OT: Poison Ivy Help Needed

[David 76]

"You are going to need a lotion, a Calamine lotion. Poison iv-y-y-y-y, poison iv-y-y-y-y / Late at night while you're sleepin' poison ivy comes / a'creepin' / Arou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ound." Coasters circa 1950's

"You're gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion"

 

[TRest]

I also have a long history of crazy sensitivity to poison ivy and can confirm that most topical solutions are useless for me, but the ones that break up and dry the oil are the best you can do without steroids.

For decades I've just gone straight to the steroids which are far, far faster than anything else--but they don't give them out easily unless it's a bad problem. Pills usually, a shot if it's really bad (in your system, as David notes).

Worst I've ever seen for myself and hordes of people happened on Martha's Vineyard in the late 80s. The Wampanoag tribe that resides in Gay Head (now called Aquinnah) held a music festival in a large field overlooking the cliffs and ocean, and they needed to clear the field for the concert area. Did you know that Native Americans don't get poison ivy? They cleared an entire field full of it, reducing it to what looked like grass clippings. Except it wasn't grass--it was poison ivy. The entire field. So everyone laid their blankets, chairs and bodies on a field full of micro-particles of poison ivy. The Martha's Vineyard Hospital had an emergency room full of poison ivy patients for days. I knew it was going to be real trouble for me and demanded the steroid shot. I think that was the last time I had the shot; everything since has obviously been less traumatic, so I've gotten the pills. Mostly I just stay as far away as possible. If I think I have come into contact I either remove and wash all my clothes and shower immediately if I am close enough to home; or I dive in the ocean and scrub the hell out of the affected area.

Good luck.

For some reason I love this story. Revenge is best served cold, in small, irritating measures after several centuries.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I'm pretty sure urinating all over the area is a good cure too.

Supposedly it works for jellyfish stings so it must work for everything.

 

[CL82]

Have you tried better genetics?

I never was contagious as a kid so whenever anything went in to poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac, I was the designated person to fetch the ball/Frisbee/whatever.

Same. Unfortunately, whatever it was that protected me wore off in my adult years.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Oh okay just "trimming some hedges..."

 

[David 76]

As a young kid, I was immune. Had a bunch of poison sumac behind my garage. My immunity was soon seen as something like a super power to the other kids who were deathly afraid of the stuff.
So I would rip out a plant and jokingly chase the other kids. My legend grew!
Finally, I ripped up a plant, squeezed the sap out it and rubbed it all over me including my face. I was a mess. I even had it in my mouth.
Ever since then I can't look at poison anything w/o getting it bad.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Did my hedges in short sleeves (yeah I know) testing out a new battery operating clippers I brought. Sure enough I brushed up against poison ivy along the bushes. I'm suffering, rash that itches like hell even my arm is swollen. Stuff is popping up on my stomach now. Its like mosquito bites on steroids.

Anyway using cortizone 10, zanfel and the calimine lotion. All temporary fixes it seems. Benedryl purchased yesterday. I'm not supposed to scratch but it feels so fuccin good when I do.

Anyone have any good solutions to stop the itch? Also how long does this sh|t lasts? Its summer time and my arms look like the dude from Fantastic Four.

Also how did you remove your plants/roots? I'm too scared to touch or go near it, especially after all the research I've done lately (e.g. stays on your clothes and tools for over a year). Its some toxic stuff I tell you!

either soak it in the pool every day or go to the doctors and they'll give you a gel you put on it and its gone in about 2-3 days

 

[joober jones]

An aloe rub will help a bit.

 

[wbfree]

Did my hedges in short sleeves (yeah I know) testing out a new battery operating clippers I brought. Sure enough I brushed up against poison ivy along the bushes. I'm suffering, rash that itches like hell even my arm is swollen. Stuff is popping up on my stomach now. Its like mosquito bites on steroids.

Anyway using cortizone 10, zanfel and the calimine lotion. All temporary fixes it seems. Benedryl purchased yesterday. I'm not supposed to scratch but it feels so fuccin good when I do.

Anyone have any good solutions to stop the itch? Also how long does this sh|t lasts? Its summer time and my arms look like the dude from Fantastic Four.

Also how did you remove your plants/roots? I'm too scared to touch or go near it, especially after all the research I've done lately (e.g. stays on your clothes and tools for over a year). Its some toxic stuff I tell you!

Try Lava soap. Also, gasoline.

 

[SixRings]

Hot water! If you haven't tried this there is nothing to lose.
Get in the shower or the appendage in the sink under the faucet. Slowly turn warm water on the infected area into steaming hot water. The itch climaxes. No need to keep it under the water after. The burn keeps the itch away for many hours at a time. The skin dries in two days. It's an miracle. Thank the smart three of us later. I do sometimes put Ivarest on it after. But Ivarest without the hotwater = days of suffering with tan, putrid smelling crap all over you. Sorry, that's a fact.

 

[temery]

Cold water initially to clean away the poison ivy oils. Hot water opens the pores and helps spread the oils.

Once the oils have been washed off, hot water helps with the itching.

 

[ThetaZoo]

Did my hedges in short sleeves (yeah I know) testing out a new battery operating clippers I brought. Sure enough I brushed up against poison ivy along the bushes. I'm suffering, rash that itches like hell even my arm is swollen. Stuff is popping up on my stomach now. Its like mosquito bites on steroids.

I googled how to get rid of poison ivy (not the rash, the plant) a couple of years ago when I wanted to clear this nasty stuff from my yard. The solution I found was plastic bags over your hands and forearms to pull the plant including roots out. The bags that newspapers come in today are perfect for this. They are tubelike and extend to the elbow. I don't wear gloves under the bags because I get a better grip on the plant if my fingers are free. It's also best to wait until after a rain and the soil is moist so the roots don't break when pulling them. When you're done let the plastic bags slip off your hands and arms without touching them and dispose of them again without touching them directly.

And yes, I have a couple of blisters on one wrist right now. The bag must have slipped.

 

[Conndog]

Hot water, as hot as you can stand it, helps the itch, it also lets you know where the ivy is going to happen because even without the bumps yet, the skin with ivy feels different than the skin without the ivy juice.

My mother, when I was young and would get it bad, told us to try banana peels to stop the itching- the inner part of the peels that is moist. I did, can't remember if it worked, but it was interesting suggestion!

 

[mauconnfan]

I'm pretty sure urinating all over the area is a good cure too.

Supposedly it works for jellyfish stings so it must work for everything.

What's not good is when you sit in the ocean/salt water for your poison ivy and get stung by jelly fish especially ManO War

 

[mauconnfan]

Try Lava soap. Also, gasoline.

And light both of them. No worries about poison ivy anymore!

 

[Minicoop69]

And light both of them. No worries about poison ivy anymore!

used gasoline exclusively as a kid. worked every time. dried out the poison ivy fast. just don't put in on/in sweat . Burns real bad.

 

[Kitaman]

I used the ivy dry with calamine lotion (my father's suggestion-old school, he just had it). The hot shower seemed to make the ivy come alive, each drop was like an itch activator, had to wrap a hand towel around my arm, but it worked.

The swelling has gone down, the itch is slowly subsiding, but strangely there are spots on my stomach and legs.

I have much respect for this prominent Northeast plant. But who the hell needs water-boarding when this stuff exists. I won't lie I fantasized about amputation, I was that delirious with itch.

Hopefully by next week normalcy will return. Thanks guys and gals, you may not be doctors but you know what works for Yarders, and you all are a whole lot cheaper.

 

[8893]

I used the ivy dry with calamine lotion (my father's suggestion-old school, he just had it). The hot shower seemed to make the ivy come alive, each drop was like an itch activator, had to wrap a hand towel around my arm, but it worked.

The swelling has gone down, the itch is slowly subsiding, but strangely there are spots on my stomach and legs.

I have much respect for this prominent Northeast plant. But who the hell needs water-boarding when this stuff exists. I won't lie I fantasized about amputation, I was that delirious with itch.

Hopefully by next week normalcy will return. Thanks guys and gals, you may not be doctors but you know what works for Yarders, and you all are a whole lot cheaper.

Sounds like it may be in your system. This is why I think going straight to the doctor and getting steroids (either shot or pills) is the way to go once you know you have a serious case of it. If you had started the pills when you started this thread you'd be done with it by now. With the shot you'd be drying up the next day.

 

[buddy]

The shot and z pack are both steroids and makes the itching go away within 6-12 hours and it usually clears up about a day or two after that.

Zpack is not a steroid, but an antibiotic (azithromicin). It should only be taken if the area is infected due to scratching. It is best to apply Technu before you go out to do yard work. Oral medrol dose pack best if the PI is widespread. An enhanced steroid cream optimal for localized rash.

 

[Dove]

I must be lucky...my mother thinks about poison ivy and suddenly the Andes Mountians appear on her extremities. Pure nastiness.

Me...I get it and dab a little Calamine on and -poof- no more spreading.

 

[Huskygamble19]

"You are going to need a lotion, a Calamine lotion. Poison iv-y-y-y-y, poison iv-y-y-y-y / Late at night while you're sleepin' poison ivy comes / a'creepin' / Arou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ound." Coasters circa 1950's

Your going to need an ocean of calamine lotion. You'll be scratching like a hound, the minute you start to mess around. there fixed it for you.

 

[UC313]

My crazy Uncle Tony, or Ice-a-box if your Italian, always suggested bleach. All about drying them oils. It only burned for a little bit and worked better if the blisters had been opened up.