Okay, I just want to let you know that spring is officially here at my homestead because I have my first case of poison ivy this week. I brilliantly decided I was going to hack down the HUGE vine of poison ivy that has been growing up the side of my stable for years. Since it was still cold here I figured it would be dormant and I would be okay. But, I still covered up with long sleeves, pants and gloves but by golly that devil still got me. I have a patch of it on my arm about the size of my fist and a friend told me to put vitamin E on it which I did and that totally stopped it from itching or hurting so that part is good but I'm wondering if there are any suggestions from you guys on things to help cure it. I'm not really suffering but it is pretty ugly looking with bright red skin and a zillion tiny blisters. I normally have to wait a couple of weeks before my system overcomes it but I was just kind of impatient to be done with it. I did try making a paste of baking soda and slept with it on over night and it was dry when I got up but I took a warm wash cloth and gently took the baking soda off but a few minutes later the blisters were all oozing. I toweled them off and put the vitamin E back on it because I though oozing was not a good idea because of potential infection. Thanks for any ideas you can give.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), March 10, 2000

Answers

Colleen, many years ago when I was PG. and had it all over my body. A wise old man told me to use Pine Sol. You paint it on with your fingers, full strenth. Or you can dilute it some with water, i alwayed use full strength. It will dry up the oozing and stop the itch,be real soothings also disinficts, and in about two days will be gone. It really saved me at the time. good luck

-- Linda Hess (hesscat@cot.net), March 10, 2000.

You poor baby !!!! Poison IVY is spread by the oil on the plant or the oil in the atmosphere coming from the plant(sensitive folks only).The big mistake that alot of people make is not scrubbing off the oil...Use laundry detergent because it will dry off your skin quite well...Any liquid detergent will do...take it in the shower with you, pour a bunch on a washcloth or sponge, and scrub away...Do not use the cloth or the sponge again unless you have soaked it overnight in the detergent...Then you can treat yourself to an oatmeal bath (they're neat)..Take an old sock, fill it with a cup of oatmeal, knot it up good and put it in the tub while the tub fills with warm (not hot) water....All rashes will be worse after a hot bath or shower...baking sodas paste will work well after this .Poison Ivy lesions can get infected, so watch for nasty stuff that is thick and yellow or brown, swelling that feels hot to the touch,etc....You probably already know this, but for those reading who do not...NEVER burn poison Ivy to get rid of it....I've seen some wicked cases of eyes and noses and lungs after that...yuck....Lastly, the family dog, or goat can be a wonderful source of poison ivy..they brush up against it and then you affectionately give them "rubbies"..so if your animals have been helping you weed the Ivy, consider giving them a bath as well.Good luck, and welcome to Spring !!!!

-- Lesley Chasko (martchas@gateway.net), March 10, 2000.

Great stuff on poison ivy!! I have a problem with it to. One thing I might add. Something not to do. NEVER NEVER NEVER use a sauna with poison ivy!!!! Did I ever make that stupid mistake. ...Kirk

-- Kirk Davis (kirkay@yahoo.com), March 10, 2000.

I to had a problem with poison ivy , felz napta soap works great ( spelling may be wrong) Its the brown laundry soap .I've also used rubbing alchol and if all else fails go to the dr and get steroids. I dont like taking these either but I HATE POISON IVY!

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), March 11, 2000.

I got it real bad once when I was 15, it has not bothered me since. I think poison oak is even worse. I have no remedy for the rash but what I have done about the plant in the past is spray laundry bleach on it with an old pump sprayer like a windex bottle, that will kill it dead but, better yet is to use Roundup or Crossbow, they are nasty herbicides but it takes care of the job.

-- Hendo (OR) (redgate@echoweb.neth), March 11, 2000.

I treat poison ivy homeopathically with excellent results.

I wash the infected area with Rusto lotion (available from Washington Homeopathic Products) as long as there are blisters. I also take Rhus tox tablets (200C).

-- walt (longyear@shentel.net), March 11, 2000.

When I used to work for the Forest Service, lots of interestng info came my way about poison ivy/oak. One thing I remember it saying is to wash off the oils with COLD water, as hot water will open your skin pores, and may actually make it worse.

I don't ever worry about it, myself. I worked in and around poison ivy for many years, then moved out west and worked around it, including clearing poison oak with a chain saw, getting it all over myself; no problem. Until I was 26, that is; then I was clearing a trail through a fifteen foot tall blackberry patch, interspersed with poisong oak. I was pretty shredded up all over my arms and hands. I ended up with a rash from the neck down to the toes. It lasted for almost two months, during which time I had to work five days a week in very hot weather in high top leather work boots. I suffered a lot.

The next year I also got a bad case. I then met a guy who was convinced that I had a "psychological need" to suffer from it. I told him that he was an insensitive clod, but it did get me to thinking about it. I eventually learned to control it, at least in part, through power of the mind alone. I've never used any other treatment.

How it worked for me (and I apologize to all who think this sounds a little "out there", but it does work for me, and I'm not a particularly "cosmic" type of person). I figured out that, whenever I started getting signs of poison oak--itching, rashes, blisters, etc--I began putting lots and lots of energy into it. Checking the way it looked, worrying about it spreading, doing all kinds of mental tricks to try to make it not itch (since everyone knows that you're not supposed to scratch it), and so forth.

I finally decided to stop doing that. I realized that the stuff was going to eventually go away, no matter what I did. I decided to just go with the flow. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, it itches. So now I scratch when it itches; I try not to go nuts, and scratch so much that it itches more, but the point is that I don't freak out about not ever scratching, and think about it so much that it itches more. I just think "oh well, I've got poison oak, ho, hum" And guess what? It rarely lasts more than one to three days, and never spreads much at all.Mostly it never gets worse than a mosquito bite, even when I have to clear brush with a chain saw, and get poison oak all over myself. When I have to lay pipelines, or electric lines, into a freshly dug trench, I generally get a few lines of blisters where the sap dripping roots rub directly on my bare arms, but even those go away in a couple of days.

If this doesn't work for you, I know a lot of loggers in my area swear by bleach. Sorry, I don't remember the strength, but they clean the rashy area with a bleach/water solution with a rag, and swear by it.

Don't use straight bleach, though. I knew a guy who did, and he said it cured the p.o. but the cure was much worse than the p.o.

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), March 11, 2000.

Colleen, we have dairy goats on our 13 acres of National Forest. I know the reason that we never break-out anymore is because we drink the milk from does who eat the poison ivy. I had heard in the past that folks also dry the leaves and put them into capsules and take them to build a tolerance (the same idea as allergy shots). My vet wears gloves and long sleeves when she works with my does, because she insists that they give her rashes in the summer! It is probably the poison ivy on their skin! Once you get it Benadryl (you can use the off brands of this) works well to dry up anykind of rash, course it works because it knocks you out and when your sleeping you don't itch! Might help you get a good nights sleep though! Vicki McGaugh

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 11, 2000.

When my husband got yet another bad case of poison ivy last summer, our vet, a wise old country animal doc who could probably cure more humans than an MD if they'd license him, said "Scrub 'im down with homemade lye soap." Fortunately, I make our own soap, so we did just that. The soap, the homeopathics as mentioned by Walt, and an application of Bach's Rescue Remedy cream two or three times a day did the trick. Good luck.

-- Sally Rogers (saltex@pdq.net), March 11, 2000.

If you are going to be doing something that includes the poison ivy stuff, go to your drug store and pay the money for the ivy block. IT WORKS!!!

I can get the stuff from just being in smoke of the darn plants just burning, and never touch the thing.

I have had to have shots for this mess for years, but last year we had to clean up around the house, and I tried the ivy block, and I am now a beleiver of this stuff.

The best thing is not to get it in the first place. Try some if you must work in this itchy stuff.

Beth )NC)

-- Beth (NC) (craig@icu2.net), March 12, 2000.

When all else fails, scratch it good and bleach it. If I can catch it when it first starts to blister, I've beaten it by doing this. I'm one of the "sensitive" ones. Don't have to see or touch, just walk by and I've got it. Also, watch out for the blister turning dark or black. According to doc, that's when it gets in the blood stream and gets really nasty.

Kirk,

You have my sympathy.

Janette

-- Janette (janlong@wildmail.com), March 14, 2000.

Just wanted to let you all know that the test results are in! Actually, I only tried one solution but boy did it work. The one I tried? Don't ask me why but the Pine Sol one just called to me and I went for it. I could not believe the results. It had a very, very mild sting when I first put it on but immediately went away. I applied it off and on over the course of the day. There was no pain or itch and the dark red look to it got much lighter over night. By the next day it was really faded in color and was looking dry. I started on Saturday afternoon and this morning it just looks like a patch of dry, flaky skin and I didn't put any on yesterday or today. I am absolutely amazed. This will be in my emergency kit this summer. Just thought you guys might like to hear what worked.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), March 14, 2000.

Colleen,Thanks for reporting back. I'll remember the Pine Sol connection for my friends who get the dreaded PO. I'd never heard of using it before.

Ain't it a relief when it quits itching?

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), March 14, 2000.

Hi, It doesn't matter if the ivy is dormant. It can still infect if it's been dead three or four years. Make a strong tea of that broad-leaf plant called plantain that grows in the lawn and apply it to the rash. It can also be used as a preventative. Dandelion sap also works, but not as well by my experience. Plantain species work great. Be sure the lawn you get it from has had no chemical treatments that could be worse than the ivy itself. When I've encountered poison ivy and use plantain I never even get the rash or the itching. Bye for now. Indiana Gardener

-- Indiana Gardener (greenthumbs777@yahoo.com), March 18, 2001.

i have suffered poison ivy for many years . and have tried every remedy from bleach to disifectants all of them work to some degree but can iritate the skin. so when my son had a massive case of oozing poison ivy over a large part of his body. I had to use something that wood sooth and heal. My pharmacist recommended Domeboro. The store brand was even better than brand name Domeboro because it also had aloe vera in it. that with the combination tecnu skin cleanser had healed the worst case of blistering oozing poison Ivy i had ever seen. within three days my son has not a trace of poison. if you have a bad case I highly recommend this Good Luck!!!!

d

-- paul miller (millerclan@alltel.net), June 15, 2001.

I am very allergic to poison oak it seems as if when i look at it i get it i tried everyhting oatmeal and baking soda.Yeah it works but it takes longer.My grandmother always made me stuff for it .YOu use coffee and ebsence salt.trust me it works it burns if you scratch so dont.

-- tasha hollen (lil_angel19882002@yahoo.com), April 21, 2002.