Leaves of three, turn and flee...

I'll try to look it up later. I think I remember reading that there's an ointment that you put on before exposure that prevents the reaction. I don't tend to get it, hence I'm always relegated to pulling it out of the fence lines.
It is interesting, there's seven kids in my family. Three of us took strongly after my father (Slavic and Iberian mix), the other four took much more after my mother (British). Those four, the Brits if you will, are terribly allergic to the stuff. Us three that are Slav and Iberian don't get it at all. We're olive skinned/dark hair and eyes. They're fair skinned blond and red heads. We also seem to have more oily skin, maybe that's the reason.

DougF said:

I'll repeat what I said on an earlier thread - get some Tecnu. I hunt in the woods where there's plenty of poison ivy. I wear gloves, but often wear a short sleeve shirt. I try to avoid the poison ivy, but sometimes you get focused on a target and forget. Sometimes about two days after a hunt I'll get some of the rash on my arms. The great thing about Tecnu is that once the rash starts, you can apply it to the spots , rub in for two minutes and rinse off, and the itching stops completely and doesn't come back.

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Tecnu is awesome, but a cheap and effective alternative is Fels Naptha soap. Comes in a bar and dries the tar out of poison ivy/oak.

I've had it 3 times - bad. My body goes insane when I get it. The first time I went to Urgent Care. The second time it went away on its own. The third time (currently) I only got it on my arm, but it was nasty. I have come up with a natural remedy that works well for me: coconut oil, tea tree oil and lavender essential oil. Mix it up and put it on. Works pretty well.

Try Benadryl gel for the itching. Also remember this stuff if you get chiggers, only thing I've found that helps.

Will never make the following mistake again.

Went to a new spot in early spring, right as the trees start to bud. Now, I am extremely allergic to poison ivy. it always creates a systemic reaction, i always end up on steroids and its miserable.

So anyway, i go to an area i had never been, so i check everything out first to make sure there isn't any poison ivy becasue its the kind of area that would have it (shaded area). Dont see any so i detect and dig and dig and detect and go home.

Didnt find anything....

Next day i find a rash on my forearm, by that night i have a rash on both forearms, both hands, left side of my face, my left ear and neck,. i go get steroids from the urgent clinic, but by the next morning i have it on about 90% of both hands and arms, most of my left side of my head (luckily not my eyes), on both thighs and feet and most of my chest and back....


Here's where it gets really bad...........Day three my wife gets it on her left hand, left arm, and left leg.


Yup, i got the oils all over my hands and didn't know it, didn't wash up and got the oils on the house phone, the tv remote, the leather couch arm, the doorknobs, etc.

My wife still wont let me live that one down and i skip many places until late in the summer when i can be sure there isnt an PI

The mistake. Early in the spring there is a time when new little poison ivy plants just sprout and are tucked down in the grass and havent entirely opened yet.

I went back to the exact spot i had been later in the summer to see the area. Indeed the whole thing was a big field of poison ivy.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...not fun

I am allergic as well, though not as bad as when younger.

TECNU FTW. Nothing works as well at removing the oil. There
Is a pre exposure formula and i think one for clothes and surfaces too.

The Itch: Hot hot water. Ever heard of heating a spoon and putting
It on a bug bite? Same thing. The hot water drives the histamines out of your skin. I use practically boiling water. Areas without the itch can burn, but the on the itchies it just feel so good. As often as necessary.

No bad advice in the thread though.

Prednisone (steroids) are the pharma fix, and they do work a treat, but beware the crash, it can be tremendous.

Junkminer said:

Try Benadryl gel for the itching. Also remember this stuff if you get chiggers, only thing I've found that helps.

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I hate chiggers worse than anything. I went fishing once to some sandpits in SE Kansas and got covered with them. I'll never go there again.

worst reaction I ever had was when my sister and I were swimming in the Tennessee river, some guy had weed-eated his property and there was all kinds of grass/debris in the water floating. We didnt mind and kept swimming.
Couldnt have been 30 minutes later we started itching, then a rash appeared over our whole bodies and then they started blistering. It was in our eyes, noses, ears...all over. We went to the emergency room and spent a week in agony.

The good part is, after that, I was never allergic to it again. I can rub it all over me and nothing will happen.

to sum up, go get a rash bad enough to go to the hospital for a week and you might not have to worry about it again.

Stinging nettles

I don't seem to be bothered by poison ivy, but I really had a bad experience with stinging nettles. Laid my right arm right on it while digging a hole. I was up all that night with bad burning pain. Watch out for those dudes.

I break out in big weeping blisters and it lasts a couple of weeks. So glad they don't have poison ivy here

CHIGGERS , CHIGGERS , CHIGGERS !!!!!!!! I have had them so many times , not counting where you get them ! Gosh awful creatures. I have never been bothered by the poison ivy or oak . Let's not forget the tics , especially the ones that disappear in your body hair , had one attached to my chin last year , of course he was hiding in my beard .