Arrrrgh!!! Poison ivy

**Tiempo** · #1 07/31/08, 08:22 PM

I was weed wacking away today though some tall grass when I suddenly saw that I had hit a sizeable patch hiding down below. VM was flying everywhere.

I had on long pants and goggles, but short sleeves and of course most of my face was exposed.

I've showered a couple of times hot, hot, hot, with a LOT of soap, all clothes went straight into the washer.

Anything else I should do?

I only had poison ivy once before, but it was so bad the ER doc took my picture

Do NOT want to go there again

LFmenagerie · #2 07/31/08, 09:22 PM

If you've got it on hand, take an antihistamine (I would probably take 2 or 3) like benadryl or something similar. They may put you to sleep, but they will definately help slow down your body's alergic immune response. I would keep up the antihistamines for a couple of days while your body takes care of the ivy oils. I would also run a second wash cycle on the clothes. Poison ivy seems to jump at me from several feet away, so maybe I'm a bit paranoid. When I know that I've been exposed, I try to avoid the itch and blisters in the first place and the antihistamines usually do a pretty good job. If you're already itchy, calamine lotion helps, but (for me at least) it still has to run the itchy blistery course for a week or more.
Tom

diane · #3 07/31/08, 09:24 PM

I hate to tell you thing but you have already probably done the worst thing you can do unless the soap you used was FelsNapha. Most soaps only spread the oil around, not break it down. Get a bar of FelsNapha (found in the laundry soap section) and wash all over with it because you most likely have the oil in many spots you certainly don't want it. Really lather it up. It will dry the heck out of your skin but you want that oil off you. Wash your clothes with the shavings of the FelsNapha to break down the oil on your clothes.

If you are so allergic as you describe, I would call the doctor in the morning.

I keep FelsNapha at my washup sink and seldom get poison ivy any more except a very small patch every now and then which I probably got from petting my dog.

Selena · #4 07/31/08, 10:00 PM

Hot water is a no-no as it opens the poors -- cool water (unless you can stand cold) is the way to go. You need to keep some poison ivy soap on hand as well as any OTC medications a doctor says to keep (benadryl etc). I do regular "missions" in my first perimeter area (house area, front of house and small portion of woods in back of house) and spray when I find it. I am cutting vines this fall.

The Paw · #5 07/31/08, 10:12 PM

If you showered within 20 minutes of coming into contact with the oil, there is a good chance most of the oil molecules did not bind to the skin. If it was a long shower, you may have got all of the oil rinsed off adequately.

It wouldn't hurt to wash the clothes again, and make sure you hose off the weed wacker, goggles and whatever shoes you were wearing, or you may regret it later.

If some of the oil molecules did manage to bind to the skin surface, you will have a reaction, but it will probably be quite mild compared to your earlier experience.

Based on my research, anti-histamines help control the itching, but don't really change the spread or duration of the reaction. Interestingly, very hot showers have the same effect - they dissipate the histamines in your bloodstream. Hot showers can relieve itching for several hours, as an alternative to anti-histamine medication. If you take the anti-histamine, see if you can find some in time-release capsules, particularly for overnight.

Good luck.

RiverPines · #6 07/31/08, 10:43 PM

As soon as you make contact with poison Ivy take fresh picked Touch me not and crush it in your fingers and then rub it everywhere the ivy touched.

Touch me not prevents the reaction as it neutralizes the oil in the ivy.

Works here for the family members that are allergic.

We purposely grow it just for poison Ivy prevention.

My DH is horribly allergic. He accidentally pulled out some poison Ivy before he realized what weed he grabbed. I ran and picked the touch me not leaves and crushed, rubbed, and he never broke out.

Last year we didn't have it growing handy and he broke out something awful.

pheasantplucker · #7 08/01/08, 05:58 AM

Have not heard of the "touch me not" remedy, but see a big patch currently blooming...I will try that. My first bad case of poison ivy was so bad, I had to have shots injected into my face, and I had a prescription that I took for twenty one days. Since then, my tolerance seems to have built up, casue during the summer, I almost constantly have a mild case going somewhere, but it never gets too bad.

**Tiempo** · #8 08/01/08, 07:47 AM

Thanks so much everyone!

So it looks like I did everything wrong

I think I 'll call my FPNP (otherwise known as my MIL

) and have her call in a prescription for the cortisone course I took last time just in case.

I'm not that well versed on the stuff as we don't have it in England, so I never had the seemingly ubiquitous childhood run-ins with it.

Anyone know how long it takes for a reaction to show up? Last time I had it I had no idea how or where I was exposed, so I don't know.

**Tiempo** · #9 08/01/08, 07:49 AM

PS As for the touch me not (same thing as jewelweed right? Tall, tender leaved plant with pretty orange flowers?).

At our old place it grew everywhere, but there is non at all at the new HS.

pheasantplucker · #10 08/01/08, 07:52 AM

If I get it, it's usually about 6-8 hours after I've been exposed to it.

Jena · #11 08/01/08, 09:03 AM

I get it bad also.

I usually run inside after yard work and take a long, soapy (regular bath soap) bath (I don't have a shower). Clothes gets washed immediately in hot water. I don't touch anything until after my bath.

That works for me, whether it's all the wrong things to do or not.

If I delay bathing, I'm had. I must go for shots and I still itch and pop out in small spots for weeks after. I can't sleep for the itching....

I am doing yard work today and plan to stick to my usual actions to prevent it.

Jena

BethW · #12 08/01/08, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Paw

Interestingly, very hot showers have the same effect - they dissipate the histamines in your bloodstream. Hot showers can relieve itching for several hours

A hot hairdryer has the same effect. I got my very first PI outbreak ever last year, at the ripe old age of 38. It was just awful, even with steroids. Blowing the hot hair from a hairdryer on the rash made it feel muuuch better. At first, the heat will make the itching incredibly intense, but then all of a sudden, it'll be gone and stay gone for hours.

It's much more convenient than a hot shower, especially when you wake up itching at 2am, and it works better than antihistamines, IME.

RiverPines · #13 08/01/08, 10:25 AM

Yup, jewel weed. It really works. I never tried products made from it as the natural plant has always worked 100% alone and its free here as it grows well in our area.
Jewel Weed comes in two varieties, with a yellow flower (Impatiens pallida) or with an orange flower (Impatiens capensis).

Quote:

In the southern Appalachians and in much of the eastern U.S., there is a plant remedy that works very well. Jewel Weed comes in two varieties, with a yellow flower (Impatiens pallida) or with an orange flower (Impatiens capensis). The great thing about Jewel Weed is that it often grows right next to Poison Ivy and is fairly common along roadsides. This plant is a well-known folk remedy for P.I. and has no reported side-effects. The juice of the Jewel Weed can be extracted from the stems or leaves, preferably before flowering, but it seems to work at any time. If you are out in the woods and realize that you have exposed yourself to Poison Ivy, and are able to find Jewel Weed, you are in luck. Crush the stems of Jewel Weed to extract the juice and apply it to the area affected by The P.I. or, apply a poultice of the crushed leaves to the area. The juice is somewhat sticky and will stay where you put it pretty well. Some folks have said that tea made from Jewel Weed works as a preventative. To keep a reserve supply on hand, the best idea seems to be to save the juice as ice cubes to rub on the infected area. Shred leaves and roots and place in boiling water for 15 minutes to half an hour, then freeze the liquid in ice cube trays. Jewel Weed relieves the itching, stops the spread and helps to heal the Poison Ivy rash. We have found Jewel Weed to be the best remedy of all, even better than prescription products.

LINK

cnvh · #14 08/01/08, 05:33 PM

I am utterly succeptible to poison ivy, but I can usually tolerate it while it runs its course, unless it gets in my eyes (which has happened twice)... if THAT happens, get a script for steroid (prednisone? cortisone? Not sure which) pills from your doc-- it's a course of pills you take for about a week, clears it right up.

Once when I was in high school, it got it BAD, and went to the dermetologist the next morning when my face was swelled up so bad I could barely open my eyes or mouth... the doc gave me a steroid injection and it was cleared up by that evening. The last time though, they gave me the pills instead-- didn't clear up AS quickly, but it was noticeably better within a day or two.

leecofarm · #15 08/01/08, 07:45 PM

try bathing in oatmeal soap, not the cheap store stuff but some from the makers of homemade soap, for about a week. sure helps me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiempo

I was weed wacking away today though some tall grass when I suddenly saw that I had hit a sizeable patch hiding down below. VM was flying everywhere.

I had on long pants and goggles, but short sleeves and of course most of my face was exposed.

I've showered a couple of times hot, hot, hot, with a LOT of soap, all clothes went straight into the washer.

Anything else I should do?

I only had poison ivy once before, but it was so bad the ER doc took my picture

Do NOT want to go there again

cathleenc · #16 08/01/08, 11:47 PM

I am incredibly, intensely allergic (needing cortisone for 10 weeks sort of allergic) and will swear by homeopathic remedies for poison ivy/sumac/poison oak. I will still get a few random dots that raise up, itch, and then go away. Nothing like the 3" raised blood filled blisters that cover every inch of my body otherwise, even with cortisone.

homeopathic. Try it.

PyroDon · #17 08/02/08, 12:05 AM

wish you the best I havent had poison ivy since I was three and we moved out here . first day I got in a big batch head to toe , the folks sprayed me down with a horse anti-fungus they found in the tack room . when I quit screaming and running it was all gone and I havent had it since .
neither of my girls seem to be phased by it either (knock on wood )
I actually tapped poison ivy vines for sap and pulped the leaves when I got my first chemistry set , as well as nearly every other poisonous plant I could find .
stinging nettles were the bane of my youth with their histamine filled needles . I always ran into them by the creek .

Beeman · #18 08/02/08, 12:39 PM

Here's what works, Wash with bleach in areas you think you contacted it. If you do get an outbreak scratch it and wash with bleach water. Yea, it's going to burn but it will be gone in 2 days. Or you could do all of the other stuff buy everything there is take stuff for itching you really shouldn't be taking and it will be there for 2 more weeks.