Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine - Sawbones: Goofiest Medical Questions Vol. 2

Episode Date: April 29, 2016

We're back with answers to more of the medical questions so goofy you're afraid to ask your doctor. Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers

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, time is about to books. One, two, one, two, three, four. We came across a pharmacy with a toy and that's lost it out. We were shot through the broken glass and had ourselves a look around.

Some medicines, some medicines, the escalant macaque for the mouth. Wow! Hello everybody and welcome to Saw Bones, little turk Miss guy medicine. I'm your co-host Justin McAroy and I'm Sydney McAroy Welcome Sydney back to saw bones so happy to have you Thank you, Justin. You know I'm here every week right? Yeah, but it's still me. It's just your with your wife Just a delight and I don't want to take it for granted. Oh Well, thanks no problem. So we are late. And we're late. I've been out of town all week.

It's all Justin's fault. He abandoned his family. And Sydney was too busy raising our daughter. He's trying to keep himself from saying too lazy to research. Too lazy to research. No, we wanted, since we have like, it's been kind of a busy week here at the McRoy Ranch, the McRoy Hossein, the La Hossein of the day, McRoy.

We thought we would do another Q&A episode because you all seemed like it and it's fun for us. And I'm hoping I'm gonna start calling this segment, segment, stomp Sydney. Cause I think that's a good name for it and good branding. I think that sounds terrifying for Sydney. Yeah, but then you're all going to realize that it was all a ruse.

All a ruse. I've never been a doctor. She's not a doctor. That's not true. No, no, I am. She's definitely. I mean, just in case any of my patients listen, I don't want them to suddenly be horrified.

And think like, what have I been doing? What are these? Oh, you know what? These pills are detects. Okay, that's on me. I should have noticed they're very minty. How has she kept this up for so long? Amazing, Rose.

I was nobody in the office figured this out. So Sydney, we have tons of questions from listeners and I want to get right into them. Just a reminder, we already say this in the intro, but this is not a program to diagnose your medical illnesses. So don't use us as a reference for what's going on with you. Exactly.

I'm really not seeking to give you medical advice. I think that there are a lot of just kind of quirky questions around the human body and medicine and why we do the things we do and the practice of medicine now. And that I think are body and medicine and why we do the things we do and the practice of medicine now. And then I think are helpful and interesting and funny and fun and that kind of thing. So this is not meant to replace.

If you really have a question about your own body, please go see it, doctor. Okay, Sidney, this first question comes to us from Jennifer who asks, ingrown hairs, those are all caps, I thought, well I said I like that. ingrown hairs, why do they happen, I said I like that, ingrown hairs. Why do they happen so much and turn into pimples and hurt?

So ingrown hairs are kind of interesting because they actually, ingrown hair is a pretty apt description of what they are. There's another name for them, like pseudo-philiculitis barbe. Stick with ingrown hairs. Yeah, I was gonna say, which I, we don't use that.

It's not like, you know, you say you have an Ingrid and her and your doctor secretly goes, oh, I, you mean pseudo-foolicolitis barbe, of course. No. No. They do that with other things, right? Like, if you say you got the sugars, they're like, oh, you mean diabetes,

militus. I don't know at this point. I think I probably refer to it as sugar as much as diabetes, just because. So ingrown hairs are actually, they're two ways they can form. And they're largely the result of shaving for one. That's one thing to know. Or some kind of traumatic event to the hair or plucking.

Traumatic event. How are you saving it? So what happens is the hair either grows out of the hair follicle and then kind of curves back and grows back into the skin around the hair follicle. Okay. Right. So hair comes out of a hair follicle and it's not supposed to penetrate the skin around that follicle. Okay.

So it can either grow out and then kind of curve back down and grow in, or it can be a case where it grows kind of out the side of the follicle and through the skin next to it before exiting. You know what I mean before it kind of tries to exit the skin. Sure. So those are the two ways that it can form. Either way, they usually have to do with shaving. So in the first example, it's just because you've shaved and created this short, very sharp, inded little hair,

which can penetrate the skin very easily. Or in the second example, where it grows through the skin, it's because as you shave, you retracted the skin, so you actually cut the hair really short. Okay. Does that make sense? Yeah. And so then it's really short, and it's down inside the follicle, and it's sharp now, so as it grows, it can grow through the skin next to the follicle.

Yeah, because so many shaving products advertise that as a big win, you know, that they can get so deep. A lot of you will do that intentionally with your shaving, so they can get right as close to the shave as possible. Which is nice, aesthetically, and I think a lot of us culturally choose to shave or maybe have to for your job or whatever. But in the long run, if you are creating all these

little teeny sharp hairs and you're doing it frequently and they're retracting down into the hair follicle, you're setting yourself up for a situation where you're going to get ingrown hairs. Especially if you have curly hair actually because the hair is more likely to then curl back down into the skin. So that's the main thing that's going on with an ingrown hair. You can also get secondary infections as a result of this, but that's not really, that's

a whole other thing. So that's not really that's a whole other thing. So that's like that's the main process. If you want to know how to stop them, I don't know if you would like this answer. I'm ready. You got to stop shaving. Well, plucking. Plucking can do the same thing. Really?

Any kind of routine hair removal, aside from like trimming hair, but like laser, what about laser? hair removal aside from like trimming hair. Laser about laser. Laser is one option that is less likely to result in this. There are options that are less likely. Certain ways of shaving can help. For instance, they mention specifically that like multi-blade razors retract the skin more. if they're advertising, we'll get a closer shave. Yes, that's at the expense of setting you up for perhaps more in grown hairs. So a single blade razor using a lot of very moisturizing shaving gel can help.

But if you really want to completely eliminate the possibility of ingrown hairs, just go on not to grow. but I mean, if you really want to completely eliminate the possibility of ingrown hairs. And I do. Just go on, not your aisle. Okay, no problem. Get that rugged mountain man look. Well, a rugged mountain man who has a few patches on his face, where the hair doesn't necessarily all fill in real nice mountain man.

This is a question from Songland. I'm just using people's Twitter handles, by the way. So if that is not your actual name, I'm I'm I'm I apologize. Does clear snott always equal allergies and yellow slash green snott equal contagious because every child care I've worked for insists. Yes. This is actually a myth that I think is, I don't think we'll ever get rid of. So the color of your snot, while I mean interesting, while artistically stimulating, perhaps, is not that important when it comes to diagnosing what is the cause of your schnaught. So there are some general distinctions.

Yes, generally, if you have allergies, it's going to look more clear your schnaught generally. But you could have some sort of virus, viral illness, and your schnaught looks clear. Even bacterial illnesses sometimes you can have some more clear sputum, although we begin to associate bacterial illnesses with the colorful, you know, the greens and the yellows and whatnot. It's not 100%.

Certainly, if you have what we would call pereolinate sputum, meaning there's pus in your spit, that's bad. We usually think that's an infection. That's a pretty good indicator. And if there's blood in there, that's, please come see me or someone. Please come get that checked out. But the color is just one factor.

There are a lot of factors that go into the decision making as to like what is causing this issue that you now have snot. So no, you can't just say, oh, green and yellow automatically means that, you know, it's a, it's some sort of infection. And you can't say automatically that clear means it's not. So. So it's not that useful. Yes. So I will say this, you don't necessarily have to save it and bring it to your doctor and show them. Hey, great. You don't necessarily have to do that. I'm not saying don't ever, and if that's your thing, but... Has that happened to you?

I'm not saying that it's happened to anyone. I'm just saying you don't necessarily need to bring your mucus into your doctor. What's the best way, Sydney? This is a question from Corey. What is the best way to recover from muscle fatigue slash soreness after exercise? I'm starting to work out and it hurts as from Corey Well, Justin I feel like I mean this is this is well suited for you No, Muscle man does right. I have my sort of milieu right. I know it so well though

I always feel like if I started answering it I would get into a lot of jargon and a lot of technical muscle head terminology that wouldn't be as accessible to the listeners. So you'd rather just toss it to me. I'd rather you just handle this one just with this one. Sure. So, you know, soreness after working out is a very normal thing. So, first of all, don't worry about it. Unless it's beyond the bounds of, you know, that normal muscle soreness, if you're in intense pain, of course, something else can be going on and you should get

that checked out. But it's usual that, especially when you first start working out, you'll feel a little sore. Some easy things to make sure is that you're being well hydrated. I mean, obviously, you can, you know, when you're working out, especially if you're doing some sort of cardio workout, you can get dehydrated faster. So one of the easiest things you can do is replenish your fluids after you work out. Water is always a good answer to most questions

that we ask, not all, but most. Another thing to consider is that, you know, a lot of trainers will tell you not to continually do the exact same, if you're doing muscle strengthening exercises, the exact same thing every day. Kind of give yourself a break in between. So maybe alternate, some cardio, some strength training, and throw in a day of rest every now and then that's okay to do. I've got that one covered. That's the problem.

You've got the day of rest. Okay, that's good. I mean, it's good to take baby steps, like one thing at a time. Yeah, it started started there. Justin knows how to rest. Yeah, for sure. I'm drinking water.

Yeah, so we're like, I've got that part down. We're getting there. I've got to get the muscle soreness first. Those are some really easy things that you can do. Heat, I think, is always nice for sore muscles. So if you're just soaring, you want to put a heating pad, not too long and not too hot, please don't burn yourself.

But that can be helpful. And then in general, you want to make sure if you're working out a lot, because I'll see people who will get into these cycles where they're trying to lose weight. And so they're working out a lot, and they're not necessarily eating well to go with it. You know, if you're going to put your body through that kind of physical workout,

you need to make sure you're also giving it the energy that it needs. And that doesn't necessarily mean that you need to eat like protein bars or drink protein shakes or necessarily drink like electrolyte replacement type fluids if you get my drift like Brondo. Brondo which has what plans Grave? Exactly. You don't you don't necessarily need those kinds of things but you need to make sure that you're giving your body a good mix of some proteins, some carbohydrates. You've got to

have some glucose you know it just it just- I got that. The electrolytes, the fluids, so make sure that you're also, you know, replenishing what your muscles need to grow and get- Get swollen. Okay, I got another question for you, you said, this one comes to us from Dumbot 999. Whoa. I'm assuming a robot, which is nice.

Nice of the robots are listening. Oh no, always. Wait, is it nice or the robots trying to understand human physiology better in order to overtake us? Considering that makes this question even more terrifying, what do those electric chess paddle things really do? Do they really jump start your heart like it's a car battery? That is, see this is terrifying,

maybe I shouldn't answer this. No, yeah, we don't want to give them to me secrets. Yeah, maybe then they'll know how to secretly make them stop working. Yeah, reverse, reverse paddles. So I assume we're talking about... Clear. Yes, like the February later.

The clears. You can also do something like a cardio version with electric shocks. So, basically, first of all, let me say this, it does not work like a car battery. Let me preface with that. Right. Because your car battery stores energy. Yes. And your heart does not.

Yes. So, when your car battery, the reason you would jump a car battery and put energy into a car battery is because it is dead, right? Right. The car battery has no energy. Does not. Yeah. Or at least it's not enough energy to light the spark in the ignition. So if you were to liken that to the heart, if the heart does not have electrical energy. So let's say that it is not, uh that it is not beating. You know, you're in cardiac arrest. You're what we would call a systole.

Okay. Nothing is happening. So if we hooked you up to a monitor, we'd flatlining. We actually wouldn't shock you. Really? No, that wouldn't be helpful in that situation. We would do CPR, chest compressions. We keep their medications we can give, but the application

of shocks in that scenario are actually not helpful. I feel like I've seen that so many times on TV and stuff like that. But then clear. Yeah, you've probably seen a lot of things on TV that aren't true. Okay, that's fair. Yeah, that's fair. And maybe other topics who does? They're actually, and that's one of our biggest problems when it comes to the whole advanced life-saving CPR, shocking process, is that you see these things on television that give you a very unrealistic and rosy view of how this works, which we are constantly battling.

But so you would not shock for that. Okay. What do I shock for? So what we're really talking about is there are some rhythms that your heart can get into. Your heart has an electrical wiring system all its own. Okay, and it's supposed to be in a very distinct rhythm. And you probably have seen that like the blip on the monitor, the little jagged blip or on an EKG, that kind of thing, the sheets with the different, you know what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about it. Okay, so you've seen, that is what your heart's supposed to look like, sinus rhythm. That's the normal rhythm of your heart. If your heart gets into, there are a bunch of different, and I won't get into all the different arrhythmias, but there are several different ones where it kind of is in a repeating loop, like a circuit gets stuck, it gets stuck in one little circuit of current, as opposed to going all the way through the heart from the top to the bottom, the way that it's supposed to, it just gets stuck in this little repeating loop.

And when that happens, we have to reset or depolarize all the cells in your heart so that they will break that repeating current. Okay. It's like a stuck, when a record would get stuck or something. Okay. Almost like that, right? And so when we depolarize all those cells, then our hope is that they'll start back into a regular rhythm.

Okay. I think I understand. So, that's the cardioversion is what I'm talking about at that point. And that's like, it synchronized when you cardiovert somebody, that the energy you're putting in is synchronized to the normal rhythm that we want your heart in. Okay? Okay. So, we're putting energy into your heart that will depolarize all the cells and hopefully reset them into a normal rhythm. Okay. Defib relation is just a little different

in the sense that it is not synchronized to anything. It's just a jolt of electricity. When your heart isn't something like V-Fib, if you've ever heard of that, which isn't one circuit, one kind of repeating circuit. It's like everything isn't working correctly. And so your heart's kind of quivering as a result. Our thought is that we can overwhelm it with enough energy to, again, depolarize all the cells and reset them. Now, I've seen like some places have that like

portable CPR station, you know what I mean? Not the CPR station, but a portable defibrillator. Right. How can you tell like how can a layman tell if they needed that or not? So here's the nice thing. Those ones that you'll see that could be used by a layman, they come with very clear instructions first of all

as to where to put the pads on the chest, because there's very specific places on the chest where these need to be, and they show you where they go. And then it will actually read your heart's rhythm, the patient's heart rhythm at that point. And so the machine will tell you either to shock or no. And what it's reading is, is this what we would call a shockable rhythm. Is this a rhythm that would respond to this? Or is it something that unfortunately these pads are not going to help with?

In that case, it will tell you to start CPR usually. I mean, you know, that's what it's supposed to do is tell you to start chest compressions, which do help in some, in some of these cases where you can't shock. Okay. Listen to that. There's a lot more questions from listeners, but I, we, we need to take a break real quick to talk about some of our sponsors. Let's do it.

Let's go. Sydney, I have another question here for you from Kevin. Okay. And Kevin asks, why can I only breathe out of one nostril at a time? Is this normal? Am I dying? Is it lupus? It's from Kevin. So the third one probably not. Yes, it's probably not lupus. It's it's a rarely lupus. Right. You're not dying from this as far as I know. You're not dying, don't worry.

It's very normal to have that sensation that you're not that sensation. It's a real thing that you feel like you can't breathe out of one nostril at a time. And a lot of people will think that it's because there's something stuck up there, like the impression is like there's so much mucus. Sure, yeah.

That your nostril is clogged with mucus. And certainly there can be mucus present, but it's often because the inside of your nose, the terminates we call them, this just, the lining, the mucus membrane's lining, the inside of your nose, can get swollen. Okay. And then it blocks the passage of air in that nostril.

So that's why sometimes you blow your nose and blow your nose and blow your nose and still feels clogged? Because those terminates are swollen. Oh man. And that can be in response to, I mean, this time of year and especially where we live, Justin, it's largely allergies in response to allergens in the air.

My nasal terminates are quite swollen at the moment, but it can be in response to a virus or some sort of infection as well. Again, very commonly allergies or some irritant. And it responds to a number of different both over the counter and prescription medications of it's really bothering you, but it is not something to really worry about or be overly concerned about. It is irritating. It usually is transient,

goes away. And I've always found that if you're laying on one side in bed and it feels really clogged on that side, just switch to the other side and eventually the other side will get clogged. It's an initial doctor recommendation. No, that's just Sydney's personal experience. Sydney, is there a medically approved way to get rid of skin attacks? In nuts full of recommendations No, that's just Sydney's personal experience. Sydney, is there a medically approved way to get rid of skin tags? Internet's full of recommendations for applying apple cider vinegar to them, but I'm skeptical.

Yeah, that's from Katie. Good instincts, Katie. Yeah, I would generally be skeptical of a lot of recommendations that involve apple cider vinegar. Which, when we, I don't know that I mentioned this specifically on our vinegar episode, that even of the vinegar's apple cider is probably one of the least effective for the things that vinegar actually does do, just on a side note.

I think it just, people like it because it sounds nice, and you can abbreviate it ACB. There really isn't, if you want to get a skin tag removed, for instance, if you came to me or to another physician to have it removed, a lot of the time we will actually physically remove it, like cut it off. Yep. With a pair of sterile scissors. And depending on how large it is, we may or may not numb it first. If they're really teeny, it's almost not worth it to numb it because it's going to hurt

to stick you with the needle to numb it, as much as it's gonna hurt to cut it off. So a lot of the time we'll remove them mechanically. Now if they're a larger or something, I wouldn't, you know, it may be a little more complicated, but there's probably not a good way for you to just get rid of it at home. Okay. Also though, you don't have to.

They're fine. You just leave them alone. Yeah. Yeah, it's fine. It's no big deal. A lot of people have skin tags. Trust me, I know. I'm a doctor.

This is Client Story. My question is this. It's from Alyssa. My dad swears have been down that he worked with a man who didn't have any ribs on one side of his body after motorcycle crash. The gentleman in question had to have them removed and then had to live the rest of his life in a corset.

If he took the corset off, the rights have his torso would lose shape, and his organs would just bounce around in there. Is this possible? Would this even have been a viable treatment option for shattered ribs? And is the bag of organ's description and exaggeration? And that's from Alyssa. I love, I really like this story because it sounds like

a story that my dad would tell. I think it sounds like a classic dad story. You know, this is one of those like, my dad said, do you think that could be true and then your dad just swears to it? So are you gonna tell these stories someday, by the way? Maybe you just start happening. You don't really notice it. You just start telling stories. It creeps into your recap. So let me say this, a couple things. One, I can see a scenario where your ribs are so shattered that you do have to remove the bits because there's no reconstruction possible.

Absolutely, I think that that can happen with any bone, hopefully it doesn't, but in severe cases it could. And then in that case, would you wear, especially if this is years and years ago, would some sort of corset have been thought to like, just keep everything like the shape of everything or like a binder or something.

I can see that happening. The idea that your organs would kind of shift around though, if you didn't, that I would have a little more problem with. Our rib cage doesn't, I mean, yes, it gives our chest wall shape, but like our organs aren't like smushed up again. Free agent. The actual ribs and like... There's muscle on top of them, right?

Yeah, there's a lot more than just bones there. So no, your organs would not like squish around inside you if you didn't have a ribcage Your chest wall would that would be a different it does give us shape though, and it does protect our organs Let me say that our ribcage helps to protect some pretty vital pretty vital organs. So it would be Dice your existence and not have a ribcage This next question comes to us from a special guest Question ask her co-host of Rosebuddy's Rachel McElroy. She says let's get to the root of the McElroy tummy issues here. She puts those

in scare quotes which I don't appreciate. Why do some people just seem to have better slash stronger stomachs than others? Can quote tummy issues really be genetic. Is this really mostly about diet choices? IE, our husband's quote, I accidentally ate 100 Taur gummy candies again, macaroids. First, further, if you get some kind of infection slash food poisoning once, are you really more likely to get it again? Why?

Rachel Macaroid. I love this. Thank you, Rachel, for putting the boys on blast. Science is going to, science will put me right. No, it won't because the, I mean, what are you answering? Okay, this is, let me say this, this is a complex question. Yes. So there are a lot of, when we talk about tummy troubles, I think we should divide it into,

there are of course, people with real digestive issues, with whether it be, you know, syndromes, where they don't absorb all foods well, or, you know, celiac disease, or different intolerances, food intolerances, people who are lactose intolerant. Yes, all of those things are quite real, and some of them are genetic, some of them are not,

and they can be handed down in families, and obviously those would cause a variety of stomach problems that aren't necessarily related to things that you do, behaviorally. So I'm not saying that those don't exist or that I'm not ignoring those. It's just not really what we're talking about. We're talking about that kind of, I know this isn't a good food idea. I know this is a bad, like this is a bad that I'm doing, but I'm going to do it anyway. And then later, when I feel bad, instead of recognizing, wow, I really shouldn't have eaten that, I'm going to blame it on my stomach.

Right. I think that's what we're talking about. Yeah, so that's scientifically sound though. talking about. Yeah, so that's scientifically sound though. Obviously, your digestive health is going to be affected by your food choices, Justin. So you agree. So if you make bad food choices, you know, like if you don't have enough cookie points, but you just eat the cookies all day anyway, your tummy is going to feel bad. And then there are things like irritable bowel syndrome, which I'm not diagnosing anyone with. I'm just saying it may apply in some scenarios. It's not real. No.

No, it's quite real. It's quite real. But it's influenced definitely by your food choices. And also by irritable bowel syndrome has a lot to do with anxiety as well, you know. And so, you know, because you've got receptors in your gut for hormones released from your brain. Right. So, it's this isn't like in your head, it's not real. No, it's quite real, it's all physiologic. And so, different anxiety states and things make you, you know, it's like

Different anxiety states and things make you you know, it's like When you you get the nervous tummy. That's a real thing You got to run to the bathroom and all that so so you know those those influence these as well Obviously if you know that certain foods because you have like acid reflux or Your prone to you know your rotation in your stomach and there are foods that you know trigger it and you eat them anyway. That's gonna cause tummy problems. Okay, I get it. But none of these things excuse, in my opinion,

burping loudly and often. And then saying. I don't know why you bring that up. And then saying, it's not my fault, it's a disease. That is never okay. I don't know how you're talking about it. That is unacceptable behavior. I don't pass the buck on that stuff.

Not me, you draw my travels, yeah, I'm talking about all of you. Okay, well that's fine. What I'm saying is, come on, you're grownups, eat better. That's all the time we got for. And don't burp so loud. And it sounds like a horse when you burp. Well, we're done folks. That's it.

We're all done. Thank you to me undis here dedicated provided the world's most comfortable underwear. Go to meundis.com slash sub bones for free shipping and 20% off your first order. We've got a really funny new podcast on the Maxwell van Newell, Quartura problem number of called the Beef and Dairy Network.

It is like a 10 minute long show that is that is it's an update on all things related to beef and dairy. And it's British and it's very funny and you like it a lot. The episodes are really short. Go listen to the first one. And I think you'll be hooked. You can search your podcast player of choice for the beef and dairy network. And while you're there, check out a lot of other maximum fun shows like Thurang Shade, Judge John Hodgeman, Jordan Jesse Go, one bad mother, Oh no, I said, carry. My brother, my brother and me. Thank you, my dear. Pop Rockett.

I'm a plug, do you want to watch? Thanks, I appreciate it. You needed it. There's a ton there. Maximumfund.org is the place to find all those. And Sydney has another podcast on the maximum fun network too. It's called Stillbuffering. She hosts with her sisters and they talk about the teenage

navigating your teenage years. It's a really good show. Go listen to that too. Thank you, honey. You're welcome sweetheart. I think that's all we have. Thanks to the taxpayers for letting us use their song medicines as the intro and outro for our program.

And that is gonna do it for us until next Wednesday. My name is Justin McRoy. I'm Sydney sure if we're program and that is gonna do it for us. Until next Wednesday is my name is Justin McRodden. I'm Sydney McRodden. And as always, don't draw a hole in your head. Alright! Maximumfund.org Comedy and Culture, Artistone Listener Supported