poison oak/ivy

[Dwain]

I've mentioned this somewhere else on the board. I have a friend, and he is highly allergic to poison oak/ivy etc. He installs/repairs AC units, so he normally gets it on his wrists/hands, when it starts to ooze, he sprays brake parts cleaner from Oreilly's on it. Dries it up almost immediately. Now, I can imagine all of the good stuff that's getting into his blood stream, but it works for him.

 

[scottthorn]

One thing that eases the suffering: HOT water....as hot as you can stand it...its almost org4asmic how good that feels....something about releasing histamines, or at least that's what i was told.

This is completely accurate. The hottest water you can stand provides great temporary relief from the itching. I found this trick most useful when I'd wake up in the middle of the night wanting to scratch at it, but didn't want to apply calamine lotion that would get all over the sheets when I went back to bed.


I never got poison ivy as a kid. My brother and I would hike though the woods and he'd get it everywhere while I had nothing. My luck ran out about 10 years ago... I'm totally susceptible to it now.

 

[Jim Karr]

The very first time the swelling and bubbling show up on your skin, jump into the shower. Turn the water on as hot as you can tolerate, and start scratching all the bumps open, so the urushiol and the watery results start to wash away in the hot water. Usually, the irritation will be gone within 8 to 12 hours.

 

[Dwain]

My understanding is that eventually, if you are exposed enough, everyone would break out in the rash. It's like you only have so much resistance, and once that's gone, you get the rash. I know a guy that got it into his bloodstream via some cuts on his arm during yardwork. He had to be hospitalized and it even caused him some respritory problems. Like I said, I'm not sure about the first part, but the guy that was hospitalized is a good friend of mine.

 

[Houblon]

My understanding is that eventually, if you are exposed enough, everyone would break out in the rash. It's like you only have so much resistance, and once that's gone, you get the rash.

I got it bad once as a kid and that was the only time, now I can roll naked in the stuff without any problems.

If your every working in the yard and get exposed just wash some gas over the area asap to remove the plant oils from the skin. Standard practice for the lawn biz workers.

 

[beerthirty]

I use rubbing alcohol to clean the affected area. The stinging helps combat the itch also. In the future remember "leaves of three let it be".