Poison Ivy

As I sit here itching with this stuff and my right eye swollen almost shut I am looking for some help.
The past few days I have been clearing some brush from the back of my property. Yes, I knew there was poison ivy back there. I thought that since it was still early spring I might be able to get it cleared before the buds and leaves came out so I would be fine.
First few days of working back there I wore long pants, long sleeved t-shirt and gloves, no problems. Tuesday was in the 80's here so I shed my long sleeved t-shirt while working. Now I have poison ivy on both arms and must have rubbed around my eye at some point.
It's not inflamed or any open sores and for the most part Caladryl Clear has been helping keep the itch to an almost tolerable level. (note to self: put a bottle of this stuff in GHB).
Any tips or hints on how to survive the next few days better than I'm doing now?

This works for me.

Run water that is about as hot as possible, but not scalding, over the affected areas. The hotter the better. It will cause the rash to itch tremendously. After 30 sec to one minute, the itch should subside. Relief usually lasts near 12 hours for me. The way I understand it is that the heat speeds up the histimine (sp?) reaction in the skin (this is why some people experience their skin itching under a very hot shower). After the 30 sec or so, the chemicals in the skin that cause this are exhausted and need time to rebuild, hence the 12 hour relief. You have to get through the itch time first, and again the hotter the better.

Stupid me decided to weed wack some brush in shorts and ended up wacking ground level poison ivy. Both legs from shorts to socks were covered about 90%. Some ended up systemic I believe as well. Using the hot water treatment I did not need calimine or other treatments for the itch. I think (highly subjective) that it helped dry it up faster as well.

As for the leaves and buds, I have contracted PI from the vine in the middle of winter. The oil is always there. Remember, PI is an alergic reaction, not an irritant, and this is why some people don't get it.

You'll never forget now that Poison Ivy is ALWAYS ready to contaminate you. All of it - the branches, the leaves.

Anyway, the hot water treatment mentioned earlier works for me. Also, there are some absurdly expensive ($35 a tube) lotions out there that MIGHT help you - they don't work on me, but they might on you.

Goats. They love to eat the stuff.

So true... also, if you burn it, the smoke contains the oils and can create another set of problems. It's bad enough when you get it on your skin, if you breath the smoke, and start getting this stuff down your throat, you can have life threatening airway problems. I know of occasions where poison oak or ivy was thrown on a campfire, and resulted in multiple kids having their faces covered with a rash. Fortunately, nobody had a strong alergic reaction, but, it could constrict an airway if you were one of those folks that really responds to poison ivy in a bad way.

Tecnu always helped me.

Here is the write up...

"Take control of the outdoor itch that plagues you. Use Tecnu® Outdoor Skin Cleanser after you have been outdoors to remove the rash causing oil, urushiol (oo-roo-she-all). Simply apply Tecnu to dry skin for two minutes and rinse with cool water or wipe off with a cloth. When used within 2-8 hours after exposure to the plants, Tecnu can remove urushiol oil before the rash begins. Once the rash has started, washing with Tecnu helps remove any free oil on skin allowing the natural healing process to begin without possible recontamination.

Urushiol oil can also spread from contaminated clothing, shoes, gloves, tools and pets. Since the oil does not evaporate, it can remain on these items for months or even years at a time. Use Tecnu to remove the oil and avoid a rash from secondary contact."

http://www.teclabsinc.com/product-categories.cfm?id=1E8FDCC1-F136-4EBF-EF2DA11F1E0BAEB8

Wal-Mart used to carry it and most drug stores will.

If it is going systemic or really gets in the way, go to the
Doctor or Hospital and get a steroid shot. Clears it up right
away.

Otherwise hydrocortizone cream.

Wash all your sheets and clothes
and everything you touched.

Use Technu soap on your skin.

I'll second the vote for Tecnu. I carry an extra bottle in my BOB.

I get a rash if I just look at poison ivy, and Tecnu does a great job for me. It might work for you as well, 91gdub.

I saw it on the web for $15.00, but last fall I picked it up for $10.00 at the local drugstore if I remember correctly. It might have been an end of season sale or something.

About ten years ago, a coworker got into poison oak. He finally broke down and went to a doctor. The doctor gave him some salve, but he said, "First, dump a cup of baking soda (Arm & Hammer is most common) into your bathtub and fill it up with warm-hot water, and get in".

Rick said it stung something awful at first, but it sure dried up the weeping and eased the itch.

Sue

If you can find some in Jersey, you can make a "tea" of manzanita leaves, let it cool, and apply it to the effected areas. You can even make a stonger solution, put it in the tub, and get full body coverage. My wife learned that from a "Native American" when she was a kid covered with poison oak. She swears by it now.

Just be glad that you didn't transfer it "south" when answering the call of nature. That happened to my dad once, then before they knew he had it he and mom got real friendly, and he tranfered it to her, in a place that is very hard to scratch, at least in public...

Thanks for all the help. Went to the local pharmacy and got a tube of hydrocortizone cream and some Tecnu soap.
Seems to help more than the Caladryl.
First time I've had any poison ivy since I was a kid.

Just wanted to let you folks know, the VERY HOT water trick really does work. I speak from first hand recent experience.
I have poison ivy on both arms, stood outside of my shower started with hot water, then kept turning up the hot water little by little until I got to the point that it almost hurt. While doing this the itching was crazy, I mean it itched like crazy. I let the VERY HOT water soak one arm at a time for about 1-2 minutes. As soon as I took the arm out of the VERY HOT water the itching stopped. I mean it stopped within seconds.
It's been a couple of hours now and no itching. I'll let you know of any progress.
Oh and by the way, I have the hydrocortizon cream standing by just in case.

Just do it! Stuff works like magic with very little medical risk. Why go through the agony? You might feel extra hungry for a couple of days -- maybe not a downside.

Prednisone is also one of the worst-tasting pills I’ve ever had. It matters not what you try to dissolve it in, the flavor will break through like a SWAT team on a drug raid. The only technique for saving yourself with Prednisone is to fill your mouth with some liquid like orange juice, tip your head back like your going to gargle, drop the pill in the orange juice pool, and quickly swallow before any pill particles hit your tongue.

Forget the whole breathing thing… Prednisone was the worst part of severe asthma.

That is the trick. Anyone else I have told this to stops too early and does not get the same relief. If you stay under the hot water long enough the itching will go away as well, but getting to that point is pure torture.

Try Fels Naptha Soap. My wife used it last year and it was the only thing that helped her.

She got it at a local grocery for .99 a bar.

Have you ever tried Orangina (the French(?) citrus soda)? Something about the bitter aftertaste of Orangina works even better than OJ to mask prednisone's taste.

No, I have never tried it, or even heard of it. I will keep it in mind for future use, though! Thanks!

when i was but a wee-rummy i used to get poison ivy all the time. as i wore glasses and was fat, i couldnt stand the stigma of coming to school pink from calamine lotion. as this was before the advent of calamine clear, i was forced to come up with my own home remedy. while most home remedies could very well be hit or miss and alot carry the placebo effect amongst them, this may or may not work for you...

mix aspirin and peroxide until you get a little pastey substance...apply, let dry and re-apply.

theoretically, the peroxide will help open the pores, allowing the salisylic acid (eats oil; see Clearsil) in the aspirin to eat the oil up...

ive also run the poison ivy under really hot water (as hot as you can stand) and then cut the nodules off with a sharp knife. i finish it off by pouring bleach on the area...yea, it hurts, and yea it could leave scars (though ive never had any), but dammit if it doesnt work.

oh, and oatmeal baths...looooooong oatmeal baths.



for prevention, ive found that Technu makes a soapy substance that you can use after being in contact with it. there is alsosupposedly a anti-poison ivy wipe out there as well that comes in individual packs for use in the field...im very excited about that.

This stuff works very well infact if you were to use it right away on new P.Ivy it you would never get it. Well never say never but mostly never.
http://altnature.com/order.htm

I have tried jewelweed a couple of times and I cannot say whether it worked or not.

I read (in Backpacker Magazine I think) that Dawn dish liquid is great for washing affected clothing because it breaks down the oils in poison ivy. Anyone tried it?

Any soap should work fine on clothes. Soaps work by having one end bond to oils and the other bond to water molecules if I remember correctly and since urushiol oil (the thing in poison ivy/oak that makes us break out) is an oil they'll stick to it and remove it from the clothes, just like grease on a pan. Its also supposed to work on any areas you came into contact with the ivy/oak if you wash with it before it manages to bond with your skin. Most sources say half an hour but I've heard anywhere from seconds to hours. Can't necessarily vouch for it but I've never gotten a bad outbreak by washing immediately. Another interesting thing to note is that rubbing alcohol is said to work for a few hours after, the downside is that it completely strips your skin of protection from future exposure for a day or so (so don't touch those clothes) making any contact much worse.

http://poisonivy.aesir.com/ had pretty accurate information by from what I can remember. Hey its been a few months since I needed a cure.

I was pounding through some poison ivy this past weekend. While I cannot say whether or not I had any urushiol on me (I was trying to be both careful and gentle near the plants) I did give my exposed skin a good rubdown with Tecnu and have not seen any indication of an outbreak. My son did the same with the same results. This was potentially contact plus 8 hours.

Bill

Here in the Fl. Keys we have a tree called Poisonwood with the same agent(Urushriol)as Poison Ivy. Being in the landscape trade for many years I had my share of run-ins with the stuff. By far the most successful treatment has been using a product called Zanfel. In the shower you squeeze a small amount on your hand and scrub the affected area for about 30 secs.Then rinse the area. There is a bit of pumice in the salvelike product. Zanfel binds with the urushriol oils and is rinsed away. I have always used it well after exposure when the blisters have begun. Itching stops instantly and the blisters heal nicely. Sometimes it will take a couple treatments but "Oh, what a relief it is".Zanfel is a bit pricey at $35.00 for a couple ounces but well worth it and has a shelf life of several years. Great stuff!!!

Scott

When I get it...it's usually from just looking at the stuff. It never gets to the point of weeping...but just rashes up pretty bad and spread rapidly. All of those lotions, creams don't do squat for me. I've actually had to go through two cycles of predisone to clear it up.

I would be very reluctant nowadays to apply aspirin or any other salicylates topically to a child's skin. Reye's syndrome is a rare but devestating complication of aspirin use in children. I have personally had one 6 year old patient in my care who ended up requiring a liver transplant after having been rubbed with oil of wintergreen (a salicylate containing product) by his grandmother.

Adult use would be OK as far as I know (but I am just a simple country pediatrician and I wouldn't take just my word on that).