WEBVTT - Selects: How Itching Works 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:04.680 Hi, everybody, Chuck here, it's May ninth, twenty seventeen, and 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:08.119 podcast time. I know it's really twenty twenty five, but 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:11.680 we're going all the way back to May of twenty 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.600 seventeen to talk about itching. Oh boy, just seeing that 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.680 title probably makes you itch, and that's one of the 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.639 deals with itching, if I remember correctly. So I hope 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:22.239 you dig it, and I hope you're not too itchy 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:22.680 right now. 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:36.440 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:39.880 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.239 Charles W Chuck Bryant, and there's Jerry Rowland. So this 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.520 is Stuff you Should Know Scratching Edition. 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:49.000 Yeah, this is one of many. 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:54.960 You remember when we did Yawning. Yeah, well, that's the 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.760 only one I can think of where just researching something 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.160 makes you do the thing researching. This definitely happened with 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:02.600 this one. 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.400 Yeah. Well we ran across that and poison ivy and 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.600 scabies for sure, Oh yeah, and talked about some of 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:11.240 this stuff, but I think itch, we had an itch 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.440 we needed to scratch. Yeah, with this particular topic. 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.000 Well, I'm glad. I've been wanting to do this one 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:17.880 for a while. 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:21.080 Yeah, you did a video about this, right, Yes, a 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:21.760 short video. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.200 No, it was three four hours long. Okay, if I 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:27.319 remember correctly, Does. 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:29.160 That mean we have to do this? Do I have 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:30.280 to be here for the next four hours? 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:32.200 Yeah, we have to just play the whole thing and 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:33.680 then we'll talk about it for an hour. 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:34.400 And it was good. 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.400 Okay. I think it was a brain stuff video, wasn't it. Yeah? 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:39.119 I watched did it scratch your itch? 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:40.959 Yeah? I watched it yesterday. 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:44.399 Oh okay, nice work, thank you very much. You're just 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:48.640 like now we finally arrived and what I was after compliment. 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.000 Yeah, no, it was great, thanks man. 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:54.760 So I guess the point of all that is to say, 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:58.680 you guys are going you're going right, my videos are 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:03.720 the best that you're going to scratch, You're going to 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.720 feel an itch, which is one of the great mysteries 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:10.160 of itches. It turns out we only very very recently 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.000 have started to get a handle on what itches are. Yeah, 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:16.840 and there's still plenty of mysteries left to it, like, 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:21.680 for example, it's bizarre and there's really no evolutionary reason 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.520 as far as anyone can tell why. Just hearing about 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:29.600 itches or seeing someone else scratch can make you itch. Right, 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.200 That's that's odd. That's that's weird. 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:35.079 We're seeing the video of an ant crawling up. Yeah, 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:36.639 an arm will make you itch. 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:38.480 It will. But I mean think about it. If somebody 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.960 is sitting there, you see a video of some schmo 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:44.679 who's got his hand like near an oven, and he 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.839 pulls it away really quick. It doesn't hurt your hand, 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:50.480 It doesn't make you feel like your hand is burned. 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:51.720 This doesn't happen. 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:53.959 I don't even think that would excite mirror Neron's like 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:55.280 a leg break with Now. 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:58.720 You're just like, what a stupid idiot, that's what it excites. Yeah, 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.399 I hope that guy's hands just burns clean off. That's 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:02.639 what I think, right right. 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.720 Yeah, uh, you sourced a couple of well we've had 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.760 our own article on how stuffworks dot com. Yeah, but 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:14.000 you also sent this great New Yorker article written by 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:14.880 doctor A. 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:19.720 Tool Gowande, one of the best names in writing today. 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:21.760 Yeah, that may be my new hotel name. 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:26.520 Well, you may be thronged by science right science fans, 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:28.519 because that guy's pretty pretty well known. 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:31.440 Actually, I've never used to alias at a hotel. That's dumb, 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:32.960 and I don't even know if you can, can you, 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:34.239 I guess if you're a big shot you can. 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.560 Yeah, but you have to be like, I'm not Brad 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.520 Pitt on a tool Goanda, right. 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.920 H But the we'll get to some of the more 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:50.320 interesting aspects of that article later, specifically a very specific 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:51.720 patient that's quite distressing. 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.560 So calm down for now, a tool's mom. But we'll 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:56.560 get to it eventually. 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:01.280 He did include a couple of neat historical tidbits, like 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:04.680 in sixteen sixty there was in Germans are all over 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.600 this thing for some reason. Yeah, you know, researchers that 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:09.600 they're they're all German. 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.000 They had the itch to explain the itch. 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:13.720 I guess, so yeah, the itch. 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:14.520 Right. 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:19.240 But there was a physician in sixteen sixty name Samuel Hoffenreffer. 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.600 Actually that's my new hotel name. Yeah, that's a good one. 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.239 Uh he kind of well, he defined it by saying, 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:31.880 an itch is an unpleasant sensation that provokes the desire 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:36.680 to scratch. Pretty simple, yeah, but right on the money 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:37.039 it is. 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.560 And actually it's so it's so on the money that 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:43.279 anywhere you look in the medical literature, whenever they define 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:47.760 itch word for word, that's the definition they use. Yeah, 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.200 although poor Hoff and Refer doesn't get credit for it 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:52.839 all the time. But that's the one. The only expansion 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.040 of that that I've seen is that can occur anywhere 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:58.520 on the body, which apparently is true. 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:02.040 I think hoff and Reffer he felt that was implied. 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:06.040 Right, And it's like it goes without saying. Yeah, I 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:07.440 mean I'm scratching right now. 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:12.599 Yeah. I don't know if I just noticed more, because 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.200 as I was doing it, I was thinking, well, now 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:17.840 I'm scratching. I thought, do I always scratch this much 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:18.760 or itch this much? 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.400 Oh? I hadn't thought about that. I'm pretty sure that 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.200 I was. I don't think I scratched as much as 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:27.120 I don't know. Do you raise a really good question. 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.040 Maybe we can get an intern to follow us around 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:32.320 just record our scratching, right. 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.760 I'm surprised that that's not already a TV show. Frankly, 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:40.280 Josh and Chuck scratch just being followed around. 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.640 Yeah, oh, you know, no one wants to see that. 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:46.760 Well, that's probably why it's not you're scratching. See, that's 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:48.720 what I'm saying. I don't think I scratched this much. 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:55.279 I don't notice it all right, Moving on to Dante's Inferno. 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:00.920 It was in Dante's Inferno, the burning age of fierce 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.640 itching that nothing could relieve is how falsifiers were punished. 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:06.279 Yeah, do you know what a falsifier is? 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:08.080 Us? 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:13.440 I no, really, Like, isn't that that somebody who like 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:17.560 bears false witness or somebody who falsifies a document or. 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:19.320 Is it just a fancy name for liar? 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:20.200 Maybe? 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:22.040 Oh? I thought you were gonna tell me you were 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:22.560 just wondering. 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:24.000 Yeah, I don't, I don't know. 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:26.960 All right, Well, I don't know what Dante meant, but 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:28.040 they're they're bad people. 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.320 Sure, apparently there's a special place in health for him literally, 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:37.799 well I guess actually not literally figuratively sure, literally. 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:43.440 Oh very nice. So itching scientifically is known as pururitis 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.680 p r U R I T I S. Yeah, it's 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:51.200 one of those tough to pronounce things for me at least, 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:54.800 and for well. Actually, they still believe that the evolution 0:06:54.920 --> 0:07:00.000 of the itch was to help humans survive, basically because 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:06.039 so many things that can kill you and nature or 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:10.280 things like mosquitoes or flies or spiders or fleas. Yeah, 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:12.920 that can have like malaria or the plague or any 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:18.400 number of diseases attached to their tiny little insect bodies. Right. So, hey, human, 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:21.280 you've got a mosquito on your neck that could kill you. 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:23.480 You might want to slap it or scratch. 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.760 Yeah, And that's still, as far as I know, the 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:32.760 evolutionary hypothesis for why we experience itching. Yeah, and it's 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:33.520 not just us either. 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:34.679 Well you're scratching like crazy. 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:40.200 Yeah, it's found throughout the animal kingdom, from us to 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:44.760 apparently fish have shown scratching behavior. Yeah, that's crazy fruit flies. 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:46.400 How's a fish scratch? You might ask? 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:47.920 It rubs up against rocks. 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:49.360 Yeah, it's kind of cute. 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:50.440 It is a little cute. 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:54.120 It's like I remember my dad did like the uh 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:56.640 who was the Barren Jungle book? Was that blue? 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:57.520 Yes? 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.160 He would do the ballue or he would get up 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.240 against a tree or yeah, and then I did it 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.240 probably because of that. I'm sure that's where I got 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:07.840 it and realized that it works. And I still do 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:09.680 it every now and then. Oh yeah, yeah, it look 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.160 kind of silly. But do you sing while you do it? Yeah? 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:15.600 Bare necessities, that's still my favorite. 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.360 What else are you going to sing? Like Mambo number five? 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.880 I'm gonna start doing that. Actually, you'd be like, think 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:26.080 something's wrong with Chuck. 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:26.720 Yeah. 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:31.120 So, like you said, though, it was up until almost 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.080 well was it nineteen eighty seven, the mid to late eighties. Yeah, 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:42.240 that another German h O handworker and his gang, sure 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:47.960 of toughs. They started to do actual like research about it. 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:49.840 They were puzzled and wanted to solve. 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.680 It, right, because up to this point, up to actually 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.040 nineteen eighty seven, everyone thought that an itch was just 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.640 a low grade pain stimulus. 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.160 Yeah, I guess happy with that. 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.240 That's just what they thought it was. And hand worker said, 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.280 you know what, let's let's find out if this is 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:10.560 actually true. I'm tired of sitting around just assuming this 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.960 is fine. I'm a hand worker. And he got to 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:18.800 work her with his hands, testing this, right, So what 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:24.800 he knows, like Jonathan Strickland level, what he did was 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:31.439 this is just awful. He introduced using like electrical stimulation. 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.760 I guess he introduced histamine to skin cells, right. And 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:38.480 histamine is a natural I don't know if it's a protein, 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.800 but it's it's a natural, natural chemical, right that the 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:47.040 body releases in response to certain stimuli, say, for example, 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.439 like a mosquito bite or something. And it triggers the 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:56.120 inflammation and immune response in that area. Right, So histamine 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.680 is associated with itch and it had been for a 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.960 very long time. So this I was using an electrical 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:07.960 stimulation to introduce histamine and increasing amounts in these poor 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:12.800 study participants, and it went from barely noticeable to this 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:18.720 is a quote, the maximum imaginable itch. And they never 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:19.360 felt paint. 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.360 Yeah, like even though they ramped it up to eleven, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:24.680 no one ever said like, holy crap, that hurts. 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.480 They said, please, please, fore love God stop, let me 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.280 out of this. And hand Wurker just cackled and cackled, right, 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.280 and these men with like black leather gloves were holding 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:35.680 the participants down. 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.480 Yeah, they said, this is not worth the five Deutsche 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.040 marks that I'm getting for this lousy study. 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.600 Yeah, that's nice man, that's this would have been pre 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.120 euro I think, oh yeah, even though the EU was around, 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.040 I don't think the euro was around in eighty seven 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.320 right now, No, no, because the nineties I traveled. 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:58.000 I traveled to Europe in nineteen ninety seven and there 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.880 was I was still on all that weird money. 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:03.079 Oh okay, yeah. 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.360 So it was a while after that. So now scientists, 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:12.880 I think this sort of introduced an itch to the 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:18.360 scientific community because after hundreds and hundreds of years, Hanvoka 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.200 sort of disrupted the thought process of the itch and 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.520 the scratch, and all of a sudden, scientists were like, oh, well, 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:27.480 maybe we should start looking into this, Maybe we can 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.680 actually isolate the nerve and figure this thing out. 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.040 Yeah, because I mean if it's not, if it's not 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:38.560 just a low level pain sensation, then that means it's 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:40.320 its own thing. And if it's its own thing, it 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:42.440 probably has its own system and we need to know 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:44.760 more about it. So they they got to study in it. 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:46.880 Yeah what ma I wonder if all of this was 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:51.680 under the notion that they were trying to cure itching. 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:56.000 I don't know, because from what I was reading and 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.000 all of this was pretty recent stuff. Yeah, there's a 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:04.560 real un medical need in dealing and addressing like chronic itch. Sure, 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:07.200 because you know, most people who go through life just 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:11.040 experiencing itch under normal circumstances. Right, Let's say you or me, 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:13.680 we're like an itch. Yeah, they suck for a second 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.680 and then it goes away. Imagine it not going away ever, 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:21.640 whether you're asleep or awake, or swimming or an outer 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:28.120 space or doing whatever you're itching constantly. Supposedly it has 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:30.959 as much of a pronounced effect on a patient's life 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:37.040 as chronic pain does. It's constant, persistent, and agonizing, and 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:41.400 it's not being met or treated because it's not understood. 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.120 So they're just now starting to get into pain or 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:49.920 itch research. I saw somebody put it where pain research 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:52.520 was about twenty years ago, So it's starting to really 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.400 heat up, but we're still just starting to understand it. 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:57.840 So I would think that they weren't looking to cure it. 0:12:57.880 --> 0:12:59.800 I think it was just pointed out that there was 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:04.080 a whole branch of neuroscience that was right totally not understood, 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:06.640 So get to work neurologists. 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.360 I wonder I never really thought about it until just now, 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:14.600 But I wonder what happens when a performer or somebody 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:16.920 like that is in the public eye or on TV 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:22.800 or on stage or like the president giving an address, 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:24.880 Like what what what did they do if they have 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.439 poison ivy or some other kind of contact dermatitis? Like 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.320 have you ever thought about that? Like what if Lynn 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:34.520 Mail went Manuel Miranda has like a really bad case 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:36.280 of POY. I guess they can get an understudy in 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.480 that case, sure, but you can't have an understudy as 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:41.480 president no, which is too bad. 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:43.840 You just go out there with your hands bandaged up, 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:45.960 just holding them up, like how do you fight that 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:47.320 poison ivy on camera? 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:49.880 Or like a news anchor when they're just like, oh 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:54.160 my god, I'm dying. I don't know. I guess a 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.120 news anchor can tape things, but I'm talking about live. 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:57.760 What does Tom Petty do? 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:01.480 For God's sakes, Tom Petty and bears it. He had 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:05.000 a hard scrubble childhood prepared him for that. 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.720 I'm going to see him tomorrow night. Oh yeah, waiting 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:14.240 for coffee. He's not performing anyway. I was just curious 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:14.600 about that. 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:16.120 Well, it's a good question. 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:16.959 Thanks. 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.800 Do you remember when Costas had red eye at the Olympics. 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:23.960 I was so dedicated to being the commentator, the anchor 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.480 for the Olympics. They finally were like, you have to stop. Yeah, 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:27.360 no one can look. 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:31.960 At you, people writing and you're disgusting them. One thing 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:34.400 that made me think of that is I had recently. 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:36.320 You can still kind of see it on my forearm, 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:40.600 the scars. But I did a cement job. I was 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.240 building this fence, putting in a gate at my house 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:50.640 and Scotty, you know, Scotty and I built huh, Scotty Pippin. 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:55.840 He and I built this thing together. And we sank 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:59.800 these huge posts for this gate. And I didn't know 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:04.840 that cement could cause contact dermatitis or even burns. Never 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:08.480 knew this. Yeah, and we were it was kind of 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:10.680 a tight spot and we couldn't get shovels in there 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:12.520 in the hole, so we were literally mixing the stuff 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:14.800 like up to our elbows with our arms, and I 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:17.160 was like, this kind of feels good. I even said, like, 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:19.720 you know, like oatmeal or something. And then two days 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.600 later my right arm was just covered in the nastiest 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:27.120 dermatitis I've ever seen, and then he got it. Yeah, 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.400 it's still like kind of hanging around. So I went 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.840 and got a prescription for steroids, which made me a 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:35.680 little crazy for a week and a half. 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:39.480 You trashed the gate and have to start over. 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.480 No, I think I was probably not the best husband 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:47.480 though over that time period. Judging from Emily saying, hey, 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:52.040 you're real a hole. Get off the steroids, gotcha, get 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.360 off the juice, I was like, shut up, watch me 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:59.800 hit this homer. So long story short, I experienced this 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.560 and it was awful. And I can't imagine like shooting 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:05.760 the TV show or something, or like doing anything or 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.600 performing live, like I would have to address it because 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:13.080 I would scratch and smack. It was what I usually do. 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.000 That's how you're supposed to do, not scratch. I guess 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:17.680 we'll just cut to the chase here. This is why 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:21.360 everyone's listening. How do you scratch a niche? Correctly? You 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:21.880 rub it? 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:24.680 Yeah? I didn't do I did you know? 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:24.800 It? 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:30.600 Really did? It was the we have a handheld implement 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.680 in the shower along with the regular shower head and 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:38.640 put that sucker on the tightest, hardest, most penetrating flow 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:41.760 and just put that hot water on it. Man, And 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.720 that was like, I think I spent half my days 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:46.520 in the shower over that week and a half. 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:48.960 Are you biting down like a broomstick while you're doing that? 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:50.800 Now? It felt so good, man. I was just like 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:51.920 I couldn't get enough of it. 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:52.320 Huh. 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:55.760 And then the court zone and all that jump too. 0:16:56.160 --> 0:17:00.600 So we'll we'll talk about this because this you're raising 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:01.640 some great points here. 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:04.720 Well I just kind of ruined the spoiler. 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:07.080 No, No, this is good stuff. We're going to analyze 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.520 what was going on with your arm after this break? 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:26.640 How about that sounds good? 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:34.480 So, Chuck, you had contact dermatitis. 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:35.960 Right, I thought it was poison ivy because that area 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:36.880 has some poison ivy. 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:37.200 Huh. 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.479 But each of us, Scotty and I had it just 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:44.600 on the arm that we sunk in cement, right, And 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:46.399 then we researched and found out that could happen. 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:48.080 Yeah, so Lesson learned on that. 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:49.320 Yeah. 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.000 So what happened was you like something in the cement 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.800 and I'm not sure what it was reacted chemically with 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:02.040 the mast cells in your skin. Yeah, and histamine was released, 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:08.400 right apparently, And so the histamine sent a signal through 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:12.280 specialized nerve cells called sea fibers. 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:16.320 Yeah, which sea fibers aren't just limited to itching. I 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.720 think only about five percent handle that, and right, most 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:19.960 of the rest are for pain. 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.760 Right, right, So they use the same type of neural 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:28.280 pathway as pain, but for itch it's it's basically it's 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.440 just like, no, these these are just for itches only. Yeah, 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:35.199 And it sent a signal through your spinal column, and 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:40.720 in your spinal column, it released a neurotransmitter called gastrin, 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:44.640 releasing peptide receptor, and so at the skin, the histamine 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.639 would have released a neurotransmitter called. 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.720 What natur uretic polypeptide B. 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:55.080 Okay, So that says itch signal coming your way along 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.080 those sea fibers, yes, okay, uh, it makes it to 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.320 the spinal column, and I guess in about two and 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:04.160 seven they found that there's another neurotransmitter in the spine 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:10.320 that I guess accepts the the NPPB the invitation and 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:13.080 says I'm going to transfer this along up to the brain. 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:16.679 That's gastrin releasing peptide receptor that shoots up to the 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:21.119 brain and it starts this cascade of activity. Right Because 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:24.480 when they, like after handworker said, hey, you know, itching 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:27.320 is its own thing. These other researchers went to town 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:33.160 and traced and figured out that there were specific, specific 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:37.520 types of itch receptors that were dedicated just to itches. 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.800 Right, more Germans, more Germans, a couple. 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:43.840 Of Swedes, but mostly Germans for good measure. Yeah, And 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.679 what they found eventually from tracing this pathway, they were 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:50.320 able to follow it into the wonder machine and apparently 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:52.919 they made some people itch and would not let them 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.159 scratch it. And then They had them lay down in 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.320 an MRI and they took a brain scan and they 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:02.560 found that there's this whole galaxy of stuff going on 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:06.560 in your brain that combined is the itch sensation. 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.080 Yeah. It was pretty interesting too. There's a signature pattern 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.960 in the brain when you get an itch, and a 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:17.520 few specific areas light up. One is a cortex, and 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:19.879 it all makes sense when you put it together. The 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:25.400 cortex in this case just sort of geo locates where 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:28.520 on your body you're getting that sensation, so that helps. 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:32.400 It's like left elbow, yeah, or in my case, from 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:36.960 right elbow to wrist, right, and then a little bit 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.320 in other places, but not too bad that that was 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:40.000 the main area. 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:42.840 Is this your cortex still saying this, Yeah. 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:48.200 It's very complex conversation going on. And then the region 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:51.280 I thought this was interesting, the region that government's governments 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:56.359 that governs emotional response. So basically, this is your brain 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:58.440 saying like, I don't like this, this makes me feel bad. 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:00.439 Yeah, it's the worst thing ever do something. 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:03.119 And then finally in the limbic and motor areas, and 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:07.000 I thought this was the most interesting. Those areas process 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:10.800 irresistible urges, the same ones that say I want to 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.280 smoke crack or I want to eat too much cake, 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.159 says you have an itch that is unbearable and you 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:18.080 need to scratch it. 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:20.320 Right, and maybe go smoke some crack and eat some 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:21.320 cake while you're at. 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:23.919 It because that'll help. So I just I don't know. 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:25.800 I thought that was all very super interesting when you 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:27.520 combine that pattern. 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.080