The Dr Dylan Podcast

Is your kid sick again? Before you start worrying that something is wrong with their immune system, hear this: it’s probably doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.

This one is for the parents. We sat down with Dr. Gretchen Karstens, a pediatrician at Aspirus St. Luke’s here in Duluth and the pediatrician for Dylan’s own kids. We like to call her the queen of the snotty kid.

Baihly doesn’t have kids and has been known to call her friends’ kids germ factories, so that’s where we started. Why are kids sick so often, what actually helps at home, and when is it time to stop riding it out and bring them in? With flu and RSV season on the way, we wanted you going in prepared.

KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS

Kids under two average about eight colds a year, and up to fourteen in daycare. That’s a busy immune system, not a broken one.

Adults still catch colds because viruses change just enough to slip past our defenses. Think Superman in glasses, or a cold wearing a fake French mustache.

The RSV injection for infants works differently from a flu shot. It sends in a premade, trained defense ahead of time.

For kids over age one, honey did better than placebo for nighttime cough. Some over the counter cough medicine didn’t.

Saline sprays and rinses help clear things out, and newer research suggests saltier hypertonic saline may shorten illness and cut down on spread.

Snot color doesn’t tell you much. Wet diapers, nostril flaring, and skin pulling in between the ribs tell you a lot more.

Treat the kid, not the number on the thermometer, and know that vaccination status changes the whole picture.

OUR FAVORITE QUOTES

“This is not a sign that your kid’s immune system isn’t doing well. It’s doing great.”

“My doctor bag of tricks is about the same as my mom bag of tricks at this point.”

“Treat the kid, not the number.”

“You’re not bothering me. You’re giving me more information.”

“They’re doing well in the struggle. They’re struggling well.”

CHAPTERS

02:35 Why kids are germ factories

06:39 The cold with a fake mustache

08:11 Getting ahead of RSV and flu season

17:17 Honey beats the cough syrup

25:50 When it’s time to go in

38:15 Behind the white coat

49:36 Rapid fire home remedies

YOUR TURN

Dr. Karstens talked about kids who are struggling well, their bodies doing hard work to get better. Where in your own life are you struggling well right now, and can you give yourself a little credit for it?

CONNECT WITH DR. KARSTENS

Dr. Gretchen Karstens, MD

Pediatrics, Aspirus St. Luke’s

https://providers.aspirus.org/gretchen-karstens/1669405189 

LINKS & MENTIONS

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WHY DOES MY KNEE KEEP POPPING!?

That question has been rattling around in my head since my football days, so this week I finally cornered someone who could give me a real answer instead of a shrug.

I'm Dylan, an ER doc, and my co-host Baihly has one job on this show. Throw the flag the second I start dropping jargon nobody asked for. This week we sat down with Dr. Philip Thomas, an orthopedic surgeon at Orthopedic Associates who specializes in knees, hips, and shoulders.

I brought my own creaky knee to the table, the leftover of an old meniscus, MCL, and ACL injury, and asked him everything I've wondered but never had time to ask in a fifteen minute appointment.

We covered a lot more ground than knees. Somehow beans, goats, curling, and a nonalcoholic old fashioned all made it into the conversation. That's just how these episodes go.

KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS

Popping and cracking in a joint only matters if it hurts. Painless noise is almost never a red flag, while new swelling in a joint almost always is worth getting looked at.

Cartilage does not grow back on its own, which is why protecting it early matters more than chasing an expensive fix later.

Muscles work as dynamic stabilizers alongside your ligaments, and building strength around a joint can do as much for stability as the ligaments themselves.

Most of the peptide and supplement hype right now lacks real evidence. Dr. Thomas walked through why so few of them are worth the money or the risk.

Sleep, movement, protein, and finding exercise you actually enjoy will do more for your joints than any trend ever will.

Loading your joints through walking, biking, or swimming is protective, not damaging, as long as you're not hammering them every single day.

Letting kids take physical risks, including the occasional broken bone, teaches a kind of risk tolerance we're losing as a culture.

OUR FAVORITE QUOTES

"Your body is trying to escape a saber tooth tiger and not die. That's what it wants to do."

"You cannot let perfect be the enemy of good when it comes to exercise."

"Motivation follows action. On the days they didn't want to show up, they just kept showing up."

"I'd rather my kids be outside running around and playing than inside on a video game all day."

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Meet Dr. Philip Thomas and what orthopedic surgeons actually do

04:52 Why your knee pops and when it's actually a problem

13:03 Inside the joint, cartilage, and why it doesn't heal itself

17:16 The truth about peptides and the supplement hype cycle

26:15 The five fundamentals, sleep, movement, diet, protein, and loading your joints

53:53 Rapid fire, rating every sport by how hard it is on your knees

1:07:36 Raising active kids and teaching risk tolerance

YOUR TURN

Where in your life have you been chasing a quick fix instead of doing the slow, unsexy work? This week's check-in: pick one boring fundamental, sleep, movement, or food, and give it real attention for seven days before you spend money on anything else to fix the problem.

CONNECT WITH DR. PHILIP THOMAS

Dr. Thomas is currently building a new clinic, surgery center, and physical therapy space all under one roof in Duluth, set to open in fall of 2027. It's shaping up to change what orthopedic care looks like in Northern Minnesota.

Find him at Orthopaedic Associates of Duluth: https://oaduluth.com/our-physicians/phillip-l-thomas-m-d

Follow him on Instagram: @pthomasorthomd

LINKS & MENTIONS

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Your kid is under the sink holding a half empty bottle of bleach. What do you do first? This episode is for every parent who has felt that exact wave of panic, and for anyone who has ever wondered who actually picks up the phone when you call poison control.

This week we sat down with Amber, a clinical pharmacist who works the phones at the Minnesota Poison Center, covering Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Neither of us knew pharmacists even worked poison control until this conversation, which tells you exactly how much myth and misinformation is floating around out there. 

Amber walked us through what it is actually like to be the calm voice on the other end of the worst moment of someone's day, and honestly, we walked away a lot less scared of our own medicine cabinets.

KEY THEMES + TAKEAWAYS

Poison is almost always about dose, not the substance itself. Even water can hurt you in a big enough amount.

Small tastes of scary sounding things, like a swallow of diluted bleach or a nibble of an ant trap, are usually not emergencies if your kid is acting normal.

Button batteries and magnets are the real danger zone. They can burn through tissue or pinch the intestine together, and both call for an immediate trip to the ER.

THC gummies and nicotine vapes hit kids much harder and much longer than they hit adults, even in tiny amounts.

Keeping the bottle, knowing the concentration, and knowing your kid's weight before you call makes everything faster and calmer.

Poison control is not there to get you in trouble. It exists to help, no CPS calls, no judgment.

Most calls end at home. Amber told us their numbers land around ninety percent of callers never needing to leave the house.

FAVORITE QUOTES

"Anything can be poisonous with enough of a dose."

"We're not punitive. We're there to help."

"Ninety percent of the calls get to stay home."

"Don't do the Benadryl challenge."

CHAPTER MARKERS

0:00 Meet the pharmacist behind the poison control line

3:08 The Mr Yuk stickers we all remember and immediately forgot

13:20 Wait, is literally everything poison?

20:31 The hot dog demonstration that explains button battery danger

34:08 Beyond bleach, calls about overdoses and withdrawal

42:03 The hardest kind of call to take

52:34 Rapid fire, Tylenol, melatonin and the Benadryl challenge

YOUR TURN

Think about your own home for a second. Do you actually know how much Tylenol is in your medicine cabinet, or where the button batteries are hiding? This week, take five minutes to check.

FIND AMBER

Amber and her sister run Munger Trail Knits, a small knitting and embroidery business out of Duluth. Find them at local markets including Winter Village and this year's Gourd Days, and on social media.

POISON CONTROL

If you ever need them, poison control is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

LINKS & MENTIONS

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What Is A Birth Plan Really, And Why Does Social Media Get It So Wrong?

Welcome to the very first episode of the Doctor Dylan Podcast. I'm Dr. Dylan Wyatt, ER doc, and I'm here with my co-host Baihly Warfield, together we're translating modern medicine into something that actually makes sense, no dry lectures, no jargon you need a dictionary for.

For episode one we're tackling a topic that has taken over TikTok for years, birth plans. What they actually are, what they're not, and what happens when things don't go according to that color coded laminated binder.

We brought in the real authority, Dr. Taylor Swanson, OB GYN at Aspirus St Luke's, who also happens to be Dylan's own wife's doctor. She walks us through what a birth plan should be, the difference between a home birth and hospital birth, midwives versus doulas, pain control options from nitrous to epidurals, and what it actually means when something doesn't go as planned.

We also introduced our ground rule for the show. If the doctors start dropping too much Latin, Baihly throws the flag. Time out nerds.

KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS

A birth plan is a wish list, not a contract, so build in flexibility from the start

Home birth lowers your risk of interventions like C-sections but raises the risk of serious newborn complications, know the tradeoff

Doulas are not the same as midwives, and studies show doulas improve outcomes even more than having a familiar support person present

Pain control exists on a spectrum from aromatherapy to nitrous to epidurals, and none of them make you less of a mom

Suffering and pain are not the same thing, and it is okay to change your plan mid labor

Vitamin K shots prevent life threatening brain bleeds in newborns and are safe even with extended research behind them

Debriefing with your provider after a hard birth, and therapy like EMDR, can make a real difference in processing what happened

FAVORITE LINES FROM THIS EPISODE

“A birth plan is more of a wish list than an actual plan, like a concrete plan”

“No plan survives contact with the enemy, especially for first time parents”

“‘I am coping with it and it's okay’ versus ‘I don't feel safe’, that's the difference between pain and suffering”

“Just do what feels right for you”

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Meet your new favorite medical translators

01:36 Why we're starting with birth plans

02:00 The vacation analogy that changes everything

07:13 Home birth versus hospital, the real numbers

09:44 Midwife or doula, what's the actual difference

20:35 Pain control from aromatherapy to epidurals

53:42 The one shot every newborn needs and why

YOUR TURN

If you have given birth before, or you're preparing to, what would it mean for you to define success as feeling safe and heard rather than checking every box on a list?

LINKS & MENTIONS

SHOW LINK TO WEBSITE HERE

If this episode sparked something for you, please follow the show, leave a review, or share it with a friend!

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