Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine
Episodes
Sawbones: Dr. Willard Bliss
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It was probably the destiny of Dr. Doctor Willard Bliss to become a medical professional, although his career was a real rollercoaster of beliefs and ...
Sawbones: The Ejaculation Panic
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1800s, there was a growing concern about spermatorrhea, a condition that involves involuntary and excessive semen leakage or discharge. Some do...
Sawbones: The Intimate Side of a Woman’s Life
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What was some of the outdated (though subtly subversive) medical advice given to cisgendered women of the 1930s?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 t...
Sawbones: The Tea That Doesn’t Cure Cancer (and Might Make It Worse)
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Sawbones: Pineapple
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 enzym...
Sawbones: Why Do I Always Burp Next to My Wife?
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time for us to answer some more listener medical questions, if “us” means “Dr. Sydnee McElroy.” Questions like: can you cook dirt enoug...
Sawbones: Marvel Anatomy: Endgame
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Sawbones: Carpet Python Parasite
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. ...
Sawbones: Alpha-Gal Syndrome
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Sawbones: Blood Glucose Tolerance Test
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 peo...
Sawbones: Mamajuana
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the national drinks of the Dominican Republic, Mamajuana has a long history as an enjoyed alcoholic beverage . . . and a medicine. Dr. Sydnee a...
Sawbones: Leprosy in Florida
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 D...
Sawbones: Railway Madness
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Sawbones: Borax
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 solut...
Sawbones: Patents vs. Life-Saving Drugs
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
John Green recently made a video asking Johnson & Johnson not to extend their patent on a tuberculosis drug, which would keep it exclusive and expensi...
Update: Malaria
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 mala...
Sawbones: Harmonic Egg
04 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
Sawbones: What's the Point of Soup?
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 s...
Sawbones: Fournier's Gangrene
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most people have probably heard of gangrene, a condition that causes tissue to become necrotic. But Fournier’s Gangrene is a more . . . targeted ver...
Sawbones: Xylazine
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes Sawbones covers timely topics, like the latest adulterant in a substance people like to put in their bodies. Xylazine, or “tranq,” is th...
Update: Blood Donation
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 episod...
Sawbones: King Tutankhamun
23 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Sawbones: Hepatitis C
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The third Hepatitis to be discovered, appropriately named Hepatitis C, is an infection that primarily affects the liver, but often has non-specific sy...
Sawbones: Marvel Anatomy: Infinity War
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. Sydne...
Sawbones: Gender-Affirming Care for Minors
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Recently a number of states have passed restrictions for gender-affirming care for those under 18, but shouldn't it be medical professionals, not stat...
Sawbones: Going Grey
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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, thou...
Sawbones: The Abortion Pill
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mifepristone, known colloquially as the abortion pill, has recently been in the news as its future availability in the United States comes into questi...
Sawbones: Nose Blowing
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Sawbones: The Great Stink of 1858
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 cho...
2023 BoCo Teaser - Sawbones: Medical Questions for Kids
24 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We wanted to share a little teaser of our MaxFunDrive Bonus Content, so here's a short clip of Dr. Sydnee and Charlie addressing kid medical questions...
Sawbones: Marvel Anatomy
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Sawbones: Head Lice
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 h...
Sawbones: Is Leg-Length Discrepancy Genetic?
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ap...
Sawbones: Appendicitis
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 go...
Sawbones: Ketchup
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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? Ketc...
Sawbones: Grapefruits
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 medicati...
Sawbones: Mononucleosis
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Sawbones: Asafoetida
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 re...
Sawbones: Anthrax
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 anth...
Sawbones: Super Sawbones Quiz of 2022
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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, Sen...
Sawbones: Can I Become the Alpha Period-Haver?
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Sawbones: RSV
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Sawbones: Farts
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 no...
Sawbones: Pirate Medicine Chapter Three
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 s...
Sawbones: Pirate Medicine Chapter Two
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Sawbones: Pirate Medicine Chapter One
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Sawbones: Does Shrimp Make My Husband Drunk?
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Sawbones: Anthroposophy
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why not just connect the spiritual and scientific world? That's basically what anthroposophy asks, teaching a philosophical approach to medicine. Dr. ...
Sawbones: Iridology
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Sawbones: Dr. Oz
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 f...
Sawbones: Schizophrenia
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Sawbones: How Justin McElroy Became a Trusted Source for COVID News in Canada
27 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
Sawbones: E. coli
20 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 di...
Sawbones News: Vaccine Updates
13 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 rep...
The Sleeping Sickness
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Starting In 1915, cases of something known as encephalitis lethargica started popping up around the globe. Symptoms were varied, but included some sor...
Rufus Weaver and Harriet Cole
23 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Band-Aids
16 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 thr...
Metamucil
09 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 . . ...
The Brompton Cocktail
26 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 it...
Hand Sanitizer
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Answering Your Questions About the Roe Verdict
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 wil...
Radium Girls
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 too...
Vomiting
22 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Is it Safe to Eat This Plutonium?
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’re back with Sawbones Medical Questions! Justin acts as stand-in for the listeners while Dr. Sydnee answers questions about tall people getting C...
Monkeypox
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 abou...
History of Abortion
24 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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’...
Infant Formula
17 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Harry Beno: The Poison King
03 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Testicle Tanning
26 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 . ....
Cereal
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 m...
The World of Warcraft Plague and COVID
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Bach's Flower Remedies
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the mid-20th century, Dr. Edward Bach developed a series of diluted tinctures from ingredients of the natural world to combat negative emotions, an...
Food Dye and Behavior
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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....
Spring Medical Questions Are in the Air
22 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 questio...
Star Jelly
15 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 14t...
Update: Havana Syndrome
08 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 s...
Dr. Charles Drew and Blood Donations
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a Sawbones rarity, we’re talking about someone who contributed positively to the medical field. Very positively. Dr. Charles Drew, the first Blac...
Now That’s What I Call Weird Medical Questions
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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, ans...
Ben Franklin’s Glass Armonica
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Benjamin Franklin: Prolific writer. Founding Father. Inventor. Creator of a killer instrument? The Glass Armonica, more or less a series of singing wa...
Doctoring While Sick
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 wor...
Baker-Miller Pink
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Omicron Variant
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Mariko Aoki Phenomenon
04 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 phenomeno...
Twelve Days of Christmas
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 inte...
Sawbones Classic: Home Alone
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're re-releasing our classic holiday episode all about Home Alone.For your listening edification, Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her lovely assistant Justin...
Tis the Season for Weird Medical Questions
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Alka-Seltzer
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 sci...
How to Detox from a Vaccine
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You can’t.
Arsenic Wallpaper
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 cr...
Melioidosis
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard about a recent deadly outbreak related to gemstone-laden room sprays. The culprit in that sad situation is called “Melioidosis,...
Sex and Gender
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There has been lots of discourse about gender expression recently, and “science” is often trotted out as an argument to deny the experience of oth...
The Green Children of Woolpit
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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, speak...
The Malaria Vaccine
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Pill that Helps Prevent HIV
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Bruising
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 Sawbo...
Weird Medical Questions Strike Back
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Black Oxygen Organics
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Herbalife
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 Sawb...
Havana Syndrome
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Thalidomide
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 w...