Hashtag Health: A Health and Medical Podcast

*SPOILER ALERT for those who haven't seen film content about Gypsy Rose/DeeDee Blanchard*

Munchausen Syndrome and Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy are somewhat having a moment in film these past few years -- with more and more movies coming out featuring people seemingly afflicted with the conditions. If you've seen The Act or HBO documentary "Mommy Dead and Dearest" you'll know just how strange and uncomfortable life with Muchausens can get.

With all these stories flooding your screens, you may be wondering what real life Munchausen patients are like. Here to give us the scoop is psychiatrist and international expert on factitious disorders, Dr. Marc Feldman.

How did cannabis go from taboo street drug (aka Wacky Tobacky), to being touted as treatment for everything from seizures to cancer pain? In this episode of Hashtag Health we discuss with Dr. Ross from the University of Toronto about what THC and CBD are, how they act in the body, and common misconceptions about these compounds.

Social media has undoubtedly played a role in how science misinformation spreads. From vampire facials to vaccine hesitancy, Tim Caulfield has really seen it all. Tim Caulfield is a professor of health law and science policy at the university of Alberta and an expert in science misinformation. In this episode, we talk to him about the trends of how science and health misinformation spreads and who might be to blame.

While you're stuck at home for extended periods of time, why not try that 1950s celebrity hairdo you've always wanted to rock?

The Japanese art of Kintsugi embraces the fragmented nature of an object. How can we apply Kintsugi to a new scar, or to life after the COVID-19 pandemic?

In what ways is our approach to finding solutions for COVID-19 similar to flipping a coin?

#StayHome to #FlattenTheCurve. These hashtags are all over social media platforms now. But most people have never heard the phrase "flatten the curve" before COVID-19. The whole world is doing it, but what does flattening the curve even mean?

Masks, masks everywhere. In the grocery store, on the subway, in the hallways of your apartment. But are they effective and what for?

Can viruses like COVID-19 be cured with antibiotics? Should you be taking antibiotics anytime you have a sore throat in case it's strep? Sadly, we haven't come that far – antibiotics do literally nothing against viruses. However, 50% of people in the United States believes that antibiotics kill viruses. In part two of #AntimicrobialResistance - we dive deeper into this topic with Dr. Podolsky. However, the answer to this issue is not as simple as you might think.

Dr. Luckett-Gatopoulos talks about infection dynamics of the novel coronavirus, and how it got its foothold in the human population.