Consuming Poison Ivy makes you immune?

Its also possible for immunity to the urishiol oil to subside if you're regularly exposed which is one good reason not to roll around in a patch of poison ivy, let alone eat it, for any reason.

As a kid my brother and I both never had a problem with it, used to chase the other kids around with it. Now I get it two or three times a year on average, mostly because I refuse to wear jeans in the summer down here. I stil lremember the first time I got it. The itch bothered me so much that I heated up a butter knife and burned the rash area. 2nd degree burns were better than that hellacious itch!

Now I just load up on benadryl instead. :D
 
The REAL Commander said:
Eating poison ivy sounds is a really stupid thing to do. Even if it was to bolster a person's immunity, WHY? It is not an edible herb, leaf, or rootcrop, and if ingested, can cause massive discomfort, organ failure, and all sorts of side effects that nobody wishes upon themselves nor their worst enemy. Anyone thinking of trying this should dummy up, and think whether or not it would be wise for a person with grass allergies to munch on a bag of lawn clippings! This has to be the stupidest thing I have read here so far!
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actually its been gathered for food for centuries, genrally its made into broths or soups, or tea.
 
Why is everyone asking "why?" It says why in the article!

I've read some anecdotes about the efficacy of this treatment. It would seem that it works, except in cases where it doesn't. In which case, it really doesn't. I take the anecdotes with a grain of salt, and prefer to avoid the stuff, myself.
 
Mentor said:
I'm pretty immune to the stuff as is, but even if I wasn't, I would hesitate to do something like this.

One of the best ways to gauge the reasonableness of activities like this is to think "if this goes terribly wrong, how will it look in my obituary?"

And, on balance, "tragically passed away from explosive internal swelling after voluntarily consuming quantities of poison ivy in a submarine sandwich" would make for a rough exit note.

All the best,

- Mike
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Fantastic post..laugh out loud!
 
Horn Dog said:
Maybe you could smoke it.
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Hey Horn Dog, I'm guessing that you're kidding around. For those that don't know any better, the smoke from Poison Ivy can give you the rash IN YOUR LUNGS!!!! if you're allergic. I read in a book (The Poison Ivy, Oak and Sumac book, seen here) that people have died from that very thing. DO NOT DO IT!!!

Doc
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Hey Horn Dog, I'm guessing that you're kidding around. For those that don't know any better, the smoke from Poison Ivy can give you the rash IN YOUR LUNGS!!!! if you're allergic. I read in a book (The Poison Ivy, Oak and Sumac book, seen here) that people have died from that very thing. DO NOT DO IT!!!

Doc
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This is the truth. When I was young, I had a friend who was very allergic. While staying at my country house, a neighbor was burning weeds (including poison ivy). We had to rush him to the emergency room later that night only to learn he had contracted the PI rash in his lungs from the oils carried by the smoke.

As for me, my father is immune, I used to get it pretty bad about once a year, until my teens, I've not got it since. [fingers crossed]
 
An old employer and friend of mine told me that when he was a kid in the 1940's, his aunt told him this myth. She actually went so far to make him a poison ivy "sandwich". He and his brother spent a week in the hospital in pretty dire shape.
Anyone propagating that kind of info should be slapped.
 
I used to be immune.
Then I decided to show off my immunity and rubbed some of the crap all over myself. :rolleyes:
This childish demonstration resulted in just a few spotty blisters on my skin.
I've gotten the full-blown rashes ever since.

The "cure" that I have read about does not involve munching on the leaves, but rather ingesting them inside gel caps to prevent exposure to sensitive tissues. IIRC- one is to begin in spring when the leaves first begin to bud, and pluck one small leaf each day, place it inside a gel cap, and swallow as you would a pill or vitamin. Supposedly, if you do this from spring to fall - through an entire growing season- you will boost your resistence/reduce your sensitivity.

I might be a little more inclined to try this method over a rhus radicans salad. :barf:
 
Doc,

You sissy - I have been main lining and free basing Poison Ivy for years.

It never hurt me.

Of course my wife calls me Blister Head Johnson - but hey....


TF
 
Tecnu

This stuff is the best. It works very well as long as you are aware before the outbreak of rash that you've been into thte poison ivy.
 
I have several books on edible and poisonous plants, and poison ivy is one you really don't want to ingest. Some suggest you can make tea with it, which seems sensible since the boiling will break down the toxins to some degree, but it really is not food upon which one may sustain himself. Of the various toxic plants and berries that the books cover, many are noted to have been used at some time by some native peoples for teas and so forth, but all come with strict warnings about doing so. Things like teas and soups made with toxic plants are not terribly harmful in small doses, but believe me, your kidneys and liver take a pounding if you overdo it, and often your bowels will become extremely irritated as well. Personally, even if I was highly allergic to Ivy, I would much prefer to wear long pants as opposed to taking chances on bolstering my immune system by ingesting the stuff. Cripes, spicy chili upsets my gut enough, I can't imagine what PI would do, I'd probably be pissin' out m'arse hole for six weeks.
 
Marty Simon has done it, and says it seems to work for him... one thing that he did that i think is important if you were to do this: he picked the tiniest, earliest leaves off of the vine and ate those. he worked up to the larger leaves through the season. he said he ate a couple of the little leaves every year after the first year. he says that he hasn't had any leaves in a few years, and still seems immune.

i prefer to just try to avoid it. i'm not terribly allergic, so far, so any rash i get has been pretty mild. i usually just scrape the blisters until they pop and soak in rubbing alcohol, and let it alone after that.
 
One of the instructors from a wild plants class I took told me this eating PI thing and then demonstrated it. It was hilarious. He said, "as long as it's a little baby new-growth leaf, it hasn't yet started to make the oil which causes the reaction, so it's perfectly safe." Then, he popped a little leaf in his mouth and swallowed it. He immediately started hacking and coughing. I turned to Donovan and said, "holy sh!t, this should be interesting! lol" Turns out he just threw it a little too far back and it choked him a little. Donovan and I thought for sure we were going to see a dumbass die that day. He was alright though. Still, I'm not trying that stuff. He looked around at everyone else in the class and they all bent down and picked a little leaf and ate and and me and Donovan just stood there. He said, "are you guys going to try it?" I said, "uh... I'll just stick to the traditional method, which is not touching it. Thanks though."
 
I have heard (and I raise goats, so I run in those circles...no jokes :) ) that if you turn a goat out on the poison Ivy and let them eat it (which they do) and then drink the milk it will lessen your reaction.
 
okbohn said:
I have heard (and I raise goats, so I run in those circles...no jokes :) ) that if you turn a goat out on the poison Ivy and let them eat it (which they do) and then drink the milk it will lessen your reaction.
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very interesting......Ive never heard that.:thumbup:

Goats:D
 
I have a remedy that has worked for years.
Know what it looks like and stay the heck away from it.
 
siguy said:
Marty Simon has done it, and says it seems to work for him... one thing that he did that i think is important if you were to do this: he picked the tiniest, earliest leaves off of the vine and ate those. he worked up to the larger leaves through the season. he said he ate a couple of the little leaves every year after the first year. he says that he hasn't had any leaves in a few years, and still seems immune.

i prefer to just try to avoid it. i'm not terribly allergic, so far, so any rash i get has been pretty mild. i usually just scrape the blisters until they pop and soak in rubbing alcohol, and let it alone after that.
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Marty talked about this also during his class. He was also very quick to tell us to try it our own risk. Everyone reacts differently. Some are severly allergic and some not so bad. There is actually a prescription you can get from an allergist that works like the eating baby leaves thing. It starts with small dosages of the oil and gradually gets larger over time. Allthough they test you before just writing you a prescription.

There is a right way and wrong way to do everything. Just grabbing a PI leaf and stuffing it down your throat or in a sandwich is the STUPID way.
By the way, I wouldn't do it at all. I'm with the avoid it crowd!

Even with well known edible wild plants, if you never ate it before you should try a lil first then wait a while. This way if your gonna have an allergic reaction, it's not to a large quantity of it.
 
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