Hey! We're Salem (Raluca in the early episodes) and Mia, and we're a medical scientist and a historian who put their brains together to create this medical history podcast! We make content about anything we find interesting that is at the intersection between medicine/ medical science and history, with a queer and/ or social justice flair.
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<p>This podcast is no stranger to major epidemics. We've already covered the Spanish Flu and the Black Death. But what if we told you that the epidemic currently devastating American health has not been caused by a virus or bacteria at all, but rather by a poor understanding of pain and addiction, insufficient regulations surrounding medications and the greed of a pharmaceutical giant? </p><br><p>Note: We are not entirely accurate when we mention benzodiazepines at the end. They are anti-psychotics, not painkillers. Benzodiazepines are sometimes prescribed together with opioids as they can alleviate psychiatric co-morbidities in patients with chronic pain. Combining opioids and benzodiazepines can carry risks as both drugs sedate users and suppress breathing—the cause of overdose fatality. Also, Mia says 300 million people died from the opioid epidemic, the correct number is 300 thousand.</p><br><p>Image by Franz Eugen Köhler, <em>Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen,</em>1897</p> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
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