WEBVTT - How Poison Ivy Works 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:04.400 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house stuff Works 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:13.600 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast on Josh Clark, 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:18.040 there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry. Uh. Well, this 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:20.640 is stuff you should know here. Look like you're about 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:23.560 to describe in the room and then it's too depressing 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.680 in here. Yeah, and you know we should uh might 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:28.520 as well announced that we're moving. I don't think we've 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.120 announced that yet, have we? No, we haven't. No, we 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:33.519 are finally moving. Um. You know, we've been in this 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:36.680 building since you and I and Jerry have been here, 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:40.520 actually since how Supports has been around, right, I think 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.560 it started in North Carolina. Well, no, I mean Marshall 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:47.360 Brain's kitchen. No, no, I mean the Atlanta version. I 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.559 genuinely don't know, but probably. Yeah. So we've been in 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.760 this building in Buckhead, Atlanta. That's not super exciting. And 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:57.440 our first office was kind of cool. This one is 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.400 decidedly not cool. We call this one the call sent there. Yeah, 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:04.200 it's really it's just not a creative space. And so, um, 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:08.800 when we were sold by Discovery Channel this summer, our 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:13.560 new parents, Blue Cora uh said, let's move you into 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.400 a cool creative awesome new space and we are all 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.640 super excited, um, except for you probably with the commute. Yeah, 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:24.720 but I mean it's still it's pretty cool. I mean 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:28.840 there's gonna be an easy Kiah downstairs. Yeah you know. Yeah. 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:32.760 I think it's the same people that developed Chelsea Market, yeah, 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.639 in New York City, so they're doing something here too, 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.440 and we're moving into it. Yeah. It's called pot City Market, 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.400 and um, it is the old Sears building from the 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.240 early nineteen hundreds, which I used to go to as 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:46.880 a kid when it was Sears in the nineteen hundreds. 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.160 Very funny and what was the nineteen hundred nineteen eighties? 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:55.000 Oh wow, not bad, you were thinking nineteen twenties though, 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:57.280 I know where you're going. So we're we're trying to 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.760 have a bigger presence in Atlanta and to be a 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.760 little more visible in the world and the world, and 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:06.080 so we're gonna have a cool new office space and 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.799 it's just awesome. So thanks to our boss Jason and 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:13.560 Jerry for working so hard on all this, and Michael 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:15.680 and Izzy and everyone's done a great job. And we're 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.960 moving in like we're to do the last like six 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.760 shows or so. We're recording here ish, Yeah, until we 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.680 move into our new new place. Yeah, so I just 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.919 wanted to say that we're super excited. That was nice. Chuck. Yeah, 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:33.799 hats off to you too, killed a few minutes. So 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.600 that has nothing to do with poison ivy uh at all. No. 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:39.520 And as a matter of fact, I'll bet there's not 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:43.560 much poison ivy around pot City Market. No, I hope not. 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:45.440 It seems like the kind of place where they would 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.120 keep the poison ivy under control. Yeah, and I imagine 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:49.760 this also, by the way, it will be a show 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.639 where there will be many people scratching themselves. I did 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:54.880 while I was researching. A matter of fact, I just 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:58.200 scratched my ear while you said that. Yeah, but that 0:02:58.240 --> 0:02:59.880 had nothing to do with poison ivy. I have a 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.799 poison ivy story for you, alright. Um So, actually, when 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:08.280 I lived in the Highlands, um, let's see, not too 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:11.160 far from Pont City Market, you mean, and I had 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:15.960 this house we're reading, and it had a pretty substantial 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:19.880 poison ivy vine growing up this big oak tree in 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.519 the front yard. Front yard. Yeah, you probably wouldn't have 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:28.560 seen it the back. Um, I for some reason had 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.519 a suspicion that I was immune to poison ivy. Dude, 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.079 I remember this. I don't know why I thought that, 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.280 but I did. Even still, I took, you know, some precautions. 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.000 I wore, like gloves and a longsleeve shirt and jeans 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:44.200 and boots and everything like you're supposed to um. And 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:47.080 then I went out and decided to like take this 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.480 thing out. That's when you were in your homesteading days, right, 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:54.880 So first things first, you have to shop the vine, right, 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:59.160 Because the like grows alongside the tree, like latches onto 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.200 it to grow up. It can so um when it 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.040 when it gets its meat hooks onto the tree. I 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.000 think that's a technical term for it. Um Like, it's 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:09.880 kind of tough to pull away, so you want to 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.400 chop it off first, and then you pull it away 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:14.920 from the tree. And this thing was growing way up 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:18.960 this oak tree. It was a substantial poison ivy vine. 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:23.600 So when I pulled it down, not only did a 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:29.440 lot of the poison ivy detritus fall down onto me, 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.160 the whole vine, like a twenty ft vine, just fell 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.000 down on top of me. And I'm I'm looking up 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.800 as the stuff's falling down. It's going into my face, 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.400 it's getting under my shirt, it's going into my mouth, 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:48.599 my eyes, it's everywhere, right, And I'm thinking, man, I'm 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:50.960 really glad I'm immune to poison ivy. Still, I don't 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.520 remember why I thought this. I'm picturing he's standing there 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.360 with your mouth light up pretty much like Wow, it's 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.000 a lot of poison ivy that just came down. Um. 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:03.200 And so I'm standing there, I'm I'm starting to clean 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:06.640 it up, and I'm as no rash is coming around. 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.840 I'm like, awesome, I am immune to poison ivy. I 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:13.320 was right, because it's been like two minutes and no response. 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:16.559 Well fast forward to like an hour or two later 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.479 that it was pretty quick. I was like, oh no, 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.880 I told you too. I was like, I'm immune, and 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.840 she was like, you need to get out of those 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.360 clothes and take a shower. But it was too late, 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.240 And I guess you remember I do. It was. It 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.839 was really bad for like a couple of weeks. Yeah, 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:39.520 I have always still thought I am immune, and I 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.600 maybe because I've still never gotten poison ivy at all. 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.520 That is really surprising. Yeah, and I've been in contact 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.480 with it plenty as an outdoors enthusiast in a camper 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.440 and hiker um. But I remember I was telling Jerry 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:56.200 uh in between my father used to get it like crazy. 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:58.640 Like one of the memories I have a child as 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:02.000 a child is my it seems like he constantly had 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:06.840 poison ivy and that pink uh is that calamine lotion? Yes, 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:10.600 just constantly slathered on his body and a lot of 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.839 um myths being bandied about, like I would catch it 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.440 from him or don't scratch because he'll spread it. Yeah, 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.000 neither one of those things are true. No. Jod Apatow's 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:22.880 wife lied and Big Daddy did she say that in 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.960 Big Daddy? Yeah, she was like the little kid was 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.360 scratching and she was like, don't let him scratch. Here, 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.440 put this uh like frozen broccoli on it. It will 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:35.640 spread the rash if if you scratch it. Not a lie, 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:40.479 So knock wood. I still have not gotten poison ivy. Um. 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:44.080 And that was one of our best intros ever. That's 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.440 a good one. I'm I'm itchy now. Yeah, so um, 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.960 let's talk about poison ivy. Chuck. That was like a 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.560 good story where one of us is a bone head. Man. 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:54.800 I can't believe it, and I think it was just 0:06:54.880 --> 0:07:00.120 from like having been outside and not like getting a 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.480 rash poison ivy. But I guess they just hadn't come 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.360 into contact with it. Well, no, or we'll learn that 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.720 you could have been immune for a while and developed 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.320 UM after a repeated exposure. Yeah, that can happen too, 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.440 but usually it goes the opposite way that the more exposure, 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.440 the less it happens. Yeah, which is why a lot 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:21.920 of adults like basically age out of UM an allergy 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:24.640 to poison ivy if they come in contact with it 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:26.480 enough to I'll have to ask my dad actually, next 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.200 someone to see him. So apparently back in the day, 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:34.560 poison ivy UM was used as an ornamental shrub or 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:39.080 vine because it comes in both varieties UM. And then 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.000 they were like, something that causes this much of a 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:46.240 reaction in humans has to have some sort of medicinal benefits. 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.679 And actually there was at least one guy who really 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:55.200 researched UM poison ivy and as a medicine, and supposedly 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:59.120 he cured skin ailments. He made like some sort of 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.680 tonic that he rank and said it cured like a 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.960 stomach ailment, although it made him sweat and urinate more 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.760 than usual. UM and this guy was a real urinator too, 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:13.280 so that's something he was. But he apparently was one 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:15.280 of the only people who really looked into it, and 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.400 other scientists were like, we're just leaving that thing alone, right, 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.160 I did not see that, Okay. I think I saw 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.880 that with it from medicine, which shouldn't be surprising, you know, 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.000 because they had a lot of homespun sciences. They had 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.080 it figured out, sure, but um, it was a It 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.720 wasn't until I think, like the well the early twentieth 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.720 century that a Japanese researcher by the name of Majima 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:45.440 isolated what it was in poison ivy that um makes 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:49.439 us allergic and which is why it has a Japanese name. Correct, Yes, 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:55.240 that's exactly right, which is urushiol. You are you s 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.640 h i O L. Yeah, after the Japanese erushi, which 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.440 means laquer. Yeah. Uh. And basically it is um. It 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:06.840 is the chemical that is in the sap that is 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:10.400 what causes the rash. And apparently the rash is actually 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:13.800 called poison ivy as well. Oh really, that's what it 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:15.839 says here. It's this poison ivy is the red itchy 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.520 rash caused by the plant that bears its name. Oh yeah, 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.079 so I always just called it. Well, people say you've 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.960 got poison ivy. Yeah, that's right. I never thought of 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:29.760 it like that. Actually, that's exactly right. So what a breakthrough. 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.440 That's amazing. And the way you get poison ivy is 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:38.080 by coming into direct contact with this erusio Um. It's 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.320 in the plant, it's in the leaves, it's in the roots, 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.720 it's in the stems, and uh, you can get it. 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.080 Not only well, you have to come in contact with that, 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:48.200 but it doesn't mean from the plant. It can be 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:50.760 on a garden ray candle or a football that you 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.240 throw in the woods, or your animals fur but um, 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.880 it's still has to be that actual chemical compound and 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:00.760 it's got staying power to suppose the the rush all 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:04.840 can um stay potent for years? Yeah, I saw that 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.240 like a rake from last summer. If you pick it 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:09.319 up the next year, you can still get it. Yep, 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:14.480 that's insane. So chuckers, if you are immune to poison 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:19.040 ivy as you claim, you fall into the lucky of 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:23.679 people estimated who um are immune to poison ivy. But 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:28.840 for the rest of us, we are allergic to arushi 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.160 al yeah, and it doesn't take much. Um they they say, 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.199 here one billionth of a graham is all it takes sometimes. 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:38.960 And this is not just poison ivy. We should point 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.440 out there is also poison sumac and poison oak and 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:46.200 western or eastern and western poison oak, which which are 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.800 all part of the same family. That I'm not going 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.640 to try and pronounce. Uh, let me give it a try. 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:56.720 And a card dish c A man I said it 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.040 like out loud while I was studying, and it didn't 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:04.800 take And a card a c A anacardius say, Anacardius say, okay, 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:08.840 that sounds about right. Would you see any vowels? It's 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:12.199 very difficult. Yeah, The A C E A E at 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:14.400 the end really kind of messes yep, but a C 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:18.040 A yeah, so anacardius c A yeah. I think that's right. 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.600 I did it one day. We're going to practice these 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.760 things twelve times before we record instead of on the 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:29.680 air nex for Riveting podcasting. Uh So, like I said, 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:32.760 it's in the stems, the leaves, the roots, the whole shebang. 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.280 If you want to avoid the rash, you have to 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:39.360 avoid the plant. And just because the old saying leaves 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.600 free leaves three, leave it be. It's true in a 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:46.160 lot of cases, but not always. Homer Simpson says, leaves 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:51.720 a four eats some more. I think I remember that. 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:53.800 That's so funny. And you said that it's found in 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:57.800 the roots, the stems, the leaves, the whole shebang. Um. 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:02.959 But even after the plant dies, arushiol can stick around. 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:07.560 That's how That's how tough this stuff is. Sure, Like you, um, 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.120 you killed that vine in your front yard, and what 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:11.800 you do? Did you leave it there? Did you eventually 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.280 get around to h I cut it and pulled it 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:16.240 right down. It was a potent as the day is 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.080 long when I cut it. No, But what you do 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.520 after it was laying there on the ground. I just 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.440 cleaned it up. I was immune. Remember, Oh so you did? 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:24.840 You finished it up and put it in like a 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.600 garden bag or something. I was all it was, like, 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:29.960 I might as well have just rolled in it naked. 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:34.120 You probably thought, though, you were like, yeah, I showed you. Yeah. 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:36.800 I think I probably was cursing it as I was 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:38.920 pulling it because it was hanging onto the tree so much. 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:43.040 Oh yeah, man, that stuff is like cement um. But 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:46.160 the point being, even after you had killed it and 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:49.040 chopped it up into tiny pieces. It still has that 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.400 active ingredient. And like you said, it doesn't take a 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.280 much like a billion of a craym. That's right, that's 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:57.880 not very much of this stuff. That's like a drop 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.960 let than the drop um. So we said, Um the 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.520 leaves three is a good rule to go by. The 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.880 center leave is usually larger, but not always. Um. Here's 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.760 some other ways to identify it though. It's generally in 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.520 low uh, in a cluster like a low weed like 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:18.439 or a vine like you said, that can climb right, 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:21.080 So it's either along the ground or it's climbing. This 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:25.400 isn't helping difference, you know, it really isn't um by 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.280 river banks, in the woods, moist areas, if you go 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:32.360 hiking a lot or camping, you're gonna see it everywhere. Uh. 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:36.080 And the leaves are smooth and have a little teeth 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.320 sometimes serrated. Yeah, like a serrated edge a good way 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.439 to put it. Their color also changes, which makes it difficult. 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.199 I didn't know that. I don't really remember that either. 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.120 I had no idea. I thought i'd just turned brown. 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:48.920 I thought they went from green to brown when it 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:53.079 went dormant. Torment. Apparently it's a seasonal thing, like a 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.520 reddish than green than yellow. Yeah, which is another reason 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:01.559 why they were sold as ornamental vines for a while. 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:03.760 That makes sense. But yeah, people are like, no, this, 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:09.080 this is just foolishness. Uh and white berries apparently, and um, well, 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:10.680 let's take a message break and then we'll talk a 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:14.040 little bit about the oaks and sumacs. Oh boy, right 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:30.480 after this, all right, oaks and sumas, my friend, they 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:35.680 are uh a little different in appearance. Ah yeah, so 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:39.080 as poison oak is called that because it grows into 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:42.680 a shrub. It's thought about that, right do you walk 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:44.760 along You're like, oh, look at that's cute little oak tree. 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:48.120 You're gonna be so big, and you put your face 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.000 all over it or whatever. You got poison oak on 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.080 your face, you dummy. Don't ever get too close to 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.960 an oaks, apply because it could kill you and your 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.440 whole family if I wanted to. That's right, And they 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.720 can be from a foot to six ft tall and 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:06.200 um on the west coast and in the south although 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.640 I don't think we said that you're gonna find poison 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.120 ivy everywhere, but it says southwest. But I looked at 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:16.160 a map and it looked like kind of just California. 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.560 Oh really, yeah, I mean it kind of squirted out 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.640 a little bit there into Arizona some like in the desert, 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.960 but then other parts of Arizona obviously you're gonna find 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:28.440 it um. But most of the country you can get 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.920 your poison ivy except Alaska Hawaii, because those are great place. 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:36.720 I'm surprised Alaska. I'm surprised Hawaii doesn't have it. Everything 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.320 grows in Hawaii. Yeah, but I don't know why does 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:42.840 it strike me as like woodsy. It seems more like, oh, 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.720 there's a lot of woods there, lush and palm trees 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:48.880 like rainforest e right, but I mean this stuff grows 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:53.880 in moist areas. I don't know what to think anymore. Well, 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.320 this is the thing, like you can't identify it. It 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.960 grows everywhere, even the places they say it doesn't grow. 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:02.840 I mean, it's it. We're in trouble basically. So the oak, 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.760 the leaves um can also be in threes, but they 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.200 are thick, green and hairy on both sides. I think 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.160 the hairy thing is what's the dead giveaway with the 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:18.320 family uh and a d C A yeah, yeah, And 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:22.800 then the sumac. You're gonna find that in swamps, uh 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.280 or in the northeast and midwest along the rivers. And 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.520 it's a woody shrub. I love that word sumac. Yeah 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:31.480 do too. It makes me think of like a Native 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.920 American like just rowing a canoe of their own making, 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.280 like down a river. Wow, sumac, that's what it evokes 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.760 in my my mind's eye. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Uh. 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.040 And they have stems with rows of seven to thirteen 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:49.680 smooth edged leaflets. It doesn't look anything like poison oak 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.560 or poison ivy. No, And you know, you should know 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:54.880 what this stuff looks like pretty much by now. But 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.760 if you if you're a city dweller and you're gonna 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:00.320 like go to the country looking up online, just look 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:04.000 at some photos. Can you identify poison sumac? No, but 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.760 poison ivy for sure? Yeah? I usually can, or if 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:09.679 I have a question about it, I just assume it 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.280 is poison ivy and steer clear. Yeah. I don't think 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:15.720 I've ever seen the sumac. I haven't either until this, uh, 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.439 this article. There's a little I mean it's kind of pretty. 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.639 Oh that is pretty. They'll just put your face in 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:28.120 this destroy you so um, chuck, I guess let's let's 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:34.639 stop beating around the bush here. Okay, uh terrible yeah, Um. 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:39.840 What exactly is going on when poison ivy and specifically 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.520 arushio comes into contact with your skin? Why do you 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.760 break out in a terrible, terrible rash? Well, it's pretty 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:50.840 much the same if you remember our allergy podcast, the 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:52.480 same kind of thing is going on. From what I 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:56.320 can tell, it's like a mistaken response correct to something 0:17:56.320 --> 0:18:00.240 that shouldn't give you a rash, that's all right, which 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:02.080 is why you see animals eating it like crazy and 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:04.919 rolling around in it because they're like they're they're not 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.520 dumb humans with dumb immune systems, right, Like this stuff 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.760 really is no big deal. Yeah, your immune system when 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:17.919 it encounters arushi all turns into like some like bone 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:20.720 head at the bar who's like got this heightened like 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:23.880 responsive to a girlfriend and like wants to fight everybody. 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.800 That's what your T cells do in your immune system. 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:31.280 So the arushiol, because of the way that it it's 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.280 um it's formed the compound that it is, it makes 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.520 it through the skin pretty easily, and as it has 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:41.879 absorbed your body, your skin actually um metabolizes it and 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:45.080 breaks it up into little components and presents it to 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:49.600 your T cells, your immune system cells, to say, are 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.320 these guys cool? You recognize these guys? And again your 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:54.160 T cells are like, well, no, I want to fight 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.600 this guy. And he calls his boys the Cite of Kings, right, Yeah, 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.760 the Site of Kings come along and they're like, yeah, 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:04.680 let's fight. Yes, look at those white blood cells because 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:07.200 they are some tough dudes, right. And the white blood 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.720 cells come in and they're huge, and they turn into 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:15.280 my macro fages, that's right, and they eat stuff, They 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:18.760 eat the foreign substance like crazy, and in doing so, 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.640 that's where you get your your rash. It damages the tissue, yeah, 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:26.800 because they're they're not just focusing on the arushiol, because 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:31.040 they're indiscriminately just messing the whole place up. The whole 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:34.320 bar just goes to pot because there's like classes broken 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.520 and stools thrown and everything is just messed up. Yeah. 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:41.960 It's like the movie Hooper, uh with Burt Reynolds. Yeah, 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:43.560 I haven't seen that. One one of the great bar 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:47.040 fights of all time. Oh, I gotta see it. Yeah. Um, 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.320 So that's what's going on basically, it's that's where the 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:52.639 inflammation comes from. It is just like an allergies with 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:56.800 hay fever. It's a mistaken response to that pollen in 0:19:57.000 --> 0:20:00.760 hay fever skates, and it's just your dumb body not 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:03.520 knowing that it's really shouldn't be a big deal exactly, 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:07.719 which is why, over time, over repeated exposure to poison ivy, 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:12.320 even those lunkhead t cells figure out like, oh, your pal, 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:14.520 I don't have to mess with you, right, I know, 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:16.920 my girlfriend's pretty, it's cool. I'd look at her to write. 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.760 They calm down over a while, you know. Um, So eventually, 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:25.040 I guess if you just rubbed poison ivy on yourself 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:29.080 enough times, your your response wouldn't occur at all. Yeah, 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.160 but the there's a myth that you can eat poison 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:34.919 ivy to develop that immune response. Do not do that. 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:37.719 Don't do that because you could die, like seriously, right, 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:41.040 So what we just described can happen on your internal 0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:43.639 organs rather than your skin. The macro files has come 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:47.320 in and indiscriminately just start eating everything and damaging the tissue. 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:50.199 That's one thing. If it's on your arm, it's another 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.560 thing if it's on your esophagus. You know. Yeah, you 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:57.080 could think it's swell shut or it's just as bad 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:59.879 your lungs too, which is another reason why when you 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:04.680 destroy uh poison ivy, Yeah, you don't burn it, because 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.840 when you burn it, the suiall vaporizes and you can 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:12.680 inhale it. And that's really really bad. That is really bad. Um. 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:14.639 You mentioned that you thought you were okay after a 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:20.680 few minutes. Uh. There can be something called delayed hypersensitivity. 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.239 That it's always that Yeah, because yeah, you're not going 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:25.600 to rub it on your skin and get it in 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:31.320 seconds later. That's immediate hypersensitivity. Um. If you have delayed hypersensitivity, 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:34.399 it could take hours. Um, it could take days. You 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:35.960 might think you're all good in a few days later 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:38.600 you're gonna get it, which is one of the reasons. Um, 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:41.399 the myth of if you scratch it will spread it 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.160 happens because you might see it popping up on other 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:46.720 parts of your body days later, and it's not from 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:51.240 scratching or spreading. It's because just that delayed response. Yeah, 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:53.639 but you know more about that, right, Yeah. So the 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:57.240 whole thing what what we found out people called poison ivy. 0:21:57.280 --> 0:22:01.800 The rash is technically called allergic content dermatitis. You can 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:04.119 get it from all sorts of things like laundry detergent 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:07.359 or like an itchy like tag. It's basically a skin 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:12.920 irritation from an allergic reaction, right and with the delayed kind, Yes, 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:17.439 it takes anywhere from you know, hours, two days, but 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.720 it's gonna happen. Um. There's also a media which is 0:22:20.760 --> 0:22:23.080 like say a beasting or like a peanut where like 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:26.359 you within minutes like you're in big trouble. H And 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:29.320 actually if you do start to deplay display the same 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:32.320 kinds of symptoms that you would with like an immediate reaction, 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:35.199 you really need to go to the hospital. Like if 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:38.280 your throat swells up from poison ivy, or your your 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:41.040 lips turn blue from poison ivy, or you have a 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:44.320 fever that's like over a hundred degrees from it that 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:46.080 those are all signs that you need to go to 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:49.120 the hospital. This isn't a normal reaction to poison ivy. 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:53.000