WEBVTT - How Itching Works 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:04.640 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house stuff Works 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:13.720 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.040 There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and there's Jerry Rowland. So 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:21.720 this is stuff you should Know. Scratching Indigenous Yeah, this 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:28.800 is one of many. You remember when we did Yawning. Um, well, 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.480 that's the only one I can think of where just 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:35.199 researching something makes you do the thing you're researching. This 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.160 definitely happened with this one. Yeah. Well we ran across 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.800 that and poison ivy and scabies for sure. Oh yeah, 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:43.600 and talked about some of this stuff. But I think 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:47.400 it we had an itch we needed to scratch with 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.520 this particular topic. Well, I'm glad, um, I've been wanting 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:52.400 to do this one for a while. Yeah, you did 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:56.800 a video about this, right, Yes, a short video. No, 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.200 it was three or four hours long. Okay, if I 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.920 remember correctly, that mean we have to do this. You 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:04.560 have to be here for the next four hours. Yeah, 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:06.440 we have to just play the whole thing and then 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.360 we'll talk about it for an hour after. Okay. I 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:11.520 think it was a brain stuff video, isn't it. I 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:16.199 watched Did it scratch your itch? Yeah, I watched it yesterday. 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:18.959 Nice work, thank you very much. Just like now we 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:23.640 finally arrive on what I was after compliment. Yeah, it 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.720 was great, thanks man. Um. So I guess the point 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.160 of all that is to say, you guys are going 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.960 you're going right, and my videos are the best. Uh, 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.640 that you're going to scratch, You're gonna feel an itch, 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.600 which is one of the great mysteries of itches. It 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.880 turns out we only very very recently have started to 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:49.200 get a handle on what itches are, um, and there's 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:51.560 still plenty of mysteries left to it. Like, for example, 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:56.000 it's bizarre and there's really no evolutionary reason as far 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:59.280 as anyone can tell, why just hearing about itches or 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:04.480 seeing someone else scratch can make you itch. Right, That's 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.960 that's odd, That's that's weird. The video of an ant 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:10.960 crawling up an arm will make you itch. It will. 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:13.639 But I mean, think about it. If somebody is sitting there, Um, 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.080 you see a video of some schmo who's got his 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.480 hand like near an oven, and he pulls it away 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.440 really quick. It doesn't hurt your hand, It doesn't make 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.799 you feel like your hand is burned. That doesn't happen. 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.040 I don't even think that would excite mirror neurons like 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.160 a leg break with You're just like, what a stupid idiot, 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.119 that's what it excites. Yeah, I hope that guy's hand 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:38.680 just burns clean off. That's what I think. Right. Uh, 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:41.239 you sourced a couple of well we've had our own 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.160 article on how stuff works dot com, but you also 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:48.360 sent this great New Yorker article, um, written by Dr 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.799 a tool go on Day, one of the best names 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:56.880 in writing today. Yeah, that may be my new hotel name. Well, 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:01.000 you may be thronged by science right, science fans, because 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.480 that guy's pretty pretty well known. Actually I don't. I've 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:05.799 never used to alias at a hotel. That's dumb. I 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:07.320 don't even know if you can. Can you? I guess 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.840 if you're a big shot you can. Yeah, but you 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.880 have to be like, I'm not Brad Pitt, I'm a 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:17.040 tool go on Day right. Uh. But the we'll get 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:20.200 to some of the uh more interesting aspects of that 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:25.760 article later, specifically a very specific patient that's quite distressing, 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.760 So calm down for now, a Tool's mom, but get 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.320 to it eventually. He did include a couple of neat 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:37.840 historical tidbits Uh, like in sixteen sixty there was in 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.520 Germans are all over this thing for some reason. Yeah, 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.240 you know researchers that they're they're all German. They had 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.520 the itch to explain the itch. I guess it right. 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:53.320 But there was a position in sixteen sixty named Samuel Hoffenruffer. 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:56.760 Actually that's my new hotel name. Yeah, that's a good one. 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.320 Uh he kind of well, he defined it by saying, 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:05.920 an itch is an unpleasant sensation that provokes the desire 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:11.120 to scratch. Pretty simple, but right on the money it is. 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:13.640 And actually it's so it's so on the money that 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.360 anywhere you look in the medical literature, whenever they define 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:21.799 itch word for word, that's the definition they use. Yeah, 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.240 although poor hoff and reference doesn't get credit for it 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:26.880 all the time, but that's the one. The only expansion 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:30.120 of that that I've seen is that can occur anywhere 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.000 on the body, which apparently is true. I think haf 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:37.240 reference he felt that was implied. And it's like it 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:41.520 goes without saying, yeah, and then I'm scratching right now, 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.760 you know, Yeah, it's started. I don't know if I 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.880 just noticed more, because as I was doing it, I 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.760 was thinking, well, now, I'm scratching, but I thought, do 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.320 I always scratch this much? Or it's this much? Oh, 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:55.880 I hadn't thought about that. I'm pretty sure that I was. 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.040 I don't think I scratched as much as I don't know. 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:01.920 Do you raise a really good question. Maybe we can 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.240 get an intern to follow us around and just record 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:08.719 our scratching. Right, I'm surprised that that's not already a 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:15.600 TV show. Frankly, Josh and Chuck scratch just being followed around. Yeah, oh, 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.400 you know, no one wants to see that. Well, that's 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.279 probably why it's not you're scratching. See, that's what I'm saying. 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:24.760 I don't think I scratched this much. I don't notice 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:32.080 it alright. Moving on, um to Dante's Inferno. Uh, it 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.320 was in Dante's Inferno, the burning rage of fierce itching 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:39.120 that nothing could relieve is how falsifiers were punished. Yeah. 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:45.719 Do you know what a falsifiers us? I know really like. 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.200 Isn't that that somebody who like bears false witness, or 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.440 somebody who falsifies a document or is it just a 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.359 fancy name for liar? Maybe? Oh, I thought you were 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:57.560 gonna tell me you were just wondering. Yeah, I don't. 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:00.000 I don't know, all right, I don't know what don 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.560 they meant, but they're they're bad people. Apparently there's a 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.480 special place in health for him literally, well, I guess 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:13.839 actually not literally figuratively literarily, Oh very nice. Uh So, 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:18.600 itching um scientifically is known as uh puritis p r 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.239 U r I t I s. It's one of those 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.599 tough to pronounce things for me at least um and 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:29.039 for well. Actually, they still believe that the evolution of 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:34.200 the itch was to help humans um survive basically because 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.760 so many things that can kill you, uh, and and 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:43.359 nature or things like mosquitoes or flies or spiders or 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.760 fleas that can have like malaria or the plague or 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:53.120 any number of diseases attached to their tiny little insect bodies. So, hey, human, um, 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:54.880 you've got a mosquito on your neck that could kill 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:58.960 you. You You might want to slap it or scratch. Yeah, 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.520 And that's still, as far as I know, the the 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:06.800 evolutionary hypothesis for why we experience itching. Yeah, and it's 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.880 not just us either. What you're scratching like crazy, it's 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:15.000 found throughout the animal kingdom um from us too, apparently, 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:18.800 fish have shown scratching behavior. Yeah, that's crazy fruit flies. 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.200 How's the fish scratch? You might ask? It rubs up 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.520 against rocks. It's kind of cute. It is a little cute. 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.480 It's like I remember my dad did like the uh 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.480 who was the Barren Jungle book? Was that blue? Yes? 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:33.240 He would do the blue or he would get up 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.120 against a tree or a wall. And then I did 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.120 it probably because of that. I'm sure that's where I 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.800 got it and realized that it works. And I still 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:43.600 do it every now and then. Oh yeah, yeah, it 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:47.200 look kind of silly. But do you sing while you do? Yeah? 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.200 Bair necessities, that's still my favorite. What else are you 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:57.000 gonna sing? Like Mambo number five? I'm gonna start doing that. 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:00.920 Actually you could be like, think something's wrong with yeah. So, 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:06.480 like you said, though, it was up until almost was seven, 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:10.280 the mid to late eighties that another German h O 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:19.720 hand worker UH and his gang um they started to 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.000 do actual like research about it. They were puzzled and 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:25.880 wanted to solve it right because up to this point, 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:30.840 up to actually seven, everyone thought that an itch was 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:36.240 just a low grade pain stimulus. Since they're happy with that, 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.280 that's just what they thought it was. And hand worker said, 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.360 you know what, let's let's find out if this is 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.600 actually true. I'm tired of sitting around just assuming this 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.959 is fine. I'm a hand worker. And he got to 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:52.880 work or at his hands testing this. Right. So what 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:57.559 he I know is like Jonathan Strickland level funds um. 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:03.319 What he did was this is just awful. He introduced 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:07.479 using like um electrical stimulation. I guess he introduced histamine 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:11.480 to skin cells. Right. And histamine is a natural I 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.520 don't know if it's a protein, but it's it's a natural, 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:18.680 natural chemical, right that the body releases UH in response 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:22.080 to certain stimuli, say, for example, like a mosquito bite 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:26.640 or something, and it triggers the inflammation and immune response 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:31.840 in that area. Right. So histamine is associated with itch, 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:33.840 and it had been for a very long time. So 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:40.040 this guy was using electrical stimulation to introduce histamine in 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:44.199 increasing amounts in these poor study participants, and it went 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:48.920 from barely noticeable to this is a quote the maximum 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:54.800 imaginable itch. And they never felt pain. Yeah, Like, even 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.120 though they ramped it up to eleven, no one ever 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.240 said like, holy crap, that hurts. But they said, please, please, 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.160 for love, God, stop let me out of this. And 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:06.720 hand worker just cackled and cackled. Right, these men with 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:10.320 like black leather gloves are holding the participants down. Yeah, 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.079 they said, this is not worth the five deutsch marks 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.320 that I'm getting for the slousy study. Yeah, that's nice man, 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:20.120 that's This would have been pre euro I think even 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:22.040 though the EU was around, I don't think the euro 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.000 was around in eighties seven, right, No, no, because in 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:31.880 nineties I traveled, Uh, I traveled to Europe in and 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:36.960 that was I was still on all the weird money. Okay, yeah, 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:41.760 so it was a while after that. So now scientists, uh, 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:46.760 I think this sort of um introduced an itch to 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:51.280 the scientific community because after hundreds and hundreds of years, 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:55.880 hand Vuka sort of disrupted the thought process of the 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.920 itch and the scratch, and all of a sudden, scientists 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.000 were like, oh, well, maybe should start looking into this. 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:04.320 Maybe we can actually isolate the nerve and figure this 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:06.760 thing out. Yeah, because I mean, if it's not if 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:12.440 it's not just low level pain sensation, then that means 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.240 it's its own thing. And if it's its own thing, 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:16.360 it probably has its own system and we need to 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.160 know more about it. So they got to they got 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.319 to study in it. Yeah. What makes I wonder if 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:23.040 all of this was under the notion that they were 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:28.200 trying to cure it. I don't know, because from what 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.080 I was reading, UM, and all of this was pretty 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:36.040 recent stuff. There's a real un medical need in dealing 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.280 and addressing like chronic itch because you know, most people 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.920 who go through life just experiencing it's under normal circumstances, 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.640 right like, say you or me, we're like an itch. Yeah, 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:48.880 they suck for a second and then it goes away. 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:52.760 Imagine it not going away ever, whether you're asleep or awake, 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:57.520 or um swimming or an outer space or doom, whatever, 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.760 you're itching constantly. Suppose really, um, it has as much 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.120 of a pronounced effect on a patient's life UM as 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:11.560 chronic pain does. It's constant, persistent, and agonizing, and it's 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:15.480 not it's not being met or treated because it's not understood. 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.800 So they're just now starting to get into pain re 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:22.920 or itch research. I saw UM that somebody put it 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:25.920 where pain research was about twenty years ago. So it's 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.480 starting to really heat up, but we're still just starting 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.079 to understand it. So I would think that they weren't 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.320 looking to cure it. I think it was just pointed 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:35.760 out that there was this whole branch of neuroscience that 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:41.040 was totally not understood. So get to work neurologists. I 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.520 wonder I never really thought about until just now, but 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:48.679 I wonder what happens when a a performer or somebody 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.960 like that is in the public eye or on TV 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:56.880 or on stage, or like the president giving a address, 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.320 Like what what what do they do if they have poison, 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:03.000 ivy or some other kind of contact dermatitis? Have you 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:05.880 ever thought about that? Like what if Lynn mal went 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:08.840 Manuel Miranda has like a really bad case of pin. 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:10.720 I guess they can get an understudy in that case, 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:15.120 But you can't have an understudy as president, which is 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.240 too bad. You just go out there with your hands 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.600 bandaged up, just holding them up, Like how do you 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.640 fight that on camera? Or like a news anchor when 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:27.040 they're just like, oh my god, I'm dying. I don't know. 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:29.480 I guess the news anchor can tape things, but I'm 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.120 talking about live. What's Tom Petty do? For God's sakes, 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:35.880 Tom Petty grins and bears it. He had a hard 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.680 scrabble childhood prepared him for that. I'm going to see 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:47.559 him tomorrow night, Yeah, for coffee. He's not performing. Um anyway, 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:49.600 I was just curious about that. Um. Well, it's a 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:52.840 good question. Thanks. Do you remember when Kosta's head red 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:56.360 eye at the Olympics and it was so dedicated to 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.800 to being the commentator the anchor for the Olympics. They 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.480 finally were like, you have to stop keep writing in 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.600 you're disgusting them. Uh. One thing that made me think 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.240 of that is I had UM recently. You can still 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:11.280 kind of see it on my forearm that the scars. 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:15.560 But I did a cement job. Was building this fence, 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:20.560 putting in a gate at my house, and um, Scotty, 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:25.400 you know, Scotty and I built Scotti tipping uh. He 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:29.920 and I built this uh thing together and we sank 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.880 these huge posts for this gate. And I didn't know 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:38.240 that cement uh could cause contact dermatitis or even burns. 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:42.560 Never knew this, And we were it was kind of 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:44.760 a tight spot and we couldn't get shovels in there 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:46.600 in the hole, so we were literally mixing the stuff 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.880 like up to our elbows with our arms, and I 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.160 was like, this kind of feels good. I even said, like, 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:53.800 you know, like oatmeal or something. And then two days 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.560 later my right arm was just covered in the nastiest 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:01.200 dermatitis I've ever seen, and then he got it. Yeah, 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.440 it's still like kind of hanging around. So I went 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:07.880 and got a prescription for steroids, which made me a 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.960 little crazy for a week and a half. Um, trash 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:15.280 the gate and have to start over. I think I 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:19.360 was probably not the best husband though over that time period. UM, 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:23.280 judging from Emily saying, hey, you're real a hole, Get 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:27.480 off the steroids, Um, get off the juice, I was like, 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.440 shut up, watch this, watch me hit this Homer. So 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.120 long story short, I experienced this recently and it was awful. 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.720 And I can't imagine like shooting the TV show or something, 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.680 or like doing anything on or performing live like I 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.160 would have to address it because I would scratch and smack. 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.160 It was what I usually do. That's how you're supposed 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.800 to do, not scratch. Well, I guess we'll just cut 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.000 to the chase hairs. Is why everyone's listening. How do 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:57.600 you scratch a niche? Correctly? You rub it? Yeah I 0:15:57.600 --> 0:15:59.520 didn't do I did you know? What really did? It 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:04.880 was the uh we have a handheld implement in the 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:08.160 shower along with the regular shower head and put that 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:14.000 sucker on the tightest, hardest, most penetrating flow and just 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.400 put that hot water on it. Man, And that was like, 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.280 I think I spent half my days in the shower 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:21.520 over that week and a half. Are you biting down 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:23.640 like a broomstick while you're doing that? How it felt 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:25.480 so good? Man? I was just like I couldn't get 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.040 enough of it. Huh. And then the court of zone 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:33.080 and all that jump too. So we'll well, we'll talk 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.640 about this because this is you're raising some great points here. 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:39.440 Well I just kind of that are ruined the spoiler. No, no, 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:41.800 this is good stuff. We're gonna analyze what was going 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.040 on with your arm after this break? How about that 0:16:44.520 --> 0:17:08.359 sounds good? So, Chuck, you had contact dermatitis, right, I 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:10.320 thought it was poison ivy because that area has some 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.080 poison ivy. But each of us, Scotty and I had 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.560 it just on the arm that we sunk in sument. 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:20.879 And then we researched and found out that could happen. Yeah, 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:24.600 so lesson learned on that. Yeah. So what happened was 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:27.800 you like something in the cement and I'm not sure 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:33.040 what it was reacting chemically with the um mast cells 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:38.040 in your skin, and histamine was released, right apparently, And 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:44.640 so the histamine UM sent a signal through specialized nerve 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:48.840 cells called sea fibers. Yeah, which UM. Sea fibers aren't 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.840 just limited to itching. I think only about five handle 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:54.159 that and most of the rest are for pain. Right, 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:59.359 So they used the same type of neural pathway as 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.760 pain for itch. It's it's basically it's just like, no, 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:06.080 these these are just for itches only. And it sent 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:10.000 a signal through your spinal column, and in your spinal 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:16.560 column it released a neurotransmitter called UM gastron releasing peptide receptor, 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.400 and so at the skin, the histamine would have released 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:26.320 a neurotransmitter called what natural uretic polypeptide B Okay, So 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.560 that says it's signal coming your way along those sea 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:32.960 fibers okay. Uh, it makes it to the spinal column, 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:34.760 and I guess in about two thousand and seven they 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.919 found that there's another neurotransmitter in the spine that I 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:43.959 guess UM accepts the the n p PB the invitation 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.760 and says I'm going to transfer this along up to 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:50.560 the brain. That's gastron releasing peptide receptor that shoots up 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.080 to the brain and it starts this cascade of activity. 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:57.960 Right because when they, like after hand worker said, hey, 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:00.800 you know, itching is its own thing. The other researchers 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:04.280 went to town and traced and figured out there that 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:10.000 there were specific um specific types of its receptors that 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.600 were dedicated just two itches, right, more Germans, more Germans, 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.720 a couple of Swedes, but mostly Germans for good measures. Yeah, 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.600 And what they found eventually from tracing this pathway, they 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:23.840 were able to follow it into the Wonder machine and 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.800 apparently they made some people itch and would not let 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:29.120 them scratch it. And then they had them lay down 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.560 in an m r I and they took a brain 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.679 skin and they found that there's this whole galaxy of 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:39.639 stuff going on in your brain that combined is the 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.720 itch sensation. Yeah, it was pretty interesting too. There's a 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.840 there's a signature pattern in the brain when you get 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.680 an itch, and uh, a few specific areas light up. 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.320 One is a cortex and it all makes sense when 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:56.480 you put it together. The cortex, uh, in this case 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:00.280 just sort of geo locates where on your body. You're 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:05.640 getting that sensation, so that helps. It's like left elbow, yeah, 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:08.840 or in my case from right elbow to wrist, right, 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:12.119 and then a little bit in other places, but not 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:14.399 too bad. That that was the main area. Is this 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:21.400 your cortex still saying this, Yeah, very complex conversation going on. Uh. 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:23.439 And then the region I thought this is interesting, the 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:28.800 region that governments governments that governs emotional response. Um, so 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.520 basically this is your brain saying like, I don't like this, 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:33.840 this makes me feel bad. It's the worst thing ever 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:36.760 do something. And then finally the olymbic and motor areas, 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:40.120 and I thought this was the most interesting. Um, those 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:44.520 areas process irresistible urges, the same ones that say I 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:47.320 want to smoke crack or I wanna eat too much cake, 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:51.240 says you have an itch that is unbearable and you 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:53.960 need to scratch it and maybe go smoke some crack 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:55.639 and eat some cake while you're at it because that 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.320 will help. So I just I don't. I thought that 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:01.520 was all very super interesting. When you can find that pattern, Yeah, 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:04.159 that's the that's an itch. And then then it's followed 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:08.000 by the irresistible urge to scratch it, which Apparently research 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:12.320 has shown those two do not happen independently. There, they're 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:15.440 part of a cycle. Yes, there's that is something called 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:18.879 the itch scratch cycle, right, and so you have an 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:23.560 irresistible urge to scratch the itch. It's it's weird if 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:26.080 you think about it. Like, on the one hand, it 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:30.840 makes sense where you you sense that there's a really 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.560 hot heat source that your hand is really close to, 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:36.639 so you have an irresistible urge to pull it back, 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:39.639 But it doesn't feel like an urge. It almost feels 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:44.800 like an involuntary reflex. It's a scratch is almost like 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:48.720 I'm gonna kill this itch. I can't wait to scratch it, 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:52.760 Like you're almost exacting revenge on the itch for itching you. Right, 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:56.159 So it's scratches. It's an irresistible urge where it's like 0:21:56.160 --> 0:22:00.640 pulling your hand back from a hot hot or something 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:03.800 is like an involuntary reflex. It just feels different, like 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:07.159 a scratches its own thing. Well it is, you know. 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:09.320 They kind of found that out and and go on day. 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:13.439 Doctor Gowan day Um pointed out something interesting too that 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:15.720 I never thought about, is that you can have like 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:18.600 that short collar rubs against your neck all day and 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:21.199 you might never notice it. But if there's like one 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:24.639 little string that's just poking one little area, that might 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:27.040 trigger an itch. Right, And so you would think that 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:30.360 you know, it's receptors are super finely tuned and they 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:33.200 covered just this one tiny like that's what it would 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:35.840 seem micron of skin as a matter of fact. No, 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:42.000 Apparently an INS receptor can sense it's stimuli like three 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:46.800 inches away from it. Yeah, so they're really sensitive. Yeah, 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:52.480 whereas pain receptors are that specific down to like you know, millimeters. Um. 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:54.600 And the other thing they found out too, is that 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.480 not only can they sense it from a few inches away, 0:22:57.480 --> 0:23:02.240 but it's a very slow acting ing, which um as 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:04.679 opposed to like heat on the hand, like a candle 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:09.400 on your hand, almost a candle in the wind. Uh, 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:12.399 that's super fast. But um that that explains why an 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:14.840 itch like it's kind of slow to come and then 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:18.399 slow to resolve by scratching. Yeah, it's not like you're 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:20.960 scratching you're like, oh, it's all better now. Yeah, it 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:23.320 helps a little bit. So, so the itching is a 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:27.800 it's a good strategy. If you think about, um, say 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:30.359 you're you're there's a mosquito on you, and that's what's 0:23:30.400 --> 0:23:32.600 making you itch. When you go to scratch it, you're 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:35.159 getting rid of the mosquito, maybe even smushed it or 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:39.119 something like that. The problem is taken care of. The 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:43.919 issue is is that that itch scratch cycle eventually becomes 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:47.080 a vicious cycle because when you scratch. This is what 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:49.679 they think is going on. This is another mystery with itches. 0:23:49.760 --> 0:23:54.359 We don't understand how scratching alleviates an itch, right, or 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:57.960 why we scratch really right. What they think the current 0:23:58.480 --> 0:24:04.320 hypothesis is that when scratch an itch, um you're stimulating 0:24:04.480 --> 0:24:08.800 other receptors in the area that aren't itch receptors. So 0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:11.080 I got that, but what does that do to sort 0:24:11.080 --> 0:24:14.359 of like say, hey, Boddy, don't worry about that for 0:24:14.359 --> 0:24:16.960 a minute. I think a pain receptor is now active, 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:20.119 right exactly. It's it's sending feedback to the brain saying 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:22.719