Consuming Poison Ivy makes you immune?

No way. Just no way. I am not super allergic, but I don't think I would EVER have it in me to EAT the stuff.
 
Just reading this thread is making my insides itch. I've had a pretty bad case of Poison Ivy and that was on the outside. What's in a name, geesh.
 
I'm immune to poison ivy on my skin but got the oil from a leaf in my eye once... bad mojo! :eek:
 
As a kid, the old timers I spent time around used to say that the Pomo Indians would to grind up small amounts of Poison Oak and mix it with acorns and berries to build up resistance to it. I always wondered if that was true or not, and I still don't. As for me personally, I used to get it real bad from about 9-19 years old, but hardly ever get it now. Either I have built up a resistance to the stuff, or got a bit smarter about avoiding it.
 
An old friend of mine used to make tea of poison oak to build immunity, as mentioned by Bushman5 and Lycosa. I wouldn't try it. I'll just wear long pants/shirts, be careful, and carry zanfel.

DancesWithKnives
 
If you are allergic why in the name of god would you eat it,life's hard when your dumb......
 
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My worthless brother in law(kidding buddy if you're reading this) is immune to it. He's a real woodsman and was out in the woods and nature called, so he pissed. He had it on his hands and it got onto his pecker. Obviously, he was immune. That night he had marital relations with my sister, who is highly allergic to poison ivy. Needless to say, she was in great discomfort and pain.
 
For the love of God, do not eat any poison ivy. No one is immune to poison ivy. There are people who are not allergic to it, but that may or may not last your entire life. Allergies develop after your immune system is exposed to an allergen, say the urushiol in the poison ivy. When exposed, your body may or may not develop antibodies to the components of the oil. The next time you are exposed, you may or may not have a reaction based on whether your immune system decided to respond to your previous exposure. If you have ever been exposed to poison ivy, almost everyone has, the next time you come in contact with it you could develop a rash or not develop a rash and there is no way to predict it. Eating the leaves will expose your esophagus, trachea and intestines to the urushiol. You are playing Russian roulette if you eat it.
 
I started a thread about this at the beginning of the year if anyone wants to do a search.

I again, this year did eat poison ivy. The method I learned was starting in the spring with the first growth, eat one leaf each week for nine weeks and you are supposed to be immune for the rest of year.

While I did not get poison ivy (haven't for over 20 years), I cannot say for sure eating it built an immunity. I am starting to believe that you are either immune to the allegeric reaction or your not ~ and that can change at any given point, wheter you eat it or not. Lots of very well respected experts who have differeing opinions on it effectivness.

If you decide to try this (which I am do not recommend), I would NOT make a tea of it ~ poison ivy in water becomes a solution of poison ivy (teas are not boiled or cooked).

Based on experience from myself and others I know that do this, putting a leaf of your tongue without touching your lips or face has caused no problems. While smoke from poison ivy smoke is documented (CDC for example) to cause very serious lung problems; I have not seen any such documentation of ingesting poison ivy, but I did read a lot of heresay in this thread.

It was also posted teas of toxic plants in small doses are not terribly harmful and there have been other comments in this thread that are based on pure conjecture. I just want to point out if we are going to share information about edible and medicinal plants, we should be more careful in future statements.

As it was pointed out to me one time in this forum, there are young and/or inexperienced folks trying to learn and an inaccurate statement on this subject could get someone hurt or worse.

Peace, Chris
 
"If you decide to try this (which I am do not recommend), I would NOT make a tea of it ~ poison ivy in water becomes a solution of poison ivy (teas are not boiled or cooked)." -Quiet Bear

If you are making a tea from a wild plant, I bloody well hope it is being boiled son. This is not kitchen art, and does not involve delicately submersing commercially harvested herbs in warm water to get a flavor. No. Teas from wild plants must be boiled. I agree that even if boiled, just do not make teas from toxic plants. This we can agree on. For any others, If you don't trust my 76 years of experience, then go ahead and dip your toxic plants in water to obtain flavor. Don't tell anyone you were not warned, however. :thumbdn:
 
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The REAL Commander said:
"If you decide to try this (which I am do not recommend), I would NOT make a tea of it ~ poison ivy in water becomes a solution of poison ivy (teas are not boiled or cooked)." -Quiet Bear

If you are making a tea from a wild plant, I bloody well hope it is being boiled son. This is not kitchen art, and does not involve delicately submersing commercially harvested herbs in warm water to get a flavor. No. Teas from wild plants must be boiled. I agree that even if boiled, just do not make teas from toxic plants. This we can agree on. For any others, If you don't trust my 76 years of experience, then go ahead and dip your toxic plants in water to obtain flavor. Don't tell anyone you were not warned, however. :thumbdn:
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I respectfully disagree. Putting leaves, bark or roots in boiling water breaks down organic materials (chemical compounds) you are trying to benefit from because there is to much heat. Teas from the wild plants I know such as sassafras, white pine, pippsewa, etc. should be steeped for maximum effectiveness.
 
I'm no expert, but boiling Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) for tea makes it taste like s**t! Made it really hard for the vodka to drown out the bad taste :rolleyes:. Also, boiling releases tannins (assuming whatever you're using contains tannins) that will make your teas bitter. Come to think of it, it may have been tannins that the Wintergreen released.

Doc
 
I realise only know that I typed "wild plants" and not "toxic plants", certainly my mistake. Apart from this, I certainly won't sit here and argue, if something works for a given person, then wonderful, have at 'er death adder.

Speaking of Sassafras, what wonderful stuff! We used to make real root beer when I was a kid, and I swear it had intoxicating effects. Either that or the atmosphere was intoxicating itself, snowy winter days with my grandad. Mmm, been w while indeed. Juniper tea was another favorite.
 
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