Stuff You Should Know - How Poison Ivy Works

Episode Date: January 27, 2015

Poison ivy, oak and sumac are all variations of the same plant and they all can make you itch... if you're susceptible that is. In this episode, you'll learn just about all there is to know about this itch-causing plant, including how to best avoid it. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

attention bachelor nation. He's back. The host of some of America's most dramatic TV moments returns with the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison. During two decades in reality TV, Chris saw it all and now he's telling all. It's going to be difficult at times. It'll be funny. We'll push the envelope. We have a lot to talk about. Listen to the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. On the podcast, Hey Dude the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack

and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. Listen to Hey Dude the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from House StuffWorks.com. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Joel W. Chuck Bryant. There's Jerry. Well, this is Stuff You Should Know. You look like you're about to describe the room. Oh, it's too depressing in here. Yeah, and you know, we might as well announce that we're moving. I don't think we've announced that yet, have we? No, we haven't. No, we are finally moving. You know, we've been in this building since you and I and Jerry have been here. Yeah. Actually,

since House StuffWorks has been around, right? I think it started in North Carolina in Marshall Brains Kitchen. No, no, I mean the Atlanta version. I genuinely don't know, but probably. Yeah, so we've been in this building in Buckhead, Atlanta. It's not super exciting and our first office was kind of cool. This one is decidedly not cool. We call this one the call center. Yeah, it's really it's just not a creative space. And so when we were sold by Discovery Channel this summer, our new parents, Blue Cora, right, said, let's move you into a cool, creative, awesome new space. Yeah. And we are all super excited, except for you probably with the commute. Yeah, but I mean, it's still exciting. It's pretty cool. I mean, there's going to be an

Isekaya downstairs. Yeah. You know, I think it's the same people that developed Chelsea Market. Yeah, New York City. Yeah. So they're doing something here too, and we're moving into it. Yeah, it's called Pot City Market. And it is the old Sears building from the early 1900s. Yeah. Which I used to go to as a kid when it was Sears. In the 1900s. Very funny. And what was the 1900s? 1980s. Oh, wow. That was not bad. You were thinking 1920s, though. I know where you're going. So we're trying to have a bigger presence in Atlanta and be a little more visible. And the world. And the world. And so we're going to have a cool new office space. And it's just awesome. So thanks to our boss, Jason and Jerry for working so hard on all this. And Michael

and Izzy. And everyone's done a great job when we're moving in. Like we're the last like six shows or so we're recording here. Yeah. Ish. Yeah. Until we move into our new place. Yeah. So I just wanted to say that we're super excited. That was nice, Chuck. Yeah. Hats off to you too. Yeah. Killed a few minutes. Nice go. So that has nothing to do with poison ivy at all. No. And as a matter of fact, I'll bet there's not much poison ivy around Ponce City Market. No, I hope not. Seems like the kind of place where they would keep the poison ivy under control. Yeah. And I imagine this also, by the way, will be a show where there will be many people scratching themselves. I did while I was researching. Matter of fact, I just scratched my ear while you said that.

Yeah. But that had nothing to do with poison ivy. I have a poison ivy story for you. All right. Let's hear it. So actually when I lived in the Highlands, let's see. Not too far from Ponce City Market. Yeah. You mean I had this house we were renting? I remember that house. And it had a pretty substantial poison ivy vine growing up this big oak tree in the front yard. Oh, front yard. Yeah. You probably wouldn't have seen it. Nah, I came around the back. Right. I, for some reason, had a suspicion that I was immune to poison ivy. Dude, I remember this. I don't know why I thought that, but I did. Even still, I took some precautions. I wore gloves and a long sleeve shirt and jeans and boots and everything like you're supposed to. And then I went out and

decided to take this thing out. Yeah. That's when you were in your homesteading days. Right. Yeah. So first things first, you have to chop the vine, right? Because it like grows alongside the tree, like latches onto it to grow up. Yeah, it can. So when it gets its meat hooks onto the tree, I think that's a technical term for it. Like it's kind of tough to pull away. So you want to chop it off first and then you pull it away from the tree. And this thing was growing way up this oak tree. Yeah. It was a substantial poison ivy vine. So when I pulled it down, not only did a lot of the poison ivy detritus fall down onto me, the whole vine, like a 20 foot vine just fell down on top of me. And I'm looking up as the stuff's falling down.

It's going into my face. It's getting under my shirt. It's going into my mouth, my eyes. It's everywhere, right? And I'm thinking, man, I'm really glad I'm immune to poison ivy. Still, I don't remember why I thought this. I'm picturing you standing there with your mouth wide open. Pretty much. Yeah. Like, wow, it's a lot of poison ivy that just came down. And so I'm standing there. I'm starting to clean it up and as no rash is coming around. Yeah. I'm like, awesome. I am immune to poison ivy. I was right. Yeah. Because it's been like two minutes and no response. Sure. Well, fast forward to like an hour or two later. Is that all? It was pretty quick. I was like, oh no. I told you, me too. I was like, I'm immune. And she was like, you need

to get out of those clothes and take a shower, but it was too late. Yeah. And I guess you remember. I do. It was really bad for like a couple of weeks. Yeah. I have always thought, I am immune. And I may be because I've still never gotten poison ivy at all. That is really surprising. Yeah. And I've been in contact with it plenty as an outdoors enthusiast. Yeah. In a camper and hiker. Yeah. But I remember I was telling Jerry in between, my father used to get it like crazy. Like one of the memories I have of a child as a child is my dad seems like he constantly had poison ivy. Yeah. And that pink, was it calamine lotion? Yes. Just constantly slathered on his body. Poor guy. And a lot of myths being bandied about like I would catch it from him. Right.

Or don't scratch because you'll spread it. Yeah. Neither one of those things are true. No. Judd Apatow's wife lied in Big Daddy. Did she say that in Big Daddy? Yeah. She was like, the little kid was scratching and she was like, don't let him scratch here. Put this like frozen broccoli on it. It'll spread the rash if you scratch it. Not true. It was a lie. So knock wood. I still have not gotten poison ivy. And that was one of our best intros ever. That's a good one. I'm itchy now. Yeah. So let's talk about poison ivy, Chuck. I was like a good story where one of us is a bonehead. Man, I can't believe it. And I think it was just from like having been outside and not like getting a rash for poison ivy. But I guess I just hadn't come into contact with it. Well, no.

Or we'll learn that you could have been immune for a while and developed after repeated exposure. Yeah. That can happen too. But usually it goes the opposite way. Oh, that the more exposure, the less it happens. Yeah. Yeah. Which is why a lot of adults like basically age out of an allergy to poison ivy if they come in contact with it enough time. I'll have to ask my dad actually next time I see him. So apparently back in the day, poison ivy was used as an ornamental shrub or vine because it comes in both varieties. And then they were like something that causes this much of a reaction in humans has to have some sort of medicinal benefits. Right. And actually there was at least one guy who really researched poison ivy and as a medicine. And supposedly

he cured skin ailments. Really? He made like some sort of tonic that he drank. Whoa. And said it cured like a stomach ailment, although it made him sweat and urinate more than usual. And this guy was a real urinator too. So that's something he was. But he apparently was one of the only people who really looked into it. And other scientists were like, we're just leaving that thing alone. I think the Native Americans did though, right? I did not see that. Okay. I think I saw that somewhere. They used it for medicine? Yeah. Which shouldn't be surprising, you know, because they had a lot of homespun sciences. They had it figured out. Sure. But it wasn't until, I think like the, well, the early 20th century that a Japanese researcher by the name of Majima

isolated what it was in poison ivy that makes us allergic. And which is why it has a Japanese name, correct? Yes, that's exactly right. Which is Urushio. You are you S H I O L. Yeah. After the Japanese Urushi, which means lacquer. Yeah. And basically it is, it is the chemical that is in the sap that is what causes the rash. And apparently the rash is actually called poison ivy as well. Oh, really? That's what it says here. It says poison ivy is the red itchy rash caused by the plant that bears its name. Oh, yeah. So I always just call it, well, people say you got poison ivy. Yeah, that's right. I never thought of it like that. I didn't either actually. That's exactly right. So what a breakthrough. That's amazing. And the way you

get poison ivy is by coming into direct contact with this Urushio. It's in the plant, it's in the leaves, it's in the roots, it's in the stems. Yeah. And you can get it not only, well, you have to come in contact with that, but it doesn't mean from the plant. It can be on a garden rake handle. Yeah. Or a football that you throw in the woods. Yeah. Or your animals fur. That's right. But it still has to be that actual chemical compound. And it's got staying power too. Supposedly Urushio can stay potent for years. Yeah. I saw that like a rake from last summer, if you pick it up the next year, you can still get it. Yeah. That's insane. So, Chuckers, if you are immune to poison ivy, as you claim, you fall into the lucky 15% of people. Yeah. Estimated who are immune to

poison ivy. But for the rest of us, the 85%, we are allergic to Urushio. Yeah. And it doesn't take much. They say here one billionth of a gram is all it takes sometimes. And this is not just poison ivy. We should point out there is also poison sumac and poison oak and eastern and western poison oak, which are all part of the same family that I'm not going to try and pronounce. Let me give it a try. Okay. Anacardicea. Man, I said it like out loud while I was studying and it didn't take Anacardicea. Anacardiceae. Anacardiceae. Okay. That sounds about right. We need that many vowels. It's very difficult. Yeah. The A-C-E-A-E at the end really kind of messes yet, but A-C-A. Yeah. So, Anacardiceae. Yeah. I think that's right. I did it. One day, we're going to practice these things

12 times before we record instead of on the air. It makes for riveting podcasting. So, like I said, it's in the stems, the leaves, the roots. The whole shemang. If you want to avoid the rash, you have to avoid the plant. And just because the old saying leaves free, leaves three, leave it be. It's true in a lot of cases, but not always. Homer Simpson says leaves before eat some more. I think I remember that. That's so funny. And you said that it's found in the roots, the stems, the leaves, the whole shemang. Yep, whole shemang. But even after the plant dies, Arushial can stick around. That's how tough this stuff is. Sure. Like, you killed that vine in your front yard. Yeah. And what'd you do? Did you leave it there? Or did you eventually get around

to? Oh, I cut it and pulled it right down. It was potent as the day is long when I cut it. No, but what'd you do after it was laying there on the ground? I just cleaned it up. I was immune, remember? Oh, so you finished it up and put it in like a garden bag or something? Yeah. Okay. I was all, it was like, I might as well have just rolled in it naked. You probably thought, though, you were like, yeah, I showed you. Yeah. I think I probably was cursing as I was pulling it because it was hanging under the tree so much. Oh yeah, man. That stuff is like cement. But the point being, even after you had killed it and chopped it up into tiny pieces, it still has that active ingredient. And like you said, it doesn't take much like a billionth of a cram. That's right. That's not

very much of this stuff. That's like a drop. It's less than a drop. Yeah. So we said the leaves three is a good rule to go by. The center leaf is usually larger, but not always. Here's some other ways to identify it, though. It's generally in a cluster, like a low weed-like or a vine, like you said, that can climb. Right. So it's either along the ground or it's climbing. Yeah, this isn't helping differentiate. No, it really isn't. By river banks in the woods, moist areas, if you go hiking a lot or camping, you're going to see it everywhere. And the leaves are smooth and have a little teeth sometimes. Serrated? Yeah, like a serrated edge. Yeah. It's a good way to put it. Their color also changes, which makes it difficult. I didn't know

that. I don't really remember that either. I had no idea. I thought I just turned brown. I thought they went from green to brown when it went dormant, when actual plant goes dormant. Apparently, it's a seasonal thing, like reddish, then green, then yellow. Yeah, which is another reason why they were sold as ornamental vines for a while. That makes sense. But yeah, people are like, no, this is just foolishness. And whiteberries, apparently. And well, let's take a message break and then we'll talk a little bit about the Oaks and Sumacs. Oh boy. Right after this. Attention, bachelor nation. He's back. The man who hosted some of America's most dramatic TV moments returns with a brand new tell all podcast, the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison.

It's going to be difficult at times. It'll be funny. We'll push the envelope. But I promise you this, we have a lot to talk about. For two decades, Chris Harrison saw it all. And now he's sharing the things he can't unsee. I'm looking forward to getting this off my shoulders and repairing this, moving forward, and letting everybody hear from me. What does Chris Harrison have to say now? You're going to want to find out. I have not spoken publicly for two years about this. And I have a lot of thoughts. I think about this every day. Truly, every day of my life, I think about this and what I want to say. Listen to the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co-stars, friends, and non-stop references to the best decade ever. Do you remember going to Blockbuster? Do you remember Nintendo 64? Do you remember getting Frosted Tips? Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL Instant Messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friend's

beeper because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing. Each episode will rival the feeling of taking out the cartridge from your Game Boy, blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the 90s. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, Oaks and Sumacs, my friend. They are a little different in appearance. Yes, so Poison Oak is called that because it grows into a shrub. Oh, I never thought about that. Right? If you walk along, you're like, oh, look at this cute little oak tree. You're going to be so big one day and you put your face all over it or whatever. Yeah, yeah. You got Poison Oak on your face. You dummy. Don't ever get too close to an oak

safely because it could kill you and your whole family if it wanted to. That's right. And they can be from a foot to six feet tall and on the west coast and in the south. Although I don't think we said that you're going to find Poison Ivy everywhere, but it says southwest, but I looked at a map and it looked like kind of just California. Oh, really? Yeah. I mean, it kind of squirted out a little bit there into Arizona some like in the desert, but then other parts of Arizona, obviously you're going to find it. But most of the country, you can get your Poison Ivy. Except Alaska, Hawaii. Because those are great places. I'm surprised Alaska. I'm surprised Hawaii doesn't have it. Everything grows in Hawaii. Yeah, but I don't know, Hawaii doesn't strike me as like

woodsy. It seems more like. Oh, there's a lot of woods there. Lush and palm trees. Yeah. Like rainforesty. Right. But I mean, this stuff grows in moist areas. Yeah, that's true. I don't know what to think anymore. Well, this is the thing. Like you can't identify it. It grows everywhere. Even the places they say it doesn't grow. I mean, it's, it, we're in trouble basically. So the oak, the leaves can also be in threes, but they are thick green and hairy on both sides. I think the hairy thing is what's the dead giveaway with the family, uh, Anakidaceae. Yeah. Yeah. And then the sumac, you're going to find that in swamps, uh, or in the northeast and midwest along the rivers. And it's a woody shrub. I love that word sumac. Yeah, you too. It makes me think

of like a Native American like just rowing a canoe of their own making like down a river. Wow. Sumac. That's what it evokes in my, my mind's eye. That's pretty cool. Yeah. And they have stems with rows of seven to 13 smooth edged leaflets. Yeah. It doesn't look anything like poison oak or poison ivy. No. And you know, you should know what this stuff looks like pretty much by now. But if you, if you're a city dweller and you're going to like go to the country, looking up online, just look at some photos. Can you identify poison sumac? No, but poison ivy for sure. Yeah, I usually can. Or if I have a question about it, I just assume it is poison ivy and steer clear. Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen the sumac. I haven't either until this, uh, this

article. There's a little, I mean, it's kind of pretty. Oh, that is pretty. Yeah. It'll just put your face in it. Destroy you. So, um, Chuck, I guess let's, let's stop beating around the bush here. Okay. Uh, terrible. Yeah. Um, what exactly is going on when poison ivy and specifically arousial comes into contact with your skin? Why do you break out in a terrible, terrible rash? Well, it's pretty much the same. If you remember our allergy podcast, the same kind of thing is going on from what I can tell. It's like a mistaken response, correct? To something that shouldn't give you a rash. That's right. Which is why you see animals eating it like crazy and rolling around in it. Yeah. Because they're

like, they're, they're not dumb humans with dumb immune systems. Right. They're like, this stuff really is no big deal. Yeah. Your immune system when it encounters arousial turns into like some like, uh, bonehead at the bar who's like, got this height and like responds like, do look at my girlfriend and like wants to fight everybody. Yeah. That's what your T cells do in your immune system. Sure. So the arousial, because of the way that it's, um, it's formed, the compound that it is, it makes it through the skin pretty easily. Yeah. And as it is absorbed, your body, your skin actually, um, metabolizes it and breaks it up into little components and presents it to your T cells, your immune system cells to say, Hey, are these guys cool? You recognize these guys? And again,

your T cells are like, no, I want to fight this guy. Yeah. And he calls his boys the cytokines, right? Yeah. The cytokines come along and they're like, yeah, let's fight. Yes. Look at those white blood cells because they are some tough dudes. Right. And the white blood cells come in and they're huge. Yeah. And they turn into my macrophages. That's right. And they eat stuff. Yeah. They eat the foreign substance like crazy. And in doing so, that's where you get your, your rash. It damages the tissue. Yeah. Because they're, they're not just focusing on the arousial. No, because they're indiscriminately just messing the whole place up. Yeah. The whole bar just goes to pot because there's like classes broken and stools thrown and everything is just messed up.

Yeah. It's like the movie Hooper, uh, with Bert Reynolds. Oh yeah. I haven't seen that one. One of the great bar fights of all time. Oh, I'm going to see it. Yeah. So that's what's going on, basically. It's, that's where the inflammation comes from. It is just like in allergies with hay fever. It's a mistaken response to that pollen in hay fever's case. And it's just your dumb body not knowing that it's really, shouldn't be a big deal. Exactly. Which is why over time, over repeated exposure to poison ivy, even those lung head T cells figure out like, oh, you're a pal. I don't have to mess with you. Right. I know my girlfriend's pretty. It's cool. I'd look at her too. Right. They calm down over a while. Yeah. You know. Um, so eventually,

I guess if you just rubbed poison ivy on yourself enough times, your response wouldn't occur at all. Yeah. But the, there is a myth that you can eat poison ivy to develop that immune response. Do not do that. Don't do that because you could die. No, like seriously. Right. So what we just described can happen on your internal organs rather than your skin. The macrophages come in and indiscriminately just start eating everything and damaging the tissue. That's one thing. If it's on your arm, it's another thing. If it's on your esophagus, sure, you know, yeah, you could think it's well shut or it just as bad. Your lungs too, which is another reason why when you destroy poison ivy, yeah, you don't burn it because when you burn it, the usury all vaporizes and you can inhale it and

that's really, really bad. That is really bad. Um, you mentioned that you thought you were okay after a few minutes. Uh, there can be something called delayed hypersensitivity. It is that. It's always that. Yeah. Because yeah, you're not going to rub it on your skin and get it in seconds later. Right. That's immediate hypersensitivity. Um, if you have delayed hypersensitivity, it could take hours. Um, it could take days. You might think you're all good and a few days later, you're going to get it, which is one of the reasons, um, the myth of if you scratch, it'll spread. It happens because you might see it popping up on other parts of your body days later. Right. And it's not from scratching or spreading. It's because just that delayed response. That's

right. Yeah. But you know more about that, right? Uh, yeah. So the whole thing, what, what we found out people call poison ivy, the rash is technically called allergic contact dermatitis. Okay. And you can get it from all sorts of things like laundry detergent or like an itchy, like tag. It's basically a skin irritation from an allergic reaction. Right. And with the delayed kind, yes, it takes anywhere from, you know, hours to days. Right. But it's going to happen. Right. Um, there's also immediate, which is like, say a bee sting or like a peanut where like you eat them within minutes, like you're in big trouble. Yeah. Uh, and actually if you do start to deploy, display the same kinds of symptoms that you would with like an immediate reaction,

you really need to go to the hospital. Like if your throat swells up from poison ivy, right, or your lips turn blue from poison ivy, or you have a fever that's like over a hundred degrees from it, that those are all signs that you need to go to the hospital. This isn't a normal reaction to poison ivy. Yeah. If your lips turn blue at all in life, go to the hospital. Yeah. That's just Dr. Chuck driving in. So we're going to bust some more myths and all that kind of jazz, um, right after this. Attention, bachelor nation. He's back. The man who hosted some of America's most dramatic TV moments returns with a brand new tell all podcast, the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison. It's going to be difficult at times. It'll be funny. We'll push the envelope,

but I promise you this, we have a lot to talk about. For two decades, Chris Harrison saw it all, and now he's sharing the things he can't unsee. I'm looking forward to getting this off my shoulders and repairing this, moving forward and letting everybody here for me. What does Chris Harrison have to say now? You're going to want to find out. I have not spoken publicly for two years about this. And I have a lot of thoughts. I think about this every day, truly every day of my life. I think about this and what I want to say. Listen to the most dramatic podcast ever with Chris Harrison on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts on the podcast. Hey, dude, the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show,

Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co-stars, friends, and non-stop references to the best decade ever. Do you remember going to Blockbuster? Do you remember Nintendo 64? Do you remember getting Frosted Tips? Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL Instant Messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friend's beeper because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing. Each episode will rival the feeling

of taking out the cartridge from your Game Boy, blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the 90s. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, so Chuck. Yes. I said that we would bust some more myths. That's right. Let's do that. Okay. So one of the things you said is that poison ivy doesn't spread. Like if you have it, remember when I had it? Yeah. If I brushed up against you, you wouldn't have gotten poison ivy, unless I had some usurial on my skin. Correct. So the poison ivy rash itself is not contagious? No, but if it is still on your body, you could spread it. Like if you and I were on one of

our famous camping hiking retreats. Sure, yeah. And we were in the woods and I got it on my hand and then like slapped you on the back and told you what a good pal you were. And of course, you hiked shirtless. So you might get it because I actually have the compound on my hand. If it could make it through the thick mat of hair on my back, then yeah, I might catch poison ivy from that. Well, you're hairy on both sides, just like the poison oak. Right. That's right. But let's say you do come into contact. You're out in the woods, you're camping and you know, you're like, oh man, crap, I've been avoiding it, but I just got it all over my foot. Right. And I realized I did that. What you want to do is just act super fast. Get it in the creek or wash it off if you have water.

Yep. Immediately with just plain water, the quicker you do it, the better your chances of not having that response. And you also want to use cold water too. Warm water is going to open your pores, which will allow the usury all to be absorbed that much faster. That's no good. Apparently warm or hot water will help after you've gotten it though with the itching symptoms. Yes. Like a really hot shower. Right. But not at first. You rinse off that skin. Take off all your clothes that have come into contact with the plant and you're going to wash those as quickly as possible as well. So now you're naked out in the woods. You're naked and afraid. You're washing your clothes. You want to wash your skin at that point with this open water.

After you've already washed it off initially. Yeah, rinsed it. And then if you have, if you're at home, get some isopropyl alcohol and cotton and then do that next. If you're out in the woods, you probably won't have that. Yeah. So like you said, if you act fast, you might be able to prevent a reaction. And that's because you are washing the usury all off before your skin absorbs it. Yeah. Once your skin absorbs it, you have a very limited amount of time to take some sort of steroid, like a corticosteroid that actually reduce the body's immune response naturally. Or like an anihistamine is a good example of that. Yeah. Or a topical. If you're super allergic, you may even have a prescription for something like this, which you want to take right away. But

if not, just get the cordate or lanocort and rub that all over your body like my dad did. Right. Look like a weird pink beast. Right. But the problem is what these windows close pretty quickly. Yeah. Because once, once the usury all is absorbed, and once your body mounts this immune response, once those macrophages go in and do all this tissue damage, your body has to heal from that no matter what, even if your body's no longer responding to this foreign invader that's actually harmless, the damage is still done. And you've got yourself this, this dermatitis that you've got to deal with. Yeah. And it's going to itch. And they, you shouldn't scratch it not because you'll spread it because you can actually get infected. And I don't remember, were you, did

you scratch a lot? Oh, yeah. Or were you pretty good about it? I mean, I wanted to. What were some of your little, like, I know when someone is infected like that with something as an adult, they do all kinds of things like, I'm not scratching, I'm just like rubbing my face on my pillow super hard. Right. No, I used a lot of self control. Yeah. A lot of smacking. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like you can smack the thing and it won't scratch. And the whole reason you're not scratching is not, again, you're not going to spread it by scratching. But what you're going to do conceivably is you're going to open up these sores. Yeah, because they can get like full on blisters. Right. And if you break one of these blisters and you've got like poop under your

fingernails, you can infect the blister and get like a skin infection and end up with scars. It's not a good jam. So if you smack it, you're not going to scratch it or you're not going to break the skin, but you can still alleviate that itch that's generated by your skin repairing itself. Because you never know when you might have poop under your fingernails. Exactly. So just defer to the smack. I'll bet there's a substantial amount of the population who has poop under their fingernails at any given point in time. Yeah, I don't want that weird stat. Not at all. So a hot shower once you have the rash can help soothe itching a little bit. Calamine lotion can help. Baking soda paste if you're into more natural things. Sure. Baking

soda and water just mixed together basically rub that on there. Right. And the old oatmeal bath with any kind of rash will soothe things a little bit. That's right. I think I use just tons of calamine lotion. Yeah. If I'm not mistaken. I think I blocked a lot of that out. And would you just walk by shaking her head at you every time she saw you? She took good care of me, but yeah. That's good. Yeah. You can also just kind of get around the whole thing by using something like Ivy Block, which uses something called... That's like a if you go camping and you know you're allergic, you can take something beforehand. That's right. A preventative. That's what it's called. Yeah, bento-quatum or bento-quatum. Basically it like acts as a shield that prevents

this stuff, the usury all from being absorbed by your skin. Interesting. And it works to two degrees supposedly. If you do want to get rid of it at your house, you should do what Josh did sort of in that you wore boots and long sleeves and gloves. Right. And all that stuff. So you were on the right track. Just don't gaze upward and wonder as the stuff falls down onto your face. Mouth a gape. Man, that was just bad. Not good. But if you do dress up like that and cover yourself, you want to pull it out by the roots and get it all out of there. Yeah. Cause it's a, I mean like it's a vine. Yeah. And vines can establish themselves pretty easily with just the slightest fragment of living plant. That's right. Don't burn it. No, no, no. It's not just bad news for you. It's

bad news for all your neighbors too. Yeah, I imagine. Uh, you got anything else? The old man Clark over there is burning his poison ivy. I got nothing else. I don't either. That's poison ivy. Uh, if you want to know more about it, including seeing pictures of poison ivy and poison sumac and poison oak before you go camping, you can type in poison ivy at the search bar at howstoveworks.com and it'll bring up this great article. And since I said search bar, it's time for a listener mail. Uh, I'm going to call this part two of scientific method from a scientist. Hi, Josh, Chuck and Jerry, J-E-R-I. I feel like I'm not getting her name right. So I'm sensing that these scientists are, um, they're, they don't feel good about their spelling abilities.

No, but they're doing a great job. They are. Just heard that episode on scientific method and wanted to say you guys did a pretty good job with it and its history. And I say this as a practicing scientist. Uh, and he had a great long email, but I'm going to have to edit for content. Uh, but he talks a little bit about the woes of current science. Uh, he said it is a problem that many young academics fret about. Uh, the problems are real, but I want to underscore the fact that in many ways it is a golden age of science right now. Uh, so much good work is getting done. It just happens to be a terrible time to be a scientist. Uh, more funding would help alleviate some of the strain academia is under. But as you point out, there's some systematic reforms

that need to happen as well. And many are discussing, uh, just what a workable solution is. I have tried to stick as close to the scientific method as possible in my career and haven't been all that productive because of it. Uh, I'd rather publish something solid than put something out there that's potentially wrong or flawed. Um, being able to publish negative data would be good, but even more to the point science almost works well as improv, which is the yes and approach. Oh yeah. Where a scientist proposes a hypothesis and supports it and another scientist picks it up and says, well, yes, if so, then this should also be true as well and extends the original work. Uh, so he's a collaborator. Uh, the scientific

method is a huge part of our lives and needs to be taught to all. I say we need more science literacy, not more scientists, but it can be tricky. Science and nature are truly amazing and yet we're not willing or able to support all those who'd want to make it a career. Uh, he gives us a cheers. That is Ian Street, PhD. Nice job, Ian. That was a great email. Yeah. And good for you for sticking to the scientific method, even to your detriment. Yes. Hang in there. I hope you, uh, write a great paper one day that gets you accolades and money with great spelling too. That's right. Uh, if you want to be like Ian and talk to us, you can tweet to us at syskpodcast. You can join us on facebook.com slash stuff you should know.

You can send us an email to stuffpodcast.howstuffworks.com. And as always, you can join us at our home on the web, stuffyoushouldknow.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works.com. to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it. And now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. Listen to Hey, dude, the 90s called on the I heart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new I heart podcast frosted tips with Lance Bass. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because

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