Poison Ivy

Haven't been bothered by it in years, rely on Ye Olde Boy Scouts Method, you wash your skin with laundry soap-Fels Naptha, e.g.-but you wash for 10-15 MINUTES. Wash, rinse, wash again. Best treatment product I found was Johnson and Johnson's Rhuligel, last I saw it was marketed as Anti Itch. Clear, so you avoid that painted look.
 
If I even look at a poison Ivy plant I get a rash. It is very prevalent in my woods and I have been waging a battle with it for 17 years now. Every time I trim the yard not matter how I cover myself, or wash after I end up with a patch of rash or two.
 
I have never had it, when we were kids we used to go skinny dipping and we had a lot of poison ivy along the shore line, one night one of my friends went into the bushes to relieve himself, I don't know why he didn't go in the water, a few days later in school he was itching like crazy, everytime the Nun looked away he would reach down and scratch, finally she caught him, she asked him what was the matter, he said I have poison ivy, she said let me see, [emoji3] everyone in the class broke out laughing, you should have seen the look on his face. [emoji16]

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When I was a kid I was a garbage kid, fish cleaner, step and fetch it at a northern resort.

Had a room over the minnow tank it was great. Had a old pick up truck to drive around- fish and swim all I wanted work was more fun than a job.

I will never forget one thing that happened-

Two guests at the resort had a romantic encounter out side in the woods.

Turned out gosh darn awful- they ended up going to the local hospital, and were there for a while.

Yikes! :(
 
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I don't think anyone is free from Poison Ivy, I knew someone that made the mistake of burning it and paid the price. Ortho used to carry a BlackBerry killer that works on Sumac, Lilac, Bamboo, and Alder, use it in the Spring when it first starts to show and its all over. Its abundant in the rocky banks of the Spokane River, one of the sneakiest ways it has of getting you is if your dog brushes through the patch comes up to you and cuddles...had it happen to a friend that never went out of the campground and wondered why she had the rash...wash the dog before you cuddle, right in the river if necessary.
 
I have toxic reactions to poison ivy and it can kill me. When I was a kid I was covered with it and my throat swelled up, and the corners of my eyes and mouth would bleed because they were so swollen and it would tear the skin if I talked or blinked. I had high blood pressure, burning skin, and the itching was HORRIBLE!!! I haven't had a bad case of it since because I know a lot about P.I. and here's what you need to know. Think of it as invisible automotive grease, like you've been working on the engine of your car and you have an hour or a little more to clean it off. Take a shower with two wash rags and some Dawn dish washing soap because it cuts grease. Wash off and keep scrubbing and ringing out the wash rag to get the resin off of it and do this at least three times. Then use the clean wash rag and scrub and wash off once more. Dry off, put some gloves on then put your clothes in the washer with a lot of soap, run two cycles if you think you got in a lot it. I'm not afraid of poison ivy at all if I can do this procedure after exposure.
 
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one of the sneakiest ways it has of getting you is if your dog brushes through the patch comes up to you and cuddles...had it happen to a friend that never went out of the campground and wondered why she had the rash...wash the dog before you cuddle, right in the river if necessary.

My wife got a terrible case this way.
Our in-laws had a Golden Retriever that would go into the adjacent woods a get a stick to play with.
When my wife would visit them the dog would walk between her legs while she'd scratch his head, back and hind quarters. Sort of like a drive thru car wash.
One time she went over wearing shorts and a couple days later she had one of the worst cases I've seen. The insides of her calves and lower thighs were raw.
Even after the rash cleared up she had discolored skin for a long time.
 
When I was young, I had the same problems. I spent nearly every summer with lotion on and my eyes swollen shut. I never did learn to identify the stuff, my wife does that for me. When I was younger, I got it so bad they put me in the hospital. I was literally wrapped in some plastic lined cloth with some cold stuff poured on me several times a day. I was complete immobile and they were concerned about it going into my blood stream.

Fast forward, i am now 67 and I can count the number of cases on both hands I have had since. I always figured that I somehow adapted and built up a basic immunity to catching unless I roll around in it.
 
re pmanton's post....

I learned the hard way, always take some toilet paper when out communing with nature. I usually take care of buidness before I leave home or just manage how ever I must. One time I...er...mismanaged things and well, you know.

I find it ironic that I now have it here and there all over my pace. I'm working on getting rid of it but it keeps popping up. these two patches popped up in the wooded area behind my garage.

In any case I have learned my lesson and it's one I'm not likely to forget.
 

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Haven't been bothered by it in years, rely on Ye Olde Boy Scouts Method, you wash your skin with laundry soap-Fels Naptha, e.g.-but you wash for 10-15 MINUTES. Wash, rinse, wash again. Best treatment product I found was Johnson and Johnson's Rhuligel, last I saw it was marketed as Anti Itch. Clear, so you avoid that painted look.

Avoiding the "painted look" becomes a non issue if I get poison oak on me. :-)

Have a blessed day,

Leon
 
I recall working with a old man that would put Trich or Mek on a shop towel and rub it on the rashes as soon as they appeared - that stuff dried it up immediately. I never had the courage to try it.
 
Way back last century in the 1900s, when I was a Boy Scout, our Scout Leader would have us was our arms and legs with hot water and dishwashing liquid to get any oily poison residue off us after a hike. When not washed, I only seemed to get mild irritation from poison ivy, but some poor kids blew up pretty bad.
 
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