'nuff said.

I got it all of the time as a kid, I didn't think anything could be worse

Until I was stationed in CA and was introduced to poison oak, I'd get it in one spot and later be covered with it EVERYWHERE including the giblits

Never had a problem with it. I could roll around in the stuff for hours and never a problem.

Then I moved to Arkansas and if it sees me form a hunnert yards, it attacks me in my sleep while I'm wide awake!

I had to kill and remove it from my 84 year old house so I can repoint some of the stonework.

Found out that simply cutting it or pulling it breaks the tiny suckers/hairy roots all along the fines and released them like dust and the urushol might as well be chemical blistering agents...

All over me, all over my clothing and I did not realize this until the rash started a day later and I had been walking around in the house for a about an hour, peeling clothing off and taking a shower, but spread that stuff everywhere.

So, laundering everything, washing and scrubbing everything trying to get ahead of that.

But I have learned about from that experience and the dew before it.

Payback for my arrogantly talking about my immunity all those years.

I shall endeavor to never gloat again...

I grew up in Arkansas I had poison ivy more than I care to think about.

Moved to Texas in 79 and did not get it until much later in San Antonio in 2000 when clearing some new property.

Moved to Alpharetta GA in 2018 and got it several times.

I HATE the stuff.

Get yourself some Tecnu soap(s), if you haven't already. You can get a scrub, regular soap, or even laundry additive, for removing the urushol oil. I never got it when younger. It's strange to think aging can make a difference.

Most folks have almost a day to remove it before full blown calamity sets in, and a washcloth to help remove it is better. Think of it as trying to clean up from heavy black grease in your finger prints. Hand over hand just doesn't work well.

quote:

...Tecnu soap...

Me and my shopping buggy are hittin' the interweb stores!

edited:

order placed.

Thank you!

Get yourself some crossbow herbicide a dstart treating that shit as it tries coming back. Don’t expect 1 treatment to get it all. It’ll get a bunch though. Unlike roundup your grass should be fine.

I used Bonide Poison Ivy and Brush Killer with BK-32.

Sprayed, waited 10 days, and sprayed a second time and let it set another week.

All the leaves turned brown and dried.

Poison Ivey was from the ground, to the roof and up to the second story gable on the front of the house.

I pulled it all down, and there were a few runners that stuck, so I used a tool to pry them loose and pull them off, and pulled up as much of the roots that I could. Once I get done repointing and motoring the stone work, I will keep up on proactively treating the area and keeping an eye out for new growth.

What I did not realize until after I got the 'pox, was that the urushiol can stay viable even when the plant is completely dried out for up to 5 years, as well as remain on tools, clothing, gloves, shoes and surfaces for 5 years.

And also found that when tearing the Ivey loose, the urushiol gets spread everywhere on the other foliage that the Ivey contacted, and I was in the shrubbery and trees climbing up the ladder and getting everything out.

I was careful to not come in contact with the Ivey with anything but my gloves, and made sure I never touched or brushed myself with the gloves the whole time. However, I did not consider all the contact I had with the plants all around the house I dragged the Ivey through. Pretty sure that is how I ended up with it all over me, as my legs are the worst affected.

The other things I did that I later found by reading up on this was I peeled all my clothing off, then poured Dawn in my hands and rubbed my arms and then my legs, covering everything with soap and working it to remove any oil (so I thought), then used hot shower to suds up and remove the soap. Reading up that was wrong, as the soap helped distribute and the hot water helped open pores and allows the oil to bind better.

The proper method is to used cool/cold water and rinse, then soap and cool/cold water, rinse and then shower with warm water and soap.

So, I will be more mindful of this invisible xenoplant and it's insidious desire for flesh.


Now if I can just figure how to get a suitcase nuke into orbit...

She's hawt. Had to say it.
____________________________

My body has calamine lotion
my body's as sore as can be
the flowers I picked for my granny
turned out to be poison ivy.
Don't touch, don't touch
oh don' touch poison ivy ee eee.

It will itch bad and it looks worse than acne. ---Mad Magazine, circa 1960's

That stuff’s really bad this year. Seems like it’s everywhere. I’ve already had one dose of it. You always see it right after you hit it with the weed eater. I mixed up a bottle of poison ivy killer and keep it with me when I mow. Spray it every time I see it.

The company I worked for provided these. They really work well for me. Start taking one or two a day around May. You’ll still get the stuff, but it’ll just be some small bumps, a little itching, and it will go away pretty fast.

https://www.amazon.com/Washing...l%2Caps%2C172&sr=8-2

Thanks for the extensive knowledge base you've created here.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
... then poured Dawn in my hands and rubbed my arms and then my legs, covering everything with soap and working it to remove any oil (so I thought)

I've seen that Dawn is the go-to strategy. A slight tweak, dry wipe off the Dawn first, before rinsing the affected area.

Yeah. The problem was being hot and sweaty, pores open, grabbed the Dawn and hopped in the shower and pour copious amount on and spread it on arms and legs that were exposed, scrubbed with a scrubby sponge, then rinsed with hot water.

Likely the wrongest wrong thing to do.


I have gotten into this stuff about 6 times now in the past three years.

There is a stand of giant timber bamboo on one side of the property near my shop and the house that is about 150x75 yards and 60 foot tall.

Some people react to bamboo as well as Photosensitive dermatitis, where bacteria and sunlight (UV) can result in similar blistering. The first incident I had was after severe sunburn on my forearms, driving 8 hours in my convertible home after several days Crusin' the Coast in Mississippi and then doing yard work (killing bamboo with a chainsaw, manchette and dragging it to the burn pit).

I started going all Paul Bunyan on it when I first moved here and got the Green Syph. Thought it was from the bamboo, never thought of poison Ivey, until the First part of July when I decided to pull all the vines in order to fix mortar joints, and began by pulling the vines from the monkey grass and shrubbery.

I pulled it bare handed, balled it up and carried a bout a 3 foot ball to my burn pit behind the house and used the right side of my head to "steady it". It was a spur of the moment thing, and then I mowed the lawn (7 acres on zero turn) and went and took a shower.

Noticed that evening a couple welts on my right forearm, and was wondering how that happened since I was carful not to brush up on the bamboo thinking that was the cause of the allergic reaction. (never had either poison Ivey/oak/sumac reaction before and never dealt with this kind of bamboo, so must be the bamboo...) Next day, I had the start of the rash on my arms, hands, between my fingers, and most of the right side of my forehead and face. That's when the realization that it just might be Poison Ivey.

So yeah, not finding what was the cause of this, but determined to figure it out or die trying, I kept looking at what all the causes could be. The Photosensitive dermatitis, and the bamboo sensitivity seemed plausible, until "poison Ivey" kept gaining higher responses to all the searching and reading up on it.

After seeing "people can become allergic after repeated exposure, said to myself "Self, your a dumbass. Stop rolling around nekked with Poison Ivey, she'll give you the 'pox!"

I know other folks have or will be confounded by this, just like me. And I hope they can find carve the curve faster and avoid the 3 year course, and CLEP the class.


Did I ever tell about the time of how much I learned the fifth time I was kicked by that mule?

And whatever you do, don't burn the vines. You think it's bad on the skin, wait till you breath it in.

I can get the rash just by getting within 10 feet of a plant. Had it so much worse as a kid, but maybe exposed so much I built up a bit of a tolerance over he years.

Worst I ever had it, was on both arms while building a log cabin with buddy's as a kid. We used real mud to chink the logs, guess who the mixer was. Looked like I tried to deep fry my arms.

It never bothered me as a kid, although I certainly didn’t roll around in it. But once as an adult I cut a bunch clearing an area of my yard, and put it in large trash bags. Although I wore gloves, I apparently got it on my forearm while stuffing it in the trash bags. And as luck would have it, I fell on my bicycle spraining my wrist. So for several weeks I had to wear a brace/removable cast on my right forearm while dealing with the rash.