Weird Medicine: The Podcast - 570 - Fun With Secretions

Episode Date: December 14, 2023

Dr Steve, Dr Scott, and Tacie discuss: ganglon blocks can you get influenza from the flu vaccine? Xanax, Zoloft and anxiety Prior Authorization B.S. Liver age v@ginal yogurt Please visit: stuff.doctorsteve.com (for all your online shopping needs!) simplyherbals.net/cbd-sinus-rinse (the best he's ever made. Seriously.) tweakedaudio.com (use offer code "FLUID" for 33% off!) RIGHT NOW GET A NEW DISCOUNT ON THE ROADIE 3 ROBOTIC TUNER! roadie.doctorsteve.com (the greatest gift for a guitarist or bassist! The robotic tuner!) see it here: stuff.doctorsteve.com/#roadie Also don't forget: Cameo.com/weirdmedicine (Book your old pal right now because he's cheap! "FLUID!") Most importantly! CHECK US OUT ON PATREON!  ALL NEW CONTENT! Robert Kelly, Mark Normand, the O&A Troika, Joe DeRosa, Pete Davidson, Geno Bisconte. Stuff you will never hear on the main show ;-) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You see, you see, you see, you're stupid minds. Stupid, stupid! You get nothing. You lose. Good day, sir. Man, you are one pathetic loser. If you just read the bio for Dr. Steve, host of Weird Medicine on Sirius XM103, and made popular by two really comedy shows, Opie and Anthony and Ron and Fez,

you would have thought that this guy was a bit of, you know, a clown. Why, get it? Do you give me the respect that I'm entitled to? I've got diphtheria crushing my esophagus. I've got Tobolabovir stripping from my nose. I've got the leprosy of the heartbound, exacerbating my incredible woes. I want to take my brain out

and blast with the wave, an ultrasonic, ecographic, and a pulsating shave. I want a magic pill. All my ailments, the health equivalent is citizen cane. And if I don't get it now in the tablet, I think I'm doomed Then I'll have to go insane I want a requiem for my disease

So I'm paging Dr. Steve From the world famous Cardiff Oh shit From the world famous Cardiff Electric Network Studios In beautiful downtown Bedabler City It's weird medicine

The first and still only Uncensored Medical show On the history of broadcast radio now a podcast Yes Carl I could have just edited that out I chose not to I'm Dr. Steve with my little pal, Dr. Scott, the traditional Chinese medicine provider who gives me street cred, the wack-all alternative medicine assholes.

Hello, Dr. Scott. Hey, Dr. Steve. This is a show for people who never listen to a medical show on the radio or the internet. If you've got a question, you're embarrassed to take to your regular medical provider. If you can't find an answer anywhere else, give us a call of 347-7-66-4-3-23. That's 347. Pooh-Hull. Follow us on Twitter at Weird Medicine or at DR Scott WM.

Visit our website at Dr.steve.com for podcast. medical news and stuff you can buy. Most importantly, we are not your medical providers. Take everything here with a grain of salt and act on anything you hear on this show without talking it over with your health care provider. All right, very good. Please don't forget stuff.doctrsteve.com. Stuff.com for all your Amazon shopping needs.

It really makes a huge difference. And if you want to do something to support the show, really, that's probably the number one way. Stuff.com. Dr. Steve.com. Check out tweakeda audio.com. Offer code fluid. It's holiday time for those stocking stoppers. I think that still works.

I don't think we get paid in it. But you still get 33% off, so what the hell? And check out Dr. Scott's website at simply herbals.net. Tacey and I are back doing Patreon, although she's gone for the next two weeks. So I'm going to have to do a live stream by myself, but patreon.com slash weird medicine. And if you want me to say fluid to your mama, do a cameo. Camio.com slash weird medicine. I would do them for free.

The five bucks is just, it's the lowest that let me charge. I just like doing them. They're fun to do. And somebody, I think Nick Eleg said that if I did them for free, then I would just get in and date it. So I guess that's probably true, better that I'm charged a little bit. They actually did a study that showed that if you, charge a dollar to people to come in, you know, make them pay a dollar up front to come into the emergency room.

They stop using the ER as a primary care office. It's all it takes. Yeah, I know. I know it. I guarantee you. And something. Anyway. All right.

All right, guys. Check out Dr. Scott's website at simply herbals.net. It's spelled kind of like simply herballs.net. but with one L lagging. And we do have to issue a correction. Oh. Yeah. Okay.

So last week. So when Tacey does topic time, which everybody knows is good. It's Tacey's time. Okay. So when Tacey does topic time, she gets mad at me, but I'm always going online. and finding the original article that she's talking about because she'll pick up something from CBS or somewhere this or that

and I'll always look up the journal article and then we can talk about it and she's like well is this my topic time or yours it's like no it's my show so but yeah it's your topic time but this is the whole point so anyway Tacey last week did a story and one of us sent it to her

so we are culpable it was probably me but it was a journalistic medical, and you know how I feel about medical journalism, article that said that according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, ogling women's breasts is good for a man's health, and we were all alive. Great news. Well, it turns out. Well, that's because you're an idiot. Oh, rats.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's completely false. Oh, bummer. So, staring at a big-breasted women as a form of exercise. No wonder Jane Mansfield's husband was Mr. Universe or what an old reference. Does anybody remember Jane Mansfield? I mean, I do because I jerked off to her constantly when I was a kid. She was sort of the trashy Marilyn Monroe with bigger boobs and stuff.

But according to the text of a purported news article that has circulated online since the 1990s, great news for girls walkers. Shit. I can't read English. Great news for girl watchers. Oggling over a women's breasts is good for a men's health and could add years to his life. Medical experts have discovered, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, just 10 minutes of staring at the charms of a well.

endowed female is roughly equivalent to a 30-minute aerobics workout, declared gerontologist Dr. Karen Weatherby. So this goes on and on and on, and Tacey reported it as fact, and I didn't look it up because I think I wanted it to be true. Yes. I think that's why. Well, that's because you're an idiot. Okay. So, yeah, so this article referred to was not printed in the New England Journal of Medicine or, in fact, any other major medical journal. It's a reworking of a piece that has run on at least two occasions in the celebrated tabloid, The Weekly World News.

There you go. So do you remember Weekly World News? I think they're out of business now. At least I haven't seen him in a long time. They used to have the bat boy on the cover. And then for a while they had, they got into the news because they had a picture of Bill Clinton meeting at this alien. Oh, wow. And they were shaking hands.

And the alien was talking about how they were going to help mankind and all this stuff. It was just a bunch of crap. So here it is. This is from Weekly World News from 1997 and then reprinted in the year 2000. And it was like a comedy. It was a parody of a tabloid newspaper. But they would sell it. And people would buy it.

And some people bought their bullshit. And unfortunately, apparently I'm one of them. Which is great news for Girl Watchers. Ogling women's breasts is good for a man's health. Can add years to his life. So, yeah. So, oh, here we go.

Just 10 minutes of staring at the charms of a well-endowed female, such as Baywatch actress, Amela Lee is equivalent to a 30-minute aerobics workout. And this is a different gerontologist, declared gerontologist Dr. Franz Epping. Dr. Epping and fellow researchers at three hospitals in Frankfurt, Germany, reached the startling conclusion after comparing the health of 200 male outpatients, half of whom were instructed to look at busty females daily. the other half told to refrain from doing so. Oh, goodness. So the study revealed after five years the chest watchers.

So they did this for five years. Had lower blood pressure, slower resting pulse rates, and fewer instances of coronary heart disease. So it's complete horseshit. And, yeah. Well, but it's not bad for you, though. So as long as it doesn't hurt you. That's right.

It's like vitamin D. Yeah, you know. This probably doesn't do you any good, but it doesn't hurt anything. But it might. It might. It says, although weekly world news occasionally slips up and prints a true story, we suspect this one belongs in the, quote, how to tell up your dog worship Satan, unquote. And, oh, this one is true. New remote control device gives women orgasms at up to 80 yards away.

That's not a bullshit story. Oh, gosh. No, those things are real. Really? Yeah, you can buy a little vibrating Benoit balls with remote on it, and you can run it up and down. Opie and Anthony did that on their show with, I can't remember if it was Sandy Kane or somebody like that.

And they would run the remote up and down. Well, there you. Yeah, this has me now wondering what happened to weekly World News, so we need to be looking that up. If P.A. Lydia were here, she would have already looked it up. So let's see if they are still... But to be clear, we're saying it's not harmful. Correct.

Yeah. Okay. Weekly World News, it looks like they're online now. It was a tabloid published mostly fictional news stories from 1979 to 2007. And, yeah, their final issue was in 2007. They had a circulation of $1.2 million. weekly Let's do weekly world news Alien and Bill Clinton

because that's a good one Yeah this is I love it Okay Well now I went to the wrong place But apparently the alien Was Helping to guide

Bill Clinton To you know, oh my God, there's the bat now. I actually do remember the bat child. That bat child I do.

That was a... And it says bat child escapes. And it shows this horrific kid with sharp teeth and big giant bat ears screaming. Oh, I love it. Alien in the slammer

after fist fight with Bill over Hillary. And it shows Bill Clinton with a, He's got a black eye with a black eye, yes. And the aliens got his mugshot, Washington, D.C. Police Department. I love it. I might as to start reading that.

Alien in the slam rafter, fistfight with Bill over Hillary. That is hilarious. Heck, that's about as reliable of some of the other news sources we got. Yeah, here's another one. Clinton hires a three-breasted intern. And shocked Hillary, he said, I thought he was a leg man Now I've seen three nipples

But I've never seen three breasts on Yeah there was a porn star That got a boob in the middle Oh really? Yep Oh wow Yeah she was popular for a while Obama appoints Mersian ambassador

There he is with the alien And then flying cats terrorized West Virginia Just the best I'm gonna have to check that thing Oh, yeah. Just check out weekly world news. Oh, here's the bat boy.

Coalition leaders order half human, half bite. I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. Coalition leaders order half human, half bat to take a bite out of Saddam. And it shows a picture of Saddam Hussein with the bat boy biting his shoulder. And Saddam's got his eyes are real big, like big googly eyes. Oh, my gosh. So, rest in peace, weekly world news, and you still effing us up after all this time because we fell for it. And I don't know how.

I knew when she said that that this cannot be true. And then there was a part of my brain was saying, I think I've heard this one before. But on the other hand, I was like hoping it were true. Oh, yeah. So anyway, I'm pretty sure. Give me some ammo to talk to Tacey about her reduction management. Amoplasty. Mm-hmm.

See, if you hadn't had that, then I would have lived longer. Jeez, it is her fault, whatever it is. All right. So what do you got? You have something today to talk about, right? Oh, I do. Oh, you mean this thing. Oh, for fuck's sake, yes.

The ganglion nerve block. Right. So what I saw was a news story that said new treatment for PTSD is effective in veterans or in a veteran. and I think it was an end of one, but I thought it was going to be ketamine because I'm interested in that because I'm doing ketamine therapy myself through a, you know, a physician.

And, but no, it wasn't that. It was a thing called a stellate ganglion block. So it said research has been studying the use of stellate ganglion blocks. Do you want to talk about what a stalate ganglion block is because you do those or you are involved in them? Well, I don't do them directly. I do a cellate. similar thing with the acupuncture needles in electrical stimulation.

The guys that I work with next door, the pain medicine guys do stelly gangling nerve blocks. So what we... Where is it? So it's in the neck. So it's about the six cervical vertebra. Okay. You know, we have seven, most of us have seven cervical vertebra. Give myself a bell.

And, and, and, right, so, you know, and you can kind of identify where that seven sort of cervical vertebra is. If you bend your head forward, there's a little, um, not that's. sticks out the bony, not the sticks out the base of your neck. And that's a seventh cervical vertebra. So one up front of there is six. And what you can do is you can go in just beside where the carotid artery is. The carotid artery is sheath. I don't want to stick a needle in that.

You don't want to get too close to that. But just in front of that, you can go in. And what they'll do with a sympathetic ganglion block here is they'll inject a numbing agent right into this ganglion. And, Dr. Steve, what the ganglion is, the ganglion is like a collection of nerves. It's a collection of nerves where the nerves and the brain are coming down and nerves and the body are coming up and they kind of meet in the middle. Not everybody has a stalate ganglion. Are you aware of that? No, no.

Only 80% of people have. No, no, I did not know that. To have a stellate ganglion, there's two ganglia have to fuse together. Huh. And 80% of people, there's a cervical, inferior cervical ganglion. and then there is a first thoracic ganglion and that will fuse together in about 80% of people and that is what creates the stellate ganglion.

The other 20% just don't have one. So I wonder if that it would be a little harder to identify that ganglion, yep. But what a lot of times will use a ganglion block and it doesn't, and there are ganglions up and down your spines. You can actually do ganglion blocks at different levels. Sure. So, in other words, what they started researching this specifically for a thing called CRPS, which is chronic regional pain syndrome.

Correct. Regional pain. Did you say complex? Complex regional pain syndrome, yeah. Yeah, because it used to be RSD reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which was a little more tongue-tonging. Well, there was type 1 and type 2 of CRPS, and type 1 was reflex sympathetic dystrophy, and type 2 was a thing called cause algae. And they were just dumb names. So they call them complex regional pain syndrome one or two.

But anyway. Yeah, but so this is a really challenging thing. And I guess the best way to describe this. And I think why there's the research that they've done a lot of research on now doing these ganglion blocks for PTSD is because in a lot of people, and you know this, and I know this, doing pain medicine. but if you've never had this unfortunate experience, or if you're not in medicine, you don't treat it, you know, we see a lot of people with what we call upregulated systems.

Right. So their whole sympathetic nervous systems is really wired. Hypervigilant and the adrenaline's going all the time. Yeah, hypervigilant, anxious and nervous and just really hyper reactive to everything, touch, sound, everything. And we see that a lot of times after somebody's had a traumatic injury, like, and it can be anything from falling, you know, falling. off a roof or being hit by a car to, you know, just witnessing something.

Right. You know, something really horrific. Yeah, I had PTSD from witnessing somebody trying to break in my house. Yeah, so, so, so yes, it can be anything. Cold, just no reaction whatsoever when I caught them, just turned around and walked out. I was like, oh, shit, yeah, that messed me up. That is extremely frightening. I walked through the streets of Chapel Hill for a couple of years, you know, just thinking

to myself, you know, everywhere. That you fools everywhere you're walking, murderers and criminals have, you know, have walked these same streets. You all have this illusion of safety, and it's just an illusion. And anyway, finally, I got that under control. Well, but I think what you're saying is it took a while to get under control is very important because you can't, there are, there's no great pharmaceutical therapy. Correct. There's no great non-pharmaceutical therapy. Correct.

You know, this has to be a physical, a cognitive, emotional, and a pharmaceutical therapy, all these things combined to help treat a PTSD or someone that's got this upregulated system. And what we found is that people who are really, really upregulated, it's very difficult to break that cycle of pain. and what they're showing with these ganglion blocks is, and a lot of times you'll see people do ganglion blocks to diagnose a CRPS. So in other words, like especially in the lower legs, they'll do a ganglion block in the lower back, and it shuts the pain off instantly, instantly.

The pain comes back, but what we're hoping is over time, if you can do some of these blocks, in addition to other therapies, and it may be physical therapy, it may be occupational therapy, maybe acupuncture, maybe cognitive behavioral therapies, all these things can be extremely beneficial,

but they need to be used in conjunction with one another. Correct. Yeah, but the benefit of this gangling nerve block is that it's almost, Dr. Steve, it's almost instantaneous. And it's a teeny, super teeny needles. A needle just a little bit larger than a diabetic needle. And if you've ever had any kind of lytocaine or anything,

like before procedures, stitches or whatever, it's about that size of a needle. Really? And because what they use is they use typically something like a lytocaine, bupivocaine, marcane kind of a numbing agent. And they just literally squirt it beside a nerve and it numbs that nerve. And it's almost instantaneous. I wonder if I can learn how to do that.

Oh, gosh, yeah, with your anatomical knowledge and your gifted hands, I mean, but there's no doubt in my mind, you could do it. I wonder what their hypothesis is for PTSD, though. Well, that's kind of the surprise to a certain degree, and then not a surprise, the fact that this ganglion block will actually reset everything instantly. So what helps, it helps the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems balance out a little bit. Well, it's interesting. It says here that still like ganglion blocks may help PTSD due to decrease in nerve growth factor. levels, which is what you're talking about, is resetting. Yep.

Reducing norepinephrine levels, which is also known as noradrenaline. It's first, you know, cousin to adrenaline, an increased sympathetic nervous system activity that happens with PTSD. So that would speak to your reset of that sympathetic nervous system. Now, it says U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved, still a gangling block for treatment of PTSD, but health care providers may use them, quote, unquote, off label for PTSD. Fuck off. There's no labeling for a procedure.

No. Not like this, though. This is incorrect. This is very misleading. It's not off label because there's no label. If I write, what's a good? Okay. So let's say there's a drug, Gabapentin 20 years ago, and it's seizure medication.

And it's only indicated for seizures, but I use it for neuropathic pain, the pain that's associated with damaged nerves. That's off-label. If I prescribe the I word, which is indicated in humans for parasites and some other conditions, but I use it for an RNA virus, then that would be an off-label thing. I'm allowed to do it, but I don't need the FDA to tell me whether I can do these or not. I can stick a needle anywhere I want to. As long as I'm willing to accept the consequence. That is true. That is very true.

So it says here more recently, researchers have been studying the use of stella ganglion blocks for other mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Oh, give me ketamine any day. So anyway, yeah, it says here you lie on your back and a procedure. table, they'll use a thin needle to inject a local anesthetic into your neck near your voice box with an ultrasound or fluoroscopic imaging guidance, your provider will insert

a second needle carefully inject an anesthetic medication. So are they actually looking for the still like ganglion with that? I mean, can you see it on ultrasound? Yeah, that's what they do it like that. I'm going to take a class. Yeah, fluoroscopy is okay, but you know, fluoroscopy's got radiation.

It's ridiculous. It's an ultrasound. And ultrasound's way more, way more effective. And it's something you can do in a normal outpatient clinic. I mean, it's a bedside thing. You lay somebody on their back and get them really comfortable. Well, you know, I've been thinking about... The procedure just literally takes five minutes. Starting a clinic where we can treat some of these things with drugs that typically aren't used.

I mean, you can go to any provider and get Prozac or Simbalta, but if those things failed you, what are you going to do? So, you know, there is ketamine. Typically, they'll put them on another antidepressant. That's correct. And they just keep going and going and going. So, you know, I failed on SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors like Paxel, Zoloft, and Prozac.

Mm-hmm. And then I failed on the SNRIs, the selective norapinephrine, I'm sorry, serotonin, norapenephrin reuptake inhibitors. Okay. And that's like Symbolta and, oh, what's the other one, pristine, pristique or whatever. And then I also failed on bupropion, which is a different antidepressant, never tried trintelics. But because I failed on all of those, I couldn't tolerate them and they didn't really do anything for me. that's what qualified me to start something alternative like ketamine.

Well, I'd like to have a clinic in place so that when we finally do have the ability to write microdose psilocybin that will have a mechanism ready to, you know, start prescribing it. And we're going to have therapists and do all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. But if I could do Stella Ganglingan block, heck, you know, a non-pharmacic treatment for PTSD. I would love to do that. So I'm sending this to myself to remind myself to see if I can find a class somewhere. Yeah, yeah.

Anyway. Yeah, that's pretty good stuff there. Yeah. You know, and any of those really complex pain syndrome, complex psychological issues, they rarely respond to just a single thing. Agreed. Agreed. Rarely. Talk therapy plus medication is better than either one alone.

Right. Yeah. Talk therapy, physical therapy. All of the, all the therapies can. mind, a lot of times, is really what you need for the really challenging cases. I'd like to have a comprehensive center where we did meditation and do all that stuff, at least teach people how to do it, or hell, sell them a damn Oculus with the trip app on it. I mean, why not?

You could, but then, but then again, there's, there's, there, you do miss the person-to-person contact. Well, I'm saying as a, as an adjunct. Yeah, yeah, not just by itself. Okay, yeah, okay, yeah. As long as you got in a really comprehensive clinic, I think it would be great. Yeah, we'd have to have a PhD therapist. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, to lead someone through the counseling, cognitive behavioral therapies, yeah.

I think it sounds good. Yeah, I'm big on cognitive behavioral therapy. That helped me a lot. Shoot, yeah. Yeah, and it's going through all that. And it is, and you never know what's going to set you off. You never know what's going to trigger you. And I always tell people that the number one thing you need to not do is compare yourself to others.

And if it upsets you, then it upsets you. Other than to know that other people have gone through that. My anxiety was so bad, I would curl up in a ball. I almost didn't get to go to medical school because of this. Oh, wow. But there was some, I don't consider myself to be all that strong of a person, but there was some reserve of strength in me that I had that made me go to work every day and made me challenge the anxiety because I didn't want it to,

be in charge of me. It's like, you know, it's just the same thing. Like when you're driving down the mountain and your brain says, okay, it's time to sleep and your eyes start to close, it's like, why are you trying to kill me? I thought we were on the same side. Yes, it doesn't make sense at all. Doesn't make sense. And the anxiety thing's the same way.

It's like there's a part of your brain that's like fight or flight constantly. It's like there's nothing going on right now. Stop it. But I had to do challenge therapy. It was my anxiety was so bad. I'm not kidding you. It was contemplated checking myself into an asylum somewhere. Sure, sure.

But I wasn't psychotic, so they wouldn't take me. Or, you know, jumping off a cliff. I was that, that's how bad it was. And but I think I told the story how I finally got cured of my, the majority of it. But I just kept challenging it. I went to work every day because this is what happened. you have a panic attack when you're at the movies

so you stop going to the movies and then it happens at the grocery store you stop going to the grocery store and then it happens going out and getting the mail so you don't go outside anymore and then the next thing you know you're confined to one room of your house

and even there you're still miserable not comfortable yeah so the one one thing is not giving into it so I went to work every day I did things that palpably

made me uncomfortable like going to the movies or being in crowds. And so I was in therapy, too. And I also found that there was a medication called ComBid, which was Prochlor-Parizene, which is Compazine, plus something else. I can't remember what was in it. And they used it for nausea, but that was one of my symptoms. And when my brother actually gave it to me.

Okay. And when I took that first one, it all went away. And I realized at that minute that it could go away. And that was the beginning of recovery for me. And so I went to the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh, and my love of fireworks eclipsed my fear of crowds. So I went there with my wife at the time, and it had rained for like five days, so they didn't get to do the fireworks. So it was the last night of the fair, and they shot off all the everything at once. It was the greatest fireworks finale that you could ever imagine.

Wow. And I was totally blown away by it, but I knew I was going to have a problem because any time I had a good day, I was followed by a bad day. Like if I laughed a lot with a friend, I knew the anxiety was coming. And on the way out of the fairgrounds, they just had one sort of chain-link door. and 10,000 people trying to all get out of the same door. And so I was in the middle of this vast sea of people, which was my worst thing, was crowds. And I couldn't move.

I mean, it was shoulder to shoulder. We were not moving. And my wife looked at me and she said, are you okay? And I went, I'm going to have to be. And at that moment, my brain realized I either have to die right now or I got to get better. And weirdly, after that, I got better. Now, it was still, I'm not saying it just went away. But I could feel it ebbing away to where for a long time I still couldn't walk in front of a open window.

If it was bright on the inside, dark on the outside, I couldn't see what was out there. But even that went away. So, you know, if you are having this problem right now, if you're having panic attacks, or PTSD it can be cured you don't have to live like this the rest of your life but it took

a shitload of work on my part and it took not giving into it and again I'm not talking like oh I was such a tough guy or whatever there was just something in me

that just wouldn't let it win you know and get help it's a tough thing to treat though yeah it really is a tough thing to live through. Doesn't mean you're weak.

It's your brain is rebelling against you for whatever reason. Yep. I don't know why I don't have an answer for that. Well, you know what? I think sometimes it's like a virus, like an opportunistic virus. I think there's something that gets into and all of a sudden it's an opportunistic thing. It's like, hey, right now is when you panic before, this is a really good time to panic even more. Yeah.

And you're like, oh, God, maybe I should panic right now. And it's a cycle that's just really painful. You may be on to something there, Dr. Scott. There are computer programs that optimize their own ability of their coat to pass on to the next processing cycle. Gotcha. Like some of them are viruses. Some of them are games, like the game of life, stuff like that. And it may be that there is some advantage inside the brain to some of these circuits firing.

and it causes them to fire more because they see that as an advantage and because they're proprietary or they, you know, it's a turf battle inside the brain, who knows? But those circuits are, they want to fire because somehow that gives them some sort of advantage.

I don't know. Yeah, I don't know either. It's fascinating. You know, I have to look it up to see if anybody's done any really thoughtful research on it, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, not just medicine research.

Right, right, right. Well, anyway, so Stel Ake-Gagli and Block, pretty interesting. All right, you got anything else? No, that's the main thing. You didn't even bring that. I brought it. Jesus Christ. Yeah, all right.

I helped a little bit. Yeah, you did. No, you did. You helped a lot, but particularly while I was coughing. My stupid bronchie ectesis, this is COVID-related from 2021, still kicks in every once in a while. and then I get this histamine release and my nose runs and I sneeze and it's just a nightmare.

The people on the YouTube channel had to witness it, the people listening to this after I edit it. I won't have to. No, thank you. Anyway. All right. Well, let's do this one. Cool. Dr. Steve.

Yes. Sorry. I have another question. Yeah. Okay. Well, we didn't hear the first one, so you're fine. My friend, she doesn't she said one she doesn't get the flu shot every year because one time she got the flu shot and it got her sick the flu shot got her sick I said you know dr. Steve we talk about you all the time Dr. Steve doesn't believe that he says he believes that you probably were getting sick already had the flu virus and it just once you got the shot it

kicked in you know rather the virus came to fruition or came to full whatever and you got sick because of that. Okay, so, yes, I'm going to, we'll go through that just for her, and we've done it multiple times on this show. But the other thing is, he didn't say she got the flu. He said that she got sick. You can get sick after having a flu shot. There's no question about that.

There are adverse reactions to, but what you can't get is influenza. So if she's saying, I took the flu shot, and then three days later, I got influenza, that is temporarily may be correct, but the cause and effect is incorrect. The flu shot didn't cause it. The typical flu shot that it's given to people

are killed. I mean, they were never alive. They're just chunks of antigens tapped on to some sugars and stuff like that. And we inject these and the body makes an immune response. And the reason you have to do it every year is because the stupid virus

mutates. So what they do is in the northern hemisphere, they look at what's happening in the southern hemisphere, and then assume that it's going to come here relatively unchanged, and then they make, real quick, make the vaccine. Now, sometimes they're wrong. One year, the flu vaccine was only 6% effective against getting influenza. It was still very effective against dying from it. Oh, good.

So that's the key. So if it's a killed, sorry, it's not even killed, it was never alive, it's just chunks of antigens, then it is not possible for you to get influenza from that because there's no flu DNA invading your cells and then recreating itself. So what normally happens when someone gets influenza after taking the flu shot is they were exposed to influenza on Saturday. they get their flu shot on Tuesday and then Wednesday or Thursday they come down with influenza they go see see some bitches yeah well you know the other thing

a lot of people get especially after those vaccines is a big histimetic response so they'll feel like they've got the flu because they've got flu-like symptoms you've got aches and pains and maybe a slight fever and they really fatigue but that's what you're

supposed to or not supposed to but that's not uncommon after any vaccine just shows that your body's And it's, it's, and, you know, what they, what they talked about, you know, or I've heard people speak of, is that the more robust a response is to a vaccine, the better your body's going to fight it off in the future. Yeah, well, which makes sense, right. I'm just, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, tell her that. And it's a form of bias that, you know, where two things look like they, well, they happen temporarily.

They happen at the same time, but they're not related causally. All right? I know. Very good. Good. Cool. Great sweet. Oh, here's his other question I see.

Now I'm... Hi, Dr. Steve. I have a question. Sure. I don't take Xanax, but I take Zoloft. I take a lot of Zoloft. I take, like, 75 milligrams. That's not a lot.

I don't know if it's once or twice a day. I can't remember. I always take it once a day, at least. Okay. But now, is Zoloft? I know Zanac is a benzok. Correct. Zoloft supposedly isn't a benzok.

That is correct. So Xanax is Al-Prasalam. That is a class of drugs called benzodiazepines. Those are what they used to call minor tranquilizers. In other words, they're really good for anxiety. Yes. And they're good for sleep. Yes.

They have sedative properties. They're great before MRIs. Yeah. For some of us. Zoloft is an SSRI anti-depressant. So selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor. They work by completely different mechanisms. Yeah.

Okay. Zolov really fucking helps. Like, I don't get pissed off and want to beat the shit out of people. You don't hear me. Good. Yes. And the thing is, if Zoloft helps with your anxiety, it's not. Well, there is a mild withdrawal syndrome, but it's not addictive the way that benzodiazepines are.

You can have benzodiazepine addiction where you crave the medicine. You take it for non-medical purposes, despite the, you know, beyond the point where it's doing you harm. Zoloft won't have that. If you stop it suddenly, you may go through withdrawal, but it's a milder withdrawal. and it's not life-threatening like benzodiazepine withdrawal can be and it's usually one or two weeks I had it when I quit Simbalta suddenly

before I realized you had to taper off these things but the easy thing is if you ever want to get off the Zoloft you just have them give you a taper but anyway. Tapered down okay I don't hear me screaming like Joey Fee like a maniac okay

let's leave Joey C out of this before. I don't know. Joey C is in the... Poor Joey C. He's in the dabbled verse. I don't know much about him, but this guy's calling him a maniac. I did not call you that, Joey C.

That was this guy. I don't drink at all, so... But I take Percocet. I take oxycodone, whatever this shit is called. Yeah, it's oxycodone, which is an oxycodone, which is an oxycodone, which is an oxycodone, which is an opioid and with, in combination with Tylenol or acetaminopin. And it's usually, it comes in five of oxycodone with 325 of acetaminophen or 7.5 or 10, but it's always with 325 of acetaminopin.

I take 10 milligrams up to four times a day. I never take four a day, but usually about two. Okay. But I have it up to four times a day. And because of that, and the Zoloft, they're saying that my medication for the pain medication needs a prior authorization every single month. And this dumb, I mean, this very nice female doctor lady will not write a 90-day description. So every single. Well, you can't.

So oxycodone is a Schedule 2 drug. can only be written in the United States for 30 days at a time. You can write three different ones. That is legal. You can write up to 90 days, but you can't write a 90-day supply. You can write one month, so he takes four a day, up to four a day, so he get 120 talent. The next month, he can get 120. The next month after that, he can get 120.

You can give them all three of those prescriptions at once, as long as they have today's date and the future fill date. Okay, gotcha. That makes sense. So today is October 7th, so I would give him a prescription for 120. And then on November 6th, they would have the next one, and then December 6th or 5th or whatever. They would get the third one. Each one for 120 dated with both of those days on it.

Single month, she sends in a refill for it, or every probably five or six weeks. She sends in a refill for it, and I have to call the pharmacy because I don't, you know, I don't get it. Because your insurance is requiring prior authorization. This is an insurance problem. For whatever reason, I don't know what kind of insurance you have, but your insurance is requiring prior authorization every single month. One of the reasons that they're doing that is to keep doctors and other health care providers from just writing it on and on and on and on without. thinking about it. Okay.

If they have to fill out a prior authorization, then they have to at least think about it for a second. Now, most of those providers have somebody in their office that does the prior authorization, but they still have to say, go get a prior off on this person. And they say, oh, you need a prior authorization. Right. Every single. Right.

And you know that. So just make sure they do it when they send the prescription in. Month. Why is that? Like, I don't drink. I don't use any... Yeah, it doesn't have anything to do with you. It's your insurance company is doing this.

And you could ask them. You could call your insurance company and say, seriously, why are you requiring prior authorization every single time? And they'll say, well, that's our policy because it's a schedule too. And if that's the case, then you don't have much wiggle room except for changing your insurance, which for most people is not an option. No, not a great idea. Street drugs.

Is there any, like, issue with the taking the pain medication and the Zolwalk at the same time? Now, I do take pain medication every single night, every single night. Okay, that's okay. And it sounds like your provider is doing all the right things. Talk to your insurance company, see why they have instituted this policy. If they are singling you out, you may be able to get them to change that because maybe they're algorithm. It's just like the YouTube algorithm very often deep platforms people for the wrong reason. You have to go appeal it. But that's who you need to call. This is not a pharmacy issue.

It's not a provider issue. It is purely an insurance issue. Okay. All right. Good questions, both of them. All right. Let's see. Steve. This is John Melendez. No, it's not. You probably know me as a world-famous Stuterman John. I do know John, and this is not he, but let's see if there's a medical question in here. Today's my birthday.

Oh. And that is true. John had a birthday recently. Happy birthday, sir. I'm 55, although I look 40. And if I drink 27 days a day, How old is that made my liver? Yeah.

What do you do, 28, 29, because it gets a good workout? All right. Oh, what's Cardiff's real name? What's Cardiff's real name? Yeah, it's Mr. Electric. I don't know Cardiff's real name. No one does. It's a mystery.

Diffick. I thought it was Diffick. What? No, I don't know what you're saying. I'm taking a bell away from it. Ah! Dr. Scott's not into the dabbler verse, so when he takes a stab at it, he doesn't know what the hell he saw. No, I've got no clue.

Sorry. I'm not a dabbler. It's starting to overlap into our show just a little bit. That was not stuttering John. But do you know of a calculation that you can do for liver age depending on how much you drink? No, but let me look that up. Yeah, that would be good. It would have been good if you'd done that one.

Well, I was playing the phone call, but that's okay. You're not PA, Lydia. It's fine. No, I'm not. But, yeah, the liver has to metabolize lots of things. It is the chemical factory of the body. And there are drugs that pass through the liver, and then they're converted to the actual drug. So we'll call that a pro drug that you take, and then it's converted into the actual drug.

And then when it's further broken down, we'll call those. molecules metabolites. And althol alcohol goes through a couple of stages, and one of those is to be converted to acid aldehyde. And there are some people that cannot metabolize it further than that. And those are people that when they drink, their face turns red and they feel like shit, and they really just can't drink because they can't metabolize alcohol properly. And then the next, there's another phase.

Another phase, well, it causes a lot of stress on the liver, not completely dissimilar to what acetaminopin does to. I mean, you can kill yourself if you take too much Tylenol because the liver can't handle it. It overwhelms it. And after a while, you can cause so much inflammation in the liver from drinking that you get a thing called cirrhosis, which is just scarring of the liver tissue. And if you stop drinking soon enough, you can reverse it or at least stabilize it to the liver. the point where it doesn't bother you. But everybody's different. Some people can drink their whole life and get knocked down, wiped out drunk every single day, day in and day out, and never get cirrhosis.

And then you have other people that I've seen, whether, you know, 30 years old, they won't have been drinking for a year and they've already got end-stage liver disease. There are other things that you can get from chronic alcohol abuse, and one of those is a thing called Wernicke-Korsocob syndrome. Someone was on line trying to make that argument about John, and I don't agree with that. I've never examined John, so anything that we say would just be hypothesis. But I don't see any signs of Wernicke-Korke-Korz-Korke. For the people who have been around for a while, Lady Di or Diana Urbani, most likely has Wernicke-Korke-Kor-Cov syndrome. It's a dementia that's caused by prolific. drinking, and it comes from a lack of certain nutrients in your diet.

And we normally see that in people that drink to the exclusion of everything else. So anyway, John's never asked me for any advice about his health, and all we know is what we see. And so I only answer things hypothetically. This didn't have anything to do with him. Just in general, that's what happens to some people when they drink a lot. And I am not making any comments about him whatsoever because I really can't. You know, how can we do that?

I mean, we just see what we see on the Internet. It doesn't, but I don't want anybody to be ill, particularly if it's preventable. But anyway, we all got to live our own lives the way that we live. Okay, let's see. Hi, Dr. Steve. I just listened to the episode, sorry, two episodes behind. listen to the episode with bacteria. Yeah.

And how you said it was the same as in yogurt that it is in the woman's vagina. Correct. What I said was that it's proof that our creator has a sense of humor because the same bacteria that make yogurt is the same bacteria that makes a healthy vaginal wall. So in theory, would it be possible because I know to make yogurt you know, you know, need milk and you need to heat it, treat it, but you also need to introduce some type of bacteria.

Right. So in theory, could you take a swap of a female vagina and then introduce that into the milk to make your yogurt, homemade? Sure. I wonder if anyone's ever actually done it. The thing is that they've probably done it with

breast milk too, which is even more gross. but, I mean, just somebody's just doing, you know, using human parts to make, or human secretions to make stuff. Right. But, yeah, in theory you could, but now there's not just lactobacillus in the vagina, though. That's the thing. You'd have to isolate just the lactobacillus. Scott, look that up and see if anyone has ever made yogurt from vaginal secretions. I'm just very curious if someone has done that.

Well, let me finish this guy. Sure. made yogurt, and who knows, maybe it'll turn into a health food trend like eaten placenta. Anyway, love to hear the answer on that one. Well, you know, that is funny, you know, with Gwyneth Paltrow pushing vaginal steaming and stuff, why couldn't we just push vaginal yogurt? Did you find anything? Not yet, but I'm looking. Hey, give me a minute.

No, we don't have a minute. That's the whole point. All right. yogurt yogurt how are you searching for it can I make yogurt

out of vaginal juices okay Carl loves that okay using vaginal fluids to make yogurt here you go there you go lactobacillus is a class

bacteria responsible for transforming milk into yogurt same class bacteria lives in vaginal fluid bacteria can be cultured and grown overnight and then inoculated with milk and incubated

And here, med students makes yogurt using her own vaginal bacteria. Bay Area natural food enthusiasts may not even be able to handle this recipe. A med student has come up with a way to make yogurt with her own vaginal secretion. Well, she's trying to prove a point. Cecilia Westbrook, an MD PhD student in University of Wisconsin, and her friends wondered why there are so many semen-based recipes and nothing on Google about cooking. with vaginal juices. Oh, no, yes, well. It's where you're being discriminated against.

Westbrook knew. Most common bacteria in healthy vagina is lactobacillus. That's the same bacteria found in yogurt, cheese, and dairy products. We'll make cheddar cheese out of it. Then you've really done something. She chronicled her findings in a blog titled, How to Make Breakfast with Your Vagina. Yes.

Okay. I couldn't think of another way But that would be Anyway Tacey's not here To tell me to shut up She grabbed a spoon of pan A candy thermometer

Set out to create yogurt From her vagina The ultimate locally sourced cuisine Well okay There you go Okay she harvested healthy Vaginal fluid Using a wooden spoon

Oh no it's all dry Weird It gets splinters And she did a taste test She described vaginal yogurt It is sour, fresh, and tingled a bit on the tongue. Reminded her of Indian yogurt and they ate it with blueberries. Well, good for them.

I think that's awesome. You know, there's your answer. All for it. There you go. All right, Dr. Scott. Well, I think we ought to just wrap it up and I think we can top that today. Sounds good to me, Dr. Steve. That's a pretty good stuff.

Check out Dr. Scott's website at simplyherbils.net. Please don't forget stuff.doctorsteve.com. Thanks for everyone that made this show happen over the years. Listen to our SiriusXM show on the Faction Talk channel, SiriusXM Channel 103. You can listen to it over the satellite, but the best way to listen to it is on demand. Many thanks to our listeners whose voicemail and topic ideas

make this job very easy. Go to our website, Dr.steve.com for schedules, podcasts, and other crap. Until next time, check your stupid nuts for lumps, quit smoking, get off your asses, get some exercise. We'll see you in one week for the next edition of Weird Medicine. Thanks. Thank you.