poison ivy help needed....home remedies....

[mldollins]

Do any of you have any home remedies? Need serious help fast...thanks.....

[ovsfarm]

The traditional remedy in my area is to apply a poultice of jewelweed, which generally grows in the same area as the poison ivy. Our neighbor, who is a physician's assistant, recommends leaving on a light coating of Barbasol shaving cream. For some reason, my turncoat dh trusted her and the shave cream more than me and my granny herbs, but he did get pretty good results, so whatever...

[Yvonne's hubby]

Jewel weed is a great antidote for poison ivy. http://images.google.com/images?rls=...num=4&ct=title

[cathleenc]

take an antihistimine

[Beeman]

I scratch the heck out of it and spray a bleach water mix on it. Burns like fire but dries up and goes away quickly.

[dawn6767]

I don't have a home remedy. I am allergic to cortizone and most steroids and that is what the doctors give when you get poison ivy. Most over the counter has it in also. I try to keep a tube of Zanfel on hand. It works great. I run into poison ivy and blister bad (it seems all the time) use as directed the poison ivy gets gone right away. It is very expensive 1oz is around 40$. I picked up the off brand this year but still had a little in last years tube so havn't used the new tube yet.Good luck. I also take a benadril (sorry about spelling)pill. It helps allergy reaction and can help to sleep so you won't scratch.

[Yvonne's hubby]

I developed an immunity to poison ivy within just a short time, couple weeks or so, after I started drinking our goats milk who had been munching on the ivy around the farm. I wasnt bothered with it for years after that. It seemed to have worked for the kids that way too. In just a lil while none of us who drank the milk was bothered anymore. My inlaws were a bit fussy, and wasnt having any of our nasty goats milk, and they got eaten up by the ivy instead. I didnt care much for either of them, and it always did my heart good to think about them scratchin fer a week after every visit.

[The Paw]

the best thing for itching is very hot water, either a shower or bath, hot as you can stand it without scalding yourself. The heat dissipates the histamines, which are what causes the itching. It can give relief for several hours at a time.

Two summers ago my Yorkie ran through it in the morning and then spent the day sleeping on my pillow. That night I spent 8 hours laying my face on the oils. It wasn't pretty. And yes, it will burn your eyeball, too. My right eye swelled shut. I had the stuff on my arms and stomach, too as I hold a pillow to sleep.

The doc gave me some uber cortizone stuff, antihistamine and orders to take showers as hot as I could tolerate them 2-3 times a day. It took about 2 weeks for my skin to look normal again, but once it did it was softer than a baby's behind. Nothing like a chemical peek, courtesy of Mom Nature.

[Cliff]

There's an otc cleanser/medication called zanfel that works better than anything. They use it in er's now. It's pretty expensive but the lesions start drying up and healing as soon as you use it the first time. If you use it soon enough after exposure it will prevent a lot of the lesions from forming. It somehow absorbs the pi oils and flushes them off your skin. Plus it's gritty and feels so gooood to scrub with. You can buy it in drug stores.

[cowboy joe]

Oatmeal or baking soda bath helps knock down the itching...

http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/kitchen.html

[Delrio]

We've tried Pepto Bismol and Fels Naptha Soap and both seemed to work.

[glenn amolenaar]

We keep the old bar soap Fel's Naptha take a shower and use this soap no itch or rash, but use it as soon as you know you were in posion ivy.

Glenn

[Alice In TX/MO]

If you can locate homemade soap (old fashioned lye soap) or a local maker of goat milk soap, that will remove the oils so that the skin can heal without being re-irritated.

[mr.breeze]

You might want to try a mix of 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water,blot very liberally over the affected area,hope this helps.

[longshadowfarms]

Originally Posted by Beeman

I scratch the heck out of it and spray a bleach water mix on it. Burns like fire but dries up and goes away quickly.

PLEASE don't do this any more than you'd pour bleach in any other open wound!!! This is really dangerous, esp if the skin is split!

If you suspect you've been exposed, toss all your clothes in the wash and jump in the shower with a bottle of Dawn dish detergent - it cuts through the oils of the plant. I have a small tube of GREAT stuff from the dr but I'll have to go look - I'll post it later. It is clear and isn't cortisone. Works better than anything I'd ever tried before and can be used on the face.

Ok, looks like that stuff is still a steroid - betamethasone dipropionate gel - requires a prescription but one tube has lasted me for years.

[foxtrapper]

Jewel weed.

[JIL]

lye soap and last resort bleach but be prepared to do a howling dance, it does dry it up.

[casusbelli]

I'm with longshadow - bleach is bad idea. PI is not an infection- nothing to kill. It's your body's over-reaction to the antigen/allergen.
Go to the doc and get steroids.
s

[Wis Bang]

Don't scratch, just go swimming in a chlornated pool. Scratch and the bleach/chlorine gets inside where you don't want/need it!