Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine

Government medical insurance is not exactly sexy, but it's an often overlooked issue when going to the voting booth. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the difference between the two, why one of them is controversial, and what changes are coming. And if they're still hard to differentiate, Justin has a little rhyme to help you remember!

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Native American Aid: https://nativepartnership.org/naa/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

Horror movies and stories sure do have a lot of mad scientists and doctors running around. But should they still be practicing? Dr. Sydnee and Justin discuss Dr. Caligari, Dr. Jekyll, and more to see whether or not they should have their licenses removed – so maybe if we should be calling him MISTER Giggles.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Center for Reproductive Rights: https://reproductiverights.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

Unfortunately we can't have nice things. Dr. Sydnee and Justin must break the news that there is often lead in cinnamon, and discuss how exactly this has happened. However, they also offer advice for how to still consume it safely, plus, an update about the plague in Russia.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Center for Reproductive Rights: https://reproductiverights.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

The United States public opinion on the death penalty has waxed and waned so much that its use is on a state-by-state basis, nearly dividing the country in half. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the history of capital punishment in the United States, the various methods and the varied involvements of the medical community, and share thoughts on what, considering recent events, should be in the future.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Center for Reproductive Rights: https://reproductiverights.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

Would people benefit from wearing a glucose monitor all day every day, even if they’re not on insulin? Evidence does not say there is a benefit, and there are some reasons not to get one. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the history of tracking glucose and our understanding of diabetes, as well as the advancement of technology where we’re almost at cyber-pancreases.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Midwest Food Bank: https://midwestfoodbank.org/disaster-relief/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

Pretty much since the first artificial sweetener was developed, we've been concerned about their potential adverse effects. How could something 20,000 times as sweet as sugar come without a catch, and perhaps more importantly, why were so many of these sweeteners discovered because scientists were licking their hands in the lab?

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Midwest Food Bank: https://midwestfoodbank.org/disaster-relief/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

With an email subject line of "Dolphins and LSD", Dr. Sydnee and Justin just HAD dive deeper. Enter John C. Lilly, a doctor, scientist, and psychonaut who became very interested in meditation and expanding the consciousness, eventually leading to using psychedelics to try and communicate with Flipper.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Midwest Food Bank: https://midwestfoodbank.org/disaster-relief/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

All medicine is local, and little is more local to Justin and Dr. Sydnee than a medicine man in their own West Virginia. Dr. Sydnee talks about a local character named Catfish who became a sort of herbalist medicine man and how he became a bit of a sensation.

Catfish's recipes: https://shorturl.at/MCRrI

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Midwest Food Bank: https://midwestfoodbank.org/disaster-relief/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

Sawbones' least favorite animal, mosquitoes, are back with yet another reason they suck: Dengue Fever has made its way into Florida. But don't worry. Dr. Sydnee talks about some very special chickens looking out for us, especially at the most Magical place on earth.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Native Women Lead: https://www.nativewomenlead.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

There's been some social media talk about a psychoactive mushroom that causes visions of small people, like the Lilliputians from Gulliver's Travels. This is a rare but real phenomenon with several causes. Dr. Sydnee talks about the documented experiences of seeing these little guys, where they comes from, and what is happening in the brain to cause this.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Native Women Lead: https://www.nativewomenlead.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

While some people in power are trying to minimize how bad things were at the height of COVID-19, we thought it was important to document the real story. Since Dr. Sydnee was working in a hospital at the time, she reflects on the reality of those short-staffed, stressful, overcrowded days. PLUS a lighter note from Justin about butts and an investigation into who is wiping them.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Native Women Lead: https://www.nativewomenlead.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

It’s one of our favorite kinds of episodes, making use of Dr. Sydnee’s expertise and Justin’s street smarts: medical questions! Why do we fart? How long is the digestive tract? Why are all minor mouth injuries so awful? Does REM “detoxify” the brain? And am I experiencing nightmares, night terrors, or ghosts? (Sawbones does not claim any expertise on the matter of ghosts.) PLUS, an update on Cyclospora.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Asian Pacific Environmental Network: https://apen4ej.org/our-work/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

The food has been going wild lately, and none more in the headlines this second than cyclospora parasite which is causing an outbreak of . . . intense gastrointestinal distress. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about the history of parasitic illnesses and what to know about the outbreak right now. For example, maybe just never eat lettuce ever again.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Asian Pacific Environmental Network: https://apen4ej.org/our-work/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

This week, Justin walks Sydnee through the complexities of pharmaceutical naming. Join them as they review the history of the functional regulatory procedures, as well as the way branding and marketing has resulted in increasingly-wild names like "Prozac" and "Skyrizi."

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Asian Pacific Environmental Network: https://apen4ej.org/our-work/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

As folks in the northern hemisphere get back into the swing of summer we here at Sawbones thought it'd be a good time to reshare a classic episode about sunburns to help you get your D in the safest way possible.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Lambda Legal: https://lambdalegal.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

We've probably all gotten a blister at some point, whether from walking too much or from shredding a guitar solo. Dr. Sydnee and Justin talk about what actually causes a blister, how they are treated, and, most importantly, when is a good situation in which to pop them?

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Lambda Legal: https://lambdalegal.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

Dr. Sydnee is joined this week by Charlie and Cooper, who are starring in a production of Matilda, and therefore experts in . . . telekinetic government experiments. The three McElroys talk about the unsuccessful history of trying to prove – or create – people moving objects with their minds, including Uri Geller and the CIA.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Lamda Legal: https://lambdalegal.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

Maybe you've heard of kratom, a substance being sold as a 'natural' energy substance. With its alarmingly growing popularity, Dr. Sydnee and Justin look into what exactly it is, what it really does, and whether you should take it. (Spoiler: you should not).

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Lamda Legal: https://lambdalegal.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

The recent outbreak of human-communicable Hantavirus on a cruise ship continues to change rapidly and the U.S. continues to lag behind other nations in its response. This week on Sawbones, an update on the situation and some thoughts about the future of disease management in a country that seems uninterested in doing so.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

First Nations Development Institute: https://www.firstnations.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones

In what may be our most requested episode of all time, Dr. Sydnee addresses the hantavirus outbreak in the headlines, looks at its history and evaluates just how badly the U.S. is handling the situation.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

First Nations Development Institute: https://www.firstnations.org/

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsawbones