A marital tour of misguided medicine. This week? A hole in the head.
Wait. Stop. Before you put mercury on that chancre, let Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin explain why that’s such a terrible idea.
Are you happy with the amount of blood in your body right now? What if we told you that you had a shot at being a happier, healthier you if you’d stop stingily trying to keep all that blood inside of you?
Looking to get back at the guy who stole your parking space? Why not launch a plague-ridden body into his home with a catapult?
Can’t get your teething baby to shut up? Can’t get rid of that pesky cough? Can’t stop being not high? This week, we fix every problem you’ve ever head through the magic of opium.
It never fails, does it ladies? The week starts off so smoothly and all of a sudden your womb starts wandering through your body. This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin help you find it as they explore the made up malady called hysteria.
Listen, nobody wants to lose a limb. Limbs are great. That said, if you’ve listened to even a small amount of Sawbones, it should come as no surprise that losing a limb used to be way, way, worse. This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin provide a short history of amputation.
You know that medical fact about how humans only use 10 percent of their brains? (OK, not a fact, but please, work with us here.) Why carry around all that dead weight? Wouldn’t a lobotomy help to lighten your brain burden? Good news: This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are taking a load off your mind.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee meet John Kellogg and investigate his peculiar predilection for yogurt enemas.
We know you’ve struggled shedding those last few pounds, but have you considered eating cotton balls? Or … blue glasses? This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin walk your through the history of dropping ellbees.
After weeks of degrading medical professionals we turn to a true hero of medicine. He revolutionized psychiatry, he signed the Declaration of Independence and he’s still influential to this day. There’s just … there’s just one tiny problem.
Hey, hey, what are you doing with that urine? Wait — You’re just pouring it in the toilet! Luckily, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are here to put an end to your wasteful ways by exploring all the wonderful, weird and mostly made up uses for urine throughout history.
If you’ve been unnerved by a pesky stork that won’t stop circling your home, we’ve got just the thing to keep babies at bay. This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin have a ton of absolutely foolproof, historically-proven methods for birth control provided you’re looking for methods that don’t work so great.
As of yet we don’t think we’ve discovered a facet of medicine humanity got so tremendously wrong as radiation therapy. Grab your lead suit and join Dr. Sydnee and Justin as they head into the reactor.
Enough! Enough of the slandering of our nation’s most beleaguered plant. Tobacco has had it too hard for too long, and Dr. Sydnee and Justin are here to set the record straight with all of the wonderful medical uses of tobacco that we’ve forgotten throughout history. Sure, we’ve forgotten them because they’re made up, but […]
Wow, this Kickapoo Joy Juice is REFRESHING. Oh, sorry listener, didn’t see you there. Ever wondered how, exactly, Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp Root and Randy’s Dan’s Pick-Me-Up Poultice help you to shake that rundown feeling? Did you guess cocaine? Something worse? No matter what you suspect, you’re probably right. This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin explore the history of patent medicines and let you know which ones are still on the market.
The only negative about the Pumpkin Spice Latte being offered for a limited time is that someday you will die. This means there is a finite number of Pumpkin Spice Lattes you can drink in your life. But what if that life didn’t have to end? This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin give you the secret to life (and Pumpkin Spice Lattes) eternal.
Last week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin explored all the ways you, the listener, could live forever. None of those panned out for you? Never fear! This week, we’re bringing the dead back to life with a brief history of reanimation.
Listen, it’s a great hairpiece, nobody’s arguing that. But we know. We all know. Luckily, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are here to help you cast it off as we bring you time-tested, largely fake cures for baldness.
Ready to be a YouTube sensation? Not so fast, buckaroo. You’re gonna need a baby first, so you can teach it to do something adorable that you can capture in a candid moment. First step: You’ve got to get fertile, and Dr. Sydnee and Justin have a perfect cocktail of largely baseless historical treatments to help you get there.
Doctors: Who needs ’em? The answer is basically everybody. But that didn’t stop the subjects of this week’s episode from going under a knife that they themselves were holding. Join Dr. Sydnee and Justin as the meet the heroes and dullards of self-surgery.
Headaches: Widely regarded as the lowest pain way to get the sympathy due to the infirmed, they’re also one of mankind’s biggest targets for bad medicine and misguided folk cures. This week on Sawbones, join Dr. Sydnee and Justin as they attempt to get your head right.
One afternoon, Albert Einstein spent an afternoon studying a box that was supposed to harness cosmic sex energy. This happened. Really.
Planning on over-indulging this week as the holidays swallow you up like a sinkhole? Don’t worry about it! Dry out after the new year as Dr. Sydnee and Justin walk you through all the horrible ways we’ve attempted to cure alcoholism.
Holiday celebrating get a little out of control? This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin will walk you through the stomach-turning history of hangover cures.
There’s no way of overstating the importance of this episode, so we’re just gonna lay it out there: Royal Rife invented a cancer-curing death ray and it’s being kept from you by … somebody. Sort of. Maybe.
Ladies, you know that menstruation is a natural, perhaps even beautiful part of life. But do you think that kept men from trying to put a stop to it? No. No, of course it didn’t.
Biblical stories are chock full of people cured of leprosy, but what about the leprosy-havers that weren’t lucky enough to come across a miracle worker? This week on Sawbones: the unfortunate history of leprosy.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin introduce you to the father of homeopathy, an unconventional alternative method that has persisted for over 100 years.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are gonna help you get that freshly-infected-with-tuberculosis look.
Dr. Sydnee and Justin offer a history of pregnancy tests that basically boils down to peeing on everything ever.
You wouldn’t think that we’d find a way to oppress a minority separated from the majority only by which hand they use to eat steak, but you’d be wrong. This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin walk you through the shameful history of left-handedness.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are replacing your nose with a leaf and your ear with some pig skin in their history of plastic surgery.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are going to rub your head and tell you if you’re a killer.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin celebrate their first brush with actual modern relevance as they explore the hot new (very old) trend of oil pulling.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin take a moment to explore the actual scientific uses of marijuana (outside of keeping Trey Anastasio supplied with fresh guitar strings and hack comedy writers supplied with lazy pot punchlines about Phish, of course).
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin introduce you to Dr. Mesmer, the source of the word “mesmerize” and creator of the most elaborate orgy pretense ever constructed.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin invite you to dine on a mummy as they explore the history of medical cannibalism.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin make a suit of 700 magnets and invent a hit new slogan for the people of Oklahoma.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are squeezing a beaver’s scent glands as they bring you a history of epilepsy.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee risks Justin’s sanity as she talks about the history of doctors experimenting on themselves and relates not one but two of the most upsetting anecdotes ever released on their unsuspecting listeners. Enjoy!
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are living out their dreams in the most horrifying way possible. Join them for a history of sleepwalking.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are finally creating some recurring bits with the return of their hit character cholera.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin present their very first live show for you, direct from the People’s Improv Theater of New York City. To celebrate this momentous occasion, they’ll offer to chew one wart clean off at absolutely no charge to you.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are gonna perforate your baby in loads of unpleasant ways with a history of teething.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are stealing your grandpa’s body and selling it on the open market to celebrate their history of corpse theft.
This week on Sawbones, Justin plans on giving his forthcoming infant Red Bull and Dr. Sydnee uses that as an opportunity to let the rich history of breastfeeding flow.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin continue their special pregnancy series with the bizarre history of C-sections. Also: A live contraction!
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are doing the show everyone has always asked them to do, but they’ve been sort of afraid to until now. This week, lets talk about vaccines.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are wrapping up their pregnancy series with the mother of them all: Birth.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are hiding a horseshoe to cure your hiccups.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are feeding bloody nuts to a chicken as they explore the history of rabies.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are changing the course of human history. With gout.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee present a thorough examination of spontaneous combustion. Look out!
This week on an unconventional Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin tell the story of why it took them a week to get their baby out of the hospital.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin celebrate their complete lack of sleep due to the arrival of their newborn with a look at the history of insomnia.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin finally talk you into repainting that one room green to cure your migraines with a history of color therapy.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are rubbing every foul smelling substance in their cupboard on your face to try to cure your acne.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin squirting breastmilk in your eye while they attempt to cure your cataracts.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are providing you with some extra vitality by any means necessary, which, in this case, means implanting you with goat testicles.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin eat like a bajillion lemons as they explore the history of vitamins, which may just be killing you. Hooray!
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin we try to help you understand ebola, and in doing so, maybe be just a little less freaked out about it.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin explore the greatest holocaust in medical history. What’s that? Oh, the flu.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin clear out those airways with a history of asthma and allergies.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are yanking out your bad teeth and replacing them with worse teeth. Also: Why were black teeth once the height of fashion? Let’s find out!
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin blowing out your internal cobwebs with a history of enemas and cleanses. Let’s blow this show OUT.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are giving the greatest gift of all, which is to say a kidney.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are passing your baby around a table leg as they explore the history of Appalachian folk cures.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are getting absolutely, figuratively tanked as they explore the history of alcohol as medicine. To your health!
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are drinking up a cup of your sweet, sweet pee. Graphic? Sure, but how else will we know if you have diabetes?
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are joining Matthew McConaughey to unlock the infinite power of your nose as we sniff out the history of aromatherapy.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are selling all their plasma with their history of blood transfusions.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin putting the SLIGHTEST bit of poop on a pill made from bread as they introduce you to Paracelsus Phillippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are getting really angry about measles. Come get mad with us.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin recount a horrifying, real-world case … of Boogie Fever.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are taking a sunrise and sprinkling it with dew as they talk about the history of medicinal chocolate.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin wear a Taz T-shirt in a mall fashion show. Also, bile, blood and phlegm are discussed.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the latest hot trends in mercury fumigation as they explore the history of syphilis.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin tell you the miraculous story of the tree that fell in a lake after an earthquake and helped treat malaria.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin explain why Sydnee gets to call herself a doctor and poor Justin doesn’t in their history of medical education.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee hands the reins to Justin as they explore the history of medical TV, and explain why most of TV doesn’t actually exist.
This week on Sawbones, in the first part of a three-part series, Dr. Sydnee and Justin introduce you to some of the craziest operators from the heyday of patent medicines.
This week on Sawbones, in the second part of a three-part series, Dr. Sydnee and Justin introduce you to some of the craziest operators from the heyday of patent medicines.
This week on Sawbones, in the final part of a three-part series, Dr. Sydnee and Justin introduce you to some of the craziest operators from the heyday of patent medicines.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin explore the light and dark side of swimming pools as they present the thrilling tale of humanity’s triumph over polio.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are gonna make you sweat with their history of the totally bizarre phenomenon known as “Sweating Sickness.”
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee share medical history’s greatest will-they/won’t-they, the story of a doctor and his muse: A man with a hole in his stomach.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee share medical history’s greatest present the sad story of one of medicine’s most mistreated “villains.”
This week on Sawbones, you’re gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion as Justin and Sydnee explore the weird history of poison ivy.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee finish their scattershot history of medical TV. An episode that even the most squeamish listener won’t be yucked out by!
This week on Sawbones, Justin is transported into the body of a Sydnee’s teenage sister Rileigh and has a lot of awkward questions.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee want you to get your D in the safest way humanly possible.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee celebrate their wedding anniversary by rubbing cow manuer in a burn.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee are wrapping a parasitic worm around a stick with Jimmy Carter.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee crash a boat into a pier to cure your seasickness.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee blow metal rod through a guy’s brain and live to tell about it. He does too, which is more impressive, in retrospect.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee stop making corsets and build two battleships as they explore the history of fainting.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee do their sweetest, most requested episode ever: Let’s have a bit ‘o’ honey.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee throw the baby out with the bathwater (literally) as they explore the history of hygiene.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee explore the strange, sad and even occassionally lovely history of conjoined twins.
This week on Sawbones, we celebrate 100 episodes of Sawbones as Justin and Dr. Sydnee pat themselves on the back, talk about the history of their show (and marriage) and explore the medical history of love.
This week on Sawbones, it’s Part One of our series of putting pet-centric illness on BLAST. This week, live from Seattle, we finally give birds their due.
This week on Sawbones, it’s Part Two of our series of putting pet-centric illness on BLAST. This week, live from Vancouver, we give kitties the business.
Lice are gross. That is all.
This week on Sawbones, it’s Part Three of our series of putting pet-centric illness on BLAST. This week we’re putting snakes on a plane.
This week on Sawbones, Sydnee and guest star Rileigh Smirl introduce you to the diseases at the root of some monsters myths.
This week on Sawbones, Oh No Ross and Carrie! hosts Ross Blocher and Carrie Poppy hosts step in for Sydnee and Justin as part of the Max Fun Great Switcheroo as they look into the history of near-death experiences.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee are dodging ticks as we explore the surprisingly short history of Lyme Disease.
This week on Sawbones, Sydnee and Justin embark on a tour of the history of roundworms, in an episode Sydnee says will be just “Part 1” of the history of roundworms, which Justin finds horrifying, for the record.
This week on Sawbones, Sydnee and Justin dip into their archives to find some great/terrible ideas for costumes from the history of medicine. Also: Spooky medical stories to help you impress around the campfire!
This week on Sawbones, Sydnee and Justin finally stick it to Joy Behar (just a couple months too late to be relevant) with their brief history of nursing.
This week on Sawbones, Sydnee and Justin are back with, and we don’t think we’re exaggerating here: The weirdest story they’ve ever told.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin highlight some of medicine’s most incredible superheroes. Their power? Eating trash and not dying.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin discuss one reason the world is a little less scary for today’s parents: The history of scarlet fever.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin provide a brief history of caring for gunshot wounds.
This week on Sawbones, we put the lime in the coconut and the severity of our scurvy is not diminished in the slightest.
This week on Sawbones, Live from Huntington, WV and Candlenights 2015: CHRISTMAS IS TRYING TO KILL YOU. Grandma. Egg nog. Trees. Mistletoe. The Grinch. RUN.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee finally kick the eating habit as they explore the often-disturbing history of fasting.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee drop out of school and have some pre-marital sex to cure their pseudo-anemia.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee have got some wicked nosebleeds, but it’s no problem: They’ve got some Doug to stuff up there.
This week on Sawbones, it’s The Trial of The Century as Justin tries to prove to Sydnee once and for all that the spleen is useless.
This week on Sawbones, a new disease is taking the world by storm and Sydnee and Justin are there to explain what everyone is so freaked out about. Well, Sydnee explains. Justin freaks out.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee really “rock out” with an episode all about the healing power of crystals. Get it? Rock out? Man, that’s one great joke.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee eat some coral in a misguided attempt to cure their heartburn (while upsetting as little of the ecosystem as possible).
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee return to the fertile land of patent medicine quacks to introduce you to Curtis Howe Springer, the King of Quacks.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee have been working in the coal mine, and paying REAL close attention to where they step in the their history of hookworm.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Sydnee harness the power of history’s longest lasting, most widespread and (perhaps) least effective home remedy. The good news about vinegar? Still great on fries.
It’s #MaxFunDrive time and Justin and Sydnee are marking the occasion with a special episode in which all of your goofiest, most embarrassing medical questions will be answered by Dr. Sydnee.
Welp, here’s an episode about poop.
Dr. Sydnee and Justin try to apologize for their poopie episode with an episode about blood. They are bad at apologizing.
In what may be the most shocking episode of Sawbones to date, we reveal the dirty truth about hydrogen peroxide: It’s maybe not so useful for anything.
This week on Sawbones, we make earwax way, way worse before we remove all of it. Well, most of it. You gotta leave some you know, it’s good for you. Eh, you should probably just listen.
Last week on Sawbones, we moved into your ear. This week on Sawbones, we’re staying put with an episoe about the dizzying number of ways we’ve profaned mice to fix earaches.
We’re back with answers to more of the medical questions so goofy you’re afraid to ask your doctor.
We continue our exploration of the ear with an examination of one of history’s most annoying (and hardest to treat) ailment: Tinnitus, otherwise known as ringing in the ears.
If you found a lump of hair in an animal’s stomach, would you first thought be “Huh, I bet that will help cure poison!” No? See, that’s why you’ll never cut it as an old-timey person. Let’s talk about bezoars!
It’s time to talk about the ailment so scary that Hippocrates told other doctors they shouldn’t mess with it: Kidney stones.
If you, like us, have been seeing kombucha everywhere, you’ve probably heard about it’s many, many health benefits. Like, SO MANY health benefits. You know what … you’ve listened to Sawbones for a while, right? You know where this is going.
Holy crap you guys, we talked to Mary Roach! Yes, THAT Mary Roach, the author of Gulp, Bonk, Spook and her newest, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, due out in early June. We spoke with Roach about a history of wrong thinking on diarrhea, why the military kept weather-related secrets from her and the Medicare code for maggots.
In a way, it’s all lead up to this. Live from the PlayStation theater in New York City, we’ve finally dedicated an entire episode to Pliny the Elder, patron saint of Sawbones.
The presidents have, by and large, all been sick, sick men. We’re going to talk about exactly how sick as Dr. Sydnee and Justin explore presidential disease.
You probably think you have narcolepsy all figured out, but did you know that it’s also the most horrifying disease of all time? It’s true!
If you’ve ever used salt for anything other than making cold french fries moderately edible, you need to listen to this episode.
Why do doctors wear that? What did they used to wear? Dr. Sydnee and Justin answer the big questions like that, including the big one: What’s up with that little head mirror?
Is it really so bad to pop pimples? Can you cut the mold off food and eat it? Is it fatal to hold in a sneeze? These questions and so many more are answered on our latest Q&A episode!
We’re throwing a Boston Tea Party of our own as we explore the strange history of medical tea live from Boston’s historic Wilbur Theater.
Sure, it may seem like a magical plant, but just how helpful is that big bottle of green goo on your shelf? This week: Dr. Sydnee and Justin present the medical history of aloe.
It’s poison! It’s medicine! It’s both! … OK, so it’s mainly poison, but it hasn’t always been that way. Join Justin and Dr. Sydnee for a brief tour of medical arsenic.
Olympic athletes swear by it, but what really is the science behind cupping? Dr. Sydnee and Justin are looking into it, and the answer might (but probably won’t) surprise you.
We’re continuing to celebrate the Summer Olympics by presenting all the weird, terrible, horrid way athletes have tried to cheat their way to winning over the years. From donkey hooves to guinea pig sperm, it’s … it’s a weird one.
Celebrities have started some pretty weird fads, but perhaps none are weirder than the one started by King Louis XIV, who made it cool … to have a fistula. Join Justin and Dr. Sydnee for this very special episode.
How did a journey that began with Prince Albert hunting for jellyfish on a cruise end with one of the biggest calamities in prescription drug history? Join Justin and Sydnee for the story of the EpiPen.
Do you really need to floss? Have you been taking your chew stick for granted? Dr. Sydnee and Justin explore those and other pressing questions in exploration of the history of dental hygiene.
If you’ve paid even passing attention to the American presidential race, you’ve probably heard a lot of talk about pneumonia recently. This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin try to provide some historical perspective.
Is laughter really the best medicine? No! Medicine is. The history of how we arrived at that conclusion is the subject of this week’s Sawbones.
Justin is not the hero Dr. Sydnee needs, but he’s the one we all deserve. Because he’s finally willing to admit the dark secret he’s kept hidden for so long.
Immigrants get the job done, and that extends to curing a mysterious disease once blamed on everything from bad corn to summertime. This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin introduce you to the doc who cracked the case.
Dr. Sydnee hands the wheel over to Justin this week as he returns to his medical media series with a history of medical video games. Learn how meteors gave all dinosaurs asthma and so much more!
A lot of folks like scary movies around Halloween time, but what happens when “spooked out” becomes “legitimate medical condition”? This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin tell the story of a movie that might have gone too far.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin delve into what may just be history’s oddest actual medical diagnosis: Frankenberry stool.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin help provide you with the answers to all the medical questions you can muster, everything from knocking people out in action movies to tastebud inflamation.
This week on Sawbones, we celebrate the everyday heroism of The Last Chicken Pox Generation. Also, Dr. Sydnee and Justin share your best chicken pox stories.
To celebrate American Thanksgiving, Dr. Sydnee and Justin example the medical history of that beleaguered holiday treat: The humble cranberry.
Cold temperatures mean chapped lips and (for a lot of people) that might also mean Vaseline. But Vaseline is used for SO much more. Like way, way, way, way more. Join Dr. Sydnee and Justin as they talk about one of the most useful things ever invented.
It’s the perfect time of year for gingerbread cookies, but what do you do with all that excess ginger? Well, maybe put it in a horse’s butt? No, no, don’t do that. But some people do. All that and more on this week’s history of ginger.
Chapped lips are a minor annoyance, but that didn’t stop old-timey people from smushing together TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF BRAINS to rub on them. Join Justin and Dr. Sydnee for a history of cheilitis.
It’s Candlenights 2016, and that can only mean one thing: Dr. Sydnee is trying to ruin Christmas again. Join her as she explains to poor, pitiful Justin all of Santa’s terrible health risks, recorded live in Huntington, WV’s City Hall!
Is 2017 the year that everybody gets to go to space? Well, no, probably not. But the groundwork is there for us to do it thanks to the doctors and astronauts that pioneered space medicine.
No need to be blue, we’re back with an all-new Sawbones about silver! See, that’s a very good joke, because ingesting silver can turn you blue, but you wouldn’t know that because you haven’t listened yet. Sorry.
The American health insurance system is unlike any other in the world, and not in the good way. It’s probably about to get worse. This is the story of how we got here.
America has welcomed millions of immigrants in its time. This week, we explore the medical hoops they’ve had to jump through to get in and explore how those have changed over the years.
This is a story about Tarrare. Tarrare was always hungry. Here is a list of some of the things Tarrare ate: A cat. A puppy. A snake. An eel. Offal. Poultices. And maybe people.
Hey, but what ARE sinuses. It’s OK if you don’t know, Justin didn’t either. Join him in a brief education from doctor Sydnee and hear about DaVinci’s near miss with sinus history.
Before you start your next juice cleanse or coffee enema, we beg of you: Let Dr. Sydnee and Justin reassure you of the amazing detoxification powers of the human body.
Last week, we took you through detox. This week, we’re going WAY deeper with a single treatment: The Purification Rundown. Strap in, folks, this one GOES PLACES.
Live from the Crow’s Nest of the ms Westerdam, it’s Sawbones all about norovirus! (Hey, we’re on a cruise ship, what else are we gonna talk about?
Were you aware that history’s coolest doctor was a guy named James Barry who began their life as a woman? Sit down. For this super-sized #MaxFunDrive episode, we’ve got the whole story.
We’re continuing our celebration of MaxFunDrive by giving back to you, our lovely listeners and even lovelier donors with an all Q&A episode of Sawbones. Why do runners poop? Can you skip a day of antibiotics? Enquire within!
This week, Justin and Dr. Sydnee bring you the thrilling story of how a former department store clerk from Greece saved countless lives with the invention of a single test.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin explore some of the reasons people eat things they really shouldn’t. Like dirt. And cigarette butts. And clay. And mattresses.
Just how long has the first-year doctor checking you out been awake? The answer may surprise you. The biggest surprise, however, is why a sleepy doctor may be better than the alternative.
This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin explore a medical mystery: Why, for a town in Colorado, was having brown teeth a sign of great tooth health?
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee explore the Salisbury diet, and meet the incredible woman who turned into a poop detective to prove it right.
Thanks to Jimmy Kimmel’s heartfelt plea for healthcare on behalf of his infant son, Tetralogy of Fallot has been in the headlines. This week on Sawbones, join us for the inspiring story of how we fought back against the debilitating ailment.
We mentioned him in our last episode, but Vivien Thomas deserves his own episode. Join Dr. Sydnee and Just as they explore the life of the high-school educated grandson of slaves that changed the face of surgery.
Live from Austin, Texas, it’s … well, it’s one of the grossest episodes Justin and Dr. Sydnee have ever recorded. So, sorry about that. Anyway, let’s talk about The Clap!
Tattoos (usually) look cool, but did you know they’ve also been used throughout history to treat illness? It’s true! This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin explore the history of medicinal tattoos.
This week, we’re honoring Pride Month and the LGBTQ community with an exploration of the disturbing history of conversion therapy. Trigger Warning: The treatments used in these “therapies” were upsetting, and those sensitive to hearing about them may wish to avoid this episode.
This week, we conclude our series on “conversion therapy” by exploring the religious aspect of this horrific “treatment.” Trigger Warning: The treatments used in these “therapies” were upsetting, and those sensitive to hearing about them may wish to avoid this episode.
Why is there iodine in salt? What takes the place of a removed organ? Can you … actually, that one is too gross to put here. Join Dr. Sydnee and Justin as they take on your weird medical questions even … that last one.
This week, special guest Laura Kate Dale joins Dr. Sydnee and Justin for a (very) incomplete history of gender confirmation. We hope you’ll join us too!
If you’ve got a few decades on you, you’ve certainly started to notice a few of the telltale signs of aging. Well, not YOU, of course. YOU look great, but like, your friends and stuff. This week, Justin and Dr. Sydnee explore the incredible array of bizarre treatments for wrinkles.
The man who (maybe) inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein didn’t just try to breathe life into corpses. He also invented a medicine so toxic it was used in chemical warfare. Also, a kind of blue! This is all real. We swear.
Philadelphia is home not only to the most recent Sawbones live show, but also one of the world’s most unusual museums — The Mütter Museum — a collection of medical oddities and anatomical specimens. But this is no freak show, this is an unflinching, educational look at the disturbingly beautiful and beautifully disturbing side of medicine. This is the Sawbones promised land.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin rub a baby alligator’s heart on every penis we can find as we explore the history of treating erectile dysfunction.
This week on Sawbones, join Justin and Dr. Sydnee for a sobering look at America’s opioid crisis. The bad news: We’re all still living in a Sawbones episode.
This week on Sawbones, join Justin and Dr. Sydnee for a timely, tragic history of eugenics.
Sawbones tries to lighten things up this week and Dr. Sydnee and Justin explore the chuckle-worthy history of tickling.
Dr. Sydnee and Justin mark the 200th episode of Sawbones with a topic that’s a real snooze: The history of snoring! (Get it?)
How many pull ups can you do? How fast can you run? How far can you jump? Most importantly: Why does the President of the United States care so much? These questions and more answered this week!
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin delve into the strange story of the king who thought he was made of glass, and the many he may have convinced that they were too.
Join Dr. Sydnee as she shocks Justin with the revelation that aspirin isn’t for headaches anymore, along with plenty of other revelations about this wonder pill.
Take a thrilling journey through time with Dr. Sydnee and Justin as they travel to the 1800s and peer inside a doctor’s bag.
The moon is more than just a big hunk of cheese. Actually, it’s not even really cheese. Did you think it was cheese? Wow, you know less about the moon that we thought. Dr. Sydnee and Justin’s history of all the things we blame the moon for is going to be extra super educational for you, huh?
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin visit the home of Coca-Cola to recount the history of medicinal soda pop and try to finally solve the age-old dispute of Coke vs. Brad’s Drink.
This week on Sawbones, we’re examining all the health benefits of the red hot chili peppers. Flea is good for you, believe it or … wait, it’s not those chili peppers?
Grilling season is over in our part of the U.S. and Dr. Sydnee and Justin want to know what they’re gonna do with all this left over charcoal. The answer, according to medical history? EVERYTHING.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin visit Disneyland and the only souvenir they bring back is an investigation into the history of Legionnaires’ Disease.
This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin introduce you to Martin Couney, the (maybe) doctor who put babies into a carnival side show and saved a generation of preemies.
This week on Sawbones, Justin and Dr. Sydnee explore all the weird, terrible ways we’ve tried to fix one of the human body’s most basic problem. It’s a history of wound care!
This week on Sawbones, we join you live from Seattle. Seeing as this town took place in the home of Starbucks, we took the opportunity to extoll the many medicinal virtues of coffee.
The CDC was recently asked by the Trump administration to stop using seven terms like “fetus” and “transgender” in budget requests. But certainly there’s precedent for this right? Certainly this happens all the time, right? RIGHT? This week join Dr. Sydnee and Justin for a history of the CDC and medical censorship.
For your listening edification, Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her lovely assistant Justin McElroy are delighted to present a full accounting of the injuries likely sustained by the Wet Bandits.
Do you need a doctor and her lovely sidekick to tell you that you shouldn’t drink dirty water? No, probably not. But, infuriatingly, some people do. So we will. Let’s talk about “raw water.”
This week, we devote an entire episode of our medical podcast to discouraging people from eating detergent pods. 2018 is off to a great start.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin rub two different kinds of poop on your throat because they don’t know iodine exists. Join us for a history of the goiter.
This week on Sawbones, it’s the story of a miraculous cure and how we all have to work together to protect it. Join Dr. Sydnee and Justin for the story of antibiotics.
Does chewing Excedrin really make it work faster? Does gasoline help a bee sting? We’ll answer those queries and many more as Dr. Sydnee and Justin take on more of your weird medical questions.
We’ve been gone for a little while, but with good reason! We had another baby. To save ourselves sisterly in-fighting in their teen years, we’re recounting the (slightly less eventful) birth of our second daughter this week.
Dr. Sydnee and Justin have talked about when you get sick at your house and when you’re treated at the hospital, but isn’t there a missing link? Isn’t there something between those two things? What are Dr. Sydnee and Justin hiding? Well, nothing, they just have never talked about ambulances before. So here we go.
This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin mark the passing of Stephen Hawking by discussing the disease that shaped his life and the unusual, prolific physician that discovered it.
This week we’ve got bee venom therapy, another Goop favorite — that despite all the Gwenecdotal evidence — may not be worth the risk. Hopefully Dr. Sydnee and Justin’s goofing will help take the sting out of it. Subscribe on iTunes! then, tweet about or follow the show on Twitter (@Sawbones) so all your friends […]
Ever wonder what doctors do when they’re not giving you a check up? Wonder how to get the most out of every doctor’s visit? We’ve got the answers for you in our new episode: The Secret Life of Doctors.
How well do you know your horrifying medical history? Find out this week as we celebrate MaxFunDrive with The Ghastly Gauntlet: A Sawbones Super Quiz! What will you score?
This week on Sawbones, we’re talking about genetically-modified organisms. Should you be afraid when you see GMO on packaging? Or is genetic modification an incredible technology that may be humanity’s best hope at avoiding extinction? You’ll have to listen to find out, but we’ve probably already tipped our hand.
This week on Sawbones: Bones! We know, we thought it was weird it took us this long too. It’s like … right there in the title, you know? Anyway: BONES!
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee shares her breastfeeding experiences and discusses some of the stigma surrounding the practice in America. She and Justin also take some time to shatter breastfeeding myths.
East Coast fast food restaurants have been plagued recently by Hepatitis A scares. This week, live from the Columbus Podcast Festival, Justin and Dr. Sydnee take you behind the history of the disease.
Here in our hemisphere, the sun is brutalizing us even now, weeks away from the start of summer. For many, that means the return of freckles. But where are these little guys coming from? And how can we burn them off with acid? This week, Sawbones asks the tough questions.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin hunt for the the soccer gene as they talk about the modern trend of DNA testing and read their own results for the first time on the show!
Does the position of the sun and the stars at the time of your birth determine your medical history? No! But some people thought it did. Scratch that, still do. Oh, and can we talk about Dr. Oz for a second?
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about their struggles with mental health. Trigger warning for discussion of depression, anxiety and suicide.
You’ve likely heard a lot about the ketogenic diet lately, but have you heard it wasn’t created for weight loss? Maybe you did, Justin didn’t. Either way, we’ll talk about it and so much more on this week’s episode of Sawbones.
Imagine an incredible pill that could give you nausea and diarrhea and then once ejected from your body could be reused an endless number of times. Dream no more! Antimony is here!
Ozone provides a helpful layer of sunscreen for Earth, but it’s toxic to humans. It will come as no surprise to regular Sawbones listeners that we’ve spent the past couple hundred years trying to jam it in every possible orifice.
In honor of the rescue of 12 boys and their coach from a cave in Thailand, we’re discussing the history of dive medicine research that helped make it possible.
This week on Sawbones, we explore a completely groundless testing method based on the same science as Ouija boards that’s used by over a third of American chiropractors.
CBD oil is collecting a lot of adherents and getting a lot of buzz due to, in part, it being derived from cannabis. It won’t get you high, but is CBD oil the panacea many are promoting it as? Let’s discuss on this week’s Sawbones!
If the pill you’ve been taking has been helping you, but it’s really made of sugar, would you want to know? Those and other thrilling ethical questions await in our discussion of the placebo effect.
Justin and Dr. Sydnee explore the history of Perkins’ Tractors which are both 1. not what they sound like and 2. not what they claim to be. Mysterious!
Asbestos has gotten a lot of bad publicity over the last century, but isn’t that just because it’s so incredibly dangerous for humans to inhale? Isn’t that just another case of bias? As the current American administration seems to be clearing a path for asbestos to return to the spotlight, Justin and Dr. Sydnee looked into this misunderstood extremely hazardous substance.
People talk a lot of mess about drugs being dangerous, and they’re right. But did you know that ether frolics, a delightfully named drug party, inspired a powerful anasthetic? It’s true!
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin discuss what we owe to people who do terrible things in the name of medical progress.
We take for granted that we know what bodies look like on the inside, but this week on Sawbones we honor those brave pioneers that had to draw them for the very first time. Also Dr. Sydnee and Justin explore the scandal behind the most famous book of medical illustrations.
You had to see this one coming. Yes, just a few short weeks after Justin’s surgery, Dr. Sydnee decides to explain the complete history of vasectomies in excruciating detail in front a few thousand of their closest friends.
This week Justin and Dr. Sydnee try desperately to save you from cholera on a grand tour of the many different ways to die on The Oregon Trail.
Dr. Price was a dentist with some pretty bad ideas about nutrition. That probably wouldn’t have merited an appearance on Sawbones … except those bad ideas went on to inspire a terrifying modern following.
Dr. Sydnee and Justin asked why you, their beloved listeners, haven’t gotten a flu shot and now they’re taking 27 (yes, 27) of your most common excuses and blowing them to smithereens.
This week on Sawbones, we detail all the real medical conditions that have been mistaken for demonic possession and the modern day psychiatrists that are pushing for possession to be taken more seriously.
We’ve spotted a boatload of your weird medical questions on the horizon and we’ve pointed our knowledge cannons at it and we’re … sinking it? Listen, the metaphor got away from us. We’re sorry.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin take a swig from the new miracle drink Jilly Juice, which can not only cure every disease but can regrow limbs! (It can’t, it makes you puke and poop and that’s it, but you should listen anyway.)
Settings Would you believe that the hot new (very old) alternative medicine paste that indiscriminately burns your cells off is bad for you? We know, we were shocked too.
This Thanksgiving, Dr. Sydnee and Justin invite you on their ambitious quest to use the biggest family meal of the year to destigmatize herpes. No more waiting for your problematic uncle to make things weird; this you’re YOU’LL be the one starting uncomfortable conversations.
When Dr. Sydnee and Justin find themselves in Colorado, an episode on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever seems a natural fit … except it’s not really that common in Colorado. But when the story of a disease is able to tie together cow-dipping terrorism and frozen food, how can they resist?
This week’s episode of Sawbones is all about “Vitamin B17” which is, brace yourself … not a vitamin. Yup, it’s gonna be one of those sorts of episodes.
Live from Candlenights 2018, we’re so proud to present a staged reading of the new Hallmark Christmas movie written by Justin and Sydnee McElroy: A Medicine Called Christmas.
Does medicated chap stick do anything? What are doctors hiding? Why can’t you keep your bones? This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin bring you answers to these questions and many more on a new Q&A episode!
One of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies once maintained one of the biggest marijuana farms in the country. This week on Sawbones, how Eli Lilly lost its taste for pot, and why it refuses to acknowledge its past.
Any species could have created a bunch of bogus ways to treat fevers. But only humans could use fevers as a bogus treatment for other stuff and then end up being sort of right about it.
You’re gonna love these things, they can run, jump … and every once in a while they uncontrollably blast snot out of your face at 100 MPH. This week on Sawbones: Sneezing.
A vaccine that can practically eliminate a type of human cancer should be cause for celebration across our species. Would it surprise you to learn that some people don’t trust it?
Water: There’s plenty of it, it’s not obviously poisonous and it’s cheap as all get out. Maybe THAT’S the answer to all our species’ medical woes?
We like to take a lot of hard lines and make grand proclamations: Vaccines good, viruses bad, that sort of thing. But when it comes to vaping, things get a little … cloudier?
For thousands of years, throughout an unprecedented number of cultures, garlic has been touted for its ability to improve our health. How? Well, by warding off vampires, silly. …
This week on Sawbones, we talk about the many, many things essential oils can’t do for you and the dueling Utah-based companies that insist we’re wrong.
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin check in with National Hotel Disease, the diarrhea so bad it almost brought down a U.S. presidency.
Did Hippocrates really make up his oath? Is “First, do no harm” part of it? We’ll answer all that and more on this week’s Sawbones.
Ben Franklin may not have have been a doctor, but he still had a massive impact on the medical field in his time. What were his contributions? And was he ever actually president? You’ll have to listen to find out!
William Goldman wrote in The Princess Bride “True love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops.” This week on Sawbones, we ruin them. We’re really sorry, Bill.
On Sawbones, we take pride in our ability to detangle medical myth from fact and give you the truth about the human body. This week on Sawbones … things aren’t so clear. You may need a stiff drink for this one … unless your body is making them already?
The market is flooded with at-home tests that let you “take medical care into your own hands” but is that something you even want in your hands? Are they reliable? Also, is Justin really going to give up cereal?
This week on the 300th (!) episode of Sawbones, meet William Halstead, the father of American surgery, the man who inspired Cinemax’s The Knick and … a great advocate for cocaine.
We’re marking our 300th episode (OK, it’s our 301st) by answering all of your pressing medical questions. Can you really poke your brain through your nose? Where do boob crumbs come from? Listen for that and so much more!
Listen, we’re not gonna sit here all fancy and act like we didn’t just record an entire episode about people sunning their buttholes. That’s what happened, nothing can change that. If you don’t listen, it was for nothing.
You may have seen a Facebook meme claiming that a combination of elderberry and Oscillococcinum can prevent the flu. The truth of the matter may surprise you! (Unless you’ve ever in your life ever listened to even a single episode of our show.)
Just in time for Christmas, we’ve got another extremely special holiday film created by Justin and Sydnee McElroy. Gather the family and prepare for A Medicine Called Christmas 2: A Royal Pain.
This week on Sawbones, the incredible true story of how Chicago changed the direction of a river to battle typhoid and cholera.
Would it surprise you to learn that people with too much money are flocking to “IV bars” and paying hundreds of dollars for intravenous cocktails of vitamins that are supposed to treat every malady under the sun but do absolutely nothing except risk serious infection?
This week on Sawbones, we’ve got a no-panic-allowed history of coronavirus along with a guide to the current strain that has held the headlines in a stranglehold in the past weeks.
This week on Sawbones, things are getting hot! Well, no, come to think of it, they’re doing the opposite. They’re getting colder. And by “they” we mean “we.” We’re getting colder, all of us. Probably. What should you do about it? Nothing. For now, you’ll just have to — wait for it — chill.
This week on Sawbones, it’s the truly embarrassing story of why we spent several centuries thinking it was important for us to make wounds as pus-filled as possible. There’s no nice way of saying it folks: This is a gross one.
We love grave robbers on Sawbones and … well, that came out wrong. We don’t have a particular affinity for today’s grave robbers, but they’ve played an important role in medical research and … we’re still defending grave robbers, aren’t we? OK, listen. Let’s start over. This is an episode about a really bad grave robber.
For reasons we assume you can guess, we’re discussing the history of quarantine, and how its historical misuse should make you particularly alert in the days and weeks to come as the world continues to combat COVID-19.
This week on Sawbones, it’s the story of how Yellow Fever killed 10 percent of Philadelphia, destroyed the government and made everyone rethink their collection of decorative standing water.
Once again, we’re putting Justin at peril of being supremely yucked out by your weirdest medical queries: Should your pee smell so good? Why is your earwax that color? Why did your mom choose the name Fred for that blood-filled lump on her leg? Yup, it’s a weird one, folks.
Surprise! This week our medical history podcast is about the biggest medical history event in any of our lifetimes. Let’s talk about home testing! Social distancing! And some reflections from Sydnee after a week at the hospital.
The COVID-19 outbreak has recently pushed masks and other protective equipment into the forefront of the global conversation, especially as a shortage threatens medical professionals on the front lines. This week on Sawbones, how masks changed the world of medicine, and what happens when there aren’t enough to go around.
This week on Sawbones, it’s the fascinating, inspiring and infuriating story of Ignaz Semmelweis. You’ll learn how he discovered why it was so important for doctor’s to wash their hands and why it took so long for doctors to believe him.
There are some pushing hydroxychloroquine as a miracle treatment for COVID-19 in a way that should seem familiar (and a little scary) to long-time Sawbones listeners. This week, we’ll talk about the long history of this medicine and why promoting it as a COVID-19 cure is so dangerous to those who already depend on it for other (actual scientifically-proven) uses.
This week on Sawbones, we dive into the backstory of Dr. Anthony Fauci, a beacon of hope and reason for so many in these troubling days. In the back half of the show, we also talk about a bunch of coronavirus bulls**t that you knew was bulls**t but we’re gonna tell you anyway.
This week on Sawbones, we discuss Philadelphia’s disastrous Fourth Liberty Loan Parade that helped reignite the 1918 influenza epidemic in the region. We’ll also examine some other unnerving similarities between that century-old disaster and our current situation.
Two doctors made headlines this week by trying to construct the narrative that the COVID-19 pandemic has been overblown by the hospital system in pursuit of more profits. This week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin explain why their numbers don’t add up, and how you can combat this narrative if it, depressingly, sticks around.
Did you know that cabin fever isn’t just the cooped-up funk we all find ourselves in? It’s a real actual disease called typhus — or at least, it used to be. It’s confusing, we know, but this week we’re gonna walk you through all the extremely gross details.
It should come as no surprise that the Sawbones inbox has been chockablock with questions about the ongoing … unpleasantness. This week, we’re trying to group your COVID-19 queries in an orderly fashion and answer them to the best of our ability. Well, the best of Sydnee’s ability. Justin just talks about dandruff shampoo.
Fear that the government and doctors were allied in a grand conspiracy to oppress the populace was at a fever pitch. The people took to the streets to prove that they would not abide by quarantine, that they would defy the powers that be and go on about their daily lives. The year is 1831. The disease is cholera.
This week on Sawbones, we examine how Black Americans have received substandard care and fewer opportunities within the American medical system. Also, some guidance on how to protest as safely as possible in the face of COVID-19.
If you received the typical, white-centric education, you probably associate the Black Panthers only with violence and political protest. This week on Sawbones, we talk about their work in medical research advocacy and creating public health programs that sought to make life better for all black and oppressed people.
OK, yes, this is an episode about medical research, but it’s the sexiest medical research story you’re ever going to hear. It’s got scandal! It’s got a detective! It’s got a sentient robot equipped with anti-gravity technology! We’d type more here, but we have to assume you’re already listening.
AOA is a medical honors society that’s supposed to separate top-tier medical students from the rest of the pack. It helps determine which doctors get the top jobs in the most competitive fields. The problem? There’s implicit racism in the way it chooses members, and fixing it may be a massive challenge.
An introspective moment on Sawbones this week as we meet the doctor who devoted his life to discovering the weight of the human soul. NOTE: This episode contains discussions of mortality, both human and animal.
We’re being inundated by medical news in the face of COVID-19, but how is the layman supposed to make sense of all it? How can you tell a trustworthy report from simple clickbait? We’ll discuss on this week’s Sawbones (with a brief tangent about re-opening schools).
In what is perhaps the first and only example of the Fast and Furious franchise inspiring an episode of Sawbones, we’re diving into amnesia. We’ll see how media portrayals stack up to reality, look at modern therapy and explore the validity of the second bonk.
Yes friends, that’s the actual name of the U.S. government’s race to create a coronavirus vaccine. It’s either radical or a huge embarrassment, depending on which Sawbones co-host you are.
Dr. Joycelyn Elders is an American hero who went from a sharecropper’s daughter to the first black Surgeon General of the United States. This is the story of her inspirational rise, her infuriating firing and her inability to stop doing good.
This week on Sawbones, we close out the #MaxFunDrive with a FAR too thorough examination of history’s only medical animated comedy in which Bill Murray barfs on Molly Shannon. Let’s talk about Osmosis Jones.
This week on Sawbones, we explore The Most Important Health Discovery Ever! We know it’s the The Most Important Health Discovery Ever because the book is called Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever. So there you have it.
Puzzled as to why a pillow peddler is pushing poison to the president to pacify a pandemic? Please press play.
For millennia, people with a vagina were told that there was something wrong with them (if they were even spoken about at all). Their vagina smelled wrong, looked wrong, it was too wet or not wet enough. This week on Sawbones, a reminder that your vagina is (almost always) just fine the way it is.
Lately, have you found yourself pining for a simpler time? An easier time? Maybe just, like, ANY time other than your current one? You may be experiencing nostalgia. This week on Sawbones, we’ll track its evolution from a clinical diagnosis to a possible healing tool.
You may have heard that just six percent of COVID-19 deaths are attributed to COVID alone. This statistic was based on death certificates. This week we explain, through the history of this odd document, why that’s a terrible idea.
Many were shocked to learn of allegations of forced sterilizations at an ICE facility. In this episode, we explore the long American history of this practice and the heartbreaking truth that this latest incident is just the latest in a long string of clinical genocide by those in power.
Horses? Majestic. Frogs? Maybe royalty. But have you taken a moment to reflect on the humble, half-billion-year old horseshoe crab that almost certainly saved your life with its incredible blood? If not, THIS is that moment.
Gather the family around, it’s time for our annual celebration of the flu shot! We got you the PERFECT gift: A bunch of answers to your flu shot quandaries, especially in the age of COVID-19. C’mon, the party’s starting!
Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.s) have been thrust into the spotlight recently when one was tasked with caring for the world’s most famous COVID-19 patient. Some even went so far as to dismiss the president’s D.O. for those two letters following his name. But is that fair? This week on Sawbones: Do D.O.s do what M.D.s do?
There’s been a lot of discussion about herd immunity in the face of COVID-19, but did you know that anyone who talks about achieving herd immunity without a vaccine (something humanity has never pulled off ever) is a big stinky liar goofball? We’ll explore that truth and so much more on this week’s episode of Sawbones.
If, by some set of unexplainable circumstances, you are still an undecided voter in the U.S. we’ve prepared something special for you in anticipation of next week’s presidential election on Nov. 3. If you’re not undecided, you’ll at least have a better understanding of how important this election is. We’ll be reviewing the major tenets of the healthcare plans of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Who will have the better plan? You’ll have to listen to find out. (It’s not Trump.)
On a chilly, rainy Civil War battlefield in Tennessee, soldiers started noticing something strange: Some of their wounds had begun … glowing. Stranger still: Those with the glow tended to fare better than their illuminated counterparts. The assumption? Angels were bringing them back from the brink. An incredible story. This week on Sawbones? You guessed it, Dr. Sydnee and her old buddy Science are gonna ruin the whole thing.
With news that a COVID-19 vaccine may be on the horizon and flu shot season in full swing, we take things back to basics with a history of the hypodermic needle and syringe. Also, a strangely large amount of car talk for you gear heads.
Is it possible for your medical questions to be … too weird? That’s a question you may be asking yourself on this latest Q&A episode of Sawbones, which explores the contents of poop and a secret button above your buttcrack that makes you pee.
Dr. Sydnee and Justin have turned themselves into lab rats as they join a COVID-19 vaccine trial. But how did humanity discover the practices and policies that guide these sorts of human experiments? Listen and find out!
Ivermectin is a fantastic, incredible miraculous drug that has recently been touted by some as a potent treatment for COVID-19, despite not having the research yet to back up the claims. This week, we’ll help you avoid stealing your dog’s worm medication in the hopes of fending off coronavirus.
Vaccines are here! Vaccines are here! But wait … aren’t they … rushed? Did you hear they might be … tainted? Do they give you … cheetah powers? Even if you believe in vaccines, it’s normal to have some questions about them. So this week we’ll be providing you with all the answers we have to your pressing queries.
OK, so the COVID-19 vaccine is here, basically, kind of, but how do you get it? How does your Nonnee get it? How will anybody get it? The answers are … well, they’re a lot less clear than we’d like. This week on Sawbones, we’ll equip you with the best information we have in the hopes of reaching herd immunity (and Nonnee immunity) just as quickly as possible.
It’s a true shame that the medical condition with perhaps the most adorable name, dropsy, doesn’t really exists. Well, it exists but … you know what, this is too complicated. Let’s just do a podcast episode about it.
The COVID-19 vaccine has finally arrived and there are, dishearteningly, too many that are on the fence about getting it. This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin provide a guide for talking with those who are vaccine hesitant and how using a kind, empathetic approach can help them see the light (and the antibodies).
As with almost every cultural touchstone, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are extremely late to The Crown party. But the Netflix historical drama has provided not only immovable hairdos and withering glares, it also serves as the inspiration of our latest episode, in which a freak weather pattern (and an overuse of fossil fuels) nearly suffocated a city.
Would you believe that without spending a single cent, with just a slight movement of your tongue you could breathe better, sleep better and perhaps even … become your most beautiful self? You probably wouldn’t believe that, because you listen to Sawbones. You probably would believe that the simple, possible effective technique called “Mewing” has been co-opted by incel culture though, right? Yeah, that sounds like Earth.
A new presidential administration means a new U.S. Surgeon General, so this week on Sawbones, we’re examining exactly what that means. Are they a general? Why do they get to tell us what to do? And why do they care so much about sailor health?
The more questions answered, the more oddly specific they become. Justin plays the listener as Dr. Sydnee addresses Alice in Wonderland syndrome, super glue, and sixth disease.
There are simple, common-sense ways we can save the lives of injection drug users. The United States is woefully behind in adopting these best practices and there are some who are fighting to keep it that way.
It’s been around a year since COVID-19 began to reshape America. On this week’s episode of Sawbones, we look back at the past 12 months and examine what we’ve learned and what we’ve lost. We’ll also take a look at the current state of vaccine rollouts and answer some of your questions.
Have you ever noticed an old house house that has blue glass windows? It’s pretty, sure, but it’s also supposed to provide healing energy. You can thank a man who really liked growing, farming, and . . . colors for this bizarre but beautiful notion. We’ve got his story (and how his legacy endures) on this week’s Sawbones.
When the Nintendo Wii was released, it also came with a warning about potential injuries, to yourself and to others. But are video games good or bad for your health? Justin takes the lead to educate, entertain and delight about both the medical harm and medical good that video games can do.
A somewhat invasive plant with yellow flowers named after John the Baptist has been used for centuries as a kind of cure all. Dr. Sydnee will lead you through a history of its many applications, what it’s used for today, and explain what exactly is a wort.
About a year ago, Sawbones discussed what herd immunity was not. In this episode, we look at how we’ll get there, and what role vaccine verification will play. How has it impacted public health historically, and what can we anticipate in the near future?
Along with Dr. Sydnee’s amazing videos, TikTok is also a host to an interesting wellness trend: chlorophyll. The green pigment that helps plants turn sunlight into food and oxygen has also been thought to boost your immune system and help with body odor. But chlorophyll as a health food is an idea that dates back to 1930, and spoilers … it’s just as effective now as it was then.
For MaxFunDrive 2021, Sawbones is talking about gross medicine of a different sort. In the United States (and New Zealand) we see a lot of those commercials for prescription medicines with jaunty names and a full minute disclaimer at the end. How they came to be the norm here is a complicated history of bad medicine and the shifting of credence among doctors, patients, and pharmaceutical companies.
Test your medical history knowledge from this past year’s episodes in the Super Secret Sawbones Quiz of Interesting Information to Inform and Enlighten and Entertain and Impress Your Friends 2021!
TikTok is where the kids are getting all their information on new new wellness trends, so Dr Sydnee decided to check one that’s been popping up a lot: eating Papaya seeds. The main claim is that the seeds awesomely force parasitic worms out of your body – worms you didn’t even know you had! But is there a SEED of truth in these claims?
Last week, we talked about if eating papaya seeds could rid your body of parasites (spoiler: it can’t). But being concerned about having parasites is not new. We continue the conversation by looking into the phenomenon of Ekbom’s syndrome, or delusional parasitosis, a difficult disorder to both manage and treat.
You might have heard about the COVID variants that have some people worried, and how effective the current vaccine will be against them. But not to worry, we’ve got the sweet sweet data from the Lancet, and some good news regarding the (specifically Pfizer) vaccine. And if you haven’t gotten a vaccine yet, maybe a car or lotto ticket will motivate you. Or a gun?
As any proud West Virginian knows, the history of mining in the United States is tied tightly to the history of the labor movement. This was partially to address something known as coal worker’s pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung disease. Though unions may have won the battle for recognition, the war against this disease continues to this day.
Workplace burnout is commonplace in the 21st century, but it’s a fairly recent idea. It’s especially insidious among physicians, who are taught that any fatigue is a sign of weakness. Dr. Sydnee shares her personal experience with exhaustion and what might be done to address this problem in the United States.
We recorded this episode live on the Joco Cruise 2020, where Dr. Sydnee dissects the medicine mentioned in the songs of Jimmy Buffett. What is recommend for “Island Fever”? What should Mr. Buffett be concerned about when eating that “Cheeseburger in Paradise”? And do the lyrics of “Frenchmen for the Night” mean he may have Jumping Frenchmen of Maine?
It’s time to answer more of your medical queries, like what is Texidor’s Twinge, when does the sunscreen clock start, and yeast infections: why?
Naloxone is known as the “life-saving drug,” since it can bring someone back from an opiate overdose. Dr. Sydnee goes through the history of this hero drug, how it works, and the recent struggle of keeping it accessible in some communities.
Sawbones is finally doing the Balto episode! What happens when a remote town in Alaska has a diphtheria breakout, but their entire anti-toxin supply is expired? Call up Balto and the pack of hero dogs and mushers to make the harrowing journey.
How well do we understand viruses? We were fighting them before we could even see them. Fast forward to today, Dr. Sydnee explains how all of this relates to what we know now about the Delta variant.
Justin takes over Sawbones researching duties from Dr. Sydnee this week as he begins profiling the unsung heroes of business: Brands. In this inaugural attempt, he’ll present the story of Vicks and how the company’s VapoRub took over the world. Also: The puzzling truth about NyQuil’s name.
In the 1950s, Thalidomide was rolled out very quickly and what followed was a tragic story that highlighted perils of greed and hidden agendas. This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin attempt to untangle this murky narrative, and highlight the doctor who heroically kept this disaster from claiming many more lives.
We’ve got a real mystery for you on Sawbones this week: Havana Syndrome. It’s either a secret beam being blasted at American diplomats . . . or a mass psychogenic illness . . . or a complete fabrication. Or anything in between?
If you’ve seen a new smoothie shop or “Nutrition Club” open up in your area, take note: It may not be a smoothie store at all. This week on Sawbones, we explore the history of Herbalife and why this multi-level marketing weight loss company is opening smoothie shops with no smoothies for sale. CW: Discussion of dieting and weight loss
Well, people are eating dirt. Real expensive dirt, too. That’s where we’re at. There’s a multi-level marketing company that sells people dirt to eat. We’re doing a Sawbones about it, and it turns out that we actually think it’s a really cool and good idea! Eating pricey dirt goo, we mean. … No, no, it’s terrible. It’s all terrible.
Is there evidence that sugary drinks cause worse hangovers? Does green snot mean there’s an infection? We’re answering more of your weird medical questions. Well, to be fair, Dr. Sydnee is answering your medical queries about sticky lip germs, C.diff, and the hot debate about that thing on your back.
Well, in one of the classic parenting whoopsies, Justin and Sydnee dented their daughter (she’s fine). In honor of her contusion, this week on Sawbones we’re talking about bruises. Are steaks part of it? Should you put most of a charcuterie board on there? Also, what’s up with the little irons boxing guys get rubbed on their face bruises? All of your questions about bruises will be answered, friend. Hold tight!
Were you aware there’s a medicine that with an extremely high degree of efficacy can prevent the spread of HIV? There is! There’s just one problem: It’s costly. … And not enough people know about it. … And many doctors don’t know enough about it. … And it’s the center of a protracted legal battle . . . Okay, so there are a few problems. This week on Sawbones, we’ll explore them all.
As an intro to new listeners, we’re bringing you science unfolding in real time that’s actually really good: the malaria vaccine. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: It’s called Mosquirix. Doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue. But the good news? It could save tens of thousands of children’s lives every year.
For Halloween, Sawbones is bringing you a story rooted in folklore and mystery: two children showed up one day in the English town of Woolpit, speaking a strange language . . .and with green skin. But their curious appearance may have a logical and medical explanation, and we bring you our best guesses.
There has been lots of discourse about gender expression recently, and “science” is often trotted out as an argument to deny the experience of others. “Feel however you want,” these arguments typically begin, “but there are only two sexes, and they’re easily defined, and that’s just science.” That’s … well it’s crap. This week on Sawbones, join us as we make it extremely clear where science stands on this complex issue.
You may have heard about a recent deadly outbreak related to gemstone-laden room sprays. The culprit in that sad situation is called “Melioidosis,” and this week we’ve got a history of how humanity tracked down this slippery ailment.
No, dear listener, “arsenic wallpaper” is not just a great band name, it’s also a reference to a mid-1800s fanaticism around using arsenic to create a particular vibrant shade of green. A sort of . . . jade? Sage? Anyway. You’ve probably already guessed how that works out, but we’ll lay it out for you just the same on this week’s Sawbones.
You can’t.
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a LEGACY it is. Welcome back to Justin McElroy’s Medical Brand Hall of Fame, where we can put aside questions of science and efficacy and focus on what really matters: How Juliana Marguiles’ dad wrote a jingle that was hidden for 20 years before it changed the world.
We’re warming the December chill with another Sawbones Q+A, answering all the weird medical questions that can only be answered publicly, on a podcast. Questions about milk and lost limbs, mole hair, spontaneous UTIs, dead germs, where does the vaccine go, and sexy sneezing.
We’re re-releasing our classic holiday episode all about Home Alone. For your listening edification, Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her lovely assistant Justin McElroy are delighted to present a full accounting of the injuries likely sustained by the Wet Bandits.
The song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” sounds like an extravagant and generous cavalcade of gifts. But what if your true love had less than pure intentions? Justin and Dr. Sydnee go through each present and speculate what deadly diseases they could potentially give you. Not hard to theorize, considering these gifts include two dozen birds.
Have you ever had the sudden urge to go to the bathroom while browsing in a TJ Maxx or a book store? Well, apparently many people have. This phenomenon was first mentioned by Mariko Aoki to a Japanese magazine in 1985, and has recently made its way to TikTok. Dr. Sydnee and Justin investigate some different theories and philosophies around the sudden need to poop while book shopping.
After a week of working on the hospital floor, Dr. Sydnee discusses her personal experience with the current state of the health care system and what the experts say the omicron variant might mean for the future of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This episode of Sawbones is a little lighter, and what’s lighter than pink? Nothing, especially when we’re talking about Baker-Miller Pink, a hue theorized to calm people down, quell violence, and maybe even influence muscle strength. It wasn’t the first color thought to have an effect on people’s behavior, and it’s EXACTLY as affective.
Work culture often lauds the idea that you should go to work even if you’re sick. This is true among a lot of occupations, but the self-declared worst offenders are doctors and other health professionals. Dr. Sydnee explains from her own experience and that of others why it is often the case that doctors are reluctant to become patients.
Benjamin Franklin: Prolific writer. Founding Father. Inventor. Creator of a killer instrument? The Glass Armonica, more or less a series of singing water bowls with haunting melody, became a popular instrument for a very short amount of time. But by 1830, it ceased being played entirely. Was it because its strange harmonics were making people ill? Or maybe it was just very fragile and hard to carry around?
What question would you ask a doctor if you were sitting next to them? That’s what the goal is today on Sawbones, where “we”, mostly Sydnee, answer listeners’ most pressing weird medical questions. Questions about cool things like ear gauges, absinthe, the strength of car doors, self-advocacy, hydration, and the hole that is your belly button.
In a Sawbones rarity, we’re talking about someone who contributed positively to the medical field. Very positively. Dr. Charles Drew, the first Black person to get a doctorate from Columbia University, was also the person to discover a better method for preserving blood for use in transfusions. And we’re glad he did, because did you know there’s a national blood shortage?
Havana Syndrome has been in the news lately, so we’ve brought an update. The CIA has continued to look into people experiencing the symptoms of this strange illness and have found . . . there is some sort of cause after all? So enjoy the full episode explaining the history of Havana Syndrome, and what we’ve learned in recent weeks.
Have you ever gone outside and found gelatinous goop on the ground? It’s jelly from the stars! But actually . . . what is it? As far back as the 14th century, people have noticed mucilaginous goo that has been associated with both the medicinal and the magical. Dr. Sydnee talks about the many instances of “star jelly” throughout history, what it could possibly be, and the effect it has on people – sometimes harmful, but mostly benign.
It’s time to do a little bit of inbox spring cleaning with all these listener medical questions! Justin reads and Dr. Sydnee answers medical questions about things like healing hickeys, eating all of the meat, tongue-based diagnostics, and tasting with your feet.
Do artificially colored food dyes make your kids behave badly? This sounds like it could be true, and is certainly alluring to parents as an easy fix. But are they actually related? In the 1940s, Dr. Benjamin Feingold was set to research just that, believing that food dye not only could cause bad behavior, but was linked to asthma, eczema, and hives. But the solution to how to solve any of these problems is a bit extreme – too extreme to be practical or even show any real results.
In the mid-20th century, Dr. Edward Bach developed a series of diluted tinctures from ingredients of the natural world to combat negative emotions, and by extension, disease. Bach supplied that these remedies were different for everyone, depending on mood. And to find out what you need? Just take an online quiz!
A very long time ago, in 2019, we talked about the Corrupted Blood plague, a pandemic within the World of Warcraft. How it affected the digital world was used as a model for how people might behave during an actual real-life pandemic. Well . . . we’ve got that real-life pandemic now. So how did it actually play out (and is still playing out) versus how it went in-game?
Remember when the Cheerios box said it would lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease? Well, it doesn’t say that anymore because cereal isn’t medicine. But this is just one example in a long history of breakfast cereals claiming to be beneficial to health.
Some people believe that men in the world are getting softer and masculinity is under attack. But not to worry, there’s a solution: tanning your . . . nethers. Although the idea of exposing your soft bits to the sun may be embarrassing, there’s also, as Dr. Sydnee explains, zero evidence that it’s beneficial.
Harry Beno (not BEAN-o) one day walked into a barn hungry for biscuits and emerged the poison king. Believing himself immune to strychnine, Beno took to eating poison for an audience. From there his act escalated to the next logical step, hammering nails into his head and burying himself alive. Justin and Dr. Sydnee tell the story of “Beno the Wonder” who confused doctors but couldn’t escape the ultimate Sawbones lesson: don’t drill a hole in your head.
The United States is currently in a dire formula shortage, and people are taking to the internet to propose some less than ideal solutions. Dr. Sydnee talks about the origins of how formula came about, how the shortage came about, and why people on the internet are wrong. And just in case you miss the message: do NOT try to make your own formula.
With the recent news about Roe v. Wade, it’s important to talk about the history of abortion in the United States. The right to autonomy over one’s own body in regard to medical care is one of the basic tenets of medical ethics; but no matter what anyone personally believes, banning abortion doesn’t stop abortion. It just makes it unsafe.
You may be worried we’re headed into another global health crisis in the form of Monkeypox. But it’s not new, and we already know quite a bit about it. Dr. Sydnee explains what it is, how to treat it, and the recommendations at the moment from the CDC, all compared to COVID (which is now unfortunately our standard for how to relate to potential public health threats).
We’re back with Sawbones Medical Questions! Justin acts as stand-in for the listeners while Dr. Sydnee answers questions about tall people getting COVID, eye goop, nose goop, labor organizing in the medical field, and corn in poop. This one’s for the Sawboners.
What’s the deal with vomiting? Justin and Dr. Sydnee meditate on the various ways we get nauseated, from smelling something gross to getting hit in a sensitive spot, and what we’ve done over the years to help alleviate it. Although sometimes kids just vomit for no reason and we can’t really help you there.
Back in 1917 radium was all the rage. The fact that it glowed made people believe it was healthy and important, so they included it in things like toothpaste, cosmetics, even water. The Radium Girls, factory workers who used radium-laced paints to detail watch faces, were among the first to indicate that it may not be as safe as we imagined. Charlie McElroy is here to tell us about their fight for workplace safety.
The overturning of Roe has created an astounding number of questions and problems, and the fact is that we don’t know for sure how the landscape will change in the next few years or even months. This week, Dr. Sydnee uses the best available information to answer listener questions about what the Roe decision means for those seeking medical care related to pregnancy, including the morning after pill, vasectomies as contraception, and ectopic pregnancies. Addendum: There is a prescription form of emergency contraception called Ella that may be more effective in larger bodies. Speak to your primary care physician for more information.
Around the early 1900s, it was discovered that a high percent of ethanol was useful for killing germs, and worked great if there was no available soap and water. Dr. Sydnee and Justin go through viral internet stories and odd patents to explain how we eventually landed on the hand sanitizer we know and love today. Hey, if you can, though, wash your hands.
In the late 1800s, Dr. Herbert Snow observed cancer patients and considered that a mix of different medications might do the trick for slowing down its progress. The Brompton Cocktail, as it was called, was mostly cocaine and morphine. Though used for a long time for pain relief, the cocktail proved to have its problems – but maybe not for the reason you would think.
Hank Green in 2018 joked that everyone should take Metamucil, the fiber-rich powder that is supposed to help with your BMs. But is he right? Well . . . “should” is a strong word. Dr. Sydnee goes through the history of the supplement itself, made of psyllium, as well as our understanding of fiber and its use in human nutrition. And yeah, you probably aren’t getting enough of it.
In this episode of Justin McElroy’s Medical Brand Hall of Fame, Justin and Dr. Sydnee are stuck on Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages. Justin goes through the decades of campaigns and jingles, the evolution of bandage technology, and Dr. Dan the Bandage Man to explain how this sticky plaster became a staple for children and clumsy people alike.
In the 1880s, anatomist Rufus Weaver worked meticulously to extract and mount the human nervous system for study. The nervous system came from a woman named Harriet Cole; but how was it actually obtained? Dr. Sydnee dissects this medical mystery, which is a telling story of who in history is celebrated and who is often forgotten.
Starting in 1915, cases of something known as encephalitis lethargica started popping up around the globe. Symptoms were varied, but included some sort of lethargy or tiredness, with some more extreme manifestations. But exactly how many people were infected and what exactly caused this remains one of medical history’s greatest mysteries. So, yeah, we’re going to leave you hanging on that. Sorry.
Extra, extra! It’s the first edition of the Sawbones Medical News, updates on what’s going on in the world of medicine. We’ve got the newest reports on Monkey Pox vaccines and the hot new COVID-19 booster. Plus, an analysis of Dr. Oz’s interesting medical care advice.
From our earliest days of life E. coli is among us and within us, living in harmony with the rest of our colonic flora. But this week we’re here to discuss the multi-dimensional E. coli’s ability to really mess all that up through contaminated romaine and undercooked cheeseburgers.
Podcast history is being made here: There are TWO Justin McElroys in this week’s episode. We are joined by Justin McElroy, CBC reporter of municipal affairs in Vancouver and British Columbia, as he discusses his role reporting COVID data over the last two and a half years, and the challenges of presenting that information as people seem to be moving on from caring about the pandemic.
Is schizophrenia the same as having a dissociative identity? Or anti-social disorder? Or being a murderer? No. No. All of these are wrong. Dr. Sydnee breaks down one of the most misunderstood and maligned mental illnesses and how our understanding of symptoms and treatment have changed over the years.
There are many people who have been recurring characters on Sawbones. Pliny the Elder. Charlie. But few so notorious as Dr. Mehmet Oz, now running for the U.S. Senate. This isn’t a commentary on his political fitness; just an examination of his history of questionable medical advice and pop-science claims. CW: Discussion of dieting and weight loss
The eyes are the windows to the soul, but could they also be the windows to all the body’s ailments? Dr. Sydnee and Justin discuss iridology, the idea that changes in the eye color could possibly indicate different diseases and conditions – and perhaps even personality traits – although there is very little evidence that any of this is scientifically sound.
Why not just connect the spiritual and scientific world? That’s basically what anthroposophy asks, teaching a philosophical approach to medicine. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the history of this movement and also try to explain what exactly it is.
Have you ever wanted to ask a real doctor questions that aren’t really advice? Dr. Sydnee answers listener questions about infecting yourself with a virus, refusing opioids, and difficult veins. And don’t worry - there are some poop questions as well.
To celebrate the first new live Sawbones shows since 2020, we’re releasing the first in a three-part series exploring the vast array that pirates—in an extremely resource and knowledge-limited setting—tried to keep one another alive through the years.
In the second entry in the pirate medicine series, Dr. Sydnee talks about the practice of treating burns aboard a ship. It seems like burns on a ship would not be a problem, but ships are made of wood, and fire + wood = bad.
In the third and final chapter of the pirate medicine series, Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the dreaded Flux. What is the Flux? Well, it involves something coming out of your body in excess . . . and it’s not urine.
This week, Justin takes the wheel and finally gets to talk about farts, only tangentially in a medical way. Get ready for some fart etymology, some notable farts in medieval history, fun fart facts, and a little bit about preventing and treating excessive gas and flatulence.
Parts of the US are currently in the midst of a triple-demic, a very scary phrase, so Dr. Sydnee is here to break down the third illness: Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV. It’s a virus that’s common among everyone, but can be dangerous for some people. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about what it is, why it is suddenly prevalent in adults, and what can be done to help prevent the spread (hint: wear a mask).
It’s the last episode of the year, so Dr. Sydnee and Justin set out to answer your important medical questions! How do oral probiotics prevent a yeast infection (or do they)? What’s that medicine and Sprite combo you drink before a CT scan? Should I talk to the students who practice appointments on me? And does everyone rub their limbs together like a cricket before bed, or is it just Justin?
The Sawbones Medical Quiz is back and better than ever, with questions about this past year’s episodes! What have you learned about bad fast food, Senate contenders, pirate medicine, and owls?
In 2001, the United States was under a biological attack from strange spores in mailed envelopes. This is a lot of people’s first introduction to anthrax, a bacteria often associated with both domestic and wild animals. But what is anthrax, how is it spread, and where did it come from? To clarify, this episode is about the disease, not the metal band.
If you’re like Dr. Sydnee and your TikTok algorithm keeps advertising medical substances at you, perhaps you’ve heard of asafoetida. It’s a pungent resin derived from a plant, and has culinary appeal as well as reportedly some medical benefits. But what, if any, research and evidence do we have about these medicinal claims? And most importantly, what does it really smell like? We need to know, for science.
Have you ever been interrupted on a college campus by someone asking about your latest incident of intimate kissing? That’s because they were trying to track the spread of a common infection called mononucleosis, or mono. Dr. Sydnee goes over the history of how the virus that caused mono was tracked down, and how it’s tested for now.
Dr. Sydnee and Justin don’t actually like grapefruits, so it’s irrelevant to them, but grapefruit juice is known to interact poorly with many medications. Given the wide variety of fruits and their juices, it seems strange this is such an outlier. How was this anomaly discovered, and why exactly does it do what it does?
There are lots of things that aren’t medicine. Taxes. Pound cake. One thing that is definitely not a medicine but at a time was thought as one? Ketchup! Dr. Sydnee goes through ketchup’s journey from a fermented non-tomato condiment to the condiment we know and love, including its brief stint as Dr. Miles’ Extract of Tomato.
People have been dying of the inflammation of the appendix long before anyone even knew what this little finger-like organ was good for. Dr. Sydnee goes through the history of the first accidental appendix removal, to the long journey to figuring the true cause of abdominal distress. And most importantly: What’s the one place where you MUST have your appendix removed before visiting?
It’s another Sawbones: Medical Questions, and we’re gonna go full Galaxy Brain on these listener-submitted queries. What is methalated B-12? Can my appendix grow back and give me appendicitis ad infinitum? Does sugar help tongue burns or is it just tasty? And most importantly, how do I tell my friend to stop listening to TikTok for medical advice?
Lice aren’t just a longtime annoyance of school aged kids, they’ve actually been around longer than people. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the history of trying to get rid of these creatures as well as some common misconceptions. Be warned: your head will be itchy during this episode.
Dr. Sydnee and Justin go through the marvelous Marvel Anatomy book, which explains how many comic book heroes’ superpowers work. Where does the Hulk’s strength come from? How does Spider-Man climb walls? How does Captain Marvel shoot energy out of her hands? And is any of it anatomically or medically plausible at all?
The Great Stink of 1858 has highlights from some of the Sawbones Greatest Hits: the controversy of hand washing, the miasma theory of disease. and cholera. Which is all to say: it took humanity a long time to figure out that we shouldn’t be drinking poop.
Blowing your nose is maybe the only small glint of satisfaction had while having a cold or sinus infection. But is blowing your nose actually good, or even safe? Dr. Sydnee and Justin look through the history of handkerchiefs and nose-wiping to the science of what happens to your sinuses when you blow your nose in order to try and find a happy medium.
Mifepristone, known colloquially as the abortion pill, has recently been in the news as its future availability in the United States comes into question. Dr. Sydnee and Justin go through the history of the medicine, from how it was discovered to how it was approved to what happened over the summer to change that.
Why do people start losing the pigment in their hair as they grow older? Well, it might be one of those things that we don’t entirely understand, though there are some new studies that offer some ideas. But that didn’t stop people throughout history from trying to find ways to keep their hair from turning grey. Of course, Justin doesn’t need any of these methods because he has surprisingly little grey hair for someone his age. As he points out. Repeatedly.
Recently a number of states have passed restrictions for gender-affirming care for those under 18, but shouldn’t it be medical professionals, not states, whose expertise should be considered? Dr. Sydnee goes through what this medical treatment really is and the history of how we developed it, how it works, and the research that shows that yes, it does work to help save lives.
Justin takes the wheel as he once again brings out the official Marvel Anatomy book to discuss the science of comic book superpowers. He and Dr. Sydnee discuss the feasibility of abilities in characters like Daredevil, The Invisible Woman, Captain America, Spider Woman, and The Lizard.
The third Hepatitis to be discovered, appropriately named Hepatitis C, is an infection that primarily affects the liver, but often has non-specific symptoms. Dr. Sydnee and Justin trace the strange history of this virus, how it spreads, and why testing for it is more important than ever.
Live from Columbus, Ohio, home of the first Wendy’s, and also COSI, the Center of Science and Industry! Justin and Dr. Sydnee bring forward one of the world’s oldest medical mysteries: what happened to King Tut?
Recently, the FDA has updated their guidelines on who can donate blood and when – an update that has long been demanded. So we bring the full episode about Dr. Charles Drew and the history of blood donation, along with the new guidelines and why these changes were finally made.
Sometimes Sawbones covers timely topics, like the latest adulterant in a substance people like to put in their bodies. Xylazine, or “tranq,” is the new one exacerbating the opioid crisis. Dr. Sydnee talks about the history of Xylazine and how to approach it now. But all in all, the best way to help would be to stop managing a medical condition with the justice system instead of health care.
Most people have probably heard of gangrene, a condition that causes tissue to become necrotic. But Fournier’s Gangrene is a more . . . targeted version, specifically affecting the perineum, or taint. Justin and Dr. Sydnee discuss who Dr. Fournier was and how he (deservedly or not) put his name on this very specific infection.
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?
Sound can sometimes be therapeutic, like listening to white noise to help fall asleep. But can a big egg-shaped hut use the theory of quantum realms and vibrations to cure everything with love and frequencies? Um . . . no. But someone seemed to think so. Dr. Sydnee and Justin explain the Harmonic Egg, how it’s supposed to work, and how it came about.
Now that there have been malaria cases popping up in the United States, we bring the full episode about the disease from 2015. So learn all about malaria in the past, and Dr. Sydnee will have an update about malaria in the present.
John Green recently made a video asking Johnson & Johnson not to extend their patent on a tuberculosis drug, which would keep it exclusive and expensive. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about how drug patents work, the recent (good) update about bedaquiline specifically, and the next steps that pharmaceutical companies and the government need to make to keep life-saving drugs affordable. We’re back to classic Sawbones, keeping tabs on Big Pharma again.
You’ll never believe what people are doing on TikTok now. Borax is a salt you might have in your home: it’s an active ingredient in many contact solutions, so it doesn’t sound especially good to eat. Dr. Sydnee talks about the different reasons people on the internet are drinking it, the history of borax, and the actual science behind it. But the bottom line is: please do not drink borax.
Trains are statistically one of the safest ways to travel, but please mind the vibrations. Dr. Sydnee talks about the brief period in the 1800’s when men kept going wild on trains.
Florida has a sudden uptick in cases of leprosy – but isn’t that just a weird Biblical disease? It’s real, it’s just fairly rare. Justin and Dr. Sydnee bring the history of leprosy from a 2014 episode, in addition to updated research and treatments, as well as what exactly is going on in Florida.
One of the national drinks of the Dominican Republic, Mamajuana has a long history as an enjoyed alcoholic beverage . . . and a medicine. Dr. Sydnee and Justin go over the backstories of this beverage and the various medicinal properties it has reportedly held.
If you’ve ever been pregnant or pregnant-adjacent, you may have heard of the blood glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. Many pregnant people find the process unpleasant and gross — which has prompted some pseudo-experts to speak out against it. Dr. Sydnee discusses the new discourse surrounding the test, how it works, and why, if your doctor recommends it, you should honestly just get it done.
That thing where you get bitten by ticks and can’t eat meat, is that real? Yes, it’s real, and it’s called Alpha-Gal Syndrome. Dr. Sydnee dives into the fascinating story of how we found out that sometimes, if you get bitten by a certain tick, you become allergic to red meat.
Sometimes respiratory and GI distress can be treated with antibiotics; other times it turns out there’s a live carpet python parasite in the brain. Dr. Sydnee discuss this rare case from a few years ago, the history of discovering parasitic roundworms in humans, and best practices in avoiding them.
Justin returns to quiz Dr. Sydnee for the third and final analysis of the official Marvel Anatomy book. All will be revealed! Where does Colossus get his steel skin? How does Mystique turn into other people? And why are the Inhumans so disappointing?
It’s time for us to answer some more listener medical questions, if “us” means “Dr. Sydnee McElroy.” Questions like: can you cook dirt enough to make it clean? What is Gaze-Evoked Tinnitus? Why do we rub our eyes when we’re tired? And can I taste . . .with my eyes?
There is a claim on the internet that when you eat pineapple, it eats you back. This is actually true! Or more accurately, pineapple contains an enzyme that breaks down tissue. Dr. Sydnee and Justin dive into exactly how this works, as well as the fundamental question: what is an enzyme?
Often cure-alls cure nothing (and do nothing), but other times they may actually hurt. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the Essiac tea formula, which claims to cure cancer while preventing people from seeking actual helpful medical care.
What was some of the outdated (though subtly subversive) medical advice given to cisgendered women of the 1930s? Dr. Sydnee and Justin aim to answer that with The Intimate Side of a Woman’s Life by Leona W. Chalmers, with all sorts of tips about douching, period cramps, and sex energy. Thanks to Olivia for sending in the book!
In the 1800s, there was a growing concern about spermatorrhea, a condition that involves involuntary and excessive semen leakage or discharge. Some doctors (and people who claimed to be doctors) were quick to come up with some truly terrifying solutions . . . except that it was largely a panic and not really happening at all.
To get you through that holiday slog, we’re re-releasing our classic holiday episode all about the ailments Santa could possibly have. It’s Candlenights 2016, and that can only mean one thing: Dr. Sydnee is trying to ruin Christmas again. Join her as she explains to poor, pitiful Justin all of Santa’s terrible health risks, recorded live in Huntington, WV.
Many of us know all the catchy jingle that lists all the things that Pepto Bismol is supposed to be good for. However, that ubiquitous pink medicine is maybe not so ubiquitous everywhere. How did this chalky liquid become so necessary for curing Americans’ stomach woes – and does it actually do anything?
Shrug off that winter chill with a warm bowl of listener-submitted medical questions. Questions like: Am I giving away my immunity with a blood donation? Can antibiotics make colds worse? Can you cough while sleeping? Are we really new people every seven years? And is there any real health benefit to shaving my armpits?
What would really happen to someone stuck in all of Kevin McCallister’s traps? Dr. Sydnee and Justin return to discuss the even more outrageous and even more dangerous injuries the Sticky Bandits sustain in Home Alone 2.
A lot of brands name themselves “doctor” – but how many of them are named after actual medical doctors? Justin takes the wheel with a little quiz for Dr. Sydnee and the listeners on Dr. Pepper, Doc Martens, Dr. Teal, and more.
In a continuation from last week, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are focusing on a particular Doctor Brand: Dr Scholl’s. Who was Dr. Scholl, what was his medical training, and why was he so interested in fixing feet?
Do you even know where your gallbladder is? Maybe it’s not so surprising that millions of Americans don’t know they have a gastrointestinal disorder caused by gallstones. Dr. Sydnee and Justin go through the history of gallbladder disease, and why the icky medical mnemonic of “forty, fat, and fertile” is misleading and maybe even harmful.
Normally Sawbones talks about medical cures, whether real or fake, but today Dr. Sydnee and Justin are diving into the opposite. There was a time when women in bad marriages and needed a way out could turn to Julia Tofana who offered a secret, untraceable poison and, maybe, a chance at freedom.
A tongue tie is not just a turn of phrase, it’s a medical condition in which the frenulum under your tongue is too thick and restricts your lingual movement. For a long time, a procedure to cut it has been done as a solution to some breastfeeding woes. But should it be? Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the history of this procedure and the medical field’s view on it today.
Justin and Dr. Sydnee are joined by parallel-universe versions of themselves, The Glaucomfleckens! The two doctor-spouse duos talk about Will and Kristen Flanary’s journey into podcasting, including serious medical scares, balancing work and kids, and social media.
Started in the 1930s by scientist Dr. Miriam Menkin, in vitro fertilization is a medical procedure to help with fertility that took until the 1970s to have results in humans. With some drastic misunderstandings going on in the news, Dr. Sydnee and Justin go through the long history of in vitro fertilization and its importance in fertility and contraception today.
There are many ways people get sick, but sometimes diseases are carried to people by insects. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the top ten “bad bugs” including mosquitoes, ticks, assassin bugs, and some beetles that are big and bad.
Dr. Sydnee and Justin are welcoming in the spring and allergy season with listeners’ strangest medical questions! Why do some people get goosebumps when they do alcohol shots? Does baking soda work for bug bites? Do people with facial hair get more sick? And for real, how long can you REALLY actually look at an eclipse before it’s unsafe?
If you want to Get Good at video games quickly, are there any magic pills you can take? Well, there are people trying to sell them to you. Justin and Dr. Sydnee look at some supplements that claim to give gamers better focus and more energy, none of which are doctor-approved.
With so much medical research out there on internet, how can you sort through what’s based in science and what’s just three people in a room? Dr. Sydnee discusses the all the different factors to think about when deciding how much weight to give any article or study. There’s a lot!
Another day, another fad superfood on social media! Sea moss, or carrageenan or Irish moss, has historically been used for ulcers and sore throats, but does it actually have any proven medical use? Well, no, but it’s probably a good vegan substitute for gelatin.
What if someone was declared dead . . . only for their heart to start beating again? This is a phenomenon sometimes called “Lazarus Syndrome” or “auto resuscitation after failed pulmonary resuscitation”. Dr. Sydnee and Justin discuss the outline of exactly what needs to occur, some possible reasons this might happen, and a few wild examples.
Squishing someone’s heart and blowing air into them to bring them back to life seems so basic, so why weren’t we able to agree on it for the past few hundred years? This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee gives an overview of the evolution of CPR which, despite what movies and TV would have you believe, isn’t quite an infinite cheat code for avoiding death.
You may have seen some celebrities or influencers on social media getting something called a Vampire Facial. It’s exactly what it sounds like: blood spread on the face like a cream mask. But why would anyone do this unless it’s supposed to do something for the skin? Dr. Sydnee and Justin draw out where this trend came from and its questionable benefits.
In a collaboration of medical fads and brands, Dr. Sydnee and Justin dive into the confusing MLM called Plexus. The company started as a seller of the Breast Chek [sic] Kit but has since branched out into wellness and weight management products that it encourages its Ambassadors to recruit others to sell.
Dr. Sydnee has ruined her TikTok algorithm for the listeners once again and came across something called “Hydrogen Water.” Similar to alkaline water, hyrdrogen water goes through an ionization process that leaves it with excess hydrogen molecules. But . . . is it better than regular water? Probably not.
Hot time, summer in the city, time for listener Sawbones questions! Questions like: Why is blood sticky? Why does skin itch when it grows back? Might my twin reject my organs? And should I bring my own speculum to an exam?
There are different versions of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory exploits, but all of them involve strange things happening to children who misbehave. But from a biological standpoint, what does that look like? Dr. Sydnee and Justin discuss the strange science going on at Wonka’s factory and whether gum could possibly contain enough juice to turn someone into a blueberry.
To coincide with the opening of Justin and Sydnee’s stage production, we bring to you a classic episode about the medicinal history of chocolate! This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin take a sunrise and sprinkle it with dew.
Sawbones listeners just have so many strange medical questions! Questions like: Why do I sneeze at dark chocolate? Does Diet Coke actually relieve nausea? Why does saliva get thicker while exercising? And you know that TikTok with the cinnamon rolls and the yeast infection. . . is that . . .real?
Can you touch your tongue with your nose or wiggle your ears? Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the science and studies behind weird little tricks some bodies can do, or “stupid human tricks.”
You may have heard that a new study showed tampons contain traces of metals. Dr. Sydnee and Justin go through the history of tampons, why they might contain metal, and what we still need to find out about the possible effects of using them.
Sometimes the cities we visit on tour have some historical medical mess-ups, but not Detroit! Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about Forest Dewey Dodrill, who performed the first successful heart surgery (with a pump) in a time where operating on the heart was considered a no-no.
Magnetic bracelets, immortality rings . . . the internet is full of wearables that are sold for their medicinal properties as if they’re equipment in Baldur’s Gate. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the history of this fashionable medicine and what it claims to do.
It wouldn’t be Twenty Fungalore without talking about the alleged medicinal properties of mushrooms, which are a fungus and not a plant at all. Justin and Dr. Sydnee talk to Cleveland about common fungi used as medical supplements, from the parasitic Cordyceps to the infamous psilocybin.
Dr. Sydnee goes through her own story of a routine mammogram and its follow up: how the experience is different coming in as a doctor, the advantages and the disadvantages of trying to doctor yourself, and how easy it is for someone without every advantage to fall through the cracks of the United States health care system.
If you haven’t already been personally affected by a fentanyl overdose, you likely know someone who has. This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee explores the rapid rise of fentanyl as a lethal street drug and what one West Virginia group is doing in hopes of turning the tide against overdose fatalities.