We’ve All Been Cleaning Our Ears The Wrong Way, Plus 2 Other Things I Learned From Medical TikTok

“She did tell me that she never wore those shorts again, but she still has them.”

On today's episode of BuzzFeed Daily, we broke down the top pop culture headlines AND discussed the latest in medical TikTok. You can listen below or scroll down to read more about the interview!

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So let's dive right into it! Recently we talked to BuzzFeed’s Shelby Heinrich about some of the wildest stories from medical TikTok. Here's some of what we learned:

BuzzFeed Daily: So your first story is a cautionary tale about the destructive power of underwear. So a woman named Sam in North Carolina was going on a date and decided to wear some high-waisted shorts. Definitely a great choice for a date, but not a great choice for her ass. Apparently, the next day she felt a sore where the wedgie was chafing her and by the following morning, she was being rushed to the ER in full-on septic shock. You actually interviewed Sam for your piece on BuzzFeed. So what happened? I mean, how did a wedgie land her in the ER?

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Shelby Heinrich: So the way Sam told it to me is she went on a daytime date with this guy that she was newly seeing, and the date actually ended up going pretty well, and they hung out for about eight hours (which is an amazing date). Like a side note? That's crazy. I think we've all had dates where after an hour it's like, "Okay, when can I get out of here?"

But anyway, so they're having an amazing day, and the entire time she's wearing these shorts that clearly weren't super comfortable. They were riding up a bit. Once again, we've all been there. I remember wearing those shorts as well. But she pushed through because she was having a great time. And then the next day, she felt sick, and she noticed that there was kind of a bump where the chafing had occurred due to her shorts. And the day after that still wasn't feeling great. She got some antibiotics to help treat it. But by then, it was already too late. The day after that, she was rushed to the ER in septic shock. She spent four days in the ICU, another three days in the ER. Luckily, she was able to avoid surgery and go home and rest to fully recover. But yeah, pretty intense stuff, all in the name of fashion.

BuzzFeed Daily: Your next story is part of the classic genre of "woman tells doctor she's sick and doctor doesn't believe her." Calista Dwyer is a 22-year-old TikToker who recently documented a case of severe bloating. Calista gained 50 pounds in three months, and doctors could not figure out why. She posted a TikTok about it, and about how one doctor told her it was "psychosomatic." And it's something we've talked about on the show and we hear about all the time. This girl is just trying to figure out why she's sick and a doctor essentially said, "it's all in your head." When and how was she eventually able to find a diagnosis?

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SH: She went to multiple doctors, which I can only imagine being the most stressful and frustrating experience. And so she finally was able to find a holistic doctor that ran, I think, blood and stool tests on her and also ran a GI map test, and they were able to finally find the cause of her bloating. So they ran the GI map test and Calista tested positive for small intestinal bacterial growth, candida, and leaky gut, which is basically your stomach leaking into the rest of your body. And then she also had food intolerances to, I think, about 12 different foods — very common foods, too: rice, corn, potato, avocado, milk. You know, things that we mostly eat on an everyday basis.

BuzzFeed Daily: Your final story is about a common misconception, which I think almost everyone has: the proper way to clean your ears. TikTok user Aisha Frieda recently posted a video detailing her ear cleaning method, which is to pour hydrogen peroxide directly into her ear canal. This video has been viewed over 14 million times. People love watching gross body content like this or pimple popping or ingrown hairs. So, why do you think secretion TikTok, which I didn't know it had that name, and I love it. It's such a popular subgenre.

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SH: Speaking as someone who also really loves that content...I think it's partly a sick fascination, as in, you want to look away, but you can't quite look away. And then I think it's honestly paired with a genuine curiosity to better understand our own bodies. The human body is so weird — it's so, so weird, as we've seen from this entire episode. And so, yeah, I think we're all just trying to figure out what the heck is going on here at all times.

Shakira has opened up about her performance at the 2019 Super Bowl halftime show, which she received criticism for in the wake of Colin Kaepernick being blacklisted by the NFL.

Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic

While singers like Cardi B and Rihanna turned down offers to appear at the show in support of Colin, Shakira accepted and ultimately performed alongside J.Lo.

She recently told Cosmopolitan that she stands by her decision, saying it was a highlight of her career and that she and J.Lo quote “had a huge responsibility and opportunity to represent all different minorities through our performance.” Shakira added that she also wanted to “pay homage to [her] Middle Eastern culture." 

In other news, Drew Barrymore gave her take on the alleged argument between her Charlie’s Angels costars Lucy Liu and Bill Murray.

The Drew Barrymore Show / YouTube / Via youtube.com

In case you missed it, earlier this year Lucy opened up about defending herself against Bill’s quote "inexcusable and unacceptable" behavior on the set of the movie.

On a recent episode of her talk show, Drew explained how she remembered the incident, saying, “OK, so what really happened was Bill was just in a — you know, comedians can be a little dark sometimes — and he just came in in a bad mood. And what you have to know is how much Lucy stood up for herself, and that was the great thing that came out of an unfortunate circumstance. She literally said, ‘I do not accept that kind of behavior from you.’ And we all supported her and backed her up, and we moved forward.”

Drew added that, as Lucy originally said, while Bill originally took out his bad mood on everyone, he ultimately zeroed in on Lucy.

As always, thanks for listening! And if you ever want to suggest stories or just want to say hi, you can reach us at [e-mail].