Recreational use of steroids and testosterone to enhance image and performance is on the rise. Over the last 70 years, testosterone and testosterone-like substances have been used extensively to enhance performance particularly in elite sports. Nowadays, the use is more widespread and occurs in the general community with far more drugs available to people via the internet. Unfortunately, the evidence users base their drug regimes on range from anecdotal and scant to wrong and dangerous. We discuss the use of testosterone (and other substances) to learn more, identify how we can look after patients who use anabolic steroids, and what risk factors we need to consider.

This is the story of anabolic steroids.

You can listen to Part One of this series here.

Our special guests:

Dr Tim Piatkowski is a senior research fellow at the University of Queensland on image and performance enhancing drugs.

Dr Mair Underwood is a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Queensland and is an anthropologist of the body.

Professor Ken Sikaris is a chemical pathologist and Director of chemical pathology at Dorevitch pathology.

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Hypogonadism is a medical condition where the body does not produce enough testosterone. This can be primary (testicular failure) or secondary (pituitary or other condition). There are a number of conditions that doctors need to be aware of that can cause hypogonadism.

This is the story of hypogonadism.

Image ref: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/hypogonadotropic-hypogonadism

Our special guests:

Professor Duncan Topliss is a senior endocrinologist and Professor of Medicine at Monash University.

Professor Ken Sikaris is a chemical pathologist and Director of chemical pathology at Dorevitch pathology.

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While testicular cancer is rare, it is the most common cancer in young men aged between 15 and 39 years. Like with every cancer, early detection is the key. Self-examination is important along with seeking medical attention if there are any concerns. Fortunately, overall survival is around 95%.

This is the story of testicular cancer.

Our special guests:

Dr Nari Ahmadi who is a Urologist and coordinator of the Urological Oncology Cancer research at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse.

Professor Peter Grimison who is a Medical Oncologist at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, VMO at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and Clinical Professor at the University of Sydney.

Professor Fiona Maclean who an Anatomical Pathologist, Clinical Professor at Macquarie University, and previous President of the Australasian Division of the International Academy of Pathology (IAP).

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And we’re back – for another year – with more stories, more expert guests, more topics to discuss. Episodes released fortnightly.

And we’ve also released an ebook with audio narrated by the masterful voice of Steve Davis for a general audience sharing some of the amazing stories of medicine.

Chapter J provided in this episode.

Our special guest:

In this episode, our special guest is the audiobook itself: Diseased: The A to Z of illnesses, medicine, and important people through history.

Link to kindle version: Diseased: The A to Z of illnesses, medicine, and important people through history

Link to audiobook: Coming soon.

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This Medical Life podcast is available on all podcasting services and Spotify. Help support us on our donation page.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Charles Dicken’s first novel has an adolescent boy named Joe who was overweight and always sleepy. He could fall asleep at any time, even during meals. The novel is known as the Pickwick Papers. Decades later, doctors began to recognise patients with the same symptoms. They called it Pickwickian syndrome.

Obstructive sleep apnoea is a common condition in the general community. Risk factors include being overweight, male, and over the age of 50. The difficulty for patients is they may not be aware they suffer from this condition unless a partner tells them they stop breathing during sleep. Fortunately, we have a number of treatment options available for patients who suffer from sleep apnoea.

This is the story of sleep apnoea.

Our special guests:

Dr Saul Gilbert is the managing director of a sleep clinic called The Oasis in Adelaide with 25 years research and clinical experience in sleep psychophysiology.

Dr Anuk Kruavit is a respiratory, sleep and general medicine physician with an interest in obstructive sleep apnoea and complex respiratory sleep disorders.

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Willem J Kolff was an intern when he saw a 22 year old man die of kidney failure. He realised that the patient’s life could have been saved if his blood could have been detoxified. Willem set to work and developed the first ever dialysis machine (initially the ‘rotating drum kidney’).

While dialysis is a lifesaving treatment, it is one that we hope to avoid for patients. In this episode, we discuss two topics that are the largest contributors to chronic kidney disease: Diabetes, and Hypertension.

This is the story of Chronic Kidney Disease (Part 2).

Our special guest:

Dr Richard Phoon who is the Senior Medical Advisor at Westmead Hospital and has worked full-time as a Nephrologist at Westmead and Blacktown Hospitals since 2007.

Useful links:

CKD Management in Primary Care handbook (KHA) Link: https://kidney.org.au/health-professionals/ckd-management-handbook

Kidney Health 4 Life: Kidney Health 4 Life – Better kidney health, for life

Health professional webinar here: Kidney Health 4 Life Healthcare Professional Webinar – YouTube

For health professionals looking for printed posters and brochures for their clinic or unit: Kidney Health 4 Life Print Materials

Or contact the Kidney Health Australia Helpline on 1800 454 363

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One in 10 Australians over the age of 18 years are living with signs of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) with the number of patients needing treatment for kidney failure has doubled in the last 20 years. Early detection and intervention can slow the progression of CKD by up to 15 years or longer.

Our understanding of kidney disease can be traced back to Dr Richard Bright, one of the founding fathers of nephrology. He noted that heating a patient’s urine with kidney disease could form a precipitate – nowadays we’d call this albuminuria (albumin in the urine) and it is a marker of kidney damage.

Today, there are a range of conditions that can reduce kidney function, cause kidney damage, and can cause significant morbidity and early mortality in patients. By screening patients, we can reduce the progression of CKD and significantly affect the health of patients in the long term.

This is the story of Chronic Kidney Disease (Part 1).

Our special guests:

Maddie Williams who is a Registered Nurse with Kidney Health Australia who was diagnosed with kidney disease at the age of 17 requiring haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and received a renal transplant.

Dr Richard Phoon who is the Senior Medical Advisor at Westmead Hospital and has worked full-time as a Nephrologist at Westmead and Blacktown Hospitals since 2007.

Useful links:

CKD Management in Primary Care handbook (KHA) Link: https://kidney.org.au/health-professionals/ckd-management-handbook

Kidney Health 4 Life: Kidney Health 4 Life – Better kidney health, for life

Health professional webinar here: Kidney Health 4 Life Healthcare Professional Webinar – YouTube

For health professionals looking for printed posters and brochures for their clinic or unit: Kidney Health 4 Life Print Materials

Or contact the Kidney Health Australia Helpline on 1800 454 363

Listen:

This Medical Life podcast is available on all podcasting services and Spotify. Help support us on our donation page.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The statistics of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Domestic Violence prevalence are staggering. 1 in 6 adult women and 1 in 16 adult men have experience physical or sexual abuse at the hands of their partner. Approximately 2.5 million Australians (13%) experienced abuse during their childhood. However, IPV is a topic that is rarely discussed. As healthcare professionals, we need to change this.

A recent study by our guests on this episode, Timelines of psychological, physical and sexual intimate partner violence among a nationally representative sample of Australian women, studied the timeline of psychological, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence. They highlighted that early warning signs of an abusive partner include isolation, controlling behaviour, and intense jealously. We discuss these important findings and other take home messages of this study and how we can apply it to everyday practice.

This is the story about intimate partner violence.

Our special guests:

Dr Elizabeth McLindon is a Research Fellow in the Department of General Practice and works in the Sexual Abuse and Family Violence (SAFE) program. Elizabeth is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Family Violence Prevention at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Professor Kelsey Hegarty is an academic general practitioner who holds the joint Chair in Family Violence Prevention at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Women’s Hospital. She also leads the Safer Families Centre.

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This Medical Life podcast is available on all podcasting services and Spotify. Help support us on our donation page.

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Oral cancer was a fatal disease even into the twentieth century. Patients required extensive surgery and often had a painful recovery or went into palliative care but the result was the same. Modern medicine has thankfully provided much to our understanding, the treatment and management of patients with oral cancer.

In recent times, patients have been able to be stratified into two general but distinct categories: the first are older with a strong history of heavy smoking and/or alcohol use; the second are younger and have a history of multiple sexual partners. The distinction is important as the treatment and management are different between the two groups with the second group having a much better prognosis.

This is the story of oral cancer.

Our special guests:

Dr Rebecca Morrow is an anatomical pathologist and deputy head of department at the Royal Adelaide Hospital with SA Pathology.

Dr Rowan Valentine is a paediatric and adult Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon.

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This Medical Life podcast is available on all podcasting services and Spotify. Help support us on our donation page.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.