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Your Checkup: Patient Education Health Podcast
Ever leave the doctor’s office more confused than when you walked in? Your Checkup: Health Conversations for Motivated Patients is your health ally in a world full of fast appointments and even faster Google searches. Each week, a board certified family medicine physician and a pediatric nurse sit down to answer the questions your doctor didn’t have time to.
From understanding diabetes and depression to navigating obesity, high blood pressure, and everyday wellness—we make complex health topics simple, human, and actually useful. Whether you’re managing a condition, supporting a loved one, or just curious about your body, this podcast helps you get smart about your health without needing a medical degree.
Because better understanding leads to better care—and you deserve both.
Episodes
128 episodes
126: Understanding Your Kidneys: Creatinine EGFR And Urine Protein Results
Your lab portal lights up red and suddenly you are doing mental math on a creatinine value you have never thought about before. We get it and we see it all the time in clinic, so we built a clear guide to the three kidney tests that confuse peo...
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125: Vaccines, Evidence, and the Politics of Doubt
A single executive order can spark a thousand headlines, but it can’t conjure new evidence into existence. We dig into the recent move to change childhood vaccine recommendations in the United States and why the American Academy of Pediatrics i...
Gone Fishing
Hi all, no new episode this week because we are on vacation! Feel free to enjoy any of our other episodes until next week :)
124: You Are Not Your Diagnosis And Here Is Why
The words you use to describe your health can either pin you down or set you free. We talk about patient-first language and why a small change from “I am” to “I have” can ease shame, reduce stigma, and make room for real problem-solving in both...
123: Cyclospora Understanding The Outbreaks
We break down why Cyclospora spikes every summer in the United States and why contaminated fresh produce can cause days to weeks of watery diarrhea. We share what to watch for, what testing to request, and how to lower risk without swearing off...
122: The Philosophy of Taking Medications
That moment when you stare into your medicine cabinet and think, “How did I end up taking all of these?” is more common than people admit and it’s loaded with meaning. We talk through the hidden emotions behind prescriptions: fear, identity, sh...
121: How Skin Cancer Starts: The Biology of Your Health Explained
Sunlight feels harmless until you zoom in far enough to see what it’s doing inside a single skin cell. Today we follow that path, from UVA and UVB radiation to DNA damage, then through the built-in systems your body uses to prevent skin cancer ...
120: Can Lifting Weights Help Prevent a Heart Attack?
Cardio has been the default prescription for heart health for decades, but a growing body of evidence suggests we’ve been overlooking a major protective tool: strength training. We dig into a large, long-running research dataset that followed m...
119: Can Medicare Finally Cover Weight Loss Meds? Understanding the New GLP-1 Bridge Program
We break down Medicare’s brand-new GLP-1 Bridge Program and explain why headlines are both true and incomplete. We lay out the real eligibility rules, the $50 copay promise, and the smarter questions to ask so you and your clinician can find th...
118: When Should You Consider an Antidepressant?
The hardest part about antidepressants is often not the pill, it is the question you ask yourself before you ever bring it up: “Is this serious enough?” We think that question keeps too many people stuck. We are Ed Delesky (family medicine doct...
117: Migraine Explained: Triggers, Treatment, and When to Worry for Patients
We break down migraines as a neurologic condition with a real brain-based chain reaction, not a character flaw or a one-off “bad headache.” We share practical prevention habits, how to track triggers, and how acute and preventive migraine medic...
116: Can Weight Loss Medications (GLP1s) Reduce Breast Cancer Risk?
A headline like “weight loss drugs may reduce breast cancer risk” grabs attention fast, but the real story lives in the fine print. We take you through a new Penn Medicine study that observed lower breast cancer rates among women with overweigh...
115: Are Food Preservatives Raising Your Blood Pressure? A New Study Explained
That scary nutrition headline about preservatives and high blood pressure is everywhere right now and it’s easy to jump straight from “linked” to “proven.” We slow it down and do what we’d do in an exam room: look at what the study actually say...
114: COPD Explained Clearly for Patients
Breathing out shouldn’t feel like pushing air through a straw, but for millions of people that’s the daily reality of COPD. We sit down and translate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease into plain English, starting with what the name really m...
113: Health Trends Everywhere Right Now: Hype vs Reality
Cortisol is getting blamed for basically everything online, and we get why it’s tempting: it gives a neat explanation for feeling tired, stressed, bloated, or “off.” But as a family medicine doctor and a nurse, we want to bring the conversation...
112: Hantavirus Explained: Why Experts Are Watching This Rare Virus
“Rare, deadly virus” is a phrase that can hijack your nervous system, especially after the last few years. We slow the whole story down and walk through what hantavirus is, why it’s trending again, and how to tell the difference between a serio...
111: What To Expect When You Begin a GLP-1
GLP-1 medications can feel like a Rorschach test online: one person calls Ozempic or Wegovy a miracle, another calls it miserable, and almost nobody explains what the “normal middle” looks like. We wanted to fix that with a practical walkthroug...
110: When To Consider Starting a GLP-1 (Wegovy, Zepbound): Honest Guide for Patients
A medication that can support weight loss, lower diabetes risk, and protect your heart sounds almost too good to be true. So we get practical about the real decision: not “Do I want a GLP-1?” but “What problem am I trying to solve?” If the goal...
109: Why Your Weight Is Creeping Up (And What To Do About It)
Ten extra calories a day. That’s it. That’s the kind of razor-thin margin that can quietly add a pound a year and it’s why so many people swear they “didn’t change anything” while the scale slowly drifted upward. We unpack the simple math behin...
108: What Actually Happens During a Heart Attack
Your heart doesn’t “randomly” decide to have a heart attack, and that one idea can change how you react to symptoms. We sit down and explain, in plain language, what’s happening inside the body when a coronary artery suddenly gets blocked and w...
107: A New GLP1 Weight Loss Pill? What You Need to Know About Orforglipron (Foundayo)
A GLP-1 that comes as a simple daily pill and can be taken with or without food sounds like a small change, until you think about real life. We’re celebrating two years of Your Checkup and sharing what’s surprised us most, from listeners across...
106: Fatigue: Practical Approach and Ideas for Patients
You wake up tired, push through the day tired, and somehow still feel tired after sleeping. That frustrating loop is one of the most common concerns we hear in primary care, and it usually has a pattern. We walk through a simple, clinician-styl...
105: New Cholesterol Guidelines 2026: What Your Numbers Mean & What to Do
Cholesterol advice has been stuck in “it depends” for years, and we wanted something more concrete you can actually use. So we dig into the 2026 American Heart Association cholesterol guidelines and translate them into plain language: the new L...
104: How Smartphones Affect Mental Health: Anxiety, Depression, and Screen Time Explained
Your phone might be doing more than stealing time. It may be quietly taxing your mood, your attention, and the basic habits that keep you well. We found a fascinating research study that tested a simple but radical idea: block mobile internet a...
103: What They Say You Should Actually Eat Everyday
Headlines argue. We read the document. This week we unpack the newest dietary guidelines with a clear, practical lens: what the recommendations actually say, why they still look a lot like Mediterranean and DASH patterns, and how to turn them i...