Poison Ivy

[Evans]

As I sat around the house this weekend whimpering over a sever case of poison ivy from an impromptu stream-bed excursion this past Tuesday, I tried to find any postings on the subject of treatment for poison ivy and similar ailments and could not find anything. Is there a link I missed?

If not, I would be curious to read some suggestions on different treatments from accepted medical advice to witches brews and snake oils.

Brian

[mommabetts]

Bath with lye soap, it helps to dry it out. Then treat with Resinal, it is and old medicine that has been around for decades and you don't find it much any more but it works really really well. I have wal mart pharmacy order it for me. hope this helps.

[Guest solius symbiosus]

Future reference, always wash with soap and water, as soon as possible, after contact. I have come in contact with it many times, and while in the field washed with just water from a creek. Doing this, I haven't caught it since I was a child.

Since you already have it, Benadril and calamine.

[Auspex]

Jewel Weed (that orange flowered wild "snapdragon"), crushed and smeared on, is very palliative. The less time since exposure the better. Remember that the clothes you were wearing (including shoes) are now carriers; the urushiol oil that causes the reaction lasts for ever unless washed off; it's the gift that keeps on giving.

[PaleoRon]

Ditto on the Jewel Weed, aka wild Touch-Me-Not. It also works wonders on stinging nettles and sun burn.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

For quick relief that lasts hours, run the afflicted area under the hottest tap water you can stand for 20-30 seconds.

[Auspex]

Ditto on the Jewel Weed, aka wild Touch-Me-Not. It also works wonders on stinging nettles and sun burn.

My Dad (who was a complete woodsman) used to harvest a bunch at the late-summer height of succulence; he would puree it in a blender, and freeze ice cuce trays full of the results for use until next year's crop was available.

[MikeD]

Jewelweed. A natural remedy. Don't know where it grows in TX. I used it in my younger days where it grew wild and it provides some relief. I know you can order it somewhere online. There are some other remedies I have seen in the pharmacy (in smaller towns) that may or may not work. Google will provide you with lots of reading. I try not to get it when possible, wear long pants ands long sleeves when I know I'm going in an infested area and wash as soon as possible after exposure. Sorry for your misery.

[jkfoam]

Brian,

I second Danwoehr's treatment of the hot hot water for itch releif. I also had a bad case of poison ivy this summer. I got mine while harvesting wild Mustang grapes so my wife could make jelly. What I do is take Benedryl 25 mg and rinse affected areas with as hot of water as I can stand. I also use a product called Technu Extreme, a medicated poison ivy scrub. You can go to the doctor. He will probably prescribe Benedryl (50 mg caps), a cortisone cream and in severe cases may recomend a cortisone shot. I really hate poison ivy. For me it takes 2-4 weeks for it to go away regardless of the treatment. Treatment just allows me to survive untill it goes away.

If I just get a spot or two of exposure it will go away in a day or two, but if I really get in to it it takes weeks for it to clear up.

I know full well what poison ivy looks like and I look out for it because we have a lot of it here where I live. But this summer I did not see it in the grapevines. Evidently I rubbed against some poison ivy vines that did not have any leaves on them. I didn't know I was exposed until the rash appeared.

JKFoam

[Maryland Mike]

Washing with one of the Poison Ivy special soaps/neutralizers available at many drugstores should help. Urushiol is an oil that doesn't break down very easily. Whatever soap or cleaner you use, blot, don't rub. That way you won't move the oil around and irritate more skin. If you have available to you one of he enzymatic products that will break down oil that should help. After the oil is removed you want to do what you can to aid healing. Jewelweed is good, if you don't have that, aloe vera works well. Cut a leaf off the plant, squeeze as much of the liquid out of the leaf as you can and dab, again don't rub the juice on as often as necessary for relief.

Taking an extra gram of Vitamin C for a few days won't hurt, chewable or liquid is better than pills you swallow. 200-400 milligrams of Grapeseed extract or Pinebark extract (Pycnogenol) or sometimes called OPCs can help as it has an antihistaminic effect without the downside of an oral antihistimine. Topical Benedryl on the exposed area is definitely helpful as well.

Hope you recover soon.

[JohnJ]

...

I second Danwoehr's treatment of the hot hot water for itch releif. I also had a bad case of poison ivy this summer. I got mine while harvesting wild Mustang grapes so my wife could make jelly. What I do is take Benedryl 25 mg and rinse affected areas with as hot of water as I can stand. I also use a product called Technu Extreme, a medicated poison ivy scrub. You can go to the doctor. He will probably prescribe Benedryl (50 mg caps), a cortisone cream and in severe cases may recomend a cortisone shot. I really hate poison ivy. For me it takes 2-4 weeks for it to go away regardless of the treatment. Treatment just allows me to survive untill it goes away.

....

Brian,

I have to agree with these guys and others. My wife has more of a reaction than I do. We also use the Technu products with some success. I think you have about 8 hours to wash the oil off if you use the Technu.

Poison Ivy only grows where there are fossils or other treasures. We've had to literally wade through it at times along waterways to get where we needed. The important thing is to wash the oil off in the creek or river asap. Like Auspex said, you also have to keep track of where it has touched your clothes, or it will launch a counter offensive.

[Evans]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I seem to be very susceptible to poison ivy, sumac and oak. I have had countless encounters all my life and never seem to avoid it no matter how much I look out for it. I think I contacted this batch when I walked right up on a cottonmouth sunning on the side of the bank and after wetting my pants I slowly walked back wards away and not in exactly the same direction I walked in. This makes sense as most of the rash is on the underside of both forearms. (I hate snakes, I love them for the purpose they serve, but I really hate them out in the bush.)

I have tried quite a few of the over the counter treatments and get the best results from a herb that I grow called comfrey. Its a great landscape plant works real well for insects bites and stings.

I going to look into the jewelweed and see if it can be grown in deep south Texas and give the hot water treatment a try also.

Thanks again,

Brian

[Guest solius symbiosus]

If for nothing else, "jewel weed" makes a good pot herb... quite tasty, it is.

[screweduptexan]

I've been reading this post and I am quite interested in the jewel weed, does it grow in North Texas by any chance? Anyone know?

[Auspex]

...does it grow in North Texas by any chance? Anyone know?

You should be able to find it, in proper habitat. I don't think West Texas has any. Here's the Wikipedia link (with pictures):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impatiens_capensis

[screweduptexan]

Thanks...I will have to keep a better look out.

[Ronbo]

Sure glad that stuff dont bother me, hope ya get it gone,

ya gotta watch when ya burn that stuff in a brush pile too a friend of mine got it in his lungs and throat from breathing smoke froma fire we were burning, He almost died from it and spent a couple weeks in the hospital..

[Auspex]

Sure glad that stuff dont bother me...

Don't take that for granted; with repeated exposure, most people eventually become sensitive. Enjoy it while you can...

[screweduptexan]

Don't take that for granted; with repeated exposure, most people eventually become sensitive. Enjoy it while you can...

Absolutely true...I never got poision ivy rashes when I was younger...only until I 6 months pregnant with my second child. I have also read this in the Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine too. My favorite mag subscription by far.

[Phoenixflood]

Future reference, always wash with soap and water, as soon as possible, after contact. I have come in contact with it many times, and while in the field washed with just water from a creek. Doing this, I haven't caught it since I was a child.

Since you already have it, Benadril and calamine.

Calamine always worked for me. Hope it gets better soon!

[Boesse]

OK, a few tips from someone who is hypersensitive to poison oak (a very, very small percentage of human beings) on how to avoid it breaking out:

1). NEVER, EVER (I cannot stress this enough) EVER take a bath, or a hot shower to clean it off. NEVER. It opens up your pores and lets the oil into your skin. If you take a bath, even a cold bath, the poison oak oil spreads to the rest of your body - this can make the rash appear over your entire body.

2). Instead, take an ice cold shower, and use DISH soap - you get the rash from the poison oak/ivy oil; a soap that cuts grease well will do the trick. Systematically wash exposed areas (i.e. arms/legs if you wore shorts/t shirt) first.

3). Learn to identify it in the field, by the various shapes of the leaves, including the vines during the winter; the wood of poison oak has just as much (if not more) oil than the leaves, and touching a branch/vine of it is just as bad, and much easier due to the difficulty in identifying it. And, of course, avoid it like the plague.

4). If you know you've touched it with your hand, wash them! Bring soap with you into the field and wash your hands in a stream. Also, if you know the plant has touched your clothes, don't let ANYTHING (object, hand, or otherwise) touch that article of clothing, because then you will either have it on your hands or on a tool, and you will spread it to everything you touch.

5). ALWAYS wash your hands BEFORE you take a leak. VERY IMPORTANT!!!! Trust me, I learned this the VERY, VERY, VERY hard and PAINFUL way in middle school.

6). If you are really sensitive (like I am), be very vigilant, if not downright paranoid about it. In some areas, I just avoid everything green in general, unless I can identify it as not poison oak by its leaves.

Lastly, as far as treatments, the only thing that works for me is to use Diprolene, a doctor prescribed steroid cream. You use it as soon as a rash appears, and it takes out the rash within 4-8 hours. After the complete rash appears, there is not much you can do. The rash usually shows up within 24 hours; after 24-28 hours, and nothing shows up, you can stop worrying about it.

In my case, my skin will show the rash, and then little bubbles will appear; these bubbles will grow, and the rash will expand outwards anywhere from a few mm to 2-3cm; the bubbles will grow in size and fill with pus until they reach ~5mm wide. Often they break as the membrane thins during expansion, and the rash turns more into a large scab, and the pus hardens to a yellow crust, which becomes extremely painful, in addition to the pain of the rash itself.

The extreme form of dermatitis I experience when exposed to poison oak is why I am so paranoid and vigilant about avoiding the heck out of it; often it is hard not to panic if I even imagine that I have touched a leaf or branch of it.

Also, don't burn poison oak ever; the smoke gets the urushiol oil into your lungs; it is extremely dangerous to get dermatitis in your lungs, and it sometimes results in death.

[tracer]

yeah, ALL that! and if you're in another thread on this board, don't be using poison oak logs to cook your pig intestine contents souffle, neither! you don't want to die of poison oak log smoke stomach evisceration with your last dying memory being the taste of a pig intestine contents souffle!

[tracer]

p.s. - i used zanfel before for dermatitis ivyis terribilis, but your mileage may vary.

[MikeD]

I've been reading this post and I am quite interested in the jewel weed, does it grow in North Texas by any chance? Anyone know?

I've seen it in Texas, just can't remember where. Seems like it was in east and northeast Texas would be the most likely spots. Don't ever recall seeing it around my part of the state. Once you know what it looks like, it is pretty easy to spot. Usually grows near water (and poison ivy) on a bank, low area, ditch, etc.

5). ALWAYS wash your hands BEFORE you take a leak. VERY IMPORTANT!!!! Trust me, I learned this the VERY, VERY, VERY hard and PAINFUL way in middle school.

Also, don't burn poison oak ever; the smoke gets the urushiol oil into your lungs; it is extremely dangerous to get dermatitis in your lungs, and it sometimes results in death.

Boesse, great advice. Sorry for your misfortune.

I knew someone who burned poison ivy on a log in the fireplace. Everyone in the house got it in their throats and lungs and it was not pleasant for them.

When in the field I always stay away from tree trunks with vines, especially hairy, incredibly clingy ones. I also remove any vine found on firewood (using gloves) and usually reject that piece of wood if others are available.

[jpbowden]

While clearing some land with my brother, I had to relieve myself. It was really a bad day.