole thing.

It's Cuber's birthday. It's Valentine's Day tomorrow. It's podcast recording day right now. It's a whole thing. My wonderful little sister Riley, unfortunately, had COVID. And so we were various members of our family. We're in quarantine. Everyone's fine. various members of our family were in quarantine.

Everyone's fine, everyone's better. We can be reunited, but we were just working it out. Everybody's had to do this, right? Yeah. The last two years, everybody's trying to work it out. Get through. Work it out and get through. But that's not germane to you.

You can come over as sob story. No, if you're worried about Charlie's Valentine's Box for her Valentine's Day party at School tomorrow, don't worry, my mom is working on it. So if you all were at home, we're worried about Charlie's Valentine's Box for her Valentine's Day party at School Tomorrow. Don't worry, my mom is working on it. So if you all were at home, we're worried about that. We're gonna do one of my favorite kinds of episodes we do and they're always fun, it's always delightful. It's where we take your questions and try to answer them.

And I'm using the Royal. That was gonna say, we do. The transient, we do. We do. It's said to be well. Well, it's really nice. If you may notice, we do. The transient, we do. We do. It's said to be well. Well, it's really nice. If you may notice, we didn't specifically ask for more questions this time because something I love

about all you listeners, and I mean, there's so many things. This is just one of the many things, not the only, is that you will send us unprompted weird medical questions and title it that in the subject line of the email, which is key. I so appreciate that. And I want to encourage you, if you come up with a weird medical question, just do that.

Don't wait for the call. Just put it in there. If you put that in the subject line, I guarantee you at some point, I'm going to go, oh, we should do one of those again. And I can just search our inbox for those and find them on. And there were so many to pull from. And it was just wonderful. And it's easier than going to your doctor.

No, no, no, no, no, no. For hours a day, ready to answer your questions about any topic. No, this was just wonderful. And it's easier than going to your doctor. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Ready to answer your questions about any topic? No, this does not replace going to your doctor with actual real medical questions. This is more just sort of that stuff that you're kind of like, huh, I wonder. And it's not really urgent, it's not pressing,

it's not something that's going to immediately impact your care. It's just more like, huh, if I had a doctor sitting here, I might ask him this question. Okay, let's get into it. Is it true that gauges, like earlobe stretching gauge? Gage? That's a tower. Gage, gage can cause cancer in the earlobe

or is my dad lying to me again? That's from Flour. Can I try this one? Yeah. Dad, your dad's lying. I hate to, I hate that that's the answer is lying to you I mean now we could be more forgiving and say maybe dad's lot Maybe your dad doesn't know that maybe your dad genuinely thinks it

But that is not your dad is a fabulous to his living and alternate reality in which I found I found no I I sat there thinking well know and then I thought is there something I don't know and so I I searched into that there is no no connection that I could find Now I will say there are there can be health risks associated with You know your low stretching if if and I don't mean just generally I mean if you do it improperly so you do have to like anything like that any kind of body modification You have to approach thoughtfully and make sure you're using sterile technique and not introducing infection. That's the main thing is that if you use things that aren't sterile, depending on

the materials, you can introduce infection there. And the other thing is like at a certain point, it won't go back. Like if you've stretched them long enough, wide enough, then, which is if that, if you're cool with that, no problem, but just things to know. Be informed before you make the decision. But no, on that list is not a cancer of the earlobe as far as I could tell. Why does your body make you nauseous after a certain period of being hungry? I often get nauseous after being hungry, which makes me not one to eat. Bad system, it's from Emily.

This true, and it is definitely a real thing that happens and to all of us, it's not just you, that this is very true, and it is a weird thing that, you know, why does our body work that way? It's mainly due to the buildup of stomach acid, a hydrochloric acid, the acid you need in there to help you digest your food.

It's not just supposed to sit in there like lazy, not doing anything supposed to be busy. And so, exactly. So if you don't put any tacos in there for it to melt, then it will start to build up. And that can cause the nausea, especially if it begins to like reflect, meaning go back up into your esophagus that can definitely lead to nausea.

And there's some other hormones involved, but that's the primary reason why you feel that nausea. Generally, and it does sound like a really bad system. Like, why would it? Yes. I mean, your stomach only has so many levers that come all right? Like it's a sub-track communicate with you. It's not like it can like, you know what I mean?

It can't do a loud clacks on to a lower, you need to hungry. Hunger, hunger, hunger. Exactly, I'm a stomach. These are the things I could do. I could grumble at you, I could hurt. I mean, your brain releases chemicals. Like there are hormones specifically to say, you're hungry, you're hungry, you're hungry, and then other ones that are like, you're full, you're full.

And if you like, give your body time and you listen to those signals, sometimes not always because there are reasons those might be off, then you can hear those signals or feel them, so to speak. But I will say, when I get that nausea that I know is because I have an eaten, for me, there is also a part of my brain that goes, you should go eat something, which is weird. I don't know if this is everyone's experience. It feels different than the nausea of, oh, I ate something bad,

or I have a stomach bug. It's a different nausea, but yeah, that is how that happens. Those are probably just a life childhood awareness, though. Just listening to your body and knowing, oh, I know what this nausea means. Well, and I don't know if everybody thinks about that stuff as much like I I ponder all of it constantly Because well mainly so I never have to go to the doctor

Right, you don't want to you know, you got to avoid doctors at all costs. Hey y'all remember joking That's a joke because I am a doctor doctors being sick You want to do something fun? After a record of that episode, Sydney found out from her physician that she has been recording that episode with an undiagnosed sinus infection. I had gotten, I had the same viral illness we all had, whatever it was, and then I had gotten somewhat better

and then got worse again, which is classic for a secondary bacterial infection of my sinuses Which I kind of suspected but was just ignoring and hopes it would go away on its own. This is terrible. Don't do this Don't do that. I Rene can be seen for space. I know she was doing this while she was recording an episode about how bad patients I know I kept thinking as long as the pain is tolerable. It's probably fine. That's not a good. It's a bad system Ask me the next question. It's also from Emily. Okay.

Emily also asks, how do fingers not get cut off when being slammed indoors? I think, well, what I think is interesting is that, I mean, they can. Sure. With the right door. With the right door in the right closer.

With the right door, the right strength, depending on the materials and whatnot, it can. Now, generally, that isn't, you're, what happens, right? Like, closer? Right door, the right strength, depending on the materials and whatnot. It can. Now generally, that isn't, that you're what happens, right? Like with your bedroom door, with a car door or something. And it's really just because like, okay, I don't wanna get too graphic. It's too late.

I'm already like, this keeps me out, like this kind of thing about. Yeah, it's scary to think about. In my medical training. I we all rotate through all the specialties and in my surgical training, I have witnessed and participated in amputations. And I will tell you, it is not easy to get through the many layers,

even in like something like a finger and then finally to the bone. I mean, they're built to last. They're not made to snap off easily is the short answer. Our ancestor, our distant ancestors got their fingers shared off by doors enough times that we evolved the ability. Like those are the only ones that made it, right?

Were the ones that, because like then you can't pick up anything from the ground, you can't pick up roots and leaves and berries. So you go, but the ones with strong, powerful fingers that could get slammed indoors, they continue on. That's our top. But now they are, because we evolved it, see, it's survival of the fed. I mean, there's other stuff that can happen.

You can get a crush injury that's pretty bad, even if you don't like snap the fingers off. You can stovet. Is that real thing or is that an apple I shouldn't think? No, to people call it something different. Stovet your finger. Yeah, I don't know. Stovet your finger.

Please let us know if you have different. It's when you, it's like stubbing your toe except to your finger. You know you stovet your finger. You stovet your finger. Does everybody call it that? I wouldn't be in a quick interval. I use it so much colloquially,

like even in the medical field, like I mean, because when a patient says that to me, I know what it means. And if I ask them, like, is that what happened, they know what I mean. But it's the same thing is stubbing your toe, but with a finger when you kind of slam it, like right on the tip on something.

I think this is, I'm feeling like this is regional. Uh-oh. All right, well, let us know. Let us know what you call it. Yeah. I'm curious. So usually after I ate a big meal, anything larger than a snack, really. I get a cough for about 30 minutes to an hour.

I've had that for as long as I can remember, and it's only a mile of noits, so I never bother to ask a doctor about it. Is this something that medicine has a definition for and why what might be causing it? And that's from Oscar. So I think that... Sydney's not gonna tell you what might be causing it.

And there's Sydney. Well, there are lots of things that could be causing it. Is gonna be, I am gonna tell you some of the examples. I am gonna say that if this happens this frequently, I would ask your primary care provider about it, because it not because I don't want to scare you. It's more just there may be something that could be done about it, especially if it annoys you or bothers you.

Why not get it checked out? Maybe there's something that can stop it. There's some really common causes for getting a cough after a meal like that. There's always the worry, are you choking? Because somebody who coughs while they're trying to eat, we use that as an indicator in the hospital that, oh, maybe they're aspirating, maybe stuff's going down the wrong pipe, so to speak. What you're describing sounds more like, could be acid reflux, the acid, and the acid can go up into the esophagus,

it can go all the way up to like the back of the throat and affect your voice box and that can trigger a cough reflux. Anything and that's kind of a silent acid reflux if you've ever heard of that. Anyway, any of this could, that would be a very reasonable explanation for this. And a lot of those things are treatable too. So it may be worth getting checked out

just to see if you know, is it something like that? There's a treatment for it. That'd be good. You can also get a call from things like asthma or allergies that you maybe don't have diagnosed. Maybe you thought was more mild than it really is. That kind of thing. Could be de-smoke after meals. Well, yes. That could be causing it to. That's true. I mean, do you have a cold? Interesting. I sound like a real life. After every meal.

We're both kind of doctors and I'm laying on this one. But I think anything like that, if it's annoying you, it's always worth asking about, because it may be, even if it's not something that you're concerned is serious, it may be something that's very easy to get rid of. Maybe. I don't know. Well, I can't diagnose somebody over a podcast yet. No, you shouldn't do that.

This next one is, I'm going to paraphrase because the question is pretty long, but the gist is, is it really possible for someone to hallucinate via the placebo effect alone? Dumb struck drink maker. And Dallas is referring to the phenomenon of the fact that people thought that absinthe caused hallucinations, but it doesn't. And reported them. Yes, right. And said that they had, it wasn't just a, you know, a fable.

Like people said, they were getting hallucinations. And that has been debunked. There's still some people who think it, but I think what this person is wondering is, is it, could it really just be like, what do we call a mass psychogenic event, these kinds of hallucinations, what do you think? Yeah, yeah, so I think this is an interesting question because this is a myth that for a long time was why Absenth was illegal in this country.

Like I remember those days when you couldn't get Absenth here because I remember when it started showing couldn't get absenteeer because I remember when it started showing up in liquor stores and people were like, oh my gosh. I know. Like you can totally get it. You can get absentee. No, and everybody's really excited and then found out in my personal opinion, just me, it doesn't taste very good. That is just me. I don't really enjoy it. I can nightquilly. You never had it. It's also, I mean, it's really cool like you drip it over a sugar cube traditionally.

I mean, it's a cool like kind of process and everything. But no, for a long time people thought it could make you hallucinate because of this ingredient in it called thujone, which is in the wormwood that's present in absent. And they thought that this was this like hallucinogenic compound. And then the green fairy, that you know, you heard us. We all seem like orange. So, but they've done studies on it, and you don't hallucinate on absence. So why did people think they did?

That's actually a huge question people still ask. Probably there are a couple reasons. One, Dr. Justin kind of do catch our one. Yeah. Were you telling the real can't try one. Yeah. Are you telling me the real answers? Because they were drunk. Well, so absent. They were drunk.

I think they cause the hallucinations of your drunk. So you think, I don't know, you're drunk. Absent has a lot of alcohol. It's a high, high alcohol content drink. And so part of it is just if you're pounding a lot of absinthe, you're going to get very drunk. So it could just be that simple. The other proposed idea is that a lot of the people who talked about experiencing these

hallucinations on absinthe were also sometimes like using opium also. So like was it some sort of combination of like drugs and alcohol that led to these hallucinations? There was like one really like high-profile report of a guy who after drinking absent had some sort of hallucinations psychosis and killed people. But what was not in the story, what is true, but was not like in the headline, is that he had also drank like everything else in the liquor cabinet, basically. You know what I mean?

So I think that it's sort of got this kind of mythological connotation like oh, I can do these amazing things to you. And it's really just a very hard liquor that I don't personally prefer. But if you do that's okay, just drink, please responsibly in moderation. Hello, Dr. Sidney and Justin.

Next time I answer weird medical questions, I was hoping Sidney could talk about my chart etiquette. A family member's doctor suggested we all go see a career all just because of our family medical history. And I wanted to ask my primary care doctor what she thought. Should I make an appointment or just send a message on my chart? I don't know what that is. Is there a question too big or small for these messages?

Well, I know if I send one, I feel like doctors shouldn't always be on call with their patients, but I also don't want to waste both the right time with an appointment. That's from Rebecca. What is my chart? So my chart is similar to a lot of electronic medical records will have something like my chart,

which is basically a way to communicate directly to your doctor through like secure email, so to speak or text message, something like that, right? You can send a message. It will, in our system, it will pop up in our inbox when we open up our charts. And along with messages from other staff in the clinic or notes that we need to still write or whatever, there will also be messages from patients directly. And I will tell you, I do think that this is a useful feature and I think it's great that you're thinking about

how best to use it because the only problem with my chart is a lot of people will be tempted to use it to get their doctor to diagnose them. And just like I said, I would never diagnose you over a podcast, it's almost impossible to tell somebody what's going on from a text message or an email. And a lot of the time what that question really needs is a visit, or at least a phone call, right?

But it's not something that you're gonna be able to easily answer in a back-and-forth unseen. You need an active conversation, maybe you need an examination, you know? And so those are the times where like my chart really is not, those sorts of features aren't particularly helpful. They're, I don't think they're particularly helpful for. I know ours allows like pictures, and sometimes that can play a role in like the and forth, but just sending what's this rash? You can blurry picture my elbow, what do you make of it? The, those, I mean, it's so hard to say

without being there in person and knowing the texture and then getting a story, how long would you do, you know, I mean, it's just, it is not the way to get the best care possible. Now, a question like this would actually be pretty appropriate, because most of the time, I could easily say, well, in this case, you need a referral from your doctor to go see a cardiologist.

Now, maybe in your system, you don't, but in our system, you would. And in order to put in a referral, I have to have a reason. So I got to see and talk to you about it. So we need to let's schedule something or let's have a phone call, you know, telemedicine now making these things so much easier. And let's talk about what your concerns are.

So I can make sure that when I put in that referral and send that to the cardiologist, I can send them the best information. Because, you know, I know my specialist friends, there's nothing worse than getting a referral with no information. Because when you walk in the room, you kind of want to know why this patient has been

sent there. And what sorts of things have been done, what's the story, if you just get a referral with no info. So what is my target for? I think that it's good for some kind of procedural questions like this. If you're not sure about screening, am I due for this? Do I need this vaccine? When's my next pap smear?

All those different sorts of things, these are great questions for my chart. If there's a result that you should have gotten, hey, I got a lab and I never heard back, that kind of thing, hey, I'm supposed to have a referral or a procedure or a study or something done and I haven't, these are all great questions for my chart. Those are the kinds of things that really my chart was made for,

those sorts of communications. And it's fine for follow-ups like, hey, I gave you that medicine to help you poop. Did it work? Let me know. And then a my chart that says, hey, the medicine is working or the medicine isn't working, that would be a great thing to know.

But I start sending that email to people and I'm the bad guy. It's like double standard much, you know? If it is something that you would feel comfortable with your doctor just giving you a quick line or two about, then it's probably a good my chart question. But if you're looking for like a thoughtful diagnosis or treatment plan or something, then my chart probably is not going to facilitate that sort of communication very well. Um, Sydney, after this, uh, quick break, we're going to get the lighting around. We're going to blow through all these questions, fixing everybody.

Okay. I can do it. But first, let's go to the billing department. Let's go. The medicines, the medicines that I skill atabre for the mouth. Hi, I'm Bez, and I'm Teresa. And we're the hosts of One Bad Mother, a podcast about parenting. Parenting is hard, and we have no advice.

But we do see you doing it. Paul, if you like to do it, what was it? Didn't we have a bumper sticker a while back? That was like, Paul, if you doing it. Hulk, if you like to do it. What was, didn't we have a bumper sticker a while back that was like, Hulk, if you did it? That's what I thought. I think it was hunk if you're doing it. Why did we not ever make them? We did like them. I think they're still in the max fun store.

Hulk, hunk, you're doing it. Thanks, Ms. So are you. Each week we'll be here to remind you that you're doing a good job. You can find us on MaximumFun.org. Hong Kong, tuh tuh! I listen to Bullseye because Jesse always has really good questions. What did John Malkfitch wear when he was 20? Tuh! I don't know how to describe it. good questions. reviews with creators you love and creators you need to know from maximum fun.org and

NPR. Okay, Sid, we're going to speed up. Hey, while we were in the billion apartment, I had a thought there's one other thing you should not use my chart for. What? If it is an emergency, I should clarify. If it's an emergency, if you need an answer immediately, do not use my chart. Call or go immediately and get help. Go get help. Don't use an email. You don't know when your doctor is going to see it necessarily. This one's from Taylor. Taylor is sort of,

in general, wondering how they can do better about standing up for themselves at the doctor's office. They went to see their doctor. They felt really unheard rush to the visit. And they're wondering if understanding that doctors are very busy, what can they do to sort of advocate for themselves a little better in their doctor appointment? That's such a tough position to be in. I know it's only gotten worse through COVID, but it's always been true, especially in a system like our healthcare system, where your appointment is probably only given 15 minutes. Sometimes it's less in some systems.

It ours, it's 15 or 30, and 30 only if it's your first brand new appointment. Otherwise, it's 15. And that's usually not enough. And so, doctors, we are often guilty of trying to like move through quickly because we're always behind and everybody's kind of frustrated and upset. And so that pressure pushes the conversation too quickly. What I would say, one thing you can definitely do is if you have an issue or two that you

know you want to get addressed as soon as your doctor walks in the room, tell them that. Don't be afraid to kind of say, listen, these are the priorities for me today. Now, because your doctor is going to maybe have other priorities for the visit. Your doctor may have already looked through your chart and said, you know what, this person really needs to get these labs done and we haven't done this exam in a while that we need to do or whatever. They may have their own thoughts about what they want to talk to you about today. But if you've got something pressing, don't be afraid to say, I made this appointment today

because I really need to discuss this or these couple things, you know. And there can only be so many. If there's 30 things, you probably can't do that in one visit. But you set the priorities. We can put the health mate. I will schedule another visit to talk about my colonoscopy, but today I really need to talk to you about these things because voicing those concerns helps your doctor zero in on how can we use this time most effectively. And if your doctor isn't answering those questions, it's okay to say, I really appreciate, you know, thank you, whatever, that sounds fine, but I'm still not. I still feel like there's more we need to discuss or we're not quite, you

know, just say that. Because a lot of times I will ask like, does that sound good? Are there any questions? And a patient might say, no, I think that sounds good. And then I'll stand up and I'll walk to the door and I'll have my hand on the door knob. And they'll say, but actually don't, don't feel like you have to wait till the butt actually.

Just say, ah, no, no, I still have questions. It's okay. My name is Gail. I was wondering, why does your arms start to ache hours after you get a vaccine? I just got the Moderna COVID-19 booster. The shot didn't hurt, but the next morning, the arm was aching very bad.

That is again, the shortened version for the lighting around from Gail. That's the question. Gale also wanted to know why some people bleed after vaccines. Because they gave you a shot in your arm of the needle. That was easy. It just depends on what sort of little bit of tiny blood vessels like capillary they hit or not. Maybe it might seem to be a little don't. Yeah, like I've never seen blood on the bandaid after I've gotten a vaccine, but you're so tough.

No, no, I mean other people might. And it may be next time I will. That just happens. It's just the exact position of where the shot went. The reason it hurts, well, one, I mean, the obvious, like you did just get a needle in your arm. So sometimes it just hurts right away for that. But the other is that the vaccine is causing this immune response and inflammation as part of it. So it's very normal to have some inflammation at the site of the injection. And that takes a little bit to happen. It's not going to be instantaneous. All your body has to start sending out the little chemical signals and responses and getting blood flow to the area to cause the swelling

and, you know, what causes the pain. So it's a little bit of a delayed response, but it's not bug, it's a feature. Part of the process. Is it true that if your arm is tense when you get the shot, that it'll hurt more later or is that not? I don't, I think, maybe. I don't think we know for sure.

Like, I guess theoretically, if you're tensing the muscle and you inject it into the muscle, but I don't really have a great path of physiology for that. I think your arms just gonna be sore the next day, regardless. I mean, for most people it is sore the next day, but it's better than getting COVID. We gotta really go away from rates. High adjusted incidence, I have a weird medical question.

If a person who menstruates has hemophilia is the menstruation affected by the hemophilia, do they just keep bleeding? The menstruation is affected by the hemophilia, for sure. Now, they don't just keep bleeding. It's usually heavier periods, prolonged periods, maybe passing larger clots when they're having their period. All of those things could, and you know, if that's the first period you've had, that maybe the first thing that triggers the investigation of a bleeding disorder, of hemophilia or otherwise,

but no, you don't just keep bleeding forever, you can get anemic from it. So if you're having heavy prolonged periods, passing large clots, it is always worth getting checked out because there are people who experience anemia from such heavy periods. But no, you do stop leading. Good enough. How likely is that someone can get dunked on the head and not unconscious in real life? It's a given in action movies like a minor obstacle in Game Pass the Guard, but I feel like if I tried that in real life,

it wouldn't work. That's, this is spank you, Sarah. You know what's funny? I started thinking about like, huh. Like, Jiles? I was thinking about Jiles from Buffy, like getting, you know, constantly getting bumped into that and so much that became like a running gag. Okay, so one, it's sort of this, it's not the same as getting a concussion.

Yeah. Because you don't have to get knocked out to have a concussion. You can have a head injury, not pass out as getting a concussion, because you don't have to get knocked out to have a concussion. You can have a head injury, not pass out, have a concussion. It's similar to the idea of a concussion in that there's mechanical damage that can happen to the brain when you're hitting the head, where the brain actually bounces back and forth inside the skull, as wild as that sounds, which causes coo coup injuries. There's a there might be Chinese song. Yeah, I have heard that one. But the but as the brain bounces back and forth. Yes, thank you. Sing if you are. I don't make me sing. That wasn't gonna. Don't make me sing. I

don't really know if we have time so much for the singing portion. Don't make me sing, Sid. So both of those are proposed mechanisms for sure why you might pass out immediately, why you might get knocked out. Because when that happens and you're damaging brain cells, damaging neurons, you can have like kind of a big jolt of electrical activity in the brain, which can cause you to pass out. Sometimes depending on exactly the angle and how the, if it was a punch or a kick or a

bonk or whatever, you might have some twisting or pulling of vessels or nerves that could cause a decrease. And like I said, electrical signaling or blood flow momentarily, all of these things contribute to that kind of like your body's defense mechanism of, oh, just pass out, pass out, quick. Let's reconfigure, take a break. It is bad for your brain for this to happen. So all those shows or movies where people get bonked

on the head repeatedly, that's bad for them. It's a traumatic brain injury. And at times, it can cause permanent lasting damage, not always, obviously, but those are big bad. I think we think of it as no big deal. I always think about when Wesley knocks out in Ego Montoya. Like God is not saying that. I can't have him falling, either.

And then he fashes him on the head. It looks so brutal. It does look brutal. It looks brutal. That sword that heashes him on the head. It looks so brutal. It does look brutal. It looks brutal. That sword that he's using, the bottom of it, it's not like a squishy mallet, it looks terrible. Mm-hmm. And Wesley gets knocked out later by Count Rooven.

And that one looks even worse. I think there's one of them where it really happened. I feel like that one is the one where it may have actually, there was one where he actually got knocked out. Anyway, it's bad for your brain. Don't get in there. It's bad not to get in the head. The weird medical question from Nicole is this.

I don't know the drink water. I think it's disgusting and nothing will change. On average, I drink a couple of water every week to two weeks and about an average of gallon liquids a week with Gatorade. I've been this way for years, but I never feel thirsty. I've been in the negative effects. This was looking for not drinking of water. Has my body just adapted to a superior form that doesn't need?

They recommended two liters a day. Or am I just severely dehydrated? I have no idea what it feels like to be hydrated. Well, Nicole, I'm not going to try to talk you into drinking water. You are drinking liquids. so you're drinking water. So while, you know, we always recommend water as sort of this ideal, it's really because water doesn't have anything in it that we don't want you to have, right? It's, I mean, that's the problem with a lot of other beverages, are that they might have

some sort of like sugar or caffeine or whatever that we think maybe it's not bad for you, but you only need so much of it. And we don't want you checking like sugar or caffeine non-stop all day because we have reasons to think that is bad for you. Water doesn't have any of that. So it's ideal in that sense. But if you're drinking liquids that you know are maintaining your hydration and you're not feeling thirsty, then you're probably okay.

We also have like, but they're saying that they drink a gallon of liquids a week. I mean, that doesn't seem like very much. That doesn't seem like very much, Sydney. They're not just talking about water. This person, the cold is saying they drink a gallon of liquids a week. That's six, that's three liters.

Well, I mean, one thing to remember is that not as many of us are dehydrated as maybe like big water once you think water. By that, I mean bottled water. I don't mean like your tap water, which is fine to drink for most of us, by the way, unless for some reason you have a boil water advisory, but in most places it's totally safe.

Most of us aren't walking around secretly dehydrated. I think there's that sort of pervasive belief nowadays. You're drinking from a water bottle you carry with you all the time. If you are emanating, you forgot the seaple most part, I mean, you can drink too much water. Yes, we know that. But most of us aren't going to. And so if you're just staying really well hydrated and peeing a little more than you need to, that's not a big deal. But what I would say is, Nicole, if you are urinating regularly and your urine looks like good, healthy urine should look, which is like pale yellow to clearest, right?

Not completely clear, but pale yellow is like that's good hydrated urine. That's a good indicator that you're making, that your body's well hydrated. And your urine isn't like super dark and concentrated, then you're probably not dehydrated. The cold's right here, a gallon of liquids a week. Like she's peeing gravy, 100%.

She needs to up the liquids. Nicole, hi, it's Dr. McRoy here. Dr. Justin McRoy, I think you should just try to bump it up. Like, try to over-imment the liquids. I think that if Nicole is getting checkups with their primary care provider, and they are doing A okay. I'm not gonna tell Nicole to do anything differently. A while back at coworker mine came in

wearing not a regular cloth mask but an electronic one. What? This is a thing. I had to find these. Okay. I've not seen these in real. I've not seen these in the wild. I've only seen these on the internet. A little placard on it said that it was an electronic mask at work by ionizing the particles around it. Is this real or is it another string of things people do to get out of wearing masks, the love from North Carolina, Danny, there is no way.

Okay, so first of all, I would encourage you if you have a second to look up a picture of these because Danny, if people are choosing to do this to get out of wearing masks, I don't know what is happening anymore. They, I have it put one on my face, but they look so much more uncomfortable than just your regular old cloth mask.

It's wild to me, but I mean, who knows? The world is wild. So from what I could find, these are not recommended because they tend to have a vent in them. And pretty early in the pandemic, they warned against any, like you got recommendations from FDA and the CDC, any vat, any mass that have vents in them are not ideal, because they're not necessarily going to be able to regulate through that vent. The viral particles going in and out of it in a lot of these masks, they're not working

to do that. And a vent is not necessary, by the way, you don't need it so that you can get enough oxygen in. You're getting oxygen in just fine. So the vent is unnecessary and is a weak point in the mask where viral particles could be exchanged. So because when I looked up these electronic masks, every single one I saw had a vent in it somewhere.

Okay. I don't know if there are electronic ones that don't, but they all looked vented to me. So what I would say is one, they're probably more expensive. I would bet. Two, they have the vent, so they're not recommended. Three, I don't know what that. I mean, there is, you know, in 95 respirators, work through an electric charge,

like an electrostatic attraction charge, in addition to like the mechanical filtering. So that's sort of related, but you really should just stick to, you know, the masks that are recommended by the CDC and the FDA and, you know, certified. I don't know why you would, these electronic ones wouldn't work any better. It would probably be more expensive and I think they look more uncomfortable.

Why do allergies develop later in life? I always thought you're born with them, but when I was 15, I developed a dust allergy, or maybe you had just been cleaning really well to that point. It's possible to say, ever since I've been finding more things in my allergic to, like sage, for example, has it happen? Why does it immune system suddenly decide these things were a threat? Thanks, Ben.

This is definitely true. You can have allergies that you have when you're young, that you grow out of, and then you can have things that you weren't allergic to, and you became allergic to later in life. Some of this might just be exposure. You know, the way that it works to become allergic to something is that you're exposed to it the first time, and you don't have an allergic response, right?

Because your body's gotta decide it's allergic to it, and then it builds up all of these antibodies and things that are gonna respond to it the next time you get exposed, and then bam, allergies. So part of it is the... What is it? to respond to it the next time you get exposed and then bam allergies. So part of it is the- Maybe it'll be the first time people give kids peanuts. We should really be worrying about the second time I feel like. Wow.

That's a whole other topic because we now think we should be introducing possible allergy triggers a lot earlier in life than we used to. Yeah. All the science on allergies is always evolving because our understanding of allergies has been incomplete for a long time. Why do people develop them? Why do you get that one? And I don't all those things. Exposure is the big thing. Repeated exposure, we think, is why later in life you might develop an allergy to something that you didn't have before. what do you think a patient to bring their partner to appointments? I have lots of anxiety around medical professionals. It helps me have my partner there for support,

but I worry it comes across as weird, juvenile, et cetera. That's from Maeve. I, okay, so I am a family doctor in West Virginia. Correct. Most of my patients bring family members with them to appointments. It was unusual to just have one person in the room. So for me, it is absolutely

not a problem. I typically, especially if an older family member, if like the matriarch of the family comes in, you have at least six other family members who are there to tell you what's been going on with mom or grandma or whoever she is to them. Anyway, I love it here. But I don't think there's anything wrong with bringing a partner or a family member, or even if it's your close friend, you get to decide COVID restrictions aside, because that changes things.

But you can decide to have somebody in the exam room with you. That's not really up to me. That's your private health information. I would just say this, one, if it's somebody who you don't want to know your private health information, they might not be the best person to bring in the room with you because then I'm going to be asking them to step into the hallway or you are whatever. But if it's somebody that you're comfortable with and can be a system of support and maybe

help you remember things afterwards because sometimes things are complicated, especially if you're anxious about it, you might not remember everything from it. So somebody who can help you keep track of things, remember it. There is nothing wrong with that. As your doctor, I'm going to focus on you. I'm not going to look to your partner necessarily for answers to questions because I want to hear it in your words. But there is nothing wrong with having a support system there in the room.

I think that the more that you can do that, it's honestly probably better for your care. And that you know what that's going to, that's the last person that was asking about having their doctor slow down, having someone there to sort of boost their confidence and make sure they get all the answers they want. No, I never, I never think it's immature, Juvenile. I think it just means great. My patient has a support.

I bring Sydney with me every time that I possibly can whenever I have an equipment. Well, and for some people, like I wish my dad would never go to the doctor alone, because he never knows what happened afterwards. And I wish my mom was in the room to be like, oh, Tommy. And when Sydney got her pre-nail appointments, I went to most of those too. So, do you want an award for that?

I guess that's just kind of how it's written on the desk. Yeah, oh, is it? Okay, yeah, you want a medal for that? Because it's just a cool place. You could do. I was always very interested too. I would look at the screen and everything. What a great dad. I would doctor said so.

Yeah. I have an any belly button. Ew! What's wrong? Gross. You have an any. I have an any. Why doesn't anybody?

I'm just feeling. You have an any. I'm just feeling really confident because of what a great dad I was. I cleaned this belly button out of all the belly buttons to clean out. I think that's definitely number one to focus on your own personal belly button. Occasionally, as gently as possible. I do this so gently because I have a horrible fear. Yes, yes, yes. Let's talk about it.

No one wants to talk about it. I have a horrible fear that my, yes, yes, let's talk about it. No one wants to talk about it. I have a horrible fear that my poked too hard to break the skin of my organs will come spewing out. Obviously, yes, the fear is solidified when I clean my belly button out once it's all blood. Is it possible your guts can come out of your belly button? Okay. That's from dumb, dumb tummy in Detroit.

Yes, this is a problem. It feels like, you know what, it feels like a stitch. It feels like one of your like, like they sewed you up one time. And this is like a weak point. This is a vulnerable port of entry that too much pressure. It is a rip right through. No. 100%.

It's not. Obviously. I agree. Your organs are not going to spill out of your belly button Folks you ever look at whether it's an Really weird they are weird Whether it's in any or an outy your guts are not gonna spill out of your belly button Even if you're cleaning it you're not gonna poke through

Especially now with a Q-tip Into I mean, I don't know if you're cleaning your belly button with a scalpel, there's some other issues we need to discuss. But if you're using a washcloth or a Q-tip or whatever, that's okay. Now, I mean, like any area of the body that is harder to get to if you have a belly button that gets dirty that you let stuff accumulate in.

Like you might have a little bleeding if I mean it could get infected or it could just be like, kind of like inside the ear, if you get too much wax built up in the ear canal, when you clean it out, you might have a little bleeding. And it's just because like the lining of the ear canal has been a little damaged from the pressure of all that wax.

If you've got some crud in your belly button and you leave it there long enough, it might just irritate the skin. But it is not your organs filling out, your organs are not gonna come out of all that wax. If you've got some crud in your belly button and you leave it there long enough, it might just irritate the skin. But it is not your organs filling out, your organs are not going to come out of your belly button. Do not worry about that. Please, there's so much to worry about. Take this off your list. Okay. That is going to do it for us for this episode. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. Reminder that we got a sub-ones pin and some other stuff if you go to McElwRemerch.com.

Thank you to the taxpayers for the use of their sound medicines as the intro and outro of our program. If you got those weird medical questions, I don't know if we mentioned the sub-ones at maximumfund.org is the email address you can send those to. And if you have actual pressing medical questions, please go to your own doctor. I care about you very deeply.

Let's go. Go see them. Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to join us again next week for Sobones. Until then, my name is Justin McRoy. I'm Sydney MacRoy. And as always, don't draw a hole in your head. Music Maximumfun.org

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