Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine - Sawbones: Yet More Weird Medical Answers

Episode Date: June 25, 2017

Why is there iodine in salt? What takes the place of a removed organ? Can you ... actually, that one is too gross to put here. Join Dr. Sydnee and Justin as they take on your weird medical questions even ... that last one. 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, of Miss Guided medicine. I'm your co-host Justin McElroy. And I'm Sydney McElroy Sydney, I'm so excited

Because we are doing another one of our beloved solbona's Q&A episodes That's right and I just think these are fun because it moves fast. Sometimes you know how sometimes I start to get a little bored and you can tell it's like the eyes glass over and it's like how long we've been talking about. It is incredibly difficult to continue recording with you you know because then I feel boring. Huh? In way. The, uh, uh, you know what I love about these these weird medical questions and let's clarify, we always do for these episodes.

These aren't, this doesn't mean that I'm giving out free medical advice. This claim is still on there folks. Not because it'd be free. I don't mind that so much. It's just that it'd be wrong, unethical, somewhat illegal and dangerous. And so, this isn't medical advice, but these are your kind of strange weird medical queries. And I love reading them. And thank you everybody for sending them. We get so many, we get dozens and dozens, and even there are too many to pick from.

So. We should also mention that when we say strange and weird, I'm always hesitant to tweet that because it sounds like kind of catalyst. But honestly, anything that is out of the ordinary medically is by definition strange and weird. It's not normal. We all have these things. It's commonality we all share. And let me clarify this too.

A lot, the vast majority of emails that I got were titled Weird Medical Question. So I'm using, I'm using Ural's terminology, but thank you everybody who sent them. There are so many and there were many, many more that would have been interesting and fun and funny to talk about. And next time we don't look at the lead or anything. We can only do so many and there were many, many more that would have been interesting and fun and funny to talk about. And next time we don't look later on, we can only do so many. All right, let's go. I have auditory hallucinations as part of PTSD. I've got great psych support and cope with them quite well, but I'm really puzzled what exactly happens and how do they happen? How is it possible that I hear something and it sounds to me like real sounds when there are no sound waves that my ears have picked up and that's from

A I know I know that feels right to me. That seems right. Yeah This is a good question. This is I think an interesting question. Don't sit. I just came up with it. Well, no, you didn't you fair enough You told us that you did you were reading it. Yep, you're reading it. No, really noted. Auditor hallucinations or paracusias, if you prefer, which you probably don't, you probably prefer Auditor hallucinations. I'm going to go with the one that I know what it means. Obviously, this is something that has been documented, I mean, since ancient times, because they're pretty easy to explain that sense of what's happening.

It's pretty easy to distinguish from other things in medical literature. We can go back to ancient Greek writings, and when people talk about hearing voices that aren't physically present, it's easy to say that, okay, this must be what they were referencing. Of course, way back in ancient times, they were often thought to be something to do with magical abilities or specifically hearing voices from God, a contact with the divine. Obviously, that's not the case. But that was what they were taken as through a lot of the ancient literature. You would say that. They can't involve any senses. Did you know that you can get hallucinations of any sense, sense of touch, hallucinations, sense of taste, sense of smell. I do not.

Yes, any of your senses. And basically, a hallucination is just when you perceive a sound or a visual element or something that is not actually present. Okay. If that makes sense, there is no external stimuli causing that. So it is present, but it is not from an external stimuli

as we typically assume that it would be. Now, we have been studying what causes these for a really long time, because it is a very interesting question why did these happen. And a lot of what we know is from functional MRI. Functional MRIs, or if you've ever seen pictures on like medical shows where they have images of the brain where different parts are lighting up, reds and greens and yellows and all

different colors and they're like, look, this part of the brain has lit up and that indicates. And if it's a cutting edge hospital, then it's always like a hologram, and they can like rotate with their hands. Exactly. You know, we have this. Really? Yeah. It's not a hologram, but it's a 3D image that you can rotate. Why are you wasting my time then? It's gotta be floating. But it has to do with slightly different connections between the areas of the brain that are involved in speech and language perception, specifically what we call Wernicke's and Broca's areas.

These, we all have these areas of the brain and they're all supposed to be connected. That Paul Broca? Yeah, we've talked about before. Whoa, whoa, hey, nice. And the shout out to Broca, as we do so on this podcast. So in some individuals, these pathways appear to be a little thinner than we see in others who do not experience these hallucinations. And there appears to be, they light up more and interact more.

When you watch a functional MRI, then they would in someone who does not have hallucinations. And we even see these patterns that will arise on a functional MRI in the brain that we typically associate with perception of an external stimuli. So this is the way the brain looks when a person hears an external sound, except there is no external sound happening, but we still see that pattern arising in the brain, which is why somebody would be perceiving a sound even though there is no external source. So basically what this boils down to is our brain has a lot of neurons brain cells.

They send these little electrical impulses through them that carry through different pathways in the brain and create different thoughts and perceptions and actions and everything that we do, the wiring is just a little different. And because the wiring is a little different, some of those pathways that perceive sound or site or whatever get activated, even when there is no external stimuli to cause it. Okay. And that's, does that make sense?

Yeah. Or at least that's what we think so far. We're still studying this. There's still NIH grants that help us fund research into why exactly does this happen? Because the better we understand how and why it happens, the better we're able to treat it. Makes perfect sense to me. I got another question here. Are patients going on WebMD and trying to diagnose themselves

an actual real problem? And that's from Paul. You know, Paul, everybody's gonna say,, I'm going to say, yes, it is a problem. And everybody's going to say, yeah, because you want him to come to you, Doc. You don't actually. You're very busy. Well, I want everybody to have access to doctors whenever they need them. I would like you to be able to get home in a decent hour.

If you could just go for a wedding day, I say, I do not advocate. I think there are lots of times where, you know, there are things that we now have access to on the internet that can be helpful. You'll see a lot of tips and tricks like, I've seen this recently, how do you encourage a little kid who is dehydrated because they've been vomiting or something, how do you encourage them to drink more fluids? You know, I, as a doctor, could give you some tips and tricks, but there are probably a lot of other parents out there who could give you tips and tricks too because they've been through it that wouldn't be off base.

I think the problem though with sites like WebMD are that if you're going to create a database for a layperson to use to learn about what might be going on with their body, you're going to have to include every possible scenario. It's not like you can use like an algorithm where you click a series of questions and then you arrive at the end and then give you an absolute, here's your diagnosis. They're going to tell you what it might be, what it most likely is. Oh, and also, every once in a while, here's this really terrible thing that it could be that could mean imminent death. And just guess which one your brain is gonna decide

is definitely the right one. So what I find is that going on WebMD, I would be shocked if this decreases people's actual visits to doctors. I don't think that my worry here is not that you're gonna go on WebMD and listen to them instead of coming to a physician. Of course, I don't, I would worry here is not that you're going to go on WebMD and listen to them instead of coming to a physician Of course, I don't I would prefer people not do that. I'd prefer them always talk with their primary care doctor

But my bigger worry is that I think it causes people a lot of undue stress and anxiety Well, and you joked about you know, oh, they don't come into doctors because they're getting on the internet I would guess if anything these these services Lead to more doctor visits unnecessarily like Like, if you say, oh, well, I've got, you know, terminal but flu, then your, your next call is not like the funeral home you're going to go to the doctor, the actual doctor, like, doc, I got bad news for you. Do you have any but flu specialists there? No, but here's the thing. That's the other part of it that gets tricky. You're not going to come in and tell me that you think you have terminal butt flu because you read about it on WebMD because patients know that doctors would prefer you not read about it on WebMD.

So a lot of times patients won't want to tell me that because maybe they're embarrassed or they feel awkward about it or they're afraid that I'll get angry, which I can't see myself ever getting angry or upset about it, but because they're not entirely forthcoming about their fears, I might never get to, oh, you're really worried about this about terminal butt flu. Oh, no, here's why you don't have it. And here's all the reasons that I don't think that's the case and why WebMD may have said that, but no, it's probably these other 10 things before it would be that. But sometimes patients don't want to tell me that. And so sometimes it takes a long time to get to the root of their fear and anxiety.

So I think that's the problem with some of these sites, is that they're creating a lot of anxiety, not giving you real answers, and maybe not facilitating a real open honest dialogue between you and your physician. Sydney, the nail on my big toe recently fell off after I hurt myself in a stupid manner. I assumed it would grow back, but a friend told me that I damaged the nail bed and it's gone for good. Is there a way to tell if it'll grow back? Bonus points that doesn't involve me having to look at my toe.

That thing is gross. My whole question is gross. I'm sorry. That's from EJ. EJ, first of all, I don't think your question is particularly gross. You wouldn't. No. Um, I am very sorry that your big toe nail fell off. Yeah. The first time I read this, by the way, I thought you said your big toe fell off. And I thought that would also I can automate since you did not include the stupid

manner, which hurt your toe. I cannot fathom how stupid it might actually be. So I'm very excited. I wish, please send us a follow up, we won't share it. We won't tell anybody just for us. Please send us a follow up email and let us know. So here's the thing, your nail is probably gonna grow back. Most of the time. Not probably in there, Sydney.

Most of the time the nail grows back, the vast majority of the time. The only concern is if you damaged what we call the nail matrix. Mm-hmm. If you did majority of the time. The only concern is if you damaged what we call the nail matrix. If you did damage to the matrix. Right. If you did damage to the matrix, copper top, then take the blue pill in your foot wool. Just once I want my toenail to fall off and really feel it and know what that feels like.

The matrix of your nail is what we think of like the nail bed, the growth plate of your nail. It's where the nail comes from. It's at the base of your nail right underneath the skin there. So if whatever injury occurred, didn't really involve that part of your finger, you should be fine. If it did, if significant damage occurred to that specific section, I'm sorry, not your finger, your toe.

This is your toe we're talking about of your toe. There's a chance the nail wouldn't grow back. Although most of the time it still does grow back, it just might grow back with a ridge on it or like a slight discoloration on it or something like that. Sometimes the nail can come in a little irregular. I actually have personal experience here because my finger. That's true, you do. My TV fell my finger when I was four, and the nail is not, first of the finger looks so whack, and it's like flat, and it looks ridiculous, like a big toe on my hand. It does look like a toe finger.

And then my nail is actually split on the side. It's permanently split on the side. It's permanently split, it's down the middle. So that's a good example of, you damaged the nail matrix and so the nail did grow back, but it grew back a little differently. So it's so weird. Even if you damage the nail matrix, that's probably still the more likely case.

It's rare that the toenail just does not grow back. But if it's not back yet, do not fret. It can take up to 18 months for a toenail to grow back. Hatchy-matchy. So keep on waiting. Hang in there. But if it's not back yet, do not fret, it can take up to 18 months for a ton of girl back. So keep on waiting. Hang in there. Yeah. Let's see.

We got another question here. Why do they say that an apple a keeps the doctor away? What if you're allergic to apples? Is it possible to be allergic to apples? That's from Libya. I think I love this question and I started reading about it and I thought I wonder if anybody's ever done research on this and oh I love I love being part of a field where there are other like other people have thought huh wonderful Apple day really does keep the doctor away.

Let's find that out. Let's do it. Let's get a grant and do a study. I love being I love that there are people who think like that. So first of all where did this come from? The original saying comes from Wales, probably the 1860s. And it used to be,

eat an apple on going to bed and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread. Mm. That sounds like a tagline for when apples were invented. You know what I mean? Like, we got this new thing called apples. I think we have evidence that maybe apples date back a little further than that

What in the 1860s the Bible? Yeah, there's an apple in that book Well, I mean also like a lot of ancient texts talk about apples about yeah As I just create for example the apples are important you know plenty talked about apples I'm sure he had 80 different cures with it that involved The first time we saw the saying in its current form is 1922. And it was basically, I mean, it's kind of straightforward. It's based on the common belief that fruits and vegetables are healthy. Is that a belief or is that well, well, the long term belief, this has always been a perception and yes, of course, we know this is true. And we do know vegetables specifically leafy

greens and cruciferous vegetables are healthy. Yes. The fruits, of course, we know this is true. And we do know vegetables specifically leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables are healthy. Yes. Fruits, of course, are not as we've established on this program. Fruits in moderation. As I've tried to establish things in them. Yeah, across my podcast family. Fruits in the enemy, every get off frits. That sugar still counts.

That sugar don't spin. Come on. It is sugar, but they have lots of other wonderful things in them. Fruits are still good for you. They still have benefits. I would just eat them more moderation than I would eat vegetables. I agree to disagree. You can go nuts on your leafy greens.

Most do you. But nuts are actually great too. High and protein, low and fat. Hey, I bet you didn't know that. That's beans. Oh, you want to talk about beans? No, I know, please. Anyway, so the reason they say that is, you know, most sayings aren't this straight forward.

Most old folks at folks sayings usually are like some are convoluted. This is an interesting one because it means exactly what it sounds like. Apples make you healthier and you won't have to go to the doctor. That's what it means. What if you're allergic to apples? Well, don't eat them. It is definitely possible to be allergic to apples. That is not like a common-

That is free medical advice that you can take. But if you're allergic to something, don't put it in you or on you. There you go. There's my free medical advice. Now do this. That's not because you'd have to deny yourself the brand new apple cinnamon toast crunch, which is excellent and packed with real apple flavor. Just sample it yesterday. It's brand new on the market. You'll have to find some apple cereal that's got or fake out. Get apple jacks probably. Are they?

I don't know. I would bet on a stack of buyables. And all those cereals went to the natural anyway. This is off top hook. Do apple jacks like late. And you see tricks like late. It's a nightmare. It looks like someone took a picture of your childhood

and then left it out the sun for three months. It's terrible. So do apples actually keep the doctor away? There have been studies on this recent. This isn't like something we used to do for fun, like in recent years we've done this fun. In 2011, there was a study that found that maybe eating apples regularly will lower your cholesterol. But then there was another one where they had people specifically eating golden delicious apples and it found that maybe it raised your cholesterol.

So now deliciousness in the name. Another study found that if you eat both apples and pears together it might prevent strokes or help prevent strokes. I'd say probably not solely, but helped. And then there was a study in 2015 where they actually compared visits to the doctor and apple consumption and they found that with increased Apple consumption, there was no decrease in visits to the doctor. Okay.

So at the end of the day, I don't think I can tell you whether or not apples will help you, you know, with your doctor visits or not, frequency. So you could probably eat them three to five times a week, and it may be helpful for you. Apple's got good stuff, and I'm, can I taste good? When I was a kid, I put a peanut butter on them for a little bit of protein.

When I was a kid, I used to miss it. You can get the natural stuff. Yeah, you won't eat that natural stuff though. Even like natural PB. Not me, but you can. I get that unshiggered almond butter. That's my sweet treat at the end of every night. I have a tablespoon of almond butter unsweetened almond butter without salt. Mmm, poy that anyway. every night, I have a tablespoon of almond, but unsweetened almond butter without salt. Mmm, poy that anyway.

When I was a kid, I misunderstood the saying, and when I would visualize it, I always thought of it more like a Dracula and garlic situation. For some reason, like if you have an apple with you and show it to a doctor, they're like, gimme a half to the retreat. That's what happens.

That's what happens. I need your visit for free. Here is my, and then you say their name backwards, they have to give you three, which is, here is my question. Movie's always depict body parts, dislocating or popping out of place, fingers, shoulders, etc. Very cliche. What other body parts have the ability to become dislocated and what do you do to resolve this? That's from Don. From Don. So, first of all, yes, any joint could become dislocated. And all that means is that it has moved out of the socket where the bone belongs. Does that make sense?

It is popped out of the place where it should be. And because of that, it's pulling on ligaments and tendons and muscles and nerves and blood vessels and everything else that surrounds, you know, my bones, everything that doesn't bone. It's also pulling on bones. But it's pulling on all that stuff, which is creating damage to that tissue, which is creating a great deal of pain and discomfort. These are incredibly painful. Generally speaking discomfort. These are incredibly painful. Generally speaking, dislocations are incredibly painful. Obviously, it changes depending on what joint is dislocated.

It could be more or less. The shoulder is very, it's the most common joint that you'll dislocate. And it's usually just a, you know, some sort of issue where you have hyper extended or it reflects it, moved it too far in a direction. And it has gone beyond the bounds of where your shoulder is meant to move. And then it has come loose. You can dislocate your fingers, you can dislocate hips, elbows, any joint. You can dislocate

kids elbows when you pick them up and swing them, you know, when you pick up little kids. Yeah, you do the one, two, three jump thing. One, two, three jump and swing them. Yeah. It's called nursemaids elbow. Pull that pull that elbow right out of soccer. Oh. You can fix it by popping it back in. Oh, okay. Some mechanical fix for the most part, the vast majority of the time. And it is, yes, it is, every bit as awful as it sounds.

A lot of it just kind of involves pulling on the affected limb to kind of pull it back out and then let it sink back into place. You can kind of visualize that with the shoulder if you think about it. That I've been on. Again, it's a very painful thing to do. You could do it out in the field if you needed to. Like, if this happened on the sidelines or if it has this happened, I don't know.

I don't know why you're out like you're climbing around with your buddies. This could happen. But typically, we like to give people some pain medication when we fix it in the hospital. Sydney, are you ready for another question? Sure. Hit me. Well, no, ready for another question? Sure, hit me. Well, no, no.

I was a trap because first we're going to have to go to the building department. Let's go. The medicines, the medicines that I skilled at my car before the mouth. Oh my God, look at her butt. Oh my God, my mother keeps, Charlie's obsessed with that. You should really hear Charlie sing it.

It's not, it's not, she's not heard the entire song. There's three seconds of the song, Anaconda, in the film, saying. Yeah. And it shows. And there's three rabbits and they're shaking their butts and singing it and Charlie will not stop. Oh my gosh. Look at her butt.

Oh my God. My mother keeps poking my arm going, ask Dr. Sidney about iodine and why it's insults. And that is from Octorus. Octorus. Yeah, Octorus. Octorus. So this is, this is a good question. And Justin, you didn't know this answer did you? No, Sidney, I didn't, but please rub it in. I know. I was curious. I asked if Justin knew it and he didn't. And I thought, this will be fun. It's finally something Justin doesn't know.

We treat. We have, so you need iodine in your body. Speak for yourself. We know you do. It's a trace element that you need for certain chemical reactions. So it is important that you ingest iodine and you don't make it naturally in your body. So you gotta get it from somewhere.

And we've known that since ancient Chinese writings from 3600 BCE. I was sitting here thinking like, boy, that's kind of a defect in the human body that it needs to run. You don't make it and that's your thing like, oh, there's a lot of things like that. It's like the whole food game, right?

I guess it's a whole food point. There are a lot of trace elements that we don't naturally make that we have to get from our diet. The thing is that they're trace. We don't need a ton of them, but you do need iodine. If you ever need to know what all those encompass, just check out the ingredients on a super doughnut because as far as I understand, it has everything you need to continue to live

forever, basically. We're eating avocado, I guess. I don't know how it goes on iodine, though, honestly. It is in seaweed, though. And that was the first thing they recognize it in these ancient writings that there was something in seaweed that if you ate it, it would help prevent goiter or what they what that we now know was a goiter, which is a swelling of the thyroid gland in your neck, which can get rather large and and is easy to again read and record it history because

people describe it, take pictures of it, and so on and so forth. The thing you need iodine for mainly is thyroid hormone. So your thyroid, like I said, it's gland in your neck and it pumps out this hormone, thyroid hormone, and it is made with iodine. Thyroid hormone does a lot of things in your body. It helps with your metabolism. It helps keep everything running.

It helps make it possible for you to maintain a weight, a healthy weight. It makes it so that your skin isn't too dry and that your bowels move regularly. There's lots of things that thyroid hormone does for your body. If you don't have enough iodine, it's hard for you to make thyroid hormone. What happens is your brain releases a hormone called TSH that goes down and kind of stimulates the thyroid and goes like, hey, hey, hey, you're not working. Start working. Make more thyroid hormone. And it keeps releasing more and more and more of this TSH your brain does to try to get your thyroid to work, which it's not working because it doesn't have iodine. As it keeps stimulating that tissue,

the tissue grows and enlarges and you end up with a goiter. But you still don't have enough iodine so you still don't have enough thyroidine, so you still don't have enough thyroid hormone, so you're still hypothyroid. Iodine is found in differing amounts in different parts of the world. So in some places, they naturally might have iodized salt. You might be able to mine salt and get iodine in your salt already. It's present in seafood and seaweed, so in places where they have access to that and eat that regularly, they would get a lot more iodine. In other places, specifically in the US,

this was a big area like in this part of the country. In Appalachia, this was always a huge issue. We naturally don't have a lot of iodine, naturally occurring around here. So this was a big problem because what they noticed was that people who live in these certain areas are more likely, we're more likely to develop goiter and people who live in these certain areas are more likely were more likely to develop goiter and people who had access iodine didn't so how did they fix it?

Well, they started adding iodine to salt and by adding the iodine to salt and making it widely available to everyone, they started to see a decrease in the incidence of coiter. We started doing this in Michigan in May of 1924. We do it in different places of in the world. They do it different ways. Sometimes it's added to like bread dough. Oh, okay. Actually, but I don't always have to be out of the salt, but in the US it's mainly out of the salt. And it has an entirely eliminated coiter from the face of the earth, but it has greatly helped the problem. But that's why it's in there. Hello, uh, hello. I had a kidney removed when I was three years old

and have always wondered about what happens when an organ is removed in terms of that now empty spot. Do other organists move around in fill the area or does the mesentery hold everything in place? Do I now have some weird void where that kidney used to be from Tom? What's the mesentery? From Justin? I was like two questions in one.

So first of all, I think this is, I think this is a really interesting question. I had never really thought about it. I mean, so you've just been removing organs, higgledy, higgledy without thinking of the consequences. I'm not a surgeon, but the things do shift around, but I've never thought about it. I've never had anything removed, but I bet that would be something you'd wonder, hey, what happened everything now? Things do shift around a bit when an organ is removed. I don't mean like major migrations, like the other kidney doesn't try to come over and take that spot because

it looks come for you or anything like that. It's just everything does kind of settle a little bit after you've had an organ removed. In certain areas of the body where there isn't something to shift into that place, like let's say you had a part of a lung removed or even part of your brain removed for some reason, had to have a brain biopsy or something, you actually see that it kind of fills with fluid at first and then it will eventually just fill with some fibrous tissue. But within like your abdomen and pelvis, your organs do shift around a bit. And you'll hear people actually describe this. Specifically, I've actually had a lot of patients who have had hysterectomy, has had their uterus removed, who have talked about that feeling that things have

kind of moved a little bit or shifted afterwards, which can cause some changes in like the patterns of bowel or bladder function for a little bit. Usually, it shouldn't be anything major. It shouldn't be anything that causes problems. But people have described this to me before. So yeah, things did shift. There's not a big hole there. Things probably shifted around a little bit. I've always been curious about the possibility of donating my body to science upon my eventual

death. Not anytime soon, of course. I'm 28 and not looking to die. Good. Can you tell me about your experience in medical school with these donated bodies? What is the process? Are the bodies used outside of medical schools? And that's from it. I mean, they shouldn't be used outside of medical schools. You should keep them in the school. It's very rare in one of those

classes. You'll get an outside day. That's that's an extreme rarity. It doesn't matter if it's sunny outside gym or having class in that inside. This is inappropriate. This is inappropriate. It's an inappropriate question. How did you get in here? Maybe you're in the wrong field. Maybe you're in the wrong building. Were you ever admitted to this goal? Emma, that's a great question. Let me tell you first of all that the first experience for a lot of medical students is anatomy class, where we learn about the human body firsthand from people who have donated their bodies to the medical school to science.

Is that in any way to try to separate the wheat from the chaff? Like if you can't hang with this, let's find out right now so you don't waste a bunch of time learning, chemical reactions and what have you? I don't, I mean, let me say this, I do not think that is at all the primary purpose. I think that that probably is also part of what happens. But that is in no way. I mean, the biggest thing is that, you know, in medicine, we're studying the human body and until we become intimately familiar with how it's made up, it's hard to understand anything else.

So it's kind of the first building block to understand everything that comes after it. But yeah, I think there is a, I guess it is kind of a way of, I don't want to say desensitizing you at all to do it, but to understanding it in depth and having a better respect for it and being prepared for what you're really going to do, that you're dealing with humans and you're dealing with real lives and you're dealing with the human body and that it, you have to have huge respect for that. And it starts from that first day in anatomy lab when you realize the sacrifice that somebody was willing to make for, why not sacrifice? Not sacrifice, because it doesn't work like that. No, I don't mean like that.

I mean, the gift that they were willing to make, the huge gift that someone has given you. I think that those, hearing about those anatomy classes from you was, I think that's when my wife sort of became a superhero to me, because there's just, I mean, there's just no reality in which I would be able to hang with that for more than, I mean, literally zero seconds. I mean, like, it would be like cartoon style,

where's the hole in the wall, just in shaped hole in the wall, like, it would be like cartoon style. Where's the hole in the wall, just in shaped hole in the wall, like, no, cannot. And you would talk about it. I was and I'm still in awe of you for that, because I can't fathom it. I'm glad people like you exist, but they aim me. I really, if you try to think about it, kind of as I know this sounds very morbid,

but if you'll bear with me, this is sort of my first patient. And no, I can't bring them back to life. I can't save their life. But by learning from them and by, you know, doing my best to respect them as I am examining, you know, what we're doing and going through the process of anatomical dissection and everything, as I'm doing that, I am hopefully what we're doing and going through the process of anatomical dissection

and everything. As I'm doing that, I am hopefully going to be able to take better care of every patient thereafter. And so my, as far as my experience in medical school with it is that I would say everyone treats it that way. Nobody is in their laughing and making jokes. Nobody is in their, I mean, I mean, you would get ejected instantly, right? Like there's just no reality. I mean, it really is, it's kind of a sacred place. It's a sacred

thing that we're doing. It is a tradition that has existed in medicine for a very long time, and it is vitally important to our ability to do our job. And we take it incredibly seriously. And I am so appreciative to everybody who has ever done that and to the families and to everybody. I mean, it's just an amazing gift. It's an amazing gift. These, let me say this, if you donate your body to science, it could be used for other things than a medical school.

There are lots of different research programs that necessitate human tissue to do various medical research to understand drugs, working, and procedures, and all kinds of different things. So there are other places that those tissues can go scientifically than a medical school. You can donate your body specifically to a medical school. You can donate through a private organization who will facilitate scientific research in various laboratories. There are lots of different processes for that, but I know that a lot of people who I think have a relationship with like our med school and our university and locally, they're people

who are choosing to donate their body to our med school, to our community for our students, which is an amazing, amazing gift. So the last thing that I will say about that is that if you are considering that, or if you are someone whose family has ever done that, please know that every, every scientist, every medical student, every doctor is so incredibly appreciative for that. And it's a, it's a wonderful, wonderful gift if it is something you're considering doing. We have time for one more question, Sydney. I'm really excited about this one,

so I'm just gonna go for it. My medical query dates back to high school where I had an English teacher in grade 12, please. This is an American podcast. It was 12th grade, who related a story to the glass from his friend who was a paramedic and definitely falls under the gross category. So we read out with caution.

All right, listener, you have no more. As he told it, a man was suffering from severe constipation and had not gone to the bathroom in some time, and as he became more and more constipated, the blockage moved up and up in his digestive system. When the paramedics arrived, they found the man had called them because he was vomiting up this blockage.

What I have wondered is, is this really possible? How could someone get so constipated? What diet or drugs would have caused this? Is this just a story his friend was using to try to gross him out? Trevor would burn. So, let me say. I just go ahead and I just need a break. Sorry, Justin.

Unfortunately Trevor, this is really possible. I'm actually, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you his friend was not just trying to, well, his friend may have been trying to gross mouth, but that was, he did not make the story up. This is, this is possible. What I would say is this, I mean, was it diet, was it drugs? This person probably had what we would consider a bowel obstruction. So that's beyond just constipated stool isn't moving along like it should. Something is blocking the passage of stool. It's not moving and if stuff doesn't move long enough, it will throw up and yes, that material can start to look somewhat

feculant. That's a pretty word. Is it folks that's going to do for us here on solbons this week? And I'm very sorry for whoever had to experience that. There's a terrible thing to have to have experience and I hope that they were able to fix whatever calls the blockage and that this person is okay now.

Well, they'll never be okay, Sydney, but maybe they could try to move forward with some symbols of normal lives. My thoughts and prayers are with them. Anyway, this is going to do a press for Sabons this week. Thank you so much. Hey, I wanted to mention, because we haven't mentioned it in a little bit. We are going to be performing at the Philadelphia Podcast Festival very soon and we would love if you would come join us.

There are a few tickets left for that show. It is going to be Sunday, July 16th. Dores at 130 show is at 2 p.m. It's an all ages show. Take its range between 2250 and 2450. It's going to be the trickier theater theater. And you can get tickets now if you go to bit.ly-forod-slash-sobones-filly. It's gonna be a lot of fun.

I know the flop house is awesome performing. It's part of the same festival. So make sure you go check them out too. But we would love to see you. It's gonna be a sobones live show Sunday, July 16th, 2PM, and bit.ly forward slash. Sobone's Philly is the address to get tickets. So please try to get out. You can come to Philadelphia, check out the

modern museum and see our show. It's like a whole make a weekend of it. Weird medical history weekend. Thank you, the taxpayers for the social medicines is the intro and outshow of our program. And I think I'll do it for us, right, Sid? And all right, folks. So until next week, my name is, oh, I should say sorry, this one was a little late. Yes. We do apologize.

We'll try to be on the hospital service. It just makes it. It's a lot anyway. We'll try to be more punctual next week. Sorry, but that's going to do it for us until next week. My name is just a macro role. Sydney macro. And as always, don't drill a hole in your head. Alright! Yeah! Maximumfund.org

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