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.
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