WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: Gesundheit! How Allergies Work 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:03.239 Hey, everybody, This is Chuck and welcome to this week's 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:08.360 s Y s K Select episode all about allergies. And 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:11.360 the reason I picked this one is because, although I 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:13.560 think I'm on record in this episode even as saying 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:16.560 allergies don't tend to affect me, they beat me this 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:18.919 year and I've had a rough time with the pollen, 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:21.920 so uh kind of got me thinking about allergies again, 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.239 and I thought maybe you all could learn a little 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:29.880 something to enjoy. Welcome to Stuff you should know from 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:38.720 house stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.800 I'm Josh Clark, and there's Charlestovi, Chuck Bryant looking particularly 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:46.279 smart to day's glasses. Check someone with the beard, by 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.320 the way, that's right. Kind of bibles of mine after 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.280 making video content, having an entire season of a television 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:54.320 show that people still say, wait, I thought it was 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:56.920 the other one. Yeah, it's not like this is you know, 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.960 the radio days of nineteen forties when you really didn't 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:02.440 know what people look like like worst and Orsten Wells 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.479 is a baby face I used to bearded up back 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.360 in the day. Yeah, I think of him as like 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:12.199 the in Citizen Kane early on and he was clean 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:17.440 shaving baby face, right, yes, so what are you saying? 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:23.400 How's this like, Citizen Kane? It's not okay, good one, 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.640 thanks man, Um, how you doing. I'm good, A little 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.640 under the weather, but not because of allergies. You're sure. 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.160 Well it's funny you said that because Emily was like, 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:35.680 you know, you may have some allergies, but sometimes you 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.319 think you're getting sick and it could just be allergies. 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:42.520 It definitely could be. Yeah, well she's super allergic to 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.080 all sorts of stuff. Yeah, just really bad allergies, not 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:50.080 like food allergies, season yes, seasonal pollen, dust fight, brag 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.920 weed and all that stuff. Yeah. Venom. Yeah, and I 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:56.440 grew up. Yeah, I grew up with allergies. I think 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.480 I've mentioned this before, um, like asthma and all kinds 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.080 of stuff, And I just grew out of it because 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:04.880 that faith healer. Yeah, I guess so, right, I got 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.040 bit by that rattlesnake and everything was all good. Yeah. 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:11.040 Venom it works both ways, right, Actually it does because 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:14.079 there's anti venom. Remember didn't we do one on what's 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:17.160 the most venomous or poisonous all in the world? That 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.799 was a good one. It was the country of Australia. 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:25.440 It was it's a dangerous place. Well, Chuck, I specifically 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:29.360 remember one time when we were at work and you 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.600 were attacked by a bee and I had to deliver 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:37.120 an een shot to your thigh. Remember the whole gang 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.320 was there, the whole gang. They carted you off in 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:42.160 an ambulance. It was really kind of traumatic for us. 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.280 But I got my magnum p I played that day, 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.240 so it kind of everything balanced out. Every all's well, 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.760 that ends well. But what's mind boggling is that you 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:55.680 don't even have an allergy two bees. So like what 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.280 happened there, Well, that was just TV. It was a 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:02.320 TV show. Yeah, let me troubled distinguishing reality from fiction 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:06.160 these days, other people are too. Had you um had 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.519 to be allergy? Though, after reading this article you would 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:11.680 know what was going on. Yeah, And I think we 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.800 even covered that in the B podcast, didn't We We 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:16.920 covered like anaphylactic shock a little bit. But this is 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.200 like what we're about to talking about is allergies. The 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:24.120 cellular basis of what constitutes an allergy, how they're created, 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.880 where they come from. It's pretty cool. Yeah, I tried 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:28.720 to stump Emily this morning because I thought I was 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:30.959 being a smart guy. And even though she has bad allergies, also, 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:32.519 I could bet you don't even know what they really are. 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.640 Oh yeah, she's like, um, yeah, it's an overreaction from 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:39.560 your immune system to proceed invader, almost exactly like that, 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:41.640 And now I felt really stupid. It's like, oh to 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:45.560 perceived invader. She loved it. She's like called me smart 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:51.080 guy and like followed me around the house, brow beating me. Yeah. Um, 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:53.520 so she's absolutely right, though, I mean, an allergy is 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.480 basically a case of mistaken identity as far as your 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.720 immune system is concerned. You know, um, you've got all 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.320 sorts of foreign invaders coming at you all the time, 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:04.800 and we have an immune system to handle these things. 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.080 But every once in a while, and it depends, they 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:12.880 think probably that you are um, genetically unfulfilled if you 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:16.720 have allergies. Oh it's not a complete genetic code or something. Yeah, 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.400 Like you have a little bit of information missing. Your 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.400 immune system has a little bit of information missing. And 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.520 so for example that in the article they used the 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:30.839 example of um, like, uh, shrimp, You can eat shrimp 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:34.080 and there's maybe a protein attached to it that your 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.960 body is like did he eat this or where did 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.599 this come from? Or he being attacked by shrimp exactly, 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:45.080 And they think probably that all allergies are triggered by proteins. 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.680 But it's a case of mistaken identity. So let's talk 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:50.560 about this. Let's let's get into the immune system a 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:54.920 little bit. How how the immune system handles foreign invaders 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.640 perceived or otherwise. That's right. Uh, well, I guess we 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:03.520 could start with something called lymphocyte. And um, you've probably 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.200 heard of things like T cells and B cells. Those 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:08.960 are lymphocytes. Yeah, T cells are if that's how they 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:11.320 determine whether you have HIV. I believe like if your 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.680 T cell count is low because HIV is a it's 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:19.600 a an Immunoh. So they are both white blood cells 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.279 and they are really important to the immune system. Um, 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:27.720 but they make mistakes sometimes, right, And I love the 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:31.040 way this Who wrote this, by the way, Steve Beach, freelancer, 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:33.640 never heard of him. I thought he did a great 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:37.560 job though, because he likened the being T cells to 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.680 custom agents systoms agents just like they go anywhere they 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:46.200 want in your body and they investigate cells and basically 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.920 are like, let me see your papers where you going. 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.200 It's like, what's the purpose of your visit? It's like 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:54.560 arizona in your body. Yeah. Yeah, Like they show up 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:57.600 anywhere they can, Like you said, they can make it anywhere. 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:00.640 They can pass through membranes and blood vessels and just 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:04.080 pop up and they go, who are you lymph notes? Yeah, 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:06.039 very important for them to visit the lymph notes. It 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:08.520 is very important because that's where they go back and 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:12.360 start producing antibodies. Right, that's right. When they see something 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.240 and they discover a cell and they say, hold on 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:19.960 a minute, you'll pap us are not in order, then 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:24.000 there's trouble and they launched. Basically they start the attack 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:29.240 at that point. And we haven't quite figured this out. Um. Basically, 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:33.919 what happens when a B cell, especially encounters in a 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:38.680 foreign body, which is called an antigen because they generate antibodies, 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.080 they trigger the generation of antibodies in your body. In 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.760 your body, so that's where antigen comes from. Um. The 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:49.560 B cell basically takes down all of its data and 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.440 then goes back up into the lymph nodes, and that 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:54.599 that B cell, that white blood cell, turns into a 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:58.440 plasma cell and starts churning out antibodies that are specifically 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:02.960 tailored to counteract that antigen that for an invader that 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.400 it encountered. Right, and our body um our bodies have 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:10.480 five types of antibodies, and they're called immunoglobulens. I love 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.360 that word. It's tough to get out, but it's a 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.800 great word. Yeah. Uh, we'll call them I G s 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.920 and UM. I G E is the one that's responsible 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:21.800 for allergic reactions. Yeah. And the reason that that one 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:24.280 is responsible for allergic reactions as we understand them, is 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:29.880 because I G ease immunoglobulin ease. Yeah. Right. Um. They 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:35.800 attached to mast cells and uh baso fills and those 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.360 are two different types of UM cells. A mass cell 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.440 is found in a connective tissue and basi phil is 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.280 um a type of white blood cell. But they share 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.640 the commonality that both of them contain histamine. And when 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:53.280 they are hijacked by an I G e UM antibody, uh, 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:58.120 they basically become little ticking time bombs. So, so think 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:00.920 about this when you're when you come in contact with 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:03.720 an anogen and your body goes off, that white blood 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:07.679 cell goes off and starts producing antibodies. That first moment 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:12.160 of contact creates what's called the sensitizing exposure, right, Yeah, 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.040 and it's it's basically a mistake. It is in the 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.600 case of allergies, yeah, because I mean, like, there's nothing 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:22.640 inherently dangerous about ragweed pollen, and your body can handle 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:27.840 b venom and shellfish, right. But it's there's some protein 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.560 in each of those that certain people's bodies if they 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.360 don't have the genetic code for their white blood cells 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.760 to say, oh you pass, You're fine, then there's that 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.880 case of mistaken identity. Like you said, So, once you 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.480 have that sensitizing exposure, the first time your body comes 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.040 across this protein and there's that mistaken identity, it starts 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:48.800 producing antibodies, and those antibodies attached in the case of 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:53.240 I G S to um baza fills and mass cells, 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.240 and they start circulating throughout your body just waiting for 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:58.640 the next time it encounters that anigin that it's been 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:03.680 specifically designed to interact with. That's right, And what happens 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.960 then they say, hey, I know you, you're not supposed 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:11.480 to be here. I'm going to release something called histamine, 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.319 which is can be a great thing in your body 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.720 because that's what's gonna you know. That's basically your arsenal 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:21.440 fighting this this invader. But it can be a bad 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.840 thing too, um if too much of it is released, 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.080 as as we will see in a little while. Yeah. 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:29.840 So when in uh, when an and body and I 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:35.160 g E connects to an antigen um, it's already connected 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:38.280 to a mass seller basophil. Remember those things are loaded 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.680 with with histamine, so they're basically taking them along for 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:43.280 the party, right. Yeah, So when it connects it, it 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:48.600 sends a signal to something called um compliment proteins I believe, 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.720 and those compliment proteins come along and say, oh cool, 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:54.240 a chain reaction we can start to fulfill. And they 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.800 start locking on and locking on and locking on, and 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.360 once a certain amount of them have kind of locked 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:05.760 together along into this um antibody anergin mast cell, basophil 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.880 joint um, the mass cell or the basi phil goes 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:14.200 bluey and all of a sudden you have histamine floating 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:18.800 through your body. That's right. It basically destroys those original 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:23.840 cells such that the histamine is just released and unduly released. 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.960 And this is called the allergic cascade. This is what 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:29.000 we think of so you you may have come in 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:33.520 contact with shrimp and then ten days later you ate shrimp. 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.559 I I know I had an an allergic reaction shrimp. Um. 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:42.360 Oh yeah, okay, yeah, spoiler all right, UM. And it 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:45.960 takes maybe seven to ten days for that sensitizing exposure. 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.520 From that time to the next time, you could have 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:50.400 the allergic cascade, because that's how long it takes for 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.600 your body produced the antibodies. But when that that allergic 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.920 cascade is kicked off and the histamine is released, that's 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.960 when the symptoms that we associate with UM the type 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:04.520 of of allergy come about. So like if you inhale 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:08.640 it um, your mucous membranes are gonna flare up. You 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:12.240 might get hives. Hives which are basically like histamines caused 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:15.360 your blood vessels in the area to leak, which makes 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:19.760 it swell. That's a hive. Uh sneezing, wheezing all that. 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:21.760 I could wheeze right now if you want, if you 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:23.760 let me, but it would be really gross. Let's here, 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.920 I don't want to um because people would say, oh, man, chuck, 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:31.880 get to a sanitarium. But I'm sick. I don't have allergies. Sanitary. Yeah, 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:38.000 remember that. Yeah, like the Kellogg's thing. Yeah, sure, battle creek, Uh, nausea, diarrhea, 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:41.200 little vomiting. Maybe that's like you know, I think that's 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:45.600 the scale from least reaction to most. If you're vomiting, 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.719 then you've ingested something that you're really allergic to. Yeah. 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:51.920 You can become swollen usually like the part of your 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:55.400 body or the type of reaction you have, right like 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:58.080 where if you if your skin swells, if your arms swells, 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.000 you probably didn't inhale all learn just that it probably 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.080 came in contact with your skin, like a break in 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.720 your skin. Yeah. It depends on how you ingest it 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:09.640 and how your body reacts to it because it's different 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.559 for everyone, and severity obviously. But speaking of severity, it 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:15.280 can get really bad, which you talked about in the 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:20.959 B episode. Um, if this cascade, of this allergic cascade 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:24.400 UH is allowed to continue and you have enough of 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:27.040 a reaction to it, you have enough antibodies attached to 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.120 mass cells and bass it fills that a ton of 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:31.960 histamine is released, you can be in big trouble. You 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:36.000 can go into what's called anaphylactic shock. Yeah, and UH, 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.800 proceeding that you can have anaphylaxis, which is not quite 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.960 as bad. It's a it's a bad reaction, but it's 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.200 not the full blown shock. If you're in full blown 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:50.240 shock mode, then you could die easily and within minutes. 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:52.760 Even if you have let's say, like a peanut allergy 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:55.880 and you accidentally eat those peanuts. Unless you get that 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.880 injection of epinephrin that's gonna open those airways and restrict 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:03.120 the blood vessels back to their normal levels, then you 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:05.439 could be a goner, like really soon, right, And that's 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.960 called scary. That's called a systemic reaction where your whole 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.320 system is involved in this. And um, you're if you're 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:16.560 Since histamine dilates the blood vessels, your blood pressure can drop. Um. 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:21.000 It also causes swelling. Uh so like if your airways swollen, 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:23.520 that tends to close it off, which means it's tough 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:25.560 for you to breathe. Yeah, you could starve your brain 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.600 and kidneys of oxygen. Um and you know, oregon failure 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.360 can happen. And I think what they say, several hundred 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.760 people die in the United States alone each year. Yeah, 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.240 because we didn't cover this in the UM in the 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:41.960 TV episode about bees where I delivered that from Penn 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:45.240 and saved your life, if you'll remember. I do remember. Um. 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.600 But apparently the effects of the epic pen last ten 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.360 to twenty minutes. Yeah, I didn't realize it was that short. Yeah, 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:53.640 so we should have had you outfitted with like a 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:55.520 whole belt of those things. I thought you were just 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.480 good to go once you have the EpiPen shot. Apparently 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:00.880 not so. I think it's just like, hey, let's stave 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:02.800 off death until we can get you to a hospital. 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:04.840 I think so too. But you have to do it 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.040 early enough so that it can it can have the 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.960 effect of counteracting that's allergic reaction. Uh. And you you, 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.320 if it's longer than ten to twenty minutes to get 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.199 to the hospital, you should probably have more in one pen. 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:19.720 But even if you've survived, your brain and your kidneys 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.320 being starved of oxygen, you can suffer long term damage 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:24.720 from going into anaphylactic shock. Yeah. I would be a 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:28.840 freak if I had this possibility existing in my life. 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:31.560 I would have an EpiPen in my car and my 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.400 you know, in each room of my house. I would 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:36.800 not take any chances. And what about like a peanut 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:38.760 allergy too, It's gotta be so easy to come in 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:42.000 contact with that. Yeah. Well, and we've mentioned that time 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.320 on the plane when they said you can't even open 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:46.200 peanuts on this flight, and we had people right in 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.280 they were like, yeah, dude, that's a that could seriously happen, right, 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:51.720 And I understand that. What's crazy to me is like, 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:53.760 if you fly Delta, they'll give you a peanuts all 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:57.000 day long. Well not if someone says that they're allergic. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:59.560 That's the point. Yeah, I guess. So this is a 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:01.680 delta for And they said, I'm sorry, everyone, no peanuts 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:05.080 today because what's the delt. I thought was towel E 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:09.360 is allergic peanuts. Yeah, Everybody's like, oh God, I want 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:11.680 my peanuts. I hate Yeah, I guess I'll just eat 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:20.000 Press pretzels and Biscott cookies. Dirt dirt. Okay, So all right, 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.120 let's say you have allergies, or let's say you think 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.400 you have allergies and you want to go in and 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.280 find out for sure. There are a couple of ways 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:34.800 that they can that they can test this out, honey, Yeah, 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.720 and and run into a beehive. Uh no, you would 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.680 do what's called the scratch test. And I've never had 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.400 one of these. Emily's had one, and she also does immunotherapy, 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.720 which we'll get to. But they apply a diluted extract 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.920 of you know, different kinds of allergens to like your 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:54.080 back or your arm, and then they scratch you with 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:57.280 a needle and they see what happens, and if it 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.200 becomes swollen and red, then they say, you know, I 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.520 think you're allergic to ragweed because we just put some 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:05.520 on your body and scratched it. They can also do 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.800 blood tests and search for specific antigens. Yeah, that's better 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.480 for kids, I think, yeah, because it can cause a 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.600 sensitizing event in a kid if you expose them to it. 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:19.800 Because everybody knows their genes are just stupid. Yeah, they're 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:24.840 like a very um susceptible to influence. I guess, which 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.520 is weird to me. So here's the thing. Does that 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:32.240 mean that it's impossible to die from your first beasting? 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:35.880 That at what is possible or impossible? Because if there 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.840 has to be a sensitizing event, how would you come 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.400 in contact with the venom other than to be stung? 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:44.360 How would you become sensitized? I was looking all over 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:46.600 the internet, sor and I think One of the things 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:48.880 that kind of found well doing additional research for this 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.440 episode is that we have a pretty good idea of 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:55.400 how allergies work, but it's definitely not complete yet. Yeah, 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.200 I mean when you're on the cellular level, I'm sure 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.600 there are still some mysteries to be had. But they say, 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.480 it's like, because one of your questions was, how do 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:07.720 they identify that for an invader? And I was happy 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:10.320 to just say they identify for an invader, right, and 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:12.440 how do they how do they take down its information 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.639 and then go back to the to the lymph node 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.720 and start producing an animboo. They had a pin and 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:20.639 pad and they had a little golf cart. They did 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:23.200 a police sketch. Yeah, that's the way I set um. 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.160 So you've got scratched therapy, blood tests, they both work, 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:30.640 they're okay. Um. And then if you if they say 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.280 you know what you are you're allergic to somethings Y 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:36.879 and Z. There's basically three things they recommend. The first 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:40.440 is to avoid that thing whatever it is, sure and 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:42.880 if that's shell fish or peanuts, then you're pretty good 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.080 shape because that's pretty easy to avoid in most cases. 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:47.959 You would think, have you ever had a shrimp allergy. 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:52.000 Shrimp is pretty delicious, No, but it's it's easier to 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:55.439 avoid than pollen, let's say, because pollen's everywhere, especially here 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:57.400 in the South. So if you're allergic to pollen, there's 0:17:57.440 --> 0:17:59.719 no avoiding it. I mean there's cars that all the 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:01.960 car is in the spring in the South, or yellow. 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:06.880 Every car's painting the streets run yellow. Literally. Yeah. Yeah, Um, 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:10.879 so you would take medication accorded coasteroid. You might walk 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:12.680 around with an F and f rompen depending on what 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:16.479 you are allergic to. Um, you know that kind of thing. 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:18.879 And then the third one is what you said Emily 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:20.680 was doing and what I've done before too, which is 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:25.480 immunotherapy done this I think? So, I mean I undertook 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:29.440 the process of immunotherapy by myself and it seems to 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:31.840 have worked. I was about to say, did a doctor 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:34.040 give you injections at point in your life? Tell me 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.320 about Emily's experience. Well, she she does the standard immunotherapy 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.600 where she goes into to get her allergy shots once 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.840 a month, I think, And um, they start you out 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.080 on a on a low uh dose that's like a 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:53.239 basically a weak delusion of these antigens. And they they 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.000 injected in her body and just build that up over 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.359 time to increase her her immune response I guess right. 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:01.480 And then over time, so this is what they think 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:08.160 happens over time. Either the body possibly gets it's genetic 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:11.440 information filled in enough so that it's it's like, oh, 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:16.240 was my face red because this wasn't actually a foreign invader, 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:21.399 It's just a shrimp protein UM. And or they believe 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:26.160 that another UH and a body I g G, which 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.280 acts as kind of like a blocking antibody that prevents 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:33.240 an allergic reaction, UM starts to build up as a 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.960 as a result of immunotherapy. We should say, I think 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:40.800 immunotherapy is still fairly controversial, is it. I believe so, 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:44.359 because it's introducing, you know, a potentially dangerous thing into 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.880 a human being. And it's not like if you ask 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:53.240 somebody if honey as a good immunotherapy, Logically it should 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:56.000 make sense. If you use local honey, very very local honey, 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:58.920 it's going to contain some of the same pollen um 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.000 that you're supposed to that you're allergic to in it, 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.240 and so when you eat it, when you ingested, it's 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:06.400 like taking that low level and it should be doing 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:09.359 the same thing as that, you know, taking injections from 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:13.159 the doctor, but it's more delicious and it takes a 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:15.600 long time. At we's been at it for she was 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.359 at it for a couple of years without virtually no 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.000 uh success, right, so it takes Has it been helping 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:25.040 though at all? I think so, because she still has 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:28.200 bad allergies, but they used to be way worse. But 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:30.520 she's been on these shots now for like, I mean, 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:31.560 she did it when she was a kid and then 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:33.639 she's been on it again for like five years. Probably 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.640 it's been a while. So I've I've had one serious. 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:42.480 It wasn't even serious, but it was my distinct allergic reaction. 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.440 And it was shrimp once and I ate it and 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:47.280 you mean, just like why are you red? And like 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:49.280 what are those red dots all over you? What's going on? 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:53.280 And uh, I figured out I was. I was having 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.119 an allergic reaction to shrimp. So I've never had before, right, 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:58.760 and I love shrimp. And I tried it the next day, 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:00.480 tried a little by a shrimp kind of had a 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:02.960 similar reaction. So I was like, something's going on here. 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:05.760 So I decided that I was going to get myself 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:13.880 over my shrimp allergy. Right. Have you ever had shrimp chips? Uh? Yes, 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.840 They're delicious. They're delicious. They're like little kind of potato 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:20.520 chip French fries with their shrimp flavor because they have 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.600 shrimp dust on them, like sexual powdered shrimp shrimp dust. 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:27.840 So I started like very eating little amounts of shrimp chip, 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:30.000 and then over the over time I would eat more 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:32.560 whole bags of them at a time, you know. Um, 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:34.240 and then finally I get to the point where I 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:36.680 could eat shrimping it. I don't know if that really 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:39.560 cured me or if that was just a fluke, like 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:42.040 maybe that shrimp was just a local type of shrimp 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:46.040 and Carolinas or something like. But um, that's that's my 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:50.000 immunotherapy story. Well, you can eat shrimp now like Gangbusters, 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:53.320 So yeah, and I do, do you really? Yeah, whenever 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:55.840 I can. I like shrimp. I'm trying to make up 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:58.000 for lost time because I spent like three years, two 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:01.600 years without eating shrimp. So be where prawns and Trump 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:06.680 of the world, gosh, number eat you live? Will you know? 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:10.640 Okay that's gross. No, it's not people do that. Um, 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:14.399