Note: Not recommended for use within 3 feet of the cabin...
Posted on 06/14/2007 5:01:50 AM PDT by MississippiMasterpiece
As some of you know, I recently purchased a small cabin. There is a path leading from the back door to a small pond a few hundred yards away.
Walking this path yesterday, I was able to identify poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac and Virgnia creeper on either side of the path just waiting for some hapless soul like me to brush against them.
Just typing this is causing me to break out in a rash...that's how allergic I am.
I would welcome any horror stories from Freepers about their encounters with the aforementioned plants and advice about any remedies or treatments for exposure.
Expensive, but it works for me when I have to fight the PI which sneaks over from my neighbor's jungle.
If you suspect you have contacted poison ivy/oak with your skin, wash the area immediately. Watch out for chiggers — they are the worst....
Oh man...had to dig a footer by hand. The ground had already been cleared so I had no idea the kind of plants had been there. Anyway, was digging the footer, rubbing against lots of roots. Had poison ivy from chin to toes—everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.
I had a friend call me to complain that he got poison ivy on the farm where I was living at the time. I thought, "that's interesting," and didn't think of it again until I put on the jeans (unwashed) I was wearing a few days later, getting poison ivy on my legs.
Once when I was a kid I found this friendly old dog wandering around in a nearby park, so I petted it, hugged it - and next day I get the horrible water blisters all up my forearms and neck. The dog must have been strolling through a poison ivy patch some time before. I am extremely allergic to poison ivy and have been since I was a kid. And of course this particular incident occurred in summer, when your sewat makes every itch ten times worse.
Lots of calamine and oatmeal baths were the order for me.
Also, when a kid, I was at a picnic and told by my parent to “just pee in those bushes over there.” You guess the result.
My Son gets poison ivy every year and he has found that “Cortaid Poison Ivy Care” treatment kit works well. It’s a two step kit that contains a removal scrub and a treatment spray.
Also the doctor has prescribed Elocon .1% cream when he got it really bad a couple of years ago.
I don't have any natural remedies but I hope this helps!
Chiggers are far worse, I’ve been fairly covered with them before.
Anything with DEET in it keeps them away.
Friend of mine is a nurse who is very sensitive. Was driving a convertible when they drove through a cloud of smoke from some guy burning the Poison Oak on his property. Her face and eyes immediately started swelling, by the time she made it to the ER her head looked like a big, ripe pumpkin....
Wash thoroughly anytime you even think you may be exposed. I am very susceptible to it as well. I had heard years ago of a vaccine being developed at the University of Mississippi, I think it was. I have a cabin in the Trinity river bottom and poison ivy is everywhere. Good Luck.
All I can say is, whatever you do, don’t clear that path with a weed-eater.
Casual presence with poison Ivy usually doesnt bother me.
I was working cutting wood one day the vines were on the wood I was cutting,I pulled them off and ent on. Being in the woods and being male I eventually had to discharge some of the fluids I had taken in. I just did it.
Next day I had a rash on my,well you know, but I didnt give poison Ivy a thought, After all I seldom was bothered by it and it had never touched me there. Unfortunately my unwashed hand had touched me there when I urinated.
I itched for a day before I realised what had happened and got out the calamine.
A bath in epson salts.
Also bleach if you can take it.
I had a neighbor who burned a pile of poison ivy when he was cleaning out his back yard. The burning just puts the oils into the air. It about killed my brother.
Seriously, folks... Don’t burn poison ivy. It’s bad enough on your skin, but you don’t want that stuff in your lungs.
If you think you’ve come in contact with it, wash the area right away. Use only water—soap only spreads the oil. I found out that one the hard way. We have a large tract of land in Maryland and are constantly clearing brush, etc. Poison ivy is everywhere. Only gotten it once this year . . . so far.
“Watch out for chiggers — they are the worst....”
You are so right. I drove up from Ga with the family to look at some lake property in S. Illinois and must have got into a nest of em. It was a 20 hour drive back home so I couldn’t change my clothes for a day and a half and they got me everywhere from head to toe. I must have had 1000 bites my ankles and lower legs were solid. Most miserabl;e 3 weeks ever.
once you know its not spreading anymore, try hot water, as hot as you can stand it, and you’ll get relief from the itching.
I think the MississippiMasterpiece means the poison ivy creeper vine.
I was clearing some brush one fall day and burning it. Unfortunately, there was PI in the mix. The smoke caused my eyes to swell shut and all the exposed skin developed those watery blisters. Not a pretty picture.
My girlfriend got poison ivy on her brain. The only way she could scratch it was to think about sandpaper. (S.Wright)
Spray the leaves to kill the plants.
Do NOT burn the stems as the smoke can carry the oils that can then get into your lungs where your next reaction will be bad.
Apparently deer like the leaves ?
Poison ivy oils can swell up your face, close your eyes...the oils travel well on dogs or clothing . Be careful.
Some are somehow immune ?
I used to pick berries in the midst of poison oak. I am very sensitive to this stuff, but washing EVERYTHING once I was done (for my clothes and me, soap and water; for the berries, just lots of water) averted problems (after the first mis-hap). In those days, all we had was calomine lotion (not sure of the spelling) and baking soda baths, but I think they have better stuff today. And someone else mentioned chiggers—the soap and water helps get rid of them too.
deep woods - an insistent call of nature - no toilet paper - inattention to the leaves being grabbed...
Note: Not recommended for use within 3 feet of the cabin...
Soap didn’t make it worse for me. I think that’s an old wives tale or something. Plus it gets rid of the chiggers.
Since we have property and a second home in the Smokies, I am all too familiar with poison ivy. About 50 - 100 years ago, most of the land had been cleared for pig farms and subsistence farming. The regrowth over bare areas allowed a great deal of poison ivy to take root — literally.
From my experience, when I have to work in the woods/edges to keep our land and paths clear, I NEVER work outside for more than 30 minutes, and then hot-water launder my clothes, hose off my boots, gloves and face shield (I wear a hard hat with a face shield/screen for general protection from flying debris, saw briars, etc) and take a hot shower with a real soap - not Dove or similar.
The key is to get the poison ivy oil OFF your skin before the urushiol poison has time to bind with the skin. Despite rumors to the contrary, urushiol is a contact allergen/poison AND ONCE BOUND TO THE SKIN IT (the rash) DOES NOT spread due to itching the skin.
The reaction caused by poison ivy, urushiol-induced contact dermatitis, is an allergic reaction. In one extreme case I had on my forearms (winter-time stupidity stacking firewood with remains of poison Ivy vines not yet removed), I needed corticosteroids to treat the rashes and severe itching.
WRT to washing after exposure — The poison can be washed off within a **short time** after contact, but once bound to the skin, it cannot be washed away.
IT’s worth noting that the blisters and oozing result from blood vessels that develop gaps and leak fluid through the skin; if the skin is cooled, the vessels constrict and leak less. <— so getting hot enough to sweat exacerbates the outbreak, but sweating DOES NOT spread anything.
HAHA!! Same thing happened to me (I was about 7 years old). Our family was hiking in the woods. Parents told me to "pee in the bushes". I must have squatted right over poison ivy, because that's where it started. It spread everywhere - including inside my ears! I ended up at the doctors. Seem to remember he had to give me a shot of something, and I remember being plastered with calamine lotion. I avoid poison ivy at all costs!
Then, shortly thereafter, I seemed to get it just a little bit. I kept pulling the stuff. Then I got it a bit more. I started using gloves, and got PI a bit more.
Nowadays, I seem to get PI upon any exposure. So, if you seem to have immunity, you can develop a reaction just the same with enough exposure.
Went to a drive through animal park where the animals stick their heads inside the car and got it bad for at least two weeks. Everyone said cold water to me but they were wrong and you are right. My only relief came from the hot water.
My grandma used to take a wedge of watermelon & rub it over the infected area a few times and let the juice dry on the area, my mother swore it worked. They lived on a farm & someone always seemed to have it.
I use Vick's vapor rub for quite a few things & have heard it works on poison ivy. I know it works on itchy areas & bug bites. I would use disposable gloves while applying anything to the area. ~P~
I have the same serious allergic reaction to all that stuff (except VA creeper, which is harmless).
My suggested solutions:
1. kill it. get a spray can (or 2 or 3) of Ortho Brush-B-Gone from a harware/Lowes/Home Depot, etc. and spray the leaves of all the poisonous plants. The leaves will wither and die AND the poison will go into the roots and kill them too. Don’t spray the VA creeper — eventually it will cover the area and inhibit return of the other “stuff.” After it’s safe to go farther from the path, repeat this process — necessary because the stuff spreads through its roots and it will try to come back from the healthy plants.
2. if you get the rash anyway, the quickest response is cortisone tabs (prescription — from dermatologist) — either as a Medrol dosepak (pricey) or generic cortisone tabs — get instructions from your dermatologist on how to make up your OWN dosepak (much cheaper). Don’t hurt yourself or catch a “bug” while on cortisone though — it suppresses your immune system (which has over-reacted to the “poisonous” plants and caused the rash/blisters).
Good luck!
-iMacMan
Regarding ‘soap spreads the oils’.
Let me offer an alternative thought —
First put all your clothes in the washer. Then ...
When you shower (NOT BATH!!! DO NOT TAKE A BATH!!) wash yourself purposefully and carefully from the elbows down to the tips of your fingers with soap and water, twice. THEN wash yourself from head down to feet. RINSE your face very well. Do this twice.
I would offer that it is critical to use soap as the urusoil is hydrophobic (doesn’t dissolve in water) and needs a surfactant/detergent to be adequately removed from the skin, fingernails, hair, etc.
The key is to get the oil OFF your skin before it binds to the skin, because then even the soap/bleach/ 100 grit won’t help.
Much like a surgical scrub, the key is the process of cleansing, strong soap, hot water — and lather rinse repeat— in time to get it off you.
Now start the washer, and clean your clothes with hot water wash and rinse.
FWIW, I safely and judiciously use a weed-eater/bush-whackerblade/ and bush-hog on my property to keep paths, road-sides and septic fields clear of brush, including poison ivy, and I have been poison-ivy dermatitis-free for four years now.
Just my opinion, based on good experiences and chemistry ;-)
You ain't had nuthin' till the Georgia "noseeums" get on you. Hideous little gnats with bites like piranhas.
Well, my mom was white water rafting once and during the lunch stop, went into the woods to pee. . . that is apparently not a fun place to get poison ivy.
Mythbusters had an episode in which they tested cures for poison ivy/oak. Apparently vodka does not work. The best solution was one the commercial rememdy they used.
I’ll go dig up my Yma Sumac albums...shatter a few windowns in the house..
My herbicide of choice is the Roundup formulated for poison Ivy. It really does kill it.
I also enjoy the winter-time hikes with a machete where I cut the big mother-vines growing up the oaks and polars..
I seem to remember that you’e NOT supposed to wash with cold water, or is it the other way around..and you have to use a strong soap, becuase otherwise you just spread the oils to more skin area....is this true?
When I was in the 7th grade all my friends had experienced poison oak and some were very allergic. I, on the other hand had brushed against it many times with out so much as the slightest itch. So, we were down by the creek and a friend said “look out, that’s poison oak”. I said I’m immuned to it. So on the dare, I grabbed a handful and rubbed it on my left arm. Wow, what a hard lesson. I still have the scars. Now I avoid it like the plague.
Tecnu dissolves urushiol. I can’t leave home without it. I slather it “all over muh body” when I’m going someplace outdoors that I’m unsure about - even under my long-sleeve shirts and my socks - and on my face, especially. I put a few capfuls of the lotion in the wash with all my clothes I’ve worn outside.
I’ve gotten poison ivy off the arm rest of a car ridden in by people who cleared their own brush and are immune to PI. We both had back yards full of it along the fence lines.
I used Brush-B-Gone to get rid of it, but went through too much of it to keep it affordable for me, so I went out and sprayed Clorox, diluted with just a little water to stretch it, directly all over the plants, leaves, stems, everything, three clear, non-windy days in a row and it usually killed 99% of it.
Note also that it turns red in the winter time and makes berries - and even the soil where a small vine used to grow has urushiol in it. I can’t be in the same county with this stuff!
That's a myth, covering chigger bites with anything to "suffocate" them does nothing because the little torture bug is already gone.
What the pest did to you was inject digestive fluids and suck out the liquid flesh. Unfortunately, that stuff is still in there and the only solution is to wait for your body to heal.
But MAN! That's an itch that goes into your brain and out the other side and scratching it only makes it itch more.
Hot, hot, hot, HOT baths with no soap are the first step. Someone up thread suggested bleach. I’ve not tried that, but I would first try hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball, which seems to work for everything else.
And if you’re a fan of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, there is some truth to the belief that Windex will dry out most rashes. You can google “Windex” and “rash” to find out the (quasi-) medical explanations for that.
It might be worth it to pay someone to clear it out for you, just make sure they don’t weedeat it or burn it, but carry it off. You might want to let them know that it is poison ivy, etc. 8-)
I can rip the stuff up and get nary a welt. My brother can look at a picture of the stuff and break out all over. Calamine, buckets of calamine is what my brother always used.
Tecnu is actually new information for me. FReepers always add value, eh?
I’ll see if I can get some at my local ACE h’ware or perhaps the Piggly Wiggly ;-)
Tennis shoes and boots, too! Get the oil off the bottoms, by washing or scrubbing, or you will track it into your house.
Then, when you walk barefooted on the linoleum or even the carpet, you get it on your feet. If you sit cross-legged, like I do, or even when you just take your socks off, however you might touch your feet, you’ll get the oil on your fingers and boom! Another outbreak.
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