Sickboy

While we all experience loss, going through grief can feel very lonely. Dr. Lucy Kalanithi felt that way after her husband died, leaving her with their young daughter. Instead of turning away from the pain, Dr. Kalanithi faced her grief head-on. She published his memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, which taught her that looking at hardship differently can help us find resilience. On today's episode of Sickboy Podcast, she joins the boys for a warm conversation about learning to live with grief and finding hope.

David Oliver Wudel is a extremely talented Canadian based queer artist who happens to have Cerebral Palsy. This week he gives the fellas a glimpse into the day in the life of someone who has CP. Chronic pain is the name of the game, but it wasn't always like this. We dive into the progression of David's disease and how it has slowly morphed over the years. How has it shifted David's perception on life and death? We also discuss the beauty of David's art and how art gives him a creative outlet to mentally process and cope with his illness. David is a shining bright light and we're so excited for you to listen to this episode!

Did you hear about these magnetic vaccine crystals? Keep your keys and anything else that is metal far away from your face. Bobbypins included. This week the gang covers the Manitoba lottery for vaccine enthusiasts, the oldest person to beat COVID-19 (spoiler alert, she's way old), the misogyny that plagues the neuroscience research field and, finally, one of the most shocking segments of What The Hellth?! to date. Don't worry, we don't end it on a heavy note. Get that self care in and take loads of time to, eh — wax this weekend!

Menopause is often shrouded in shame, fear and a general lack of understanding; Dr. Jen Gunter is here to set the record straight. Dr. Gunter is a Canadian ob-gyn and fierce women's health advocate, best known for her TED Talks and for writing The Vagina Bible. This week she joins the fellas for a discussion on de-stigmatizing menopause, the gaps in knowledge on men's and women's health in the medical field and how just a small amount of knowledge can make a big difference in navigating healthcare.

This week we chat with Jakki about her years-long struggle with her health. The symptoms are weird as hell and they have piled on over quite a long time. We're talking about difficulty walking, swallowing, talking. Not to mention the hallucinations and other psychological symptoms. So what does she have? Hard to say, really. Some docs told her she has cat scratch fever. Some have said it's Lyme disease. Some are completely stumped... What matters to Jakki is less about the label of what she has and more about finding her way onto the road of recovery. We talk about her struggle with her health, the conspiracy theories surrounding Chronic Lyme, her beliefs in what she may or may not have, and just trying to find peace in a life plagued with unanswered symptoms.

This week we find out that blasting T Swift before cutting someone open is the sweetest thing one can do for a person. This is the health care that we need, folks. Then, dogs. Are they really man's best friend? A new study shows that they could actually hate us and be spreading a new novel coronavirus. But... they're just too damn cute for us to care. Jabs for Joints!! Some places in the U.S. are giving out free weed, man! All you need to do is not be a dumb dumb and get your vaccine. Finally this week's health segment is like the origin story of a superhero or supervillain. Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski stuck his head in a particle accelerator and a proton beam blasted through the back of his skull at the speed of light. What do you think happened to him?

Turns out love is more than just a bunch of birds and bees getting it on. There is an entire science behind what happens in the human brain when we fall head over heels. Love chemicals flood the brain when we form attachment and fall in lurrrv. Not unlike how MDMA (also known as ecstasy) floods the brain with feel-good neurotransmitters. Now combine MDMA alongside couples therapy and you've got a pretty interesting potential for groundbreaking work in healing past trauma. We are elated to be joined by Brian Earp — Associate Director of the Program in Ethics and Health Policy at Yale University & Research Fellow in Practical Ethics at Oxford, to discuss this fascinating topic with us.

Hannah has never been able to burp. No big whoop you say? Well did you know that most people produce about 1 to 3 pints of gas a day and pass it through a burp or a fart about 14 to 23 times a day. Now think about that... What if you all of a sudden didn't have the ability to release that gas through a belch? If it still isn't sinking in, let Hannah express to you how awful it can be. Bloating so bad she looks 6 months pregnant. Constant pain. Way worser farts. Then on the other side of things, how dismissive doctors can be when it comes to getting a diagnosis for something like Retrograde Cricopharyngeus Dysfunction (R-CPD). Hannah has a fascinating story that leads us to a ""cure"" with a procedure that is really quite simple in the grand scheme of things... However, easy doesn't necessarily mean accessible.

Metal. A NS prisoner in his 70s has been declined parole to seek alternative treatment to his cancer treatment. The gang chime in with their thoughts on this very grey area and Brian proves that he doesn't have a heart. It's been a front this entire time. Lucy the accessibility evangelist made some big moves in the world of accessible washing machines. Then we cover one of the wildest What The Hellth?! segments yet! A soldier has an unexploded RPG surgically removed from his hip/abdomen and survives! A harrowing story of war and valor. Shout out to Andre Antunes for the killer metal intro!

Dr. Shannon Dames is a professor of nursing at Vancouver Island University and a resilience researcher. This week she takes the fellas on a journey into the world of Ketamine-assisted therapy for PTSD. How is it different from traditional psychotherapy? Are there risks involved? What do the results look like? Another fascinating conversation about how psychedelics can change our mental wellbeing for the better.