Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine - Sawbones: What's the Point of Soup?

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

Start the summer off smarter with the answers to listener medical questions! What old-timey diseases should I worry about if I time travel? Are meat sweats a real thing? Is there any risk in being exposed to drugs in giving someone mouth-to-mouth? And why does Aleve get the short end of the stick when it comes to choice painkillers?Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Saw bones 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 All right from that weird growth. You're worth it. Alright, time is about to books. One, two, one, good day for our family. We came across a pharmacy with a toy and that's lost it out. We saw through the broken glass and had ourselves a look around. The medicines, the medicines that escalate my cop for the mouth. Wow, it's a really good one.

Hello everybody and welcome to Sobone. So, Marital Tour of Miscited Medicine, I'm your co-host Justin McRoy. And I'm Sydney McRoy. And I'm so excited to say, because it's one of my favorite times of the year. Is it? Well, summer.

Summer? Summer. And a new season means it doesn't always work out this way, but we're gonna answer some of your medical questions. And a new season means it doesn't always work out this way, but we're going to answer some of your medical questions. And by we, I mean you. Because the alternative would be wise. Oh, Justin, sometimes you take a stab at them and see what happens. That's true. Yeah, just like many of our beloved mass murderers, I take a stab at them and see what happens.

Should I offer you the opportunity to answer more of these questions moving forward? Should I be like, Justin, why don't you feel this one? I'm more of a, I'm more of a, yeah. Why don't you do this one and see how you do? Okay, Sid, I am so excited. Let me pull up our questions because I didn't have a pull up already.

I do. I have them, and I titled it, Weird Medical Questions with the Date, which is what I always do. And I capitalize both the M and the E in medical and it's really bothering. I'm just going to fix that. Just fix it real quick. We can take that off. Yeah, we can do that.

Is it better now? It's fine now. It's fine now. It's fine now. Hi. Why do doctors always ask me when my last period was? I mean, I'm coming to the urgent care for flu slash cold symptoms that won't go away as a lesbian that practices safe sexual habits.

It would be preposterous for me to conceive, though not impossible, I guess. I don't know. I feel like it's an invasion of my privacy for my doctor to ask me the day of my last period. And I foolish to be nervous. I usually don't remember the exact day. So I just guess. That's as much love. Meg the oaky. I so I like this question. I actually the first two questions are both from the same listener and I appreciated the scenario, which we'll see. But so I was thinking about this because

I had an encounter today where I asked a patient when their last period was, but in that specific instance, the reason I was asking is because the patient was concerned about a possible pregnancy. And so part of the whole process of like, first of all, you know, doing a pregnancy test is pretty, I mean, it's no risk, like, you know, you pee and we dip the stick in it. What are things y'all do? It's pretty pretty been all. Yeah, yeah. But so like I was gonna do the test,

but like I also like counseling before and after, like what is the, what are we looking at right now? And so and then of course if a test is positive, you want to know date of last menstrual period because that helps us determine how far along you are and make a lot of loss. So that's all important. And I started thinking like how often do I ask that question?

I generally don't, unless it is directly relevant to the complaint, or like if I'm trying, if I'm gonna consider prescribing a medication that could be dangerous for someone of child-bearing age, I might say, is there a possibility you could be pregnant? And then if the person was unsure,

I would probably just offer a test. So I don't know in this situation, it's actually hard for me to generate a good answer for you because I do not ask my patients who present with cold and flu symptoms when their last menstrual period was. So I found that kind of interesting that it would be on a standard intake form. It certainly would be at like a no BGYN's office.

It absolutely is. And sometimes as part of an entire, if I'm doing like your first appointment, you're someone who has periods, you've come to see me for the first time to establish care as your family doctor. I might ask you then. But I don't, I mean, I don't think it's necessary malicious or insidious that someone would ask. I wouldn't assume that, but I also don't don't entirely understand why it would ever be relevant on just like

a random walking clinic visit. That being said, I thought the second part of the question was interesting to think about would it make you nervous to share that information? And I think that that's a really valid fear. Whether or not I think that in reality anyone would do anything with that information. I mean, to be honest, it was recorded, I would think, this is my guess, I'm not the provider, but I would guess. It was recorded in the EMR, and that was that. And it nothing will be done with that piece of information. It was a box that was checked, a date that was filled in, and that was that.

But I can certainly understand why you would be concerned about that. And certainly in the case where someone would find out they were pregnant in a medical setting, I can understand the fear surrounding other people knowing that about your body, depending on what state you live in or I mean assuming you live in the United States. But just to kind of call me your fears. On the doctor end, my guess is that for the most part, these are just like standard intake forms that have a probably pretty unnecessary question. They're like a broad swath.

And so if it was something in any way related to the possibility that you could be pregnant or something like that, having that data on the paperwork would be useful and they're not going to have to come back to your room to ask you. So I think it's a convenience thing. But I can understand your fear.

I doubt that it has anything to do with anything other than paperwork. Let's see. Our next question here, I am sick again. Freshly 26 and graciously yanked off my parents insurance. I'm trying to navigate a medical system that is, let's face it. Food bar. The doctor seemed me forgot to knock. So I was lying face down to allow the mucus to flow freely when he asked it in growth voice. This is me. It was 2 p.m. Therefore, I was sympathetic when he was less enthusiastic about

all the questions I had for him. I get it. Everyone needs an app at two. But when he shrug after I asked him, I signed his infection with contagious. I felt pretty let down by a service I'm hanging a lot of my own money for. But thank goodness I do know someone willing to answer a silly medical question. My question for you is, can I take over the counter allergy relief along with my prescribed moxasillin and predisone, or will that cancel each other out? I appreciated that Meg was probably stuck in an urgent care situation for a long time and took the time to write us two emails during this. During this visit.

Is it two separate visits? Because Meg does say I'm sick again. They're written on the same day. Okay. All right. And let's say we're two separate visits on the same day. That's a rough day, Meg. That's a rough day, Meg.

I thought that this was important, not just for the specific, it goes a very specific situation that you encountered, and I will urge you, I cannot give you personal medical advice. I don't know your history. I don't know your allergies or what other meds you might be on or whatever. And so to be able to like broad strokes answer, yes, you can take a medicine. You can't do that from a podcast. That would be irresponsible and I can't give you good advice. Generally, that is cleaner. Madison, you can't do that from a podcast. That would be irresponsible and I can't give you good advice. Right.

Generally, that is a claim more. Right. Generally speaking, a lot of people will go see a doctor because they have some sort of cold flu type upper respiratory syndrome. They might be prescribed something like antibiotics and steroids. And the vast majority of the time over the counter, cold and flu meds or allergy meds are not going to interfere with those things. The vast majority of the time they're all located together.

I cannot speak to your specific situation, Meg, because I'm not your doc. But I will say this is why it is really important that you be able to advocate for yourself. And I understand why this was an uncomfortable situation. And certainly, the onus is on us as the provider to make you feel comfortable asking questions, even silly questions. Because no question is silly if you don't know the answer. That's true. You need to know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Especially about your own healthcare. And so no matter how your provider is acting, you have a right to ask those questions. And it's hard because we do have this consumer model of medicine in the US. And I think that that plays out in two different ways. I think there are some people who feel like because they're paying, they are entitled to demand whatever they want. And there are some people who feel like, and I think I fall into this category,

I'm someone who feels like if I'm paying for something, if I'm a customer, I want to be the best customer possible and not demand anything. I feel like for me, I think like the way you act in a restaurant is probably pretty predictive of this. If you're constantly complaining and sending everything back, you're probably gonna make sure

that doctor answers every question you wanna to know before they leave the room because you get it. You paid for this. They're selling you. Healthcare is a product. If you're someone who is like me and who will eat raw chicken before you'll send it anything back, then you're going to want to get out of that room without asking any questions because you're going to be really sensitive to the way the provider's feeling. And honestly, that's why medicine shouldn't be for profit.

Because the entire system shouldn't be predicated on how much you're paying for something. It should be you go in with a problem, your concerns are addressed, you're diagnosed and treated appropriately. And you leave feeling better than when you arrive. Because of the medicine. Or because of whatever assessment and opinion you got. Sometimes you don't need medicine. So I would just encourage you, don't be afraid to ask these questions. Don't be afraid to speak up for yourself. Even if you're a provider being grumpy, that's their problem.

Yeah, as I am. You don't have to suffer for that. All right. Let's see. Today at work, coworker mentioned to me that he didn't believe that sun exposure causes skin cancer. His evidence for this claim was that humans have been farming and spending long amounts of time in the sun for thousands of years, and it would follow that ancient humans did not know about sunscreen and therefore should have been dying of skin cancer.

He then says ancient humans weren't dying in drops from skin cancer. Therefore, the sun does not cause skin cancer. Obviously, he is bonkers for thinking this, but if one of you explained just exactly why he is wrong, all I could say is that there's actually an entire body of evidence proving that the sun causes cancer, but I didn't have any specifics to debate him with. Thanks, Natalie. You know, Natalie, it's tough when you are talking about something that is so well known, has been so well studied and researched and is accepted not as like a theory. But it is. But as a truth, it can be hard to debate.

I feel like this is almost like debating somebody who believes the earth is flat. Right, because it's not, and that makes it tough, right? It's not. It's not. The earth isn't flat. That's, it's not.

No. It's not really a debate, it's just like it's not. No, and I mean, and these are bad, like on some level, it's not really a debate. It's just like it's not no and I mean and these are bad like on some level It's a bad faith argument, right and it's not like what I Don't know when the preponderance of evidence in all the world is on your side and someone chooses not to believe it That's yeah, I don't know that you can win so so let me first say that it may not be worth debating with this person But you're obviously concerned for their safety as well because this individual needs to know that yes, sun exposure is a risk factor for developing skin cancer. Of course it is. We know that we know that

damage to our DNA from any source. There are a number of things that can be cancer causing that are carcinogens. And if they damage your DNA and cause cells to grow irregularly, that can lead to cancer. The fact that everyone in the ancient world didn't die of skin cancer doesn't mean anything because everyone today doesn't wear sunscreen appropriately, right, like not everyone, and not everyone develops skin cancer. A lot of that is just the genetic luck you got, right, like not everyone, and not everyone develops skin cancer. A lot of that is just the genetic luck you got, right? It's the same argument somebody makes who is still smoking at 90 years old and says, see, smoking doesn't cause lung cancer. I'm fine. It's called a risk factor, not a weapon from God to kill you with sunlight, right? People in the ancient world died of skin cancer. They did. Not all of them, because we're here.

Not all of them died of anything, because we're still here. We continue to exist. Humans are pretty good at continuing to exist. We just keep making more of us. But definitely people did die of skin cancer, and Sun exposure definitely is a risk factor for that. And it is super important. If nothing else, I wanted to address this question because if nothing else, please remember

that it is important to wear your sunscreen. It is important to limit the direct exposure of your skin to the sun's radiation. Just like any other potentially cancer causing substance on Earth. The sun has good good things for you, right? Your vitamin D. But also, you don't need too much of it. I will also say this as long as you're doing a little theorizing. What you can demonstrably prove is that the sun causes sun burns and it stands to reason that we, as a species, would want to ameliorate sunburns as much as possible, right? So even before the advent of sunscreen, we were likely taking steps to limit our sun exposure

to prevent us from getting sunburns because they're very unpleasant. Namely close. We started wearing clothes. Yeah. Even in hot places. Yeah. Yeah. And not just to cover our dangleings. Yes. We, I mean, there is a lot of evolutionary evidence that humans figured out before we knew the word

cancer, that too much sun exposure could be harmful. I was listening to an older episode where you mentioned a doctor who would stitch his initials into people in Morse code when he would have finished surgery. Not cool, I'm sorry, I laughed. It brought to mind something that happened to a friend who was seeing a kind of college as for a bit that she liked. Upon googling his name, she found that he had some legal action against him because he had branded patients' uteruses with his initials during surgery. I was horrified by this, but upon googling, I found many people defending this practice. What is this common? Do you have any personal opinions on the practice? Also, is there a historical

reason why an approach is so much less popular than ibuprofen? I grew up in a leave family. It seems like everyone was taking time on our ad bill. For the number of products in the storage reflexes too, this is probably observation by us, but had me thinking. Okay, so first of all, I was trying to think of any sort of rationale for defending someone branding their initials into a, first of all, you shouldn't be branding uteruses. Yeah, just as a rule. That's not part of the... This is a hey dude. I have been an assistant on C-sections throughout my medical training.

You don't brand the uterus. That's not part of what we do. There is, so the only thing that we use that's even similar to that in a surgical procedure, there is coterie, which is like burning. Burning the wound to a sea letter. Yeah, or like a blood vessel that's bleeding, right? Something to stop bleeding.

That's usually what electric cotatery is used for. Not for branding. If you're writing with it, like, I can't, having been in ORs and I would think my colleagues who are in ORs would echo this, I cannot imagine the horror in the room if you started writing on an organ. It's start, I'm sure that.

And certainly, did you make the brand? Like, did this surgeon make have the brand privately made and then brought with him and sterilized to the OR? I'm assuming it's a man. That's probably unfair, but maybe it isn't. I mean, and it could be okay. I don't want to say I don't know the specific scenario, but it seems so wild to me that it almost it makes you wonder if it's like It seems so wild to me that it almost, it makes you wonder if it's like a urban myth or spear campaign. It feels like an urban legend to me. Yes.

Because like you're saying, who in the OR is going to be like, he's doing it again. All this old dog. He's always branding you to eye with his name. It's wild. It, it, it's so wild. But why don't things do happen? I'm not saying. Well, and if there was, if there,

if there really was a gynecologist who did this, I would certainly hope that they lost their license. I would certainly hope that they're no longer practicing medicine. I would think you would have more than a malpractice case against them. It's hard for me to fathom. I mean, I'm not a lawyer, but why is that not a criminal action?

All right. That has nothing to do with surgery. This isn't like outside the standard of care. This is just intentional harm. I don't know. Anyway, I would never, ever defend that. And I can't imagine a medical professional who would, who I would take seriously.

Right. Obviously, there are bad people in every profession. Sure. And then in terms of an approximate ibuprofen, I don't know, you know, that's really true. Most people I know either take ibuprofen or Tylenol, I feel like that naproxen is more often known by the brand name Alive and people don't know

the two are the same. Whereas ibuprofen, the generic name is much more widely known. Yeah. But I would say this is a marketing issue. I would say that that's why. They both can work fine. I feel like also a leave when it came out. I feel like it was newer. I feel like I remember a leave. And I feel like the pictures were always semi grabbing their back. Like, ah, I think I thought was just for

backs. I do think I'd be prepping has done a better job of like marketing itself as an all-purpose anti-inflammatory. Tylen all grab that space as a fever reducer. People always think of Tylen all for a fever reducer, even though like I'd be proven good as well. Orally, I think Naproxen just didn't grab that market share. I think it's marketing. That would be my guess. Yeah, probably. Hypothetically speaking, if I were on my way to work and accidentally got sucked off into a time portal and emerged 1000 years in the past, would I be a danger to any old timing people I met to the best of my knowledge I don't currently have any contagious diseases have all the vaccines of 40 year old American can be expected to have.

I had not chicken box vaccine because that was admitted I had already had it and that small box because they stopped giving that out once it was eradicated. Alternatively, because things like the English sweat were never solved and I don't have the small box vaccine would I be in danger from old time you people? That's from Nick. So Nick, I don't necessarily think in terms of infectious disease,

you'd necessarily be at higher, or like I don't know the risk in terms of that. Like you're vaccinated against stuff That people a thousand years ago would not have been vaccinated against right so you got a leg up on them You don't pose a threat to them though and in some ways you pose less of a threat right because you're not gonna carry anything to them either Um, and I can't think of anything that was around back then That isn't you, that we would like, I mean, the only thing I can think, okay, so the big things that would have gotten you back then, smallpox is one of them. So you're not vaccinated. So

you're at the same risk of everybody else, right? Lepercy was an issue at this point, typhoid, which you probably haven't been vaccinated for maybe, but maybe not. Flu, if you've been vaccinated for flu, but it depends on what was circulating in 1032 or 1023. I don't know. It's the old, weird flu. Now you've got your theory of vaccine probably. Malaria, you might be at risk for depending on where you are, a dysentery. So here's what I would say. While in terms of like immunity and stuff, you're better prepared, and I don't think

you pose a greater risk to anyone. What I would worry about is just like the problems that everyone else faces at the time. Like if you get dysentery or color or whatever, we didn't have IV fluids yet. So that's going to be bad. We don't have antibiotics. So for a lot of these things I mentioned, you know, we don't have anti-malarials. Like, we don't, we can't treat you. So I think you're just sort of at the same risk as everybody else, which is you're at greater risk from

these things because we don't have a lot of the modern medical supports. You just got to get back, Nick. You just got to get back, Nick. You just gotta get back Nick. Why are you, how did you get stuck in 1023? These wormholes. Justin. Yeah. We need to take a break.

No. We have to go to the billing department. Absolutely no. It's time. Okay. You win. Let's go. The medicines, the medicines that ask you let my God for the mouth. And I guess I have to figure out what it is. Let's do one right now. What show am I talking about? This podcast has game after game, and brilliant guests who complain. I was his name Dave. It could be your faith. So try it. Life won't be the same.

Uh, a big business starring that middle-air in the Lleetonlin. Close. But no. Oh, is it troubled waters? The pop culture quiz show with all your favorite comedians? Yes, troubled waters is the answer. To this question and all of my life's problems, now legally we actually can't guarantee that. But you can find it on MaximumFun.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Jakey, do you know what I love more than the trivia, comedy, and celebrity guests on our podcast? Go fact yourself. No, what, Ellen? Sharing all of those things with an actual audience. A live audience. Woohoo! Well, lucky for you listeners, go fact yourself as brand new episodes featuring live audiences

cheering on guests every month. And we still have all of our Zoom episodes with contestants and experts from around the world. We can truly have it all! Yay! You can hear it all twice a month every month on MaximumFun.org or wherever you get podcasts. Yeah, no excuses.

So if you're not listening, you can go fact yourself. Over the years, I've occasionally heard people refer to the meat sweats. Like the Ida lunche meat is starting sweating a lot. Is this a real thing? If so, what causes it? Thanks for vibing and keeping it tight, Alex from the Twin Cities. And obviously, this is confirmed, yes, the meat sweats are real. Anybody who experiences them knows that they are no laughing matter.

We don't have studies to back that up. I have a study. It's called ponderosa. There are a lot of people, there are a lot of people who anecdotally insist that meat sweats are real. Doctors. They're, well, I mean, I'm sure there are doctors who will say that. I'm sure there are dieticians who will say that. I will just say that like from what I could find in terms of research, like studies, there wasn't

necessarily a higher report of sweating after a meat filled meal. Related incident. Then there is after any other large meal. Sweating didn't necessarily increase. The theory behind this is that when you eat protein, like a high protein meal, that your body digesting the protein, it will actually increase in temperature from the protein just a teeny bit. Your body is like processing.

Yeah, to digest the protein, your body increases in temperature just a teeny bit. But it's such a small increase in body temperature, it would not necessarily produce sweating. So that's the thought behind it. It doesn't really pan out, and we don't have a study that says conclusively, people who eat a lot of meat sweat more. So I don't, I don't, I think it's probably that you notice it, right?

You eat a big meal, and I don't know. It depends on where you live, too. In the US, I feel like we have this sort of sense for a lot of people of a big meal. And I don't know, it depends on where you live too. In the US, I feel like we have this sort of sense for a lot of people of a big meal involves a big piece of meat. Yes. Cause that's what makes it a meal is the meat part. So are you just noticing that like you just ate a big steak, but also a bunch of other stuff and you got sweaty after you ate this big giant meal? Yeah, probably. I mean, I've been there. It's rough. But as far as I could find there isn't conclusive proof that the meat sweats actually exist.

Where is the funding for this research on meat sweats? It's not going to change anything, though. No, it's not important. Hello, I just listened to the episode on Zylesene. I'm a librarian in a public library and we got an arcane training a few years ago. We were taught to never do mouth to mouth. Since we don't know for sure what they might have taken

and if it could be transferred from us to them, is this the state-to-state thing? I'm in PA and an online guideline or something you have to make a risk assessment about in the moment. Thanks a bunch, you're the best Sydney. That's from a friendly neighborhood librarian in Pittsburgh, PA.

So I don't know if it's necessarily a state to state thing as much as what I'm guessing is that if you were trained on behalf of like your employer, you know, there's some liability coming into play there. Right. I was never like, if I am in a situation where I need to give mouth to mouth and I don't have some sort of mask or barrier device in which to use during that process, I am going to give them mouth to mouth. But I'm also a physician.

No, we get it. No, I'm a physician. No, I'm a physician. Yes, so give mouth to mouth to anybody. We get it. And I would not, your risk of absorbing or consuming a substance at that point would be so small. I mean, we're really talking about like what did the person do? In my area, the person probably has injected something. So it's not in their mouth. If they snorted something,

it's still probably not in their mouth. If they took a pill, well, it's not in their mouth. So, you know what I'm saying? Like, it would be a weird, it'd be a very rare kind of one and a million scenario that you'd have to concoct to be exposed to the substance orally. The bigger fear for people is, what if they've got like an open wound? What if you see a blister or a catter, a sore or something like that? What if they cough or vomit when they come to, which can happen? Things like that, I think those are the bigger concerns, which is why I really encourage, because at the end of the day, I took an oath, my job is to take care of people.

And I am willing at times to put my own personal safety or risk to do so. But that's the job I took. Right. Not everybody necessarily has to sign up for that. No. at times to put my own personal safety or risk to do so. But that's the job I took. Not everybody necessarily has to sign up for that. So I think that giving Narcan being willing to administer rescue breasts, you need a mask. They make these little masks.

I have one on my key chain, Justin, you have one. I hand them out every time I hand out a box of Narcan now. That is, it's a little teeny square and you open it up and it's got a plastic, flat mask that you can simply lay over the person's mouth. It's got a whole, of course, free to breathe through. And now you've protected yourself from any exchange of, you know, any sorts of fluids or whatever.

I would really encourage you, they're available online. Any place that gives out Narcan generally has these as well. Usually places like the Red Cross would have these available any sort of like CPR or life saving courses that are taught in your community. They would be able to give you these little teeny mass. They're big ones, like they're big giant plastic cases. You can clip on your belt loop

that have like a big plastic mask you can use instead. I usually don't carry that around. I have one in my office. You can get them in bulk, right? I think we got a big bag of like 100 of them off Amazon. Yes, and if you have any local harm reduction program, they should have them for free. I hand them out for free to everybody.

I would encourage you that if you're somebody who has been Narcan trained, if you're trained in CPR, rescue breathing, any of these sorts of things, investing in one of these masks, which are relatively cheap, is a good thing to have on you. So then you can do rescue breathing and feel safe, you know, and confident while you're doing it. I have a weird medical question for you.

Say you had undiagnosed medical condition during my life, and then I donated my body upon death. If it was to second by medical students who discovered the condition, would they notify my family on a related note? Are they gonna have us even kept track of them that way? If there were something noteworthy, would they even know who the person was or would they be able to connect with the family?

Thanks so much, that's from Chelsea. I was thinking about this. So I think that the chances that just, because of the nature of the sort of anatomical dissection we do post mortem in medical school, the likelihood that we would discover any sort of undiagnosed chronic disorder is pretty low at that point. Obviously, we can see very major things on gross dissection, but you got to remember it's just a gross

dissection. By gross, I mean, I don't mean gross. You understand I'm not saying gross like you. Yeah, I don't mean growth. You understand I'm not saying growth like you. Yeah, I do. I mean, I'm just looking at the organs themselves, like the visible to the eye objects. So I, I mean, I, I saw things like a bleed in a brain. You can look inside an artery, perhaps, to see some disease, although like other processes have taken place that may make that harder to see, like, to preserve the bodies. You can see a big cancer growth. I saw that in many patients. But those are things that would have been diagnosed, right? Right. We're not doing pathology. We're not looking at anything under a microscope. And certainly, any of the things that have not so much

to do with the structure of the human body, but the function of the human body, we can't see that now. Right. So the likelihood that we would ever uncover anything like that, I, again, I think this would be an incredibly rare. I guess this person would probably be asking in case of like, like it's something genetic that the family would need to know about, right? Is that, would that be the purpose, I guess, if you were to find something? Yeah, but I don't know how we would,

I can't think of a good example of something that would be genetic and would be visible on gross inspection and also would have flown under the radar their entire life. Art. You know what I'm saying? Like that combination would be hard to. This is a grizzly question, but are there remains returned to families after the science is done with them? So after every medical school, I think, does their own thing,

but at most medical schools, there is a ceremony, a memorial ceremony at the end that the medical students are welcome to attend, the families and friends and loved ones of the people who donated their bodies are welcome to attend, where the names and pictures and the people, their remains are usually cremated, they can be buried, there can be other ways, you know.

I mean, there are other things that can happen, but there is a ceremony after the course is over where the remains are interred in some way and the person's life and gift to the medical school is celebrated. So they are not anonymous. You can, I mean, if they're in this rare scenario, and I couldn't even concoct something that would come up with this, so I don't think this would happen.

But let's say it did, they're not de-identified. There would be a way to communicate that information with the family. I know that getting the best possible medical care requires honesty with your doctors and other caregivers. However, how much can doctors tell from raw lab data and how hard are they supposed to lean on a patient they might suspect of obfuscating the truth about their home routines, factors leading up to an incident, etc. I'm just trying to take an active role in my parents health care. I'm seeing what I've launched suspected. They don't tell their doctors

the whole truth when they think it makes them look bad. I understand doctors can only do so much within an incomplete picture, but there are things have gone unaddressed and undiagnosed that I, as a non medically educated person, what we have expected to be a parent from labs, hospitalization, records, etc. Thank you for your insight, and everything you do to make the show that's from Kim and Florida. So, most of the time, this is in me speaking from my experience. I often know if a patient, like I can look at lab data sometimes and know that maybe I'm not

getting the whole story. Everybody lies, that's what you're saying. No, I'm not saying everybody lies. I'm not a house person. I do think that, I mean, I mean, I'm a patient too. It's hard to tell your doctor the whole truth if you want to make them proud. If that is your goal, which some patients want their doctor to feel proud of them, not all, but some do. It's sometimes it's hard to say like, yeah, I just totally didn't take my medicine for a week. I just forgot.

Or I know you told me to be careful about sugar because of my diabetes. But I didn't. But I didn't. I ate a bunch of sugar every day. Sorry. Oops. It can be really hard to admit those things, those lifestyle things, because you feel like, and especially like the culture, we have equates so much of that with like some sort of moral,

you know, value, like if you're good, and even the words we use, good, if you follow doctor's instructions in terms of like eating or physical activity, then somehow you're a better person than someone who doesn't, right? That's not true, but I think a lot of our society kind of equates those things. So we are really difficult to be honest with your physician. We know that. We know that. I am never, I always urge my residents not to play a game of gotcha with patients. I mean, like, how do you feel cared for? You're very satisfying, though, if the doctor is like, actually, I got you. Well, what's your goal, though?

If you're a doctor and your goal is to catch your patient, okay, well, then you shouldn't go into medicine. I'm sorry, okay? But if you want to help somebody get better, then you need to foster a relationship that encourages them to be honest with you and it's going to take somebody a while. So you don't call them out. You say like we need to work harder on this, maybe hear some other approaches we could take, maybe see some things we could do.

But it really has to be something where the patient is ready to work with you on those things and wants that help. Not everybody wants help for everything. And you can't, you know, my job is not to force you into some perfect paradigm of health that I decided you need. My job is to work within the frame you'll give me. I have the opposite problem. I tell my doctor absolutely everything no matter how small,

and then I just stare at them like they've assembled all these details and some sort of mind palace and the incredible rare condition that I possess will come to light. There are, that happens more than you'd think. I would always say though, this is why if you have a family member like that who's not very forthcoming and you know it, going and be like corroborating evidence is really useful. It depends on like different family dynamics. I will say just and again, this is me speaking from the part of the world where I live in practice. Sometimes if I had, especially like an older male patient who was telling me everything

was just groovy and was not saying anything else, and the labs, or whatever was suggesting otherwise, I would encourage him to bring his wife. For this culture where I live, that dynamic was very helpful because usually the wife would tell me everything. And then I got all the details and I could actually help the patient a lot more.

Again, I know that sounds very stereotypical and heteronormative, but that is the culture in which Justin and I live and where I practice medicine. And I found that that dynamic existed a lot. I said, what is vaginal calculus? I keep seeing references to it, but nobody explains what it is. Cheers, Tom. This is a rare one, Tom. What do you mean?

This condition, this condition, vaginal calculus. Oh, it's condition. Okay, I got it. Did you think vaginal calculus like math? Yeah, I guess I was thinking like kind of math you do to figure out something with the vagina. Some measurements are some T square. I don't know. Oh, the T square of the vagina. I just vaginalare, I don't know. Oh, the t-square of the vagina? I just vaginal calculus, I don't know. No, it sounds like an open, sounds like an... What is the pie of the vagina? So like a nerdy guys way describing getting on with it.

Okay, that was, I can't with that. No, they're talking about calculus as in stone, as in like a stone in the vagina. Wow. Okay, that's actually more, more, even more operator than I was expecting. You can have a, I mean, like what we're more familiar with is a calculus in your kidney, or your urethra, or your urethra or your ureter or your bladder. Okay. Viginerals. Yes. So this is a really rare thing.

Most people listening probably have never had it. You may not even know somebody. I have never seen a case of it personally. But what this, what happens is a urine collects and pulls inside the vagina. And then because it's just sitting there, different substances, like calcium and such, that are excreted in your urine, can start to form crystals and stones, and you can develop a stone in your vagina, just like you can, and these other organs we already mentioned, right? Same process, just different organ that they are existing in. The reason this tends

to happen is because you have some sort of communication between your urinary system and the vagina. That can result from just at birth. Sometimes there are connections made between the two systems that don't typically form, or it could be secondary to some sort of surgery or trauma that then there was damage to that area, and then as everything healed, a fistula, a channel of communication between two organ systems developed. And then urine gets into the vagina,

pools, stone forms. So that is what they are. They're incredibly rare. They're important to diagnosis and treat because they can cause infection and obstruction and pain. I think we all kind of got why it would be important to treat vaginal rocks. I think we get it. got why it would be important to treat vaginal rocks. I think we get it.

That it is not a new form of math. Does, okay, this one's tough. Are you ready for this? This is our last one. I hate to close on this sort of like negative tone, but I'm just gonna go ahead and read it and you gotta promise to stay calm, okay? I will do my best.

Does soup move through the digestive system faster than good foods? If so, what's the point? Sorry for the hostility. Max, soup's greatest antagonist. Excuse me, Max Orion, soup's greatest antagonist. We want to make sure we know who we're putting on the last. I just, I do not accept the premise of your question that soup and good foods are to question that soup and good foods are two separate concepts. Soup is the best food. You don't have to be so passive about this. You can go for it. No, I'm just saying that I our dear listener is wrong. Soup is not well, unless what you're saying is soup is not a good food. It's a great food. It is the best food that you can eat.

Yeah. I mean, look at me. I love breakfast soup. Soup. That's what I call cereal. Soup doesn't move. So, we talk a lot about this in the gut hole bromance. We know that different foods are digested at different rates.

It usually has to do with the makeup of the food, like protein, carbohydrate. Does it have a lot of like soluble or insoluble fiber? Like different foods take different amounts of time to be broken down and move through your digestive tract. So soup doesn't necessarily move through faster than any other food, it would depend on what's in the soup. Certainly, if you're on an all-liquid diet, that's gonna move through, you're going to go to the bathroom more frequently, right? If everything you're taking in as a liquid, so if that's what you're saying, soup has more liquid content than solid food.

But if that was a liquid soup that was just like loaded with steak, that's gonna take a while. Yeah. And soup is delicious. And many foods do go through the body faster than that. I talk about, I was talking with slice about it. And I have proof of this actually,

because they were coming down this way and they had talk about, and then a half hour later, they had to stop. So one of their children, I won't put them on blast, had to stop using bathroom. So there is your conclusive proof. Taco Bell just went to the second half. That's a gastric hot.

No, that's a gastric oligree flex. That's not the same food you just ate coming back out. It's Taco Bell saying, everyone out, clear a path for me. I'm gonna be placing three or a few. Everybody out. The point of soup. The Sydney McAroy story. The point of the point of soup is that it makes you feel safe and warm and loved and happy and full.

That is a point of soup. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you've enjoyed yourself. You have one more weekend to come see the SpongeBob musical that Sydney and I directed this weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, high into West Virginia, Ritter Park, and the theater. I got to finding a new mode, junior pre show at seven. You got SpongeBob at eight thirty. But people have been coming. Actually, it seems wild for me to say it's not podcast. We've met two charming groups of folks that have come just because they heard it on the

podcast. It is an outdoor theater and they do not provide you with chairs at this venue. Yes. Bring chairs. Please bring a lawn chair or blanket. Feel free to bring a blanket, bring a picnic meal. There is food and drink there, but you can also just bring your own. Sous-size sliders is there. Doing private patties, Abbie Shaybex, got some macarons, you got Scragalpop there. Little creamer, best, best, so comes the biz. I mean, is a, is an event. Get on out there, spongebobwv.com is the website to go get tickets or you might take us to the door. Just, just make a weekend out of it. Come on down to Hainton. We'll be there. If you see Sid and I there and you come in and make sure to say hi, we'll be around. We

pacing anxiously. Um hmm. Thanks to taxpayers for using their some medicines as the intro, not your program. And oh, this is almost your last chance to buy the solbona's 10 year anniversary challenge coin at McAroy Merch.com. So go buy one of those. Those are just through June. So make sure you go get one if you want one.

That's gonna do it for us until next time. My name is Justin McAroy. I'm Sydney McAroy. And it's always, don't drill a hole in your head. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Alright!