It wouldn't be Fourth of July without...

cmdr249

cmdr249

Joined
Dec 29, 2007
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1,402
Poison Ivy. :grumpy:

I woke up and found a small patch on my primary hand - on the outside of the knuckles between the nails and the second joints.

I was outside playing with a chopper and must not have seen it mixed where I was. I'm going to re-check the area later to confirm.

Now, it's been so long since I've had it, what is the advice of W&SS members? What are your treatments and real experiences? What information do you believe or have found to be true or false? Spreading of the rash?

So far I've washed the areas, cleaned them with alcohol, applied calamine, and actually put band-aids over the patches because of where it is on the outside fingers of my primary hand - contact areas and I have a child I don't want to risk spreading it to. Of course, then I get paranoid about it spreading...food, keyboard, eyes...I know, paranoia.

Give me some of your real life effective treatments.

Happy Independence Day!
 
Go swimming in a swimming pool, dries it up quick. All 3 of my boys got into it this year, after going swimming, it dried up within a day.
 
I use to get it real bad, now I don't. If I get a few patches on my hand, I get some oatmeal soap and a nail scrub brush and go to work on it. You will break open the bubbles of it and and the oatmeal soap will help dry it out. I pat it dry with a paper towel and try not to touch it. I do that a couple times a day and its usually gone in a day or two.
 
i haven't got it too bad yet but last year what i did was rub it hard with rubbing alcohol, to break open the bubbles and dry them up.

this year i just rub some peanut butter into it to stop it from itching...
 
I have used CHICKWEED for years. I go through two cans of it a year between the family and the dogs. A friend of mine from the Amish gave me a can to try. I was in there buying leather and we were talking about camping and hiking, and I said my poor dog got into some poison ivy and came back and got it on my legs. He gave me a can and said try this and if you don't like it bring it back, if you do like it come back and pay me for it. A couple weeks later I was back paying for that can. Best $9 I spent, and I have bought at least another 10 cans from him and I am not sure how many the rest of my family have bought.

I have a small flat ear plug case I carry some in when out in the field.

http://www.chickweedhealingsalve.com/index.htm


This is something else he gave me to try for my dog, but I never used it. I gave it to my nephew for his dog. They spent over $2000 at the vets trying to get the dogs skin disease under control and never did. They put this on and in two weeks he started to grow hair for the first time since they rescued him. Look at the testimonials, and pictures.

http://www.schreiners.com/

My Amish friend said they use this on themselves as well as their horses all the time.
 
Its expensive, but I've had good luck with Zanfel the most and Tecnu second.

j williams said:
Go swimming in a swimming pool, dries it up quick. All 3 of my boys got into it this year, after going swimming, it dried up within a day.
Click to expand...

Must be the chlorine in the pool. I remember my grandmother using chlorine bleach diluted on it when I was a kid.
 
Try Oak-n-Ivy CalaGel. It is available at Wally World. Hope you get over it quickly.
 
http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/hydro/jewelwed.htm

I used to have to go to see a doctor at least once a year due to my hypersensitivity where I'd receive oral steroid treatments...it sucked but I didn't let it keep me indoors, so I kept getting poison ivy. Ever since I was turned on to Jewel Weed I've been able to treat myself.
 
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Poison ivy won't spread once you've washed off the urushiol (the oil that actually causes the rash). You can get re-exposed if you touch something that has touched the plant, like the clothes you were wearing, or the chopper you were playing with. I'd make sure you wash that knife off really well, and clean out the sheath if you can. I recall reading a story of a guy who kept getting rashes on his hands and they finally figured out that he had gotten into poison ivy at the park or something, then drove his car and spread the oil all over his steering wheel.

Check out poison-ivy.org for all kinds of info and pics of plants and rashes.
 
A good solid soap like Ivory, will help dry your skin. Plus the old fashioned soaps are very alkaline based. The alkaline conditions deactivate the poison ivy protein so that it doesn't continue to aggrevate you. I get use Ivory soap with a somewhat rough facecloth and really scrub the affected area well.
 
Poison Ivy Soap, by Burts Bees was my staple of dealing with poison ivy. I've tried lots of different things (sometimes at wits end), such as dish-soap, toothpaste, alcohol, triple antibiotic cream, etc, in various attempts at drying it out or soothe itching. Tecnu and CalaGel amongst them; I'm sure I'm part of the minority, but for some reason put them back on the shelf. I think I ended up using dish-soap primarily, as what I would leave applied.. I don't think I've ever tried the oatmeal, but anything that's supposed to work is worth a shot at least once, and I'll keep that in mind, just in case.

Hot showers gave me relief, I think from stimulating blood-flow and releasing histamines(?). Can't say why for sure. If I wasn't going for the full body immersion of a shower, cold felt better than hot, and should help restrict 'weeping'.
I haven't thought of a pool, but that sounds like a great idea to keep in mind, just in case! Sounds much more fun & friendly than bleach-water.

Jewel weed is supposedly good within the first half-hour of contact. Plentiful around here, and one of the few plants easy for me to ID. Unfortunately, the few times I've had it (more than enough), I didn't realize til later. Usually focused on work, and very sweaty with open pores; don't wipe the sweat off your face with an exposed limb or clothing! So keep up awareness while working around the buggers; even if you aren't susceptible, someone else might be.

The oil can last for months (supposedly years), on tools, gloves, doorknob, even the dead plant (and everything they've touched). It creates an allergic reaction with the skin, and, if I'm not mistaken, your immune system is taking over from there and creating the wild reaction (tiny amount of oil necessary to cause).. I wish it took a back-seat in this department/'over-developed immune-response that seems like a false-alarm firedrill that still gets you out of bed and into the cold in the middle of the night..' ah, college..), especially since I seem to only recently becoming susceptible, and each time is worse (coincidence? hope so!).

The leaking/oozing is your own body fluid, and not the urushiol(sp?) oil itself. By the time you've thoroughly cleaned your tools, clothing, and self, you should not be considered contagious.

Considering you are responsible for a child, I would suggest you confirm that statement (contagious or not) with a doctor you trust, or other valid source, before too much contact (i.e. making his food or washing his clothes) and make sure all contaminated objects are disinfected before they touch anything else or go to storage.
I'm not an M.D., but I date one; I wish she had a magic wand for all life's ailments, but she's still hiding it from me. She said I wasn't contagious for a family-gathering; my uncle is a VA doctor, and didn't want me to hug my cousins/his daughters, at the time, due to the possibility of contagion. I don't know whether that was a function of him being a protective father (he is), or being a doctor knowing something I didn't (also possible). Best to be safe as reasonable/possible, with the little ones.

Goodluck to you & yours, and a Happy belated 4th!:)
 
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