Poison Ivy

[smalls]

Who has gotten it? How bad does it affect you?

I've only had a rash twice in my life; 4 years ago after a trip to the badlands and right fricking now after being my father's lake in northern Minnesota over the weekend.

The first rash was isolated to my calves below the knee. This rash... well lets just say that I must have touched the affected area with my hands and spread it to other parts of my body including my forehead and "other" areas. Calamine lotion doesn't do jack. My lower legs look as though I waded through a baby pool of hydrochloric acid. The blisters in the rash are simply rupturing and oozing at this point.

That plant is the devil.

 

[NoWiser]

Dang!!

I'm lucky. Poison Ivy doesn't seem to have any effect on me. I've walked through it many, many times and have never been bothered. My grandpa and dad have never had it bother them, either, so maybe it's genetic?

Good luck, hope it gets better soon!

 

[C17loadclear]

I get it quite often here in NC. The best thing that has worked for me is to wipe is with bleach in the shower.

 

[RUT JUNKEY]

Dang it Smalls. . .makes me itch just thinking about it. I don't get it luckily, but my cousin and Grandma could get it if I was burning fencerows and they were just out in the smoke. . . very weird. If it is oozing badly, could it be poison Sumac or Oak? Sumac seems to ooze more than the standard ivy? Good luck!!

 

[Festus]

Not sure once it gets as bad as you have, but sheetrock mud really dries it up.

Hope you get to feeling better soon...

 

[gwhunter]

I get it if I even look at the plant! The worst I had it was when I was bucking logs on a downed tree and didn't realize the tree had a vine on it until I was at the end and starting loading the logs into the truck. The dust created by the chainsaw pretty much made it so I had it on my entire body except for my face (yes, I went to the bathroom in the woods too). It was so bad I had to get a steroid shot with that huge needle they use.

If I just get it from brushing against it in the woods I will typically use http://www.teclabsinc.com/products/poison-oak-ivy/tecnu-extreme and it will alleviate the rash enough that I can go to sleep and not wake up with bloody bedsheets.

 

[gwhunter]

This rash... well lets just say that I must have touched the affected area with my hands and spread it to other parts of my body including my forehead and "other" areas.

Since I get it so bad I've done some research and I found some unsubstantiated information online saying that once the urushiol is in your bloodstream it can pretty much pop up anywhere on your body, regardless of whether or not the plant actually touched that area. However, you will probably get it the worst in those areas that have actually touched it; including the "other" areas .

I agree this stuff is the devil!!!!!!

 

[dihardhunter]

Thank god I can roll in it unmolested. Not a blessing that's guaranteed to last though, as I know folks who used to be immune and one day wake up in a covering rash. My dad can look at it and get it though.

 

[RobG]

Since I get it so bad I've done some research and I found some unsubstantiated information online saying that once the urushiol is in your bloodstream it can pretty much pop up anywhere on your body, regardless of whether or not the plant actually touched that area. However, you will probably get it the worst in those areas that have actually touched it; including the "other" areas .

I agree this stuff is the devil!!!!!!

Yeah, my wife had it pop up all over her body after some moderate exposure to her legs. She had to go get some meds at the hospital.

And don't ever breath the smoke of burning ivy.... that's worth another trip to the hospital.

 

[Outofstate-r]

Who has gotten it? How bad does it affect you?

I am pretty alergic to it. Here in Alabama it is almost everywhere, the plant and the vine. I have already gotten it 3 times this yr...and currently getting over it now. It seems like I would pay more attention, but I guess I figure it's just gonna happen.

Technu works pretty well, but I also take some steroids for it as well.

 

[Gellar]

I get poison ivy multiple times a year, sometimes it seems I just have to think about it and I get it.
The worst I ever had was while in college I was duck hunting and had to go #2. I thought that I picked a good clean log to sit on, but that night I found out i was wrong. It started behind my knees and all the way up my thighs. I to must have had it on my hands as about 8p.m. my right eye began to swell. I took benadryl and carefully put lotion on it, but knew if it was worse I would have to go to the University Clinic.
The next morning my eye was completely swollen shut. I called the Clinic at 7:30 a.m. and they opened up at 8 and said they could get me in no appointment neccessary. The following is my best recollection of the conversation with me and the nurse.

Me: "Goodmorning, I called about a half hour ago about poison ivy on my face and the nurse said to come in at 8"
Nurse: "Do you have an appointemnt"
Me: No, she said i didn't need one!' (I'm beginning to be annoyed at this point) "How do I make one?"
Nurse: "Pick up that phone and it will automatically call"

I walk about 10 steps to the wall, where an orange phone is on the wall and pick it up. Immediately there is ringing in the phone and at the desk behind me, that I was just at.
The same nurse I was just talking to picks up the ringing phone at her desk.

Nurse: "Hello, How can I help you?
Me: (I am watching the nurse at the desk the whole time)"Yea, I called this morning about poison ivy on my face. I need to make an apointment. "
Nurse: "Ok what time would you like to come in?"
Me: "Well, since I am already here I would like it to be ASAP"
Nurse: "Ok, we can get you in."
Me: "Thanks" (I hang up the phone and go back to the desk, where the same nurse is at.)

After filling out forms and other crap I finally get to see the doctor. I tell him that I have poison ivy on my face and need a steroid shot to relieve it. He says ok, lets do some tests first before we go any further to make sure it is actually poison ivy. He swabs it and scrapes at it and finally leaves to go do tests. About 20 minutes later he comes back in the room and says "Sorry about that, we just needed to make sure it wasn't something else like an STD or something. You were right,it was poison ivy."

I dropped my pants and got a shot in my butt. About an hour later the swelling was gone.

 

[kansasdad]

I have the mother-ship size bottle of Tecnu at home, and a smaller size bottle in the hunting bag. Getting back to the car, gloves off, Tecnu lather the hands, and face, (and any other place that may have been touched by my hands), copious water rinse, and then apply a very small amount of Tecnu again to the hands. It seems like this regimen has significantly reduced my response to exposure, as I know that I am being exposed to the devil weed way more than I have had bad reactions prior to using Tecnu. If some urishiol makes it past the post exposure protocol, then rubbing Tecnu on the affected skin reduces the severity of the outbreak, and reduces the intensity of the itching.

 

[Biscuit Hunter]

Have any of you guys ever heard of using fruit pectin? As in the stuff that you use to make jams and jellies... I have a friend up on Oregon that swears by it. She says that if you eat a small dose of it-- a spoonful of the liquid stuff, or a packet of the powdered mixed into a glass of water or juice-- once a day for a week, and once a month after, that you will be immune, or at least way less sensitive. She says that she used to be highly allergic to it, and after trying the pectin she can rub a leaf on her skin and not break out. It might just be some hippie BS-- I haven't tried it myself, as I don't really run into that stuff around here-- but I figure it's worth a shot if you run into that stuff regularly.

 

[Mudranger1]

The Eastmans say to use tecnu! Just saw the commercial so I'm an expert

 

[tarheel]

Never had a problem with it until after I turned 50 or so. I was wearing shorts and doing nature's business at the edge of the woods when a gust of wind blew a suspended branch of it against the inside of my knee. Within three days it had transferred to the other leg and was advancing North at an alarming rate, being arrested just an inch or so from my nether regions. Now I seem to be susceptible to it at all times and have to really watch where I go.

 

[JohnCushman]

Try benedryl

 

[smalls]

So...

The back of my pantlegs are as stiff as cardboard below the knee as a result of the ooze soaking into the fabric then drying. My forehead looks like I had a hellacious run in with a sizzling hot curling iron despite the fact I don't really grow hair anywhere close to that area any more.

I've had a few more small breakouts on my forearm and chest, but those are limited to just a bump or two. I am doing a good job of refraining from itching but in reality the only thing that sounds pleasant right now would be to walk naked through a carwash with those giant blue rotating brushes. Unfortunately I am pretty sure that is illegal in the state of North Dakota.

I think some of the new breakouts may be from the fact I sorted laundry last night and likely handled the shirt and short I was wearing at the time of exposure. In related news, I've never been nominated for a nobel prize.

Gellar- Good news, I can unequivocally state that no ailment that I have could be classified as an STD... unequivocally.

 

[DaveHawk]

We get it in Md a lot. It takes 14 days for the poison to work its way out of your system , The best I've found is a 10% solution of Bleach in water and apply it often as not to burn your skin.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

I got this info from a slight case of that stuff. A friend who Mows R/Ws for the Parish he lives in said the first thing he does when he hits the kitchen in the morning is to take a coffee cup of White Vinegar mixed with a spoonful of Honey and drinks it. He swears it prevents the reaction ya'll are talking about.
I tried it for a week, it makes for some aweful faces! I told him that crap was for squirting, not drinking! John

 

[buckykm1]

I use to get it really bad when I was younger.
If I even think that I got in it now, I shower and use dish soap to cut the oil from it.
then I wipe down with Rubbing Alcohol
The rubbing Alcohol, will also help keep it from spreading, and helps dry it up sooner.

Kevin