Poison Ivy

[bp7178]

Absolutley DO NOT use dish soap to wash away posion ivy from your skin. Equipment fine, skin no....

The rash you get is a result of your body's over reaction to the oil of the plant. Everything that is happening, puss, rash, itch etc, is the result of your immune system. You also develop the allergy. For most people, it takes about 7 exposures before you start getting the typical effects. Benedryl (really any anti-allergy/anti-histimine sp?)and hot showers works great. I never had any of the creams work for a shit.

The oil has to soak in past your outer skin layer to get a result. The outer layer is thicker on your plams, which is why that save for cases of really extreme exposure, you will never get it on your palms. You also can't spread it by scratching. It can show up at different times due to the varying thickness of this outer skin layer, and by cross-contamination.

Back in my paintball days, I always used to get it to the point of having to get shots of hydrocortisone and was put on steroids at one point. None of which helped. It would always show up first and worst on the bottoms of my forearms. It took me a while to realize that I was getting it from my pants. When I would drive home, my arm would rest on my pants. I started taking everything I had on and putting it in a trash bag for the trip home. When I got home, clothing went straight into the washer by dumping the bag over the machine. Any equipment would get hosed off in the driveway.

After doing this, I never got it again. Cross contamination is a pain to deal with, but must be done.

All you really need to break down the plant oil is lots of water. Dish soap will dry out your skin, cause it to crack, and strips the natural oil from your skin. Your skins natural oil is what protects you.

I haven't used Techu in a while, if it leave an oily residue, I would use it BEFORE getting exposed. That or a good oily hand lotion. If your skin is dry and cracked its going to be that much worse. Ounce of prevention/pound of cure and all that jazz.

[chavez_e_chavez]

what i get besides Steroids is a cream is called Triacinolone...Works well

[hatidua]

I keep a full regimen of prednizone in my toiletry ket for any encounter with poison oak/ivy. Nothing else will cut it for me.

[ArRazorback]

I keep a full regimen of prednizone in my toiletry ket for any encounter with poison oak/ivy. Nothing else will cut it for me.

Same here. Growing up, I made a couple of trips to the doc or even ER during Christmas break after running into the stuff hunting. Woke up one Christmas eve morning with both eyes swollen shut. Not good times.

Over time, however, it seems that I've built a bit of a resistance to it. Once the rash develops, I've found that washing the affected area often with a strong anti-acne face wash (the kind that really dries the skin out) helps keep it from spreading.

[Quiet-Matt]

Technu works, but has been hit or miss for me. After I've been in it, I clean the area with 99% isopropyl alcohol that we use for cleaning fiber optics. That stuff will remove any trace of oil from your skin, wash with cold water after because it'll dry your skin out as well. That's usually all it takes to prevent it is removing the oils immediately, but if you end up with a rash, we have found that Ivy Dry is the absolute best treatment for poison oak/ivy. It can be hard to find, but it flat works awesome.

[Vic303]

Fels Naptha soap is also quite good for using in your washing machine to remove PI from clothing. You can do the Homemade Laundry Soap thing to get a big batch of soap.

[GIJew766]

IvaRest. Made by Blistex. Works pretty well.



H

[tb-av]

I keep a full regimen of prednizone in my toiletry ket for any encounter with poison oak/ivy. Nothing else will cut it for me

That's what the doctors typically give me. I don't think there is any way I could keep that on hand.

Never seen that IVY-DRY. I might have to check that out.

I've been using the TechNu since yesterday and it's not hurting that's for sure. The area over my eye is definitely better. The side of my neck is about the same. I would not say the Technu dries your skin but makes it feel somewhat slick. Not oily slick but like powder slick. Like rubbing silicon dioxide between your fingers.

I think I figured out where I got it from. I was at a property where I brushed past an evergreen and the branches hit the very areas I'm having a problem with. None on my arms, hands, only those spots on that one side of my face. the thing is I never saw any leaves and we were actually talking about poison ivy as I had spotted a tall vine of it on another tree. I'm thinking someone might had recently cut some vines out of that tree.

I do believe this one is going to pass with no doctor visit. So I got lucky this time.

I'll keep all these prevention and cures in mind. This will be the 4th time in 5 years straight that I've had it. I used to get it maybe once every 5 or 6 years and then it was usually very minor on an arm or leg. The sad part is all this is coming from basic suburban residential properties where you would think people would keep it knocked out with Roundup and such. I have seen fences, trees, flower beds, you name it, just loaded with it.

TB

[photosniper]

Call me silly but for really bad cases of poison ivy, I use a hair dryer.
Set the dryer on low and hold it a couple inches from your skin. Keep moving it back and forth until the heat is just about unbearable. Remove for a minute or so and do the whole thing over again. After about five minutes the itching goes away long enough to get a good night's sleep and the rash dries up about twice as fast as just using ointments. Just be careful that you don't burn yourself.

[Inkslinger]

I get it so bad that reading this thread gave me a rash.