Recently I came down with my first case of poison ivy. And it's a doozy. A trip to the doctor last Monday has me on medication that's clearing it up quickly, though. I'll be happy to see it go away completely! Since this was my first case of the scratchy stuff, I did a little research online and discovered that a lot of the things I thought were facts about poison ivy turn out to be nothing but myths.

• Scratching will cause the rash to spread. Technically, this isn't true. The rash is caused by contact with urushiol oil from the poison ivy plant. If your skin still has traces of the oil and you scratch, you could transfer the oil to another part of your body. But, once the oil is gone, scratching will not spread the rash. However, take it from my personal experience, you don't want to scratch. I'm on a heavy-duty antibiotic to clear up the infection I have as a result of scratching.
  
• Poison ivy is contagious. Again, only contact with urushiol oil will cause the reaction. The rash itself is not contagious.
  
• Once allergic, always allergic to poison ivy. Not necessarily. Your sensitivity can change over time.

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There is a wooded area in a nearby community that's open to the public. Though it's smack-dab in the middle of a city, you really feel like you're escaping to the wilderness there. My son and I like to visit it for day hikes and he also likes to ride his bike on the trails. Though the trails are groomed and maintained for public use, off-trail it's a woods like any other. If you're not careful, you can definitely run across some of the poison plants -- poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. You can avoid the itch by recognizing the plants:

• Poison ivy. In some areas poison, ivy grows as a vine. In others it's more of a shrub. The identifying trait is it's three-leaf configuration.
• Poison oak. Poison oak is somewhat similar in appearance to poison ivy, but the leaves are shaped more like an oak tree's. The underside of the leaf is lighter than the top and is covered in hair.
• Poison sumac. Common in swampy areas, poison sumac is a woody shrub with leaves arranged in pairs and clusters of green berries.

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Boy Scouts, nature lovers and other outdoor enthusiasts alike have something in common: we all come into contact with nasty critters that sting and bite. You don't even really have to be outside all the time to feel the burn from such a bug. Regardless, here are some of the worst stingers in mother nature.

The first that jumps out at you is the bullet ant. This sucker ranks with the highest on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index -- a scale of pain for insects created by an entomologist. Thankfully the ants hail from South America, so I wouldn't worry about stepping on one in your backyard. Either way, I wouldn't want to experience something described as "like fire-walking over a flaming charcoal with a tree-inch rusty nail in your heel."

How about the Tarantula Hawk Wasp. That's three animal names in one! It usually doesn't go after humans, but instead uses its terrible sting to paralyze the infamously terrifying spider. After that, it's all over. The wasp lags narrowly behind the bullet ant in sting-power according to Schmidt's scale. Still hungry for more? Check out the complete list here, if you dare.

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Itching can be annoying and almost everyone of us has some kind of itch at least once a day. Is it just a problem we all have to deal with? What if it is a persistent, chronic problem?

Those with psoriasis can probably identify with the need to constantly scratch and itching part of the body. Can those folks be helped? Well, with new research that links specific genes to itching, possibly so.

Although the research was done on mice, the vigorous itching activity witnessed with and without a certain genetic expression was the evidence scientists needed to conclude that there may be a future drug that would target itching. Don't get ready to throw that backscratcher out, though.

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We hear all the time about how water is the source of life. But what if we were allergic to water? Is that even possible? I mean, our bodies are 80% water, so how could anyone be allergic to it?

It is possible, though, according to this. It's called aquagenic pruritis, and people who have it can develop a itching or tingling sensation in their skin, or even a rash, when they are exposed to water of any temperature. Symptoms can last a few minutes, or even a few hours. Some specialists argue that this isn't really an allergy but a sensitivity, possibly to some added ingredient in the water, and though I'm not an expert, I'd probably agree because to me, an allergic reaction is much more severe than something that merely causes itching.

What do you think?

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