serious poison ivy

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generallobster

Joined
Apr 7, 1999
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I do a lot of hiking on the weekends and usually don't travel along man made trails. That means poison ivy is everywhere. The hiking requires long sleeves and paints since some places get so thick with vegitation that I have to get on my hands and stomach to go under thickets of branches and bushes. I thought I was one of the lucky 10% of the population that doesn't respond to the oils of poison ivy and oak since I have never gotten a reaction before and I've been doing this for a while. I guess I'm not one of those 10% though, because I woke up this morning with bad rash on the back of my right knee. It took 5 days after contact with the oil for the rash to break out, and now I need to find out how to treat it. Does anyone know how to deal with this problem, also tips on ways to prevent it would help. I understand there are plants that can be rubbed on the skin immediatly after contact to neutralize the urushiol. And some cream products to aply like suntan lotion before going out will apparently absorb the sap and degrade the . I had long pants on during the hike but when I came back home I sat in a chair and probably transferted the sap to the seat. Then when I sat in it again with only shorts, the urushiol got on the back of my knee.
 
Last summer, some people I worked with got poison ivy really bad in Florida. THey had to take steroids to counteract the effects. Later in the summer one girl got it again from a sleeping bag. The steroids that she took the second time made her noticibly more muscular. If it gets to bad go to your doctor. He's gonna pump you up!

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Chlorine.

When I was a kid I used to get poison ivy all the time. A quick dip in a heavily chlorinated swimming pool would dry it right up. I don't know why it worked, but it did...
 

Pizen Oak:::: Last year I started eating the little tiny ,tiny new buds....Christopher Neyerges has been doing this for years and no longer gets a rash ,etc....So last year on an outing with him I tried it. No probs. So I did it everytime I went out hiking,just a tiny bud. This year I will start again when I see the first tiny buds.Up to you but I know at least 4 others who have done this with no side effects.

Dude ::: cover yer six>>>>>
 
generallobster,

Man, I feel your pain. I battled with the rash TWICE this past summer. The last time I was out for almost 4 weeks. I was covered head to toe. The best thing I can tell you is to go to a doctor if it gets real bad. The docs will hook you up with a steroid to knock it out. It will still take time but it will speed up the recovery.

Read the posts in the link to Greg's forum. It gives some good tips on prevention.


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I treat the guys on my team,(and myself) when we get the "ivy" bad with two different injectable steroids. The first has an immediate onset and lasts about 7 days (Betamethasone), the second takes a couple of days to kick in and lasts 2-6 weeks. Injecting both at the same time works great and has been extremly successful in treating some very ugly outbreaks. If you have access and the knowhow to do injections (standard legal disclaimer) they are some great tools to have in your expedition/survival kit. I'd only recomend steroids as a last resort, occasional unpleasant reactions and side effects, but if you've got it bad, they work great.

I think I'll try the Dude's method (needle free and oh so tasty) An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of rash on your ass
smile.gif


Hope this helped

Dan

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Thanks again for more info. Disgusting details of my present condition: the blisters have now all burst despite the fact that I have forced myself not to scratch them, and the back of my knee is now a tough, red and purple scabby mess. I didn't know about the chlorine, and I do have a pool in the appartment, so I will try that tomorrow. Dude man, are you sure there are no side effects, some of the info I found said that people for centuries have tried to develop immunity to the plant by ingesting it in various forms from cake to tea, and most ended up with rashes on and in thier butt. Maybe the buds are ok. But have you or Christopher Neyerges tested your immunity by rubbing the plant juice on thin skin? If you truly don't get the rash after ten days, I will follow in your steps and try eating those buds. Otherwise, I'm not going to risk getting one of these rashes in a place where the sun don't shine.
 
A few "don't try this at home" stories:

A friend was jogging in the park and had to take a, um, bathroom break. A lack of toilet paper forced him to improvise, and he grabbed a handful of the nearest leaves. Unfortunately, they were (you guessed it): poison ivy. Ouch! He couldn't sit or scratch his ass for 2 weeks.

Another friend (former coworker in a landscaping job during college) had to relieve himself while on site. He had been handling some poison ivy and his hands were covered with the oils. Needless to say, he had a rather embarrassing visit to the doctor's office that week. He got the steroid treatment, which helped, but his sex-life suffered quite an unfortunate setback in the meantime.

One of my fathers coworkers wanted to build up an immunity to poison ivy, so he ate a bunch of leaves. The resulting rash inside his esophagus became so badly inflamed that it nearly blocked his air passage and suffocated him. He spent several days in the hospital feeling stupid...

barf1.gif
 
Typically contact dermatitis is self-limiting, as long as you do not re-expose yourself. Make sure all the clothing that came into contact w/ the plant has been cleaned appropriately. Most cases will improve w/ just mild topical steroids (hydrocortisone 1%, Triamcinolone 0.1%, etc.) applied twice a day, and use of systemic antihistamines (benadryl 25-50mg orally every 6 hours as needed) for the itching. Keep areas clean & dry as possible. If case is severe, systemic steroids are helpful. Oral prednisone (70 mg day 1, decrease by 5mg a day until off) usually works. Triamcinilone acetate (60mg IM) + 1 ml betamethasone IM is also an acceptable regimen - Medrol dosepak is not adequate typically. For weeping sores, moist dressings w/ Burrow's Solution may be used (Aluminum acetate 1:20 or 1:40 to water) applied for 15-20 min. & repeated several times a day.

Personally, I use benadryl & calamine lotion, but I have never had a bad case.
 

This is only going to be my second year trying this out.So I dont think it will work real well yet.
Christopher , has done this for 20 years and claims after many hours of direct exposure to have the beginings of a rash for a few days and then it goes away...he does not go into it on purpose ,tho.
I was on a trek with Christopher and some others this past Sunday and we found ourselves in a patch of poisen oak...just the stems sticking out of the ground..You can get it from these stems...I have not broken out as of yet.
In the Southwest some indians made baskets from poisen oak and Ishi made his fire drills from it.Some of those baskets are over a hundred years old and students were still getting a rash ,even after a 100 years...so the oils remain a long time.

Proceed with fear..hehe

Dude ::: always check yer six >>>
 
:
I would avoid Prednisone, a Corticosteroid, like the plague unless Absolutely neccesary!

I have had to take it long term for a systemic rhuematoid arthritis disease that's called the Systemic Onset of Jvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and known as the Adult Onset of Still's Disease commonly if you can call it that. The disease itself borders on rare and the dr's of today even if they have to put you on this very powerful anti-inflamatory will try to wean you off of it as soon as possible.
The side affects of Prednisone can be almost as bad as the diseases themselves.

Even the short term doses that start out with 70-100 mgs.can be hazardous to your health.
Of course the short term side effects of Prednisone probably aren't near as severe as what I had to put up with while taking it. And yet if one had to take some form of it every year to get rid of poison ivy it could possibly cause harm to your body that may not show up for a long time.

Just Please everyone, Please be careful with these kinds of steroids!

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