Welcome back everyone, how are y’all feeling? Thanks for joining us this week for another episode of Emergency Minute. This week I can’t wait to talk to you about Episode 8 – Medical Myths that just won’t Die. Before we get started, I wanted to thank each and every one of you for listening, commenting, sharing, and reviewing. Much love to you. This week’s show is for all of you. Lastly, I have some of my podcasts on video now on YouTube now, so be sure to check them out as well at DrJParente. And don’t forget to click subscribe.
Ok. So today is going to be a little different compared to the first 7 episodes of Emergency Minute. In this episode, I’m going to run through a bunch of medical myths and tell you why they are complete garbage. Some of them will be rapid fire, and in some instances I will get down into the weeds a bit and discuss, as well. So let’s go for a ride.
Vaccines cause Autism. There’s a reason why every doctor on the planet just groans as soon as this sentence is uttered. Ok. Let’s talk about this. So where did this nonsense start? There was a study done in 1998 by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that tried to link the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine to Autism. This was the rallying cry for anti-vaxxers for a long time. Only problem is that he lied about his findings, he was stripped of his license to practice medicine, and his study was retracted, which means it no longer exists because it was based on total fraud. Other than that, it was a perfectly good study haha. Now, before you go all conspiracy theorist on me, this relationship (meaning, the autism vaccine thing) has been studied over and over and over and over again. In fact, this has been studied so much, with mountains of evidence proving zero correlation with vaccines and autism, that it is absolutely worthless to study it anymore.
We cannot prove this any further than it already has been proven. This has moved to factual, not theoretical. And look, people will chose to believe whatever they want, I can’t control that. Kyrie Irving believes the world is flat. There are entire organizations out there who’s core belief system is based on this nonsense. But facts are facts. John Heywood, an old British writer, coined the phrase “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” Water is wet. The sun will rise and set. The Browns will have another losing season. And vaccines, for the last time, for the love of God, do not cause autism.
How about a personal pet peeve of mine: I better go to the ER because my blood pressure is high. Incorrect. Especially if you have a known diagnosis of hypertension, AKA high blood pressure. If you don’t have history of HTN and are a newly diagnosed hypertension patient, then I would recommend coming in to be evaluated by your physician or in the ER. But for the rest of this, I’m referring to patients with known HTN. And don’t be surprised when you come into the ER and we do an EKG and send you home. Asymptomatic hypertension, meaning elevated blood pressure readings WITHOUT any symptoms, is not a medical emergency. So if you are a family medicine physician, if you are a specialist in an office, if you are a Physician Assistant or a Nurse Practitioner working in an office or an Urgicare, please for the love of God, stop sending patients with no symptoms and elevated Blood Pressure readings to the ER.
You see, BP goes up and down throughout the day. There are many things we do that cause our BP to go up or down, typically without us knowing it. Now if you’re having symptoms, severe headaches, chest pain, passing out, blurred vision, discolored urine, difficulty breathing, any neurological symptoms, then yes, by all means, you need to be seen in the ER. But there is no indication for treating a blood pressure number in the ER who is asymptomatic. And, in fact, it can be detrimental! Your body uses what’s called auto-regulation, meaning, you kind of get used to that high blood pressure, and if you drop it too fast, it can precipitate problems such as stroke. So you hear the phrase in healthcare often, “treat the patient not the number.” Well, this is literally for a case like this.
To take this a step further, if you want a quick glimpse into how broken healthcare is, there are certain floors at your local hospital, that won’t take a patient with a certain BP, say 180/100, unless we (in the ER), treat them to make their numbers prettier (say 150/90), despite concrete medical literature demonstrating that treating the number and not the patient can actually HARM the patient. Furthermore, that patient is “too sick” to go to the telemetry floor, but is sent home all the time from the ER. So they are Ok to go home with that pressure, but not able to be in a hospital? Healthcare is so broken. And I promise, this will be a big focus of my podcasts moving forward.
All right, what’s next? Ah yes, eggs. They are bad for your health because they are high in cholesterol, right? Wrong. Dietary cholesterol has barely any impact on your actual cholesterol (meaning, HDL and LDL). In fact, the exact opposite is true. Eggs are a great source of protein. We know that protein is instrumental in building and maintaining muscle tissue. They are, in fact, good for you and have almost zero impact on your cholesterol. Moving along.
I got the flu vaccine and then I got the flu. No you didn’t. Ok, this one drives me nuts. It is literally not possible. The vaccine is made with killed virus. Your body recognizes the killed virus as foreign and begins to develop antibodies to said virus by mounting an immune response. So if you FEEL like you have the flu after getting the vaccine, it is most likely the feeling that goes along with your immune system being activated. If you really had the flu, meaning Influenza, you’d have fevers chills body aches and generally feel like death for at minimum of 7 days. Now, can you take Tylenol or Motrin after getting the flu vaccine? Or is this another myth? Not exactly. There is mixed data. The thought process is that if you take a medication like Tylenol or Motrin you can suppress your immune system and reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine. I think if you feel like death it’s probably Ok to take something, but I typically try to power through if possible.
Now, if you actually have the flu, meaning Influenza and not one of the other 20 viruses that make you feel like you have the flu, then you had the flu virus inside your body already prior to the vaccine being given and you are the victim of a really unfortunate circumstance.
Side note, remember, the entire point of the flu vaccine is not to prevent transmission; rather, it is to reduce disease severity and has been proven over and over and over again to reduce it by 40-60%. I totally get why people don’t want to get the Covid vaccine, especially at this point as this particular strain is so incredibly mild; but we have MOUNTAINS of data supporting the flu vaccine. Sadly, what is likely to happen now is that all of the naysayers against vaccines will likely stop vaccinating themselves and their children, with at least the flu vaccine if not all other vaccines, and we will see a rebound in some of the other illnesses that have basically been eradicated. But I digress. Another myth to kill: cracking your knuckles.
Stop cracking your knuckles, it causes arthritis. Errr. No it doesn’t. It is simply a gas bubble that is released and pops and has been shown to have no correlation with arthritis. Stop scaring children. That’s just good life advice.
Weight loss. Ok, I could do an entire podcast on myths associated with obesity and weight loss. Let’s run down the list of things people say and most people believe: it’s calories in versus calories out, it’s all just diet and exercise, obesity is a choice and that person is making bad choices, if you exercise more you will lose weight. Ok, a lot to unpack here. And I don’t want to steal the thunder for my upcoming, yet to be released podcast where I discuss obesity. So I’m not going to; instead, I’m simply going to tease the future, upcoming, yet to be released podcast where I discuss obesity at length. But basically, everything you know about obesity and weight loss, or at least everything you think you know, is false. “I know what I need to do, I just need to do it.” Every sentence I just uttered is factually inaccurate. The bad news is that nearly everyone on earth believes each of these statements to be true, including a good percentage of physicians and healthcare professionals, sadly. Until we recognize that obesity is a disease and not a choice, the rest of these statements will live on for some time.
Another one of my favorites: Apple cider vinegar treats heartburn. This one is all over the place. Why on earth would someone pour acid into their mouth holes when having heartburn?! The thought is that the acidity will trigger the LES (lower esophageal sphincter, you know, the thing that separates your esophagous from your stomach and keeps your stomach contents from spilling out of your mouth), thus closing the sphincter and preventing heartburn. Speaking of sphincters, does that word automatically make anyone else think of Wayne’s World, sphincter says what? Or is it just me. I watched that this week with my 12 year old son and he thought it was fantastic, which is terrifying to me.
I’ve heard of patients using this hundreds of times in the ER. I did a literature search and there’s not a single study that validates this as an effective treatment. In fact, it is extremely acidic and can actually worsen heartburn, let alone a peptic ulcer. Why does this myth live on, despite zero evidence of it actually working? As Don Ohlmeyer once said, “the answer to all your questions is money.” There will always be people and companies who are trying to make a profit, and seemingly there will always be a group of people who want to do things naturally, who don’t trust “modern or Western medicine” and look to purchase more natural solutions.
Ok. Let’s pick up the pace. Rapid fire round. And…go!
You must drink 8 glasses of water per day. This has been debunked. Drink when you are thirsty. Yes, water is better than most other things like juices and of course pop, cola, etc. but you get a lot of water and hydration in other things like coffee, fruits and vegetables, and other foods and drinks that we don’t often think about, much less measure. Next…
Cranberry juice prevents or treats UTI’s. Cranberry juice has never been proven to prevent nor treat urinary tract infections. The thought process is that the acidity of the juice will kill the bacteria and reduce chances of getting an infection. I don’t see any harm in this one unless you’re diabetic or trying to reduce your sugar intake, my only advice is to add vodka. Can you prevent UTI’s? To an extent, yes. Some people are just prone to them for any number of reasons. What can you do? Practice good hygiene, urinate frequently, void after sex, wipe front to back, don’t shove anything in your urethra, and try not to have 100 new sexual partners. I’m telling you, if you’re not already subscribed to my podcast, I think you can now easily see how I provide valuable, insightful life advice. “You know, I came across this podcast today mom. And it was great, this doctor told me not to put a battery into my urethra, isn’t that great!?” I digress.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch….seeds, nuts, popcorn cause diverticulitis. The thought here is that the seed or kernel will get lodged in one of the pockets of diverticulosis, causing the blockage, hence causing the resultant diverticulitis. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to avoid these foods if you’re someone that gets this recurrently, but it has never been proven. Also, diverticulosis is the condition of having these pockets in your colon; diverticulitis is one of the pockets getting infected. So you have the “-Osis” for your lifetime, but the “-Itis” is only when something is infected. I realize it would be easy to mix that up as a lay person, but it drives me nuts, pun fully intended, so spread the word to your friends and neighbors.
Another myth that won’t die: green mucus. Yummy. But does it taste like diabetes? My mucus is green, so that must mean my sinus infection is bacterial. Errr. Wrong. There is no correlation with color of mucus and presence of either bacteria or virus. So common colds can cause green mucus and bacteria can cause clear drainage, as well. While we’re on the topic, your sinus infection likely doesn’t need antibiotics. Sinus infections are almost always viral. The literature states that we should only treat with antibiotics for those patients who have been sick for longer than 10-14 days and are still showing signs of infection. And no, not just a runny nose but actual symptoms like facial tenderness and dental pain. Unless of course you have another issue that puts you at risk, such as a cancer patient who’s on chemo, etc. in that situation we would obviously treat you.
And please stop asking for Z-packs, they are not even indicated for sinusitis. Zithromax does not even go into your sinuses. If you got better after you took a Z-pack for your sinus infection, it was because you had a virus and it was going to get better anyways.
Well, that’s all I’ve got this week, so thank you for joining me for this week’s episode of Emergency Minute – Medical Myths that just won’t Die. If you like what you’ve been listening to please consider sharing this show with someone you know. You can follow me on any social media platform at Drjparente. Next week I’ll be on vaction and I’m debating whether or not to do a podcast from the Caribbean. What do ya’ll think about that? And as always, peace love and happiness to everyone out there. Cheers guys!
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