Was helping a friend devine the front of his property. The whole damned house should be condemned. He's had no heat or water inside since his wife passed in 2009. The man is a horder. Even the 2nd floor is 2/3 way piled up the windows. He has good things there and acts as if he will take it with him some day. Back to the green shit. The amount of vine growing over, out of a long rock wall, covering half the sidewalk, leaves beneath from seasons past, growing back under the grass, up trees, can't be described. One side of the porch, which has stuff piled 4 feet deep, had poison ivy growing up to the roof and inside the soffit. He pulled it down with a garden ho. I got to deal with its vines. Some were thick enough I used loppers at the ground. I had on leather gloves and bare arms. Bagging up the vines was where it got me. SOB! Been pasting on Cortizone 10 for 2 days now. It's a shy itchy but am not scratching it. It's just my arms. Old guy says,"the plant can reach out and touch you". Yeah sure, and it probably should never have been allowed to grow for years in the first place. Never again.

Call a dermatologist and get some real treatment. You do not want an infection nor continued itching.

If it don't show starting to clear up in a few days, I will probably end up in the ER. I really do not have time to be set back with this.

You must have great insurance to think of going to the ER. Most dermatologists will fit you in. ER will make you wait and wait until you forget you have poison ivy.

Nope. No insurence at this time. It's itchy business this morning.

I don't want to assume but have you gotten the oil off your skin?

When I pull poison ivy I make sure to wash w/ a soapy wash cloth to get the oil off. If you don't use a cloth, you're just rubbing the oil around on your skin, like grease/oil when working on a car.
It works most of the time and if any rash starts showing up, I hit those spots again and I'm good to go.

If you have an urgent treatment center, it's far less expensive than the ER. They have good stuff to treat that now. Go!

No good deed goes unpunished....

Been lucky to not have crossed paths with it in a long time.

Get PictureThis app on your phone, then you'll know what you're dealing with up front, it will ID the vine/plant.

Prednisone Pack!!

quote:

Originally posted by dsiets:
I don't want to assume but have you gotten the oil off your skin?

When I pull poison ivy I make sure to wash w/ a soapy wash cloth to get the oil off. If you don't use a cloth, you're just rubbing the oil around on your skin, like grease/oil when working on a car.
It works most of the time and if any rash starts showing up, I hit those spots again and I'm good to go.

[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4oyoDRHpQK0" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

I saw that video yesterday. I do and did scrub my whole monkey with lots of soap and a wash cloth. 40 plus minutes in the dawggy bath..

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
If you have an urgent treatment center, it's far less expensive than the ER. They have good stuff to treat that now. Go!

Thank you Fredward. Went to St E Urgent Care in Florence.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Prednisone Pack!!

I got 2 prescriptions to pick up tomorrow morning. Got Hydroxyzine and Methylprednisolone. Looks like it's for poison ivy, Oak and, sumac. I still got some weed destruction to do over there shortly but will stay clear of the area where the ivy was.

been there, did that , had to go to the doc when i was a kid and later as an adult,

learned a lesson when I was a meat cutter
bleach

bleach kills it,

so does salt water, like go to the ocean,


I scratch the fuck out of it, then with a Qtip, dip in bleach and dab it on the blisters,

stings , but it goes away, both the stinging and the poison ivy,

if you are near a beach (salt water) go for a swim a few times a day, and it will clear up too,


if you have scratched it so it bleeds,, then skip teh bleach and go to a doc,, and use whatever salve they give you,

Zanfel. That is all.

I've been in it a lot in my life. As a kid, was not allergic. The allergy started later and just kept getting worse. What I learned.

1st) - Wear thicker cloths and go for full coverage when you go out. Not shorts and short sleeves. Sure it's hotter, but worth it. Next, keep the cheap technu in the car along with a roll of paper towels. Rub the crap out of exposed parts when you get back to the car. That's usually enough right there.

-However-

2nd) Wash in a cool water shower (not a bath and especially for sure not a hot bath) when you get back home. Mean green works good at getting the Urishol oil stuff off. As does Fels Naptha and even Lava soap. The vid above is excellent. Get all the stuff off of you.

3rd) As soon as you feel an itch (ie, a spot you missed earlier), wash with Technu Extreme. (Not just technu, which is paint thinner plus some other stuff). They're different formulas, extreme really does work better. If you are feeling rich, Zanfel is the best stuff for this.

4th) The ONLY product that will stop it once it hits that uncontrolled itch point days later, is Zanfel. You will hate the price, but love the product. Walgreens carry's a store brand that is as good. Do not cheap out and only use a little bit. Follow the directions and it works.

5th) If you feel proactive, you can eat small amounts at the start of the season to minimize the effects. Take a small young leaf, roll it up into a ball and swallow it while drinking water. Like a pill. I did that for years. It helps but it doesn't make you immune.

6th) At the point you are at, long after the Urishol is off your body, a long super hot bath will help. Put some baking soda in will help a bit more. Do not do this when you first are exposed or it will spread it and your life will be hell. This is when it's been itching and itching and long time after you were exposed. Do not rub the red flesh/itch locations with a towel when you get out of the bath or it will start itching quicker. Just dab it.

7th) I've had it go internal and that's a horrific feeling but it's survivable as long as your throat is not affected. If you feel like it's getting out of control, go to the doctor and get the cortisone as a last resort.

8th) I've tried a lot of other things- some sort of work. Above is what I've found is best. FYI, Jewel weed doesn't do anything for me. I've tried wild and have grown my own. Nada nada.

Good luck!

The key is to remove the oil after exposure. The clothes must be shed immediately. Arms must be thoroughly scrubbed. I have used GoJo to remove any and all traces of the oil.
If a rash develops--need to scrub the area to remove oil traces. Poison Ivy wash is effective--kinda like a GoJo cream. I think Zanfel is one of the Poison Ivy washes.

You're gonna need an ocean
Of calamine lotion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRfRITVdz4k

Went and got my meds. Took the 1st 6 tablet dose of the steroid. I got the power.. . Nebber handle poison ivy again, nope. Took a little green pill for the itching. Three per day on those. I needed a medical excuse to get another McDonalds coffee, yes I did.

Dish soap.
I'll wash the area really well with good dish soap, wash the clothes separate from everything else.

I'll be playing around in the woods later today and all of tomorrow, that stuff will be all over. I don't get it that bad, but it does itch!

Just took my 2nd day dose of the steroid. Started at 6 tablets and progress down to one. Am already seeing a minor change in all the red bumps. This is working.

I think I told this story before as it's something I'll always remember.

If I recall I was around 12 yrs old.
It was a hot, humid summer day and we were at the fair in the next town over. The fairgrounds went right up to the river so a couple other friends and I made our way down the river's edge until we were out of sight.
We stripped and jumped in and cooled off for a bit.

Care had not been taken where I threw my underwear and one of my buddies realized too late that we were surrounded by poison ivy.
We did try to wash off our legs and such and I don't recall getting a rash on my legs.
I do remember the rash I got on my, uh, south pole.
That night I had an itch that kept me up well into the night.
The next day I had to explain to Mom that I must have gotten it on my hands and then used the bathroom. Somehow she got me some oral Rx meds w/o me having to visit the Dr.

That was the first and last time I went skinny dipping and possibly where I diligently learned how to identify that ivy for the future.