There is and has never been such a thing as a saber tooth tiger. There were sabre toothed cats but they were most definitely not tigers by any stretch. Both she and you need to learn some biology it seems.
it went really well together didnt it? i remember having the same example at neurology class when we talked about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system :)
@@jackwhitbread4583And? There are plenty of things that have inaccurate naming. Jellyfish aren't actual fish, pencil lead isn't lead but graphite. The names are simply what is commonly recognized by most, that is why people say jellyfish and not jellyplankton. Maybe you should learn how language works.
I would say their success rate is pretty high. I am still subscribed solely because their experts have been a good combination of charismatic and knowledgeable.
So glad someone asked about how our body moves. Like your brain just knows to move… that is something I think about often and it can sometimes low key freak me out. Still blows my mind and I don’t quite understand it lol
Hi! I'm just a student so take my explanation with a grain of salt. But basically, lower motor neurons (movement neurons in the spinal cord) have nerve fibres connecting to muscles in your body, and when these neurons are activated, they send electricity to the muscles leading to contraction. Hence, movement! The brain "knows to move" sometimes purely due to sensory information, i.e, reflexes. For example, if you hold your hand on a hot stove (not advisable), sensory cells in your skin tissue, which have fibres connecting to neurons in the spinal cord, sends a signal to these neurons saying that this is a painful stimulus. This sensory information is then sent to your lower motor neurons to flex the arm and thus pull your hand away in a circuit vital for survival. However, this is not a conscious act, since the information never got sent to the brain in this process (this is why reflexes feel automatic). In the more complex case of voluntary movement that I think you're intrigued by, the brain "knows to move" mainly because of a part of the brain called the premotor area, which is next to and connects with the primary motor cortex, the main brain area responsible for sending signals to lower motor neurons for movement. The premotor cortex sends motor plans relating to things like the direction of movement, the force of movement and the sequence of movement, to the primary motor cortex. These movement plans are informed by other parts of the brain which encode more *abstract* things, like desires and emotions for example. This should explain how and why we willingly move the way we want to based off of more complex things than simple sensory stimuli like sight or touch. There are also other parts of the brain which control movement. The brainstem controls muscles of the face, head and neck through the "corticobulbar tract", the cerebellum is vital for muscle memory and feedforward and feedback control allowing for coordination, and the supplementary motor area is hypothesised (among other things), like the premotor cortex, to be responsible for willing movement based on complex associative information and not just based off of sensory stimuli. I hope my explanation helped!
I remember being a little kid and really fascinated by this, I remember waiting in a car and looking up at my hand slowly making it move then consciously thinking "move" and it wouldn't, idk how old I was but that was pretty wild
She addresses pain responses as being directly proportional to both the extension and importance of the area where the damage is being inflicted, so riddle me this: paper cuts and some precisely positioned zits that can reduce any top world athlete to tears.
Hands (especially finger tips) and face have a lot more nerve innervation than most parts of the body! This is because we need them to be primed for small tactile sensations as well as temperature. In fact, the hands, face, and genitals take up the most space in the somatosensory cortex, so they quite literally have more brain matter dedicated them than legs, for example. Source: I’m a surgical neurophysiologist :)
Despite how paper looks the sides aren’t smooth and very jagged, when you get a paper cut you notice how they don’t tend to bleed or scab cause they’re so shallow and it causes nerve endings to be exposed and paper leaves tiny fibers and chemicals in your nerves that irritate it. So to sum it up paper cuts hurt so bad because they don’t cut deep enough to allow blood to scab over and it leaves exposed nerves
Stop cutting her off! I felt like she only got halfway through her explanation for most of these questions. Peripheral nerves can heal...but what about central ones? What happens when there's compression of the carpal tunnel? Let her finish!
In Dutch it's (literally translated) "telephone bone". I always liked that name, it does feel like electricity surging through after hitting it if you ask me. But, I can't deny a good dad-joke, so funny-bone is pretty nice too
Anyone else move their toes when she was describing how the brain does that? Even though I’ve done it countless times, it felt like I just had to try it out to see how it works. I now feel like a toddler discovering I now have toes
As a massage therapist I’m proud I knew most of this already! We learned a lot about nerves and how pain works but I’m sure not nearly as much as she knows!
What I learned was tickling was a neccesary response in childhood and younger animals to learn through play to protect your sensitive areas. Which is also the reason most humans lose being ticklish as we age
Oh man I've gotten brain zaps when stopping medication it's horrible. It feels like a weird electricity (btw I only stopped the medication when the pharmacy wouldn't fill the prescription on time due to the insurance company)
@@queen0fhell193jeez what was the medicine doing to leave your brain in that kinda state, I’ve tried anti depressants but none of them worked for me I had to fix my environment
I have Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, POTS and Fibromayalgia. I'm in a lot of pain a lot of the day, and I handle it fine. But once there's additional pain unexpectedly it just makes me irritated because I already have to deal with enough it just is the straw that breaks the camels back sometimes.
I once went cold turkey on my ADHD meds (because CVS claimed they gave it to me already). I remember getting massive brain zaps and many other symptoms when I went through withdrawal. Fun times.
i was in the middle of a cycle of antianxiety meds when i first experienced brain zaps, i stopped taking my meds instantly bc it made my full body go into high alert and any partial movement felt like i was getting electrocuted, when i described the experience to my doctor she had NEVER heard of them before… was a very scary experience
@@CorinaStadler i was also in the middle of taking them when it happened, she said it was her first time hearing about anything involving brain shocks, we're in a small ish town so
Pain tolerance is bizarre. I fell asleep during several of my tattoos, I enjoy piercings, yet a headache will put me down and out crying and complaining like a baby. Makes no sense
During my first surgery as an adult, I was awake. After someone in the room said the sound wasn’t my insides being vacuumed out it was just, “Suction,” (which is what happens in a vacuum) I didn’t comment about smelling the burning flesh. There’s only so much shame a person can be expected to endure while completely vulnerable and hanging in the balance of life and death.
You can also get compression of the ulnar nerve like you get with the median nerve. Causes your ring and pinky finger to feel numb and tingly versus your thumb and first three fingers. Often happens when people lean on their elbows too much or who have an unconscious habit of curling their arms tightly when they sleep
It can also come on acutely if one uses elbows in a fight, or has a particularly gnarly fall... like enough to bruise or chip the bone in the elbow... AND it's anecdotal, just my experience, but a TENS device can help with healing. I dinged my elbow bad enough to lose some of my grip and wrist strength, but religiously used the TENS twice a day, watching my hand flop around like a fish... about a half hour per session, and recovered in a couple weeks. Still sucked, and maybe I only felt like I was doing something about it, but it seemed to feel better... Sometimes you do what you gotta do for relief, even if it only feels different (when anything different would be "good")... haha ;o)
I've literally just started dealing with that this past week. I've always had my hand get numb sometimes when I'm lying in bed, but things REALLY ramped up recently. It has started to wake me up and won't stop until I physically get out of bed and walk around for a while shaking my arm lol it has been having a significant effect on my sleep. I think the reason it suddenly got worse is due to me throwing pottery more frequently now, which requires you to firmly rest your elbows on your legs for stability while manipulating the clay. That combined with me being a sign language interpreter, I feel like I'm really doing a number on these nerves 🙃
@@weekendatmyplace3483 you can counteract the elbow flexion during sleep by taking an elbow pad and wearing it in reverse. That way, you can only bend your elbows so much.
@@weekendatmyplace3483snuggling a pillow or stuffed animal can help you learn to keep your arms less curled while you sleep. That and shoving padding under my elbows when I lean on something is how I dealt with my issues.
Great video! Would love to see more on neurology. I had a recent visit to the dentist that required local, and the injection hit a nerve in the lower right quadrant...it felt like lightning in my face and head. And ever since, even just a light touch to my chin will send an echo through my lip and gums. It's bizarre! I wish I could get some scientific explanation on that.
@@justabookworm1382 But why does it continue to fire when I just touch the skin? It's like a phantom thing. It's like the nerve became visible or something after that needle hit it.
@@meghanmonroewhat you are experiencing is uncommon but not that rare after dental procedures , there is a nerve called the trigeminal nerve, branches of which give sensory innervation to the face and they can get damaged during procedures , causing intense pain . It’ll go away most likely but do contact your doctor if it doesn’t .
@@frubbs7083 This was at least 2 or 3 months ago. It doesn't hurt, it's just uncomfortable. It's almost closer to a pins and needles than anything at this point, just specifically when I touch that spot on my chin. So strange.
Or POTS! Would love to see this condition get more recognition because it's not all that rare (esp. post-covid) but yet neurologists are so shy about it making it hard for us to get diagnosed.
@@kellylyons1038I was diagnosed with it, along with tachycardia at 29 yrs old in 2000. I had to have a tilt table test to get my diagnosis. Basically it's when your body can't accommodate the change in position between lying/sitting to standing. Due to the tachycardia, I was placed on metoprolol. Otherwise, they just recommend getting up slowly and drinking more fluids and increasing salt intake. Unfortunately, there isn't much else that can be done except get used to the lovely spinning sensation that is your world for a while. When I get sick my episodes can last weeks. A cardiologist is usually the one who will follow through with POTS cases due to the cardiac component.
Do y'all usually do this much transitions (not sure if that is the right term in this case)? She was good but all the zoom ins and outs and angle changes were distracting.
They may be trying employ film making attention grabbing methods. Next time you watch a show or a movie, count the seconds between each camera Change. It’s actually dizzying.
I had those Brain Zaps when I quit my antidepressants and they were very annoying. I’m glad I got off medication, those antidepressants have so many side effects too.
Weird how she explained pain tolerance. I had severe trauma as a child and my pain tolerance is pretty high according to doctors and people around me. I didnt know I was in labor for hours with my daughter. 😅
There are just so many variables that account for an individual's pain tolerance. What she said wasn't inaccurate, it just lacked nuance (per the type of format this media is in, no fault of her own). Some people experience lower distress/pain tolerance after trauma, but some people experience *greater* distress/pain tolerance after trauma. It just depends on all the other factors involved (including genetics). Women are also somewhat desensitized to the *type* of pain specific to uterine cramping (as compared to men, or people that don't have periods), because it happens to us all the time (see: videos of men vs. women experiencing abdominal cramping with a TENs unit). That's not to say cramps and labor don't hurt, but we don't experience that pain on the same level as we would if we *never* had any abdominal cramping. :)
@@caseygunn1717yeah, I was somewhat confused by that answer. It sounded like she said being female leads to a lower pain tolerance? Honestly I wouldn’t have thought gender had any bearing on it at all. I can totally understand being desensitised to a pain you feel regularly, like your example of women regularly getting abdominal cramps. I have a host of old injuries that constantly cause pain, but I barely notice them anymore because they’re always there. So it makes sense… but why would being female lead to lower pain tolerance in general?
I have a neurologist and she is smart but I never considered how smart neurologists are! Wow! Dr. Cheng impresses!!! Can you do a vid about neurological conditions, like Trigeminal Neuralgia I and II? I thought she was going to touch on it when she discussed teeth. Thanks!
You didn't think about how smart neurologists are? The brain is probably one of the most complex things humans have so far encountered and they kind of understand a bit of it. That's smart.
Great stuff. A side note: Isn't it the case that, in addition to "fight or flight," there is the "freeze" response (Jaak Panksepp). If it is more common among non-human animals, it is among the human responses to threat.
As an RN of 26 yrs with double sciatica, I can tell you that all humans (with the exception of musculoskeletal deformities) have the nerve in a pinchable area. It is pinched or painful when the muscles tighten or become inflamed causing the nerve to become irritated or the pelvis to shift out of place and pinch the nerve. Strengthening exercises for the abdomen, buttocks, and lower back can help to prevent it as long as your doctor approves them. There are other remedies for relief, but those require a doctor.
We sit a lot in our society. I had a client who sat a lot because he was a truck driver and he had his huge wallet in his back pocket the entire time he drove. Helped a lot when he removed the wallet but of course he was still sitting all day. Definitely something he needed to see a PT for but he was a grumpy old man who wanted me to just fix it 😂
I think that pain is so subjective because fear has a lot to do with it. The greater the fear, the greater the pain. I have had a handful of operations, even with a pre med it has taken a lot to knock me out because I was so terrified. But so lucky to be alive now, Anasthesia is such a blessing. Even though I know I will throw up for hours, and the twice I had abdominal surgery, heaving hurts! But a lot less than surgery without aneasthtic!
3:53 I would like to raise a point of contention: anxiety as a general term does not mean a person is in 'fight or flight' constantly. A better way of describing it would be that a person's 'fight or flight' responce is either overactive or active outside of 'normal' responses. Generalized anxiety would be the overactive state, whereas something like social anxiety is when a person's 'fight or flight' is triggered by being in a social interaction, which is not considered a 'normal' response.
Pain tolerances she skipped out on but I understand, it gets into detail. "Research has shown that people with red hair perceive pain differently than others. They may be more sensitive to certain types of pain and can require higher doses of some pain-killing medications. However, studies suggest that their general pain tolerance may be higher. People with red hair also respond more effectively to opioid pain medications, requiring lower doses." - N.I.H. As a red haired blue eyed male I can certainly attest to this.
Yea I was a little disappointed because that question was the whole reason I clicked on the video. Based on the examples she gave (past trauma, lack of sleep, female) I should have a terrible pain tolerance, but I actually have an extraordinarily high tolerance to the point that it freaks some people out 😂 (i.e. when I fall asleep while getting tattoos). I’m also a blue eyed red head 😊
That first question is very interesting, I suffered a pineal germinoma, which blocked a brain fluid drainage ventricle, which caused pressure, which led to headaches, terrible headaches. Are you able to explain more about that scenario?
I stepped out of a moving lifted truck that was going 55 mph on the freeway. I broke my leg, road rashed my entire upper body, and my skull was exposed. When the cops arrived, i played dead with tongue out. When he came over to check my vitals I jumped and said _just kidding_ My pain tolerance lasted a long time. I counted the staples and even managed to endure the entire healing process without anything more than over the counter pain meds. How and why
To further answer the itching question, an itch is a microscopic stimulation, usually a microscopic pain, that is too small for the brain to recognize as true “pain” it then registers as that itch you have to scratch. The most common cause of itching is xerosis (dry skin). -Family Medicine
Very interesting... great topic, great host! Wired, Maybe consider highlighting certain medical conditions or diseases?... would be a great next step on this series. Cheers and thanks!!
Uhh, I'm going to need a citation on that acupuncture info. Wikipedia mentions that it's on par with placebo, or that sham acupuncture sometimes does better. So save yourself the money and get a friend to randomly pin cushion you. Edit: As @stillnotstill mentioned, there seems to be proof of an effect for pain management in newer studies. See my reply below for more info.
There’s a difference between book smart and actual smart. You know she’s actually smart because she’s able to dumb it down without coming off as “I’m better than you”
0:58 in ditch we call it het telefoonbotje (the phone bone) because when you hit it you out you grab your elbow and put your affected arm towards your face, which looks like picking up α phone :)
the pain tolerance thing is interesting, would love to have heard more about that. i have a high pain tolerance for external pain, and much lower for internal pain. i think i'm way better with surface level external pain bc i used to cut, but i'm still very sensitive to touch. seems like there's a lot to explore there.
There’s actually plenty of evidence that women do have lower pain tolerance d/t greater nerve density, hormones etc…there can be variations person-to-person but research shows women do generally have lower pain tolerance
She's awesome! I love these videos, helps learning so many interesting and useful stuff without overcomplicating or needing tons of previous knowledge!
If anyone knows, I’m pretty sure when someone was asking about the para/sympathetic nervous systems they meant like ‘physically’. Like do they touch each other or can we physically see them as different? I also was curious if they function differently: like if you got a ‘nerve scan’ (idk what the procedure is called) do they show up distinctly as different patterns or frequencies or smth? Basically is there a way we can ‘tell’ which nerves do what, or are they just categorical based on output?
Short answer - some nerves have parasympathetic functions while others have sympathetic functions, and some do both. We know which nerves do what, but on a scan, the organization of these nerves is not as simple as CNS vs PNS is. Source: med student
After a simple cold my face on the right side started to burn and tingle all over. When i spoke to me GP she diagnosed it as Trigeminal Neuralgia. She has given medication, its controlling the pain but it made certain parts of my face numb. I have been told to improve my immune system, will this ever go away?
I would see a specialist--someone in neuro, or maybe even an orthodontist since it's mouth-related. You might have an underlying, continuing infection that's causing the issue, and need to get checked for that. In the meantime, zinc can help with immune strength.
im pretty sure we dont actually know how general anethesia works. Note: thats not to say we dont know anything about it, but i think there's more to it than we know, even though it works.
2:47 I like how she addressed them as “Well-meaning Caveman” and then used a saber-tooth tiger for a related example.
There is and has never been such a thing as a saber tooth tiger. There were sabre toothed cats but they were most definitely not tigers by any stretch. Both she and you need to learn some biology it seems.
it went really well together didnt it? i remember having the same example at neurology class when we talked about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system :)
@@jackwhitbread4583Man I bet you're as obnoxious in real life haha
@@jackwhitbread4583 Why did you get so angry?
@@jackwhitbread4583And? There are plenty of things that have inaccurate naming. Jellyfish aren't actual fish, pencil lead isn't lead but graphite.
The names are simply what is commonly recognized by most, that is why people say jellyfish and not jellyplankton.
Maybe you should learn how language works.
being a med student and actually knowing and understanding everything she's saying feels soooo cool
I’m a nurse rn and it is freakin cool to know exactly what she’s talking about
@@graciecab6834 rightt!!
I was in nursing school and dropped out same here haha I was so proud of myself
High school biology teaches this.
@@justbreathe_ giving, didn’t get accepted in a medschool
You can always tell someone is smart by how well they can explain complicated subjects to people that have no knowledge in the subject
I'm not saying she's brilliant at explaining everything, but after watching this I went to get the mail and I received a diploma.
@@nevergiveup5939 I don't know bro, let us know when you figure it out
@@nevergiveup5939bro is really out here 💀
Fine😭😭😭😭
Too bad she didn't answer most of the questions. It's a fascinating topic.
Why the cop out replies to some of the questions?
@VikingTeddy 😂😂 genius response 👌🏼
Wired does not always find the right people, but this doctor is great! Excellent explanations.
I would say their success rate is pretty high. I am still subscribed solely because their experts have been a good combination of charismatic and knowledgeable.
@@EightPieceBox Let's be real, we're all here for Victor M Sweeney
@@androiduberalles Is he the mortician? If not, what is his field of expertise?
@@bikenyyeah he’s the mortician
She thinks acupuncture is an effective way to treat chronic pain... not so sure I trust her explanations after hearing that
Wow, Natalie, you're on Wired's support series! As your former junior resident, this is somehow not surprising to me.
Cool! Ha, ‘somehow not surprising’ to you.
More Dr. Natalie Cheng, please! Just more of all the doctors, please!
Humans cant want human slaves like that to be left alive, have more made.
In German the funny bone is called the Musikknochen (music bone) which is pretty fitting imho, because people tend to kinda sing when they hit it :D
I love this. ♥
Do you all make puns about it?
In Austria German dialect we call it "das narrische Bein" (i.e.das närrische Gebein) which could be translated as the crazy bone
Same in catalan! "Òs de la música" ("bone of the music)
😭
I just graduated with a Neuroscience degree and it makes me happy and comfortable that I knew MOST of the answers to these questions 🙏
You did fictional things?
SAME 😂 going into my second year
She's so informative and a great communicator !!
Not physically able to communicate?
@@bunk95 what is bro smoking
I could watch this "support format" for hours...
So great!
Thank you sooooo much, as always 😉
So glad someone asked about how our body moves. Like your brain just knows to move… that is something I think about often and it can sometimes low key freak me out. Still blows my mind and I don’t quite understand it lol
Hi! I'm just a student so take my explanation with a grain of salt. But basically, lower motor neurons (movement neurons in the spinal cord) have nerve fibres connecting to muscles in your body, and when these neurons are activated, they send electricity to the muscles leading to contraction. Hence, movement!
The brain "knows to move" sometimes purely due to sensory information, i.e, reflexes. For example, if you hold your hand on a hot stove (not advisable), sensory cells in your skin tissue, which have fibres connecting to neurons in the spinal cord, sends a signal to these neurons saying that this is a painful stimulus. This sensory information is then sent to your lower motor neurons to flex the arm and thus pull your hand away in a circuit vital for survival. However, this is not a conscious act, since the information never got sent to the brain in this process (this is why reflexes feel automatic).
In the more complex case of voluntary movement that I think you're intrigued by, the brain "knows to move" mainly because of a part of the brain called the premotor area, which is next to and connects with the primary motor cortex, the main brain area responsible for sending signals to lower motor neurons for movement. The premotor cortex sends motor plans relating to things like the direction of movement, the force of movement and the sequence of movement, to the primary motor cortex. These movement plans are informed by other parts of the brain which encode more *abstract* things, like desires and emotions for example. This should explain how and why we willingly move the way we want to based off of more complex things than simple sensory stimuli like sight or touch.
There are also other parts of the brain which control movement. The brainstem controls muscles of the face, head and neck through the "corticobulbar tract", the cerebellum is vital for muscle memory and feedforward and feedback control allowing for coordination, and the supplementary motor area is hypothesised (among other things), like the premotor cortex, to be responsible for willing movement based on complex associative information and not just based off of sensory stimuli.
I hope my explanation helped!
I remember being a little kid and really fascinated by this, I remember waiting in a car and looking up at my hand slowly making it move then consciously thinking "move" and it wouldn't, idk how old I was but that was pretty wild
With ADHD, it doesn't always.
Some of the questions I had got answered here so thanks wired for bringing in these experts. This is my favorite series on this channel.
She addresses pain responses as being directly proportional to both the extension and importance of the area where the damage is being inflicted, so riddle me this: paper cuts and some precisely positioned zits that can reduce any top world athlete to tears.
Hands (especially finger tips) and face have a lot more nerve innervation than most parts of the body! This is because we need them to be primed for small tactile sensations as well as temperature. In fact, the hands, face, and genitals take up the most space in the somatosensory cortex, so they quite literally have more brain matter dedicated them than legs, for example.
Source: I’m a surgical neurophysiologist :)
“importance of the area where the damage is is being inflicted” i think you answered your own question right there lol
Despite how paper looks the sides aren’t smooth and very jagged, when you get a paper cut you notice how they don’t tend to bleed or scab cause they’re so shallow and it causes nerve endings to be exposed and paper leaves tiny fibers and chemicals in your nerves that irritate it. So to sum it up paper cuts hurt so bad because they don’t cut deep enough to allow blood to scab over and it leaves exposed nerves
I liked her! Intelligent, smart, funny, cute, clear explanations. Do bring her back again in the future.
Stop cutting her off! I felt like she only got halfway through her explanation for most of these questions. Peripheral nerves can heal...but what about central ones? What happens when there's compression of the carpal tunnel? Let her finish!
Tibia honest, how can wired find these perfect professionals for every discipline? 😅
That's humerus
you find them in universities and I heard that US has a few ones that are okay
@@nevergiveup5939Those are some great questions and the best answer I can come up with is that's just the way it is.
@@nevergiveup5939 1. Because your parents had intercourse. 2. Because the body can't handle the damage over time anymore. 3. No one will ever know
@@nevergiveup5939bro is really out here 💀
I think this is the most I've learned in a video ever. Amazing! Dr. Cheng and the editors made a perfectly paced informative piece! 👏👏👏
In Dutch it's (literally translated) "telephone bone". I always liked that name, it does feel like electricity surging through after hitting it if you ask me.
But, I can't deny a good dad-joke, so funny-bone is pretty nice too
Grappig, want ik kan mij niet herinneren dat iemand in mijn omgeving dat ooit heeft gezegd haha. In mijn kring zeggen we "schokbonkje"
In German it's called musician's bone because it feels like a vibration when you hit it
In Luxembourgish we call it the « geckeg Knippchen », which loosely translates as the ‘crazy little bump’
Anyone else move their toes when she was describing how the brain does that? Even though I’ve done it countless times, it felt like I just had to try it out to see how it works. I now feel like a toddler discovering I now have toes
As a massage therapist I’m proud I knew most of this already! We learned a lot about nerves and how pain works but I’m sure not nearly as much as she knows!
What I learned was tickling was a neccesary response in childhood and younger animals to learn through play to protect your sensitive areas. Which is also the reason most humans lose being ticklish as we age
She is awesome, so clear and professional in explaining these extremely technical stuff. I hope I will be like her one day!
I am currently learning about the nerves for my anatomy class, so this video was super insightful!! Loved her explanations!
She's so informative and a great communicator !!. Wonderfully entertaining and educational. Thank you..
In German, the funny bone is called Musikantenknochen which translates to musician‘s bone. I guess because it makes you sing when you hit it.
Trom bone
@@LucemadxD
LOL!
LOL!
It’s so great when people can explain things for you without having to study or do the hours of research for it 😭thank u
Oh man I've gotten brain zaps when stopping medication it's horrible. It feels like a weird electricity (btw I only stopped the medication when the pharmacy wouldn't fill the prescription on time due to the insurance company)
Same!!! I've stopped taking my antidepressants because my neurologist told me to, and ended up with these awful brain zaps, so annoying
@@queen0fhell193 right?? It feels like the brain is seizing
@michelleruocco2737 yeah and it's kinda worrying at first
@@queen0fhell193jeez what was the medicine doing to leave your brain in that kinda state, I’ve tried anti depressants but none of them worked for me I had to fix my environment
@@queen0fhell193at first homie that sounds worrying period
I have Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, POTS and Fibromayalgia. I'm in a lot of pain a lot of the day, and I handle it fine. But once there's additional pain unexpectedly it just makes me irritated because I already have to deal with enough it just is the straw that breaks the camels back sometimes.
Would have been nice if she explained “why” for more of the questions. Like how acupuncture helps release opiates.
I doubt Most people would understand that, If Science even knows the exact how and why and IT would Take forever
I once went cold turkey on my ADHD meds (because CVS claimed they gave it to me already). I remember getting massive brain zaps and many other symptoms when I went through withdrawal. Fun times.
i was in the middle of a cycle of antianxiety meds when i first experienced brain zaps, i stopped taking my meds instantly bc it made my full body go into high alert and any partial movement felt like i was getting electrocuted, when i described the experience to my doctor she had NEVER heard of them before… was a very scary experience
Brain zaps are a very common occurrence after coming off of anti-anxiety/depression medication, your doctor really should have known about them.
@@CorinaStadler i was also in the middle of taking them when it happened, she said it was her first time hearing about anything involving brain shocks, we're in a small ish town so
I’ve had that too, it was on Cymbalta (duloxetine). Brain zaps are weird.
Taking atypical antipsychotics can cause them too. I used to get brutal brain zaps when I was on Geodon.
Pain tolerance is bizarre. I fell asleep during several of my tattoos, I enjoy piercings, yet a headache will put me down and out crying and complaining like a baby. Makes no sense
During my first surgery as an adult, I was awake. After someone in the room said the sound wasn’t my insides being vacuumed out it was just, “Suction,” (which is what happens in a vacuum) I didn’t comment about smelling the burning flesh. There’s only so much shame a person can be expected to endure while completely vulnerable and hanging in the balance of life and death.
You can also get compression of the ulnar nerve like you get with the median nerve. Causes your ring and pinky finger to feel numb and tingly versus your thumb and first three fingers. Often happens when people lean on their elbows too much or who have an unconscious habit of curling their arms tightly when they sleep
I have the beginnings of that. It's called Cubital Tunnel Syndrome
It can also come on acutely if one uses elbows in a fight, or has a particularly gnarly fall... like enough to bruise or chip the bone in the elbow...
AND it's anecdotal, just my experience, but a TENS device can help with healing. I dinged my elbow bad enough to lose some of my grip and wrist strength, but religiously used the TENS twice a day, watching my hand flop around like a fish... about a half hour per session, and recovered in a couple weeks. Still sucked, and maybe I only felt like I was doing something about it, but it seemed to feel better... Sometimes you do what you gotta do for relief, even if it only feels different (when anything different would be "good")... haha ;o)
I've literally just started dealing with that this past week. I've always had my hand get numb sometimes when I'm lying in bed, but things REALLY ramped up recently. It has started to wake me up and won't stop until I physically get out of bed and walk around for a while shaking my arm lol it has been having a significant effect on my sleep. I think the reason it suddenly got worse is due to me throwing pottery more frequently now, which requires you to firmly rest your elbows on your legs for stability while manipulating the clay. That combined with me being a sign language interpreter, I feel like I'm really doing a number on these nerves 🙃
@@weekendatmyplace3483 you can counteract the elbow flexion during sleep by taking an elbow pad and wearing it in reverse. That way, you can only bend your elbows so much.
@@weekendatmyplace3483snuggling a pillow or stuffed animal can help you learn to keep your arms less curled while you sleep. That and shoving padding under my elbows when I lean on something is how I dealt with my issues.
Great video! Would love to see more on neurology.
I had a recent visit to the dentist that required local, and the injection hit a nerve in the lower right quadrant...it felt like lightning in my face and head. And ever since, even just a light touch to my chin will send an echo through my lip and gums. It's bizarre! I wish I could get some scientific explanation on that.
If you look up the nervous system and look at the teeth area, a ton of nerves run into the teeth. So that may be why.
@@justabookworm1382 But why does it continue to fire when I just touch the skin? It's like a phantom thing. It's like the nerve became visible or something after that needle hit it.
@@meghanmonroewhat you are experiencing is uncommon but not that rare after dental procedures , there is a nerve called the trigeminal nerve, branches of which give sensory innervation to the face and they can get damaged during procedures , causing intense pain . It’ll go away most likely but do contact your doctor if it doesn’t .
@@frubbs7083 This was at least 2 or 3 months ago. It doesn't hurt, it's just uncomfortable. It's almost closer to a pins and needles than anything at this point, just specifically when I touch that spot on my chin. So strange.
I sure hope your dentist wasn't asking you "Is it safe?"
Seriously, though, I hope you're able to get an answer.
I love learning about the body. She’s so great at explaining
Really cool vid, would have been cool to see her speak about some neurological diseases like Parkinson’s or MS
Or POTS! Would love to see this condition get more recognition because it's not all that rare (esp. post-covid) but yet neurologists are so shy about it making it hard for us to get diagnosed.
Agree!!
yes, i was hoping she'd bring up Functional Neurological Disorder
Me too, I have epilepsy and see a neurologist regularly but was still hoping to hear more on these topics
@@kellylyons1038I was diagnosed with it, along with tachycardia at 29 yrs old in 2000. I had to have a tilt table test to get my diagnosis. Basically it's when your body can't accommodate the change in position between lying/sitting to standing. Due to the tachycardia, I was placed on metoprolol. Otherwise, they just recommend getting up slowly and drinking more fluids and increasing salt intake. Unfortunately, there isn't much else that can be done except get used to the lovely spinning sensation that is your world for a while. When I get sick my episodes can last weeks. A cardiologist is usually the one who will follow through with POTS cases due to the cardiac component.
Do y'all usually do this much transitions (not sure if that is the right term in this case)? She was good but all the zoom ins and outs and angle changes were distracting.
They may be trying employ film making attention grabbing methods. Next time you watch a show or a movie, count the seconds between each camera
Change. It’s actually dizzying.
2:29 the way she mimics the muscle getting rigid, I almost had a heart attack 😂
I had those Brain Zaps when I quit my antidepressants and they were very annoying. I’m glad I got off medication, those antidepressants have so many side effects too.
5:15 So pure, literally wouldn’t hurt a fly
I'm currently taking a molder dysfunction and control class this semester and it is so fascinating to learn how our brain can mediate movement
She explains everything soo well. Also idk how anyone hasn't said it but she is STUNNING. She looks like an actress!
Weird how she explained pain tolerance. I had severe trauma as a child and my pain tolerance is pretty high according to doctors and people around me. I didnt know I was in labor for hours with my daughter. 😅
There are just so many variables that account for an individual's pain tolerance. What she said wasn't inaccurate, it just lacked nuance (per the type of format this media is in, no fault of her own). Some people experience lower distress/pain tolerance after trauma, but some people experience *greater* distress/pain tolerance after trauma. It just depends on all the other factors involved (including genetics). Women are also somewhat desensitized to the *type* of pain specific to uterine cramping (as compared to men, or people that don't have periods), because it happens to us all the time (see: videos of men vs. women experiencing abdominal cramping with a TENs unit). That's not to say cramps and labor don't hurt, but we don't experience that pain on the same level as we would if we *never* had any abdominal cramping. :)
@@caseygunn1717yeah, I was somewhat confused by that answer. It sounded like she said being female leads to a lower pain tolerance? Honestly I wouldn’t have thought gender had any bearing on it at all.
I can totally understand being desensitised to a pain you feel regularly, like your example of women regularly getting abdominal cramps. I have a host of old injuries that constantly cause pain, but I barely notice them anymore because they’re always there. So it makes sense… but why would being female lead to lower pain tolerance in general?
@@asherandai1000 it's the truth, men have higher pain tolerance. Read the wiki article maybe
I have a neurologist and she is smart but I never considered how smart neurologists are! Wow! Dr. Cheng impresses!!! Can you do a vid about neurological conditions, like Trigeminal Neuralgia I and II? I thought she was going to touch on it when she discussed teeth. Thanks!
You didn't think about how smart neurologists are? The brain is probably one of the most complex things humans have so far encountered and they kind of understand a bit of it. That's smart.
I feel I can be a doctor someday with these kind of videos!
Yeah fr same hahahaha
😳😳😳😳😳
Go for it!
@@kennyfresquez7019 I will! Thanks.
If you want to give it a shot, not nearly enough doctors in the world
As someone very passionate about acoustics, teaching, and mythbusting, I would love to do a Sound Support on WIRED.
Great stuff. A side note: Isn't it the case that, in addition to "fight or flight," there is the "freeze" response (Jaak Panksepp). If it is more common among non-human animals, it is among the human responses to threat.
Yes, and there is also "fawn" and "flop"
I’m a freezer 🥴
Also fawn.
@@DizzehxxMitizzeh42what the heck is flop 😭
More with this guest please. Also, what’s up with the lower back/sciatic nerve. Why are the majority of us evolved to have it in a pinch-able area?
As an RN of 26 yrs with double sciatica, I can tell you that all humans (with the exception of musculoskeletal deformities) have the nerve in a pinchable area. It is pinched or painful when the muscles tighten or become inflamed causing the nerve to become irritated or the pelvis to shift out of place and pinch the nerve. Strengthening exercises for the abdomen, buttocks, and lower back can help to prevent it as long as your doctor approves them. There are other remedies for relief, but those require a doctor.
We sit a lot in our society. I had a client who sat a lot because he was a truck driver and he had his huge wallet in his back pocket the entire time he drove. Helped a lot when he removed the wallet but of course he was still sitting all day. Definitely something he needed to see a PT for but he was a grumpy old man who wanted me to just fix it 😂
We are one of the few bipedal animals. We evolved over time to walk upright so maybe that change didn’t account for sciatica pain
Neurologists are so amazing.
I think that pain is so subjective because fear has a lot to do with it. The greater the fear, the greater the pain.
I have had a handful of operations, even with a pre med it has taken a lot to knock me out because I was so terrified.
But so lucky to be alive now,
Anasthesia is such a blessing. Even though I know I will throw up for hours, and the twice I had abdominal surgery, heaving hurts!
But a lot less than surgery without aneasthtic!
3:53 I would like to raise a point of contention: anxiety as a general term does not mean a person is in 'fight or flight' constantly.
A better way of describing it would be that a person's 'fight or flight' responce is either overactive or active outside of 'normal' responses. Generalized anxiety would be the overactive state, whereas something like social anxiety is when a person's 'fight or flight' is triggered by being in a social interaction, which is not considered a 'normal' response.
She explains things very clearly and simply...and beautifully.
I love her presentation!
Pain tolerances she skipped out on but I understand, it gets into detail. "Research has shown that people with red hair perceive pain differently than others. They may be more sensitive to certain types of pain and can require higher doses of some pain-killing medications. However, studies suggest that their general pain tolerance may be higher. People with red hair also respond more effectively to opioid pain medications, requiring lower doses." - N.I.H. As a red haired blue eyed male I can certainly attest to this.
Yea I was a little disappointed because that question was the whole reason I clicked on the video. Based on the examples she gave (past trauma, lack of sleep, female) I should have a terrible pain tolerance, but I actually have an extraordinarily high tolerance to the point that it freaks some people out 😂 (i.e. when I fall asleep while getting tattoos). I’m also a blue eyed red head 😊
If women actually have a lower pain tolerance then nature really did us dirty with the whole uterus thing. 😑
That first question is very interesting, I suffered a pineal germinoma, which blocked a brain fluid drainage ventricle, which caused pressure, which led to headaches, terrible headaches. Are you able to explain more about that scenario?
watching this as a psych student and actually understanding some terms actually feels so rewarding lol
As someone with Depression anxiety and ptsd, I can confirm it's totally fine. Absolutely love it! Wouldn't have it any other way!
I love how she skips over the “inappropriate” words lol! 😂
I stepped out of a moving lifted truck that was going 55 mph on the freeway. I broke my leg, road rashed my entire upper body, and my skull was exposed. When the cops arrived, i played dead with tongue out.
When he came over to check my vitals I jumped and said _just kidding_
My pain tolerance lasted a long time. I counted the staples and even managed to endure the entire healing process without anything more than over the counter pain meds.
How and why
To further answer the itching question, an itch is a microscopic stimulation, usually a microscopic pain, that is too small for the brain to recognize as true “pain” it then registers as that itch you have to scratch. The most common cause of itching is xerosis (dry skin).
-Family Medicine
Very interesting... great topic, great host! Wired, Maybe consider highlighting certain medical conditions or diseases?... would be a great next step on this series. Cheers and thanks!!
I love how she substitutes a “bad” word 😆
Even better, she mostly leaves them out entirely.
Wow, she did a fine job of communicating so succinctly.
just had my exam about this topic and understanding everything she said or responding before felt soooo good
I was surprised to hear acupuncture actually has some data to support it
Questions were surprisingly on point with this one. Typically you get a handful of "did you know [insert obvious fact to expert]"?
I love that you still refer to X as Twitter ❤
Uhh, I'm going to need a citation on that acupuncture info. Wikipedia mentions that it's on par with placebo, or that sham acupuncture sometimes does better. So save yourself the money and get a friend to randomly pin cushion you.
Edit: As @stillnotstill mentioned, there seems to be proof of an effect for pain management in newer studies. See my reply below for more info.
Wikipedia is wrong then
Sources, I can't link any, but if you look up the words acupuncture meta-analysis, you'll see scientific articles about it
Nice deflection on the general anesthesia question
“Is the parasympathetic vs sympathetic real?” 😂😂😂
i can feel the particular pain sensors when shes talking about them
Ngl she knew quite an array of impressive information about the body. This is who i would want my doctor to be.
There’s a difference between book smart and actual smart.
You know she’s actually smart because she’s able to dumb it down without coming off as “I’m better than you”
0:58 in ditch we call it het telefoonbotje (the phone bone) because when you hit it you out you grab your elbow and put your affected arm towards your face, which looks like picking up α phone :)
the pain tolerance thing is interesting, would love to have heard more about that. i have a high pain tolerance for external pain, and much lower for internal pain. i think i'm way better with surface level external pain bc i used to cut, but i'm still very sensitive to touch. seems like there's a lot to explore there.
Did she just say that women have a lower pain tolerance (8:46)? There's no way. Evidence please?
There’s actually plenty of evidence that women do have lower pain tolerance d/t greater nerve density, hormones etc…there can be variations person-to-person but research shows women do generally have lower pain tolerance
That’s what I thought
I’m a woman and I have a very high pain tolerance
Its because were gaslit by the medical industry. We just ignore it. And if we dont then were told its all in our heads.
Wonderfully entertaining and educational. Thank you.
I like to show a lot of respect to the doctor. She has a lot of nerve doing this video.
Ha, yeah.
She's awesome! I love these videos, helps learning so many interesting and useful stuff without overcomplicating or needing tons of previous knowledge!
You can tell she dedicated her life to this 😭 how wholesome
Her: I'm Dr. Natalie...
Me for a split second in my mind: Natalie? Hmm...
Her: Cheng
Me: Oh! makes sense. Please continue.
the way she says things like "benzodiazepines" with such ease... spectacular.
I am obsessively watching these doctor questions videos 😅
That was so interesting and informative! And you explained it in a way that was fun not boring! Thank you very much! 😊👍🥳🥳🥳🌷
In Dutch, we call the funny bone "telefoon botje", which translates to "telephone bone". I always thought the English term made much more sense 😂
She’s awesome!!!
excuse me. Why is a NEUROLOGIST answering questions about how Anesthesia works? There is literally a whole specialty devoted to this! :)
If anyone knows, I’m pretty sure when someone was asking about the para/sympathetic nervous systems they meant like ‘physically’. Like do they touch each other or can we physically see them as different?
I also was curious if they function differently: like if you got a ‘nerve scan’ (idk what the procedure is called) do they show up distinctly as different patterns or frequencies or smth? Basically is there a way we can ‘tell’ which nerves do what, or are they just categorical based on output?
Short answer - some nerves have parasympathetic functions while others have sympathetic functions, and some do both. We know which nerves do what, but on a scan, the organization of these nerves is not as simple as CNS vs PNS is.
Source: med student
i just died in her arms tonight
After a simple cold my face on the right side started to burn and tingle all over. When i spoke to me GP she diagnosed it as Trigeminal Neuralgia. She has given medication, its controlling the pain but it made certain parts of my face numb. I have been told to improve my immune system, will this ever go away?
I would see a specialist--someone in neuro, or maybe even an orthodontist since it's mouth-related. You might have an underlying, continuing infection that's causing the issue, and need to get checked for that. In the meantime, zinc can help with immune strength.
Thank you for keeping it simple
PLEASE WE NEED A DARKMODE FOR WIRED
I want a podcast now. Weekly please. She rocks
im pretty sure we dont actually know how general anethesia works. Note: thats not to say we dont know anything about it, but i think there's more to it than we know, even though it works.
ITS BETTER THAN ANY MOVIES NOWADAYS
Honestly love the funny bone even more now that I know it's a dad joke 😂
I really love this channel because of what I learn. Bring out more experts!