# Build up an immunity to poison? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2002, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130 "2002-12-11T23:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/1 "2002-12-11T23:15:24Z")
An old plot device is the hero (or villain) building up a resistance to a poison by taking little bits of it for many years, slowly building up to large amounts until it no longer affects him. Can this really be done? Only with certain types of poison? Which ones? Can I take small amounts of hemlock, strychnine, or arsenic, and build up immunity to them? How does this work? Does your liver “learn” to filter out these nasties more efficiently? _begins taking plutonium pills in preparation for the big one_ ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/2 "2002-12-11T23:19:47Z")
Certainly, the ancient kings used to do it all the time. I think it was an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who when tried to commit suicide when his kingdom was conquered only to fail as he had already built up a too high immunity to the posion he took. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/3 "2002-12-11T23:20:51Z")
Remember, anti-venom is created by injecting horses with poision so that their body reacts and produces it. ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/4 "2002-12-11T23:22:39Z")
It can be done with some types of poison. Many (or at least some) of the snake venoms can have a tolerance built for. This is done by developing anti-bodies to the venom by repeated sublethal doses. Anti-venom is made in a similar fashion by injecting animals (often horses) repeatedly and then collecting their anti-bodies. As to hemlock, strychnine, etc… I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/5 "2002-12-11T23:23:32Z")
“They were both poisioned. I’ve spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.” Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/6 "2002-12-11T23:24:41Z")
Dang, MC took some of my thunder. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/7 "2002-12-12T00:13:39Z")
I doubt you could build up a resistance to something like carbon monoxide or cyanide. Since they work by binding to the iron in hemoglobin I can’t imagin there is any way for the body to compensate unless it can redesign the hemoglobin so that these little beasties can’t bind to the iron. I wonder if building up a resistance to a poison is limited to protien based toxins (I think that most venoms are protien based but I don’t know.)? Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/8 "2002-12-12T00:21:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC Master of Cermonies \* > \*\*Certainly, the ancient kings used to do it all the time. I think it was an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who when tried to commit suicide when his kingdom was conquered only to fail as he had already built up a too high immunity to the posion he took. \*\* Mithridates VI of Pontus. ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/9 "2002-12-12T00:29:17Z")
WAG - you can build up an immunity to protien-based poisons that act on a “cellular” level like snake venom. You can’t generally build up a resistance to poisons that can accumulate in the body like heavy metals. It is also, I suspect, extremely difficult to build up an immunity to “poisons” that operate on a “chemical” level, e.g. slight exposure to hydrogen cyanide is unlikely to generate any immunity because 1) it operates to quickly for your body to respond, 2) you would have to change your basic blood chemistry to render it ineffective. Having said that, someone, somewhere, is probably capable of generating at least some immunity to anything. Certainly, life itself is capable of adapting itself to all kinds of incredibly “toxic” environments. For example, I can imagine a protein that binds to cyanide in the blood stream and renders it harmless, thereby giving the organism some tolerance for exposure to cyanide. Darn, I see on preview that **Christopher** has already made some of these points. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/10 "2002-12-12T00:49:40Z")
So… Stop taking the plutonium pills? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/11 "2002-12-12T00:51:03Z")
> [@](#): > > I wonder if building up a resistance to a poison is limited to protein based toxins (I think that most venoms are protein based but I don’t know.)? Anybody know? It’s not. There are all sorts of non-protein compounds that you can build up a tolerance to. Morphine, amphetamines, strychnine, some blood pressure medications… When you take any of these compounds repeatedly in a non-lethal dose, your body, usually your liver, will alter itself so as to metabolize the chemicals more quickly. That’s one of the reasons drugs addicts need to increase their dosage repeatedly. It’s also why they can handle amounts of heroine etc. that would kill us ordinary mortals. ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/12 "2002-12-12T00:57:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*So… Stop taking the plutonium pills? \*\* Especially if you think you may be pregnant . . . ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/13 "2002-12-12T01:06:40Z")
Hmm… So could I develop a cocktail of nasty-bad stuff, take it in small doses, and develop some sort of Uber-Liver? Would there be any other health benfits to having a good resistence to these poisons and toxins? ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/14 "2002-12-12T01:47:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muad’Dib \* > \*\*Hmm… So could I develop a cocktail of nasty-bad stuff, take it in small doses, and develop some sort of Uber-Liver? \*\* Excellent! Just the marketing gimmick you need for your bar! ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/15 "2002-12-12T03:18:43Z")
Seriously. Is the liver like a muscle? If I get it to work often will it generally be better at filtering out the unknown chaumurky in my soda? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/16 "2002-12-12T04:33:32Z")
The liver responds to whatever you feed it. If you treat it harshly it will start producing more enzymes or cells to handle the load. If you overload it too often, it will turn yellow and fibrous and you will die. Here’s a quick [Overview of the Liver](http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/sonsgift/amazing_liver.html) More detail on [Structure and Function](http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/w/wes/homepage/SIMS/GE1_3.html) Liver enzymes and drug interactions: [The Good Stuff](http://medicine.iupui.edu/flockhart/). ---
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/17 "2002-12-12T04:37:30Z")
Anti-venom?? I thought the correct term was “antivenin”. Eric Schadenfreude ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/18 "2002-12-12T18:42:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Hmm… So could I develop a cocktail of nasty-bad stuff, take it in small doses, and develop some sort of Uber-Liver? Uber-Liver! Rock band! RR ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/19 "2002-12-12T19:43:59Z")
Well, there’s always arsenic. But as a plot device, it’s been used before, e.g. “Strong Poison”, by Dorothy L. Sayers. See: [http://intro.chem.okstate.edu/ChemSource/Forensic/forechem13.htm](http://intro.chem.okstate.edu/ChemSource/Forensic/forechem13.htm) and scroll down to “literature.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130/20 "2002-12-12T19:46:15Z")
When I was a kid I visited the Miami Serpentarium, where Dr. William Haas “milked” cobras and injected some of it into himself. His blood was supposed to be much in demand for people having a bad reaction to snake bites. Haas would take out a long (more than 10 foot) King Cobra from its cage and place it in the middle of a grass patch with tourists all around – no cages, bars, or glass walls between them and the cobra. He’s “charm” the cobra, distracting it with his hand, until he could reach around rapidly, grab the cobra by the neck, and “milk” it into a conical containere with surgical rubber stretched across the top. Try getting away with putting _that_ show on in Miami today! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/build-up-an-immunity-to-poison/142130.md?page=2)