Poison Ivy

O

Old 3 Toes

Joined
Feb 25, 2000
Messages
58
Can you gain an amunity to poison ivy by being exposed to it enough?

------------------
"Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Matt. 10:16
 
No. That is not the way it works.

Desensitization is achieved by exposing a person to less and less of an allergic compound over several (6-8 MINIMUM) months. These are the 'allergy shots' with which most people are at least passingly familiar.

Desensitization doesn't work with all substances, or with all types of immune responses. If you go into anaphylactic shock (rash, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, sometimes death) from a bee sting, NO allergist in his right mind would try to desensitize you. He would be afraid of precipitating the anaphylactic shock again.

Repeated exposure to skin allergens, including poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, etc. tends to actually WORSEN the skin reaction.

Treatment? Prevention. Stay away from the stuff, wear long sleeves and pants, shower as soon as you get home, keep a tube of high potency steroid that you got from your doctor around, and some oral antihistamines (Benadryl, Chlorphineramine, etc.). Use the steroid cream and antihistamines if you get a rash despite your precautions.

One old wives' tale: the fluid from an allergen can cause an allergic reaction in another person, or spread it on you. WRONG. The allergen caused your skin to be so irritated that cellular fluid leaked out, forming a blister. The fluid inside the blister is sterile, and doesn't contain any allergen (that is bound to your skin). What CAN happen is you leave your clothes around, touch them putting them into the washer, and smear more allergen on yourself (or your wife). So, turn your clothes inside out when you take them off, and keep outside boots for outside. You can wash the boots with saddle soap if you really have to use them inside.

Hope this helps,

Walt Welch MD
 
That is exactly what I didn't want to hear.
mad.gif
wink.gif


I'm very allergic to poison ivy, and love the outdoors. Oh well, just got to be careful I guess. Thanks a million for the good info!
smile.gif


------------------
"Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Matt. 10:16
 
Old 2 toes,
I'm extremely allergic to the stuff and I'm constantly in the outdoors. Last time I got it, it was so severe that my whole body swelled up. Had to go to the Doc and get an antibiotic shot. He said it was the worst case he had every seen. It reminded him of a seconds degree burn. I just try to avoid it and always wash my hands or exposed parts immediately.
 
I have always lived in the city and only recently moved here to the mountains. I have never realy had to deal with plants or gardening before. When we got this property it needed a lot of yard work and I was ready for it. The first thing I did was bust out the "weed-wacker" (big mistake in the middle of summer). Atomizing poison ivy is never a good idea. Needles to say the next month of my life was a living hell.

------------------
"Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Matt. 10:16
 
Cesar; what your doctor gave you was a steroid shot, not an antibiotic shot. The problem is inflammation, not infection.

If topical steroid creams and oral antihistamines don't work, then oral steroids (prednisone) are the next step; only in severe cases with perioral (around the mouth) swelling are parenteral steroids needed, then they are given by IV.

What your doctor may have done is give you a long lasting preparation of steroids; this is an acceptable method of treating, but really offers no advantage over oral steroids.

Walt
 
The Doc's advice on taking a shower is good, but you can't just shower as normal to get the oils off IME. I thought I was immune to the stuff, until I started doing archaeology. When doing shovel probe surveys one is not allowed to go around questionable looking areas. You pick a bearing, and start walking it. The Tecnu soap works great, but is expensive if you have to use it a lot. Dawn dish washing detergent works really well also. Wash every part of your body with these soaps in luke warm water. Hot water may or may not make the oils spread more (depends on who you talk to and it certainly isn't gospel). Wash all of your clothes immediately. The irritant oils can stay active for quite a while. (I got PI from a pair of boots that I had not worn for almost a year). Wash down any thing that may have come in contact with it.

As a kid I could roll around in the stuff. I wish someone had told me about the cumulative effects a few years ago! I got the stuff on my hands one day and kept pulling up a pair of heavily gear laden BDU's! I got poison ivy all around where my waist band on my pants was. I was miserable wearing any type of pants for a week!

I had one small spot on my arm one year that got really bad and didn't respond to much home treatment. I finally got rid of it, but that spot itched for a year after it was gone. I don't know if it was psychosomatic (is that the right spelling Walt?) or what.

In archaeological field school one of the girls had blisters near a very sensitive area! She asked the doctor for a steroid shot which he declined saying he only gave them in extreme cases. She promptly dropped trou and "mooned" him while asking, "Is this serious enough?" She promptly got her shot.
smile.gif
(She was a real cutie too, so I'm sure the doc didn't mind her directness!)

I wish the government would spend as much money trying to eradicate PI as they have pot. They would truly be doing a service in that case.
cool.gif


------------------
Paul Davidson

Them:"What's that clipped to your pocket, a beeper?"
Me:"Uuh....yeah, something like that."
 
O3T,

Repeated exposure can sensitize you to the substance in question. You may go for long periods of time exposed to relatively minor concentrations of a substance an "suddenly" have a reaction. Subsequent exposures will result in more severe reactions.

Sorry,

Mike Crenshaw
 
Walt,

So what you are saying is that the fluid from poison ivy blisters is NOT a spreading agent?

If you get PI and clean your clothes properly and wash your body well enough does that mean you can scratch and not spread the stuff??

I usually soak a washcloth in Isopropyl alcahol and srub the blisters until they bleed. The poison ivy is gone by moring. I don't know if this is very inteligent but it works every time.

I just got PI 3 days ago. I took care of my hands with my above mentioned technique but could not perform that procedure on "the other" location. Yup, I got PI on my you know what. Must have been from getting it on my hands and then going to the bathroom outdoors.

My doctor gave me a shot and some prednisone pills.
He told me not to break the blisters. If this will not cause spreading, then why do Dr's always tell you not to break them?

Thanks for the help Walt.



------------------

Louis Buccellato
http://www.themartialway.com
Knives, Weapons and equipment. Best prices anywhere.
-------------

"only the paranoid will survive":)


 
The actual fluid applied to you by the plant can spread the rash, but the fluid in the blisters cannot. Doctors tell you (rightfully so) not to break blisters because they can easily get infected.

--JB

------------------
e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
I have been around poison ivy all my life and luckily never been affected by it (knock on wood) but I heard one thing recently that gave me cause to take it very seriously.

I was told that if poison ivy is burned it can enter the lungs and spread from there causing very serious issues. I have no idea if this is true or not but since some old timers around me like to burn their ditches and even fields sometimes I pay much more attention to the smoke now.

Also I found out that someone can become allergic to something like snapping a fingers. My wife worked in a nursing home for years, and they used the same cleaner. One night she almost died from an allergic reaction to it and we found out it was the chorine family she ahd become allergic to. We found this out by going in her parents swimming pool , which we had used constantly up to that point and she had an intense reacion to it.

------------------
Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
If you get PI on your skin will it take effect immidiately or is there a time margin where you can wash it off before it sets in?? Also, if it is on you what is the best method of stoping it? Would alcahol work well??

------------------

Louis Buccellato
http://www.themartialway.com
Knives, Weapons and equipment. Best prices anywhere.
-------------

"only the paranoid will survive":)


 
You guys are great! E_utopia is absolutely correct.

Indeed, repeated exposure to some chemicals can cause a sensitivity after many exposures.

Louis; I am not that familiar with poison ivy, as we only have poison oak in CA. However, since all these topical irritants work the same, I assume that there is a time during which you can wash the sap off before it will cause symptoms. Plain old soap and water work just fine. There is a theory that warm water will worsen it, but I have not found this to be the case with poison oak. I just shower normally, and even after 4 to 6 hours of weed whacking poison oak, I do not get symptoms. Of course, YMMV. Walt
 
Sorry; forgot Lee's question. Absolutely you can get poison oak (and, I presume, ivy) from the smoke of the burning plant. This can cause cutaneous (skin) reactions, and even sometimes mucosal (mouth, airway) reactions.

Poison oak reactions disable firefighters involved in fighting brush or forest fires in CA more so than any other cause.

Walt
 
Thanks Walt, I will definitly be careful around fires now, we ahve a lot of poison ivy in the area and I dont even want to think about getting it in my lungs.

------------------
Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
Just an FYI, the chemical irritant iin poison oak and poison ivy is identical. I know Granny used to say she could tell the difference (at least mine did) but it "ain't so."
 
Jack; thanks for the info. Are you a biochemist? That is how I got my start in science. Just curious.

One humerous thing about poison oak; I would always tell the men who had the rash that it was OK to put it on their penis. They would startle, and blush sometimes, then look relieved; you see, everyone who gets the sap on their hands probably urinates during the hike, thus contaminating the penis. The men are ashamed to admit it, however, as they think the doctor would assume they had been, er, ah, persuing romantic endeavors in the bush.
wink.gif


Women have different problems. My then wife, Liz, and I were hiking at Point Reyes. She went into the bushes to wee-wee. I heard this blood curdling scream, and ran into the bushes after her, thinking the worst. As it turned out, she had actually sat on a bush, and it was a stinging nettle!! For some reason, she didn't think it was as funny as I did! heh heh heh Walt
 
Hey Guys..
Just thought I'd trow in my .02 cents...

I've never had it... I've touched it before but have Never been infected...

I don't go out of my way to go around it,, but if I see it I won't play with it or anything...

Have you guys ever tried Ivy Block ?
It is suppose to block the PI from getting to you....

One thing, and this is VERY IMPORTANT!!!

Do Not Burn it!!
The oils get in the air,, and this will mess you up in a BIG WAY....
There are many chems that will kill it,, but even dry or dead vines carry oils,,so touch them with disposable gloves if you have to...

If you get it really bad,, you can make an extract from Acorns (Tanic Acid). This is wiped onto the skin and will help get rid of it.. Some people say they get relief from PI only a day or two from using the concoction...

Boil a large pot of Acorns,,Acorn parts or Oak bark.. Use what is left to wipe on your body....

Good luck!!

ttyle Eric...

------------------
Eric E. Noeldechen
On/Scene Tactical
http://www.mnsi.net/~nbtnoel
Custom made, High Quality
Concealex Sheaths and Tool Holsters
Canada's Only Custom Concealex Shop!

 
Be careful when you take a leak in the woods! I managed to get poison oak on my wee-wee while on a dove hunt. Talk about unconfortable! Luckily, it only lasted a week or two, and was pretty mild compared to a poison ivy rash. Thankfully, I was single at the time.....

Wanna get a really nasty rash? Try some poison sumac. My sister got some one year, and it took over a month of aggressive treatment for it to go away. Much worse than her usual poison ivy rashes.
 
Normark

What is Ivy Block and where can I get some?!!
Never heard of it here in the states. I'm going out into the field this summer for one month and won't have access to showers except once a week and my biggest fear is getting poison ivy/oak. Thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top