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Poison Ivy

R

RBoots

Well-known Member
Anybody got a quick cure all for poison ivy? I cut literally thousands of trees all winter without getting poison ivy. Even ones that were solid 2" poison ivy vines all the way around the trunk, never got it once this winter. That is, until last week. I cut trees and dragged them off the roads all day for a couple days getting the roads back open after that nasty wind we had here for a couple days. I was cutting an ash that was laying across the road and on some telecom lines. After I cut it of the telecom wires I was chunking it up to pitch it off the road when the wind blew a straggler poison ivy vine that had been attached to the tree off the wire and against my face and neck. It was green, and it was also wet with sap, couldn't have been more ideal conditions for me to acquire it. Well, now I do have it. On the left side of my face on my cheek under my eye, on the left side of my upper and lower lip, and on my neck. I usually use bleach or brake clean to take care of it, but I don't think that's too good of an idea on my face and I don't want to smell it constantly. I'm doing real good at not itching it, but it is getting a little bigger, and itching more. Just not sure how much longer I can not itch it. I do know calamine lotion never seemed to work for me, but does anyone else have anything that works well to be rid of it? Thanks


Ross
 
Anywhere near the eyes or nose, and it's time for a doctor. I hate that stuff, got some wrapped around a driveshaft on the mower when I was a kid, it slung the sap all over me, many a doctor visit that summer!
 
Outdoor experts say that you have to scrub with soap and a facecloth,it is urioil and it must be removed. Experts admit it is difficult to get it off,but it must be or your body will begin to react to it, blister and cause skin irritation. Scrub with soap, then scrub with soap , then scrub some more. I have used laquer thinner to remove the urioil and it works. soak a cloth in some and wipe the area,then sop and scrub !
 
Peel a banana and rub the inside of the banana peel on it this works for some people hope it works for you it has worked for me.
 
RBoots,
Get it every year Preparation H works for me, had it in that area (same time),as, talk about DISCOMFORT.

or if really bad (see a doctor Re: prednisone).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4169084/
 
Another thing. You might have gotten into poison OAK and not realized it. A friend gets one but not the other.
 
No one ever agrees with me on this, but I am very allergic to it and own acres of the stuff. The rash is made up of many tiny blisters and very hot water will usually give some relief. It will make it itch worse first, but when you leave the water the itching will be better. I have had the rash maybe 30 times in my life. Ultimately though, where it is and as bad as you describe, a trip to the doc is a good idea.

BTW...he wont like my cure either. :)
 
You have my sympathy. It is misery. I have battled it all my life. Different things work for different folks. I could never scrub it. I'd die of terminal itching. Ivy Dry and Calamine lotion did nothing for me. I'd go to the Dr and get the shot. You need a topical also. You want to dry it out. Aveeno has a salve that helps. If you think you still have the poison on you , there is a product sold to remove it but it may be pricey. Usually I have already bathed when it reveals itself. Also , if you have it on you bathe in coolest water possible. Hot water makes it soak in worse. Guess it opens your pores or something. DO NOT bathe in hot water whatever you do. Good luck. Hope I was some help.
 
Ross, try product called Zanfel on the blistered area. Expensive but works for me - stops itch and seems to heal quicker. I use Tecnu to wash with right after exposure and if done within a couple of minutes it usually works. Scrub good and hard with a wash cloth.

Good luck and see a doctor if you need to.
 
Been a tree man my whole life. Luckily I very rarely get it, like you. I agree with Dave H, I have always used the hot as you can stand water method. It definitly works for me. Now that might be difficult on your face. I also take it from other posts that you work for a municipality, as do I. Get them to get you oral ivy. It's a preseason treatment that you take by mouth. Also the are post contact wipes some men on the crew use with success, John
 
I've never had it before but I've heard spray ether on it. It will get rid of the oil the spray will be nice and cool and if you've used it as hand cleaner as much as me you know it will dry it out quickly. I don't know about around your face. I'd definitely try it if I had it on my arms or hands
 
Well if it'still any consolation, yer probably the first one on YT to catch it this year! Least you didn't sink yer ice fishing hut ????
Don't remember when they give out the prizes.
 
scrubbing the exposed area right away is the best preventive, but once you have it, it needs to run it's course. figure about ten days. Hot Hot water will kill the itch (it releases the histamines in the cells)that is what scratching does, it is the friction that makes it feel better. Shower in as hot a water as you can stand, pat the area dry and try not to touch it. I get it several times a year, every year. If it is blisters and weeping, you can use bentonite clay powder to dry the area. When I get it on my inner arms, which is the place I usually get it. I cut the ends off some sweat socks and make sleeves to cover the area so I don't keep rubbing it. If it is on your face, go see a doctor and get some steroids. Sorry it is not fun.
a154160.jpg
 
Haha, I couldn't have sank my ice fishing hut if I wanted to this year unless I floated it out on a boat first lol. It was a nice winter to live in MI, bad winter to live in MI if you like to ice fish!
 
Don't screw around with home remedies go to the Dr. and get a shot. I think it was cortisone that I got and that cleared up the blisters in a couple of days. Calamine lotain help a little.
 
That's a good one to try on it though. I'll admit to using it as hand cleaner as well. I'll have to be careful if I try to spray it on my lip, inhale too much of it and someone could take advantage of me while I'm out! LOL
 
Now that is a bad case of it! I've had it several times, but never that bad, and usually in places where I can just pour bleach on it and be done. Just never had it on my face before.
 
I'll definitely try that, got some bananas right here, won't hurt to try, see what happens!
 
I have a cure but I would never use it on my face. Usually when I get poison ivey or oak I get it on my hands or arm. I know how this is going to sound but I happened on the cure by accident. I'm a furniture refinisher and I got paint stripper on my skin where I had poison oak and it took me longer than I wanted to get it washed off. Then I discovered the stripper removed the poison oak.
 
Yep, I'm a lowly municipal worker as well, a truck driver by title, but I'm responsible for cutting my right of ways back. I've never heard of oral Ivy, but I'm gonna ask about it. They don't usually have a problem supplying us with stuff to prevent issues like this.
 
Never used to bother me at all, but as I get older it seems if I look at it the wrong way it attacks me
 
I also use the Technu oil remover when I shower right after exposure. Recently, I have found a jewel weed salve to coat the blisters works.

After a couple of real bad exposures, a doctor recommended I get several anti-ivy serum injections one spring. I went about three or four weeks. The nurse said it was the only stuff she had ever injected that was not clear liquid, this may have been molasses, for all I know. Hurt like heck for several days after. I vaguely remember that it worked okay, but the doctor got busted by the Feds for illegal assault rifle sales, so I never got back for more shots!
 
Tincture of green soap is a good one before the urishiol has clung to the skin. So if you know you were exposed, read up on this remedy, and or speak to your pharmacist about it.

We have a patch along the one fence line and I warned the help at the farm about it, kept tincture of green soap in the wash room just in case. Sure enough one of the help went blazing through there with a string trimmer, not good !

Not so easy to spot in the winter, but I can spot that plant easily. Got some potent variety of it in '04 here, made darned sure I knew what the leaf looked like.
 
Thanks Bill, it took about 4 days to show up from when I got it on me, so I gather it's just been brewing for a bit before it decided to show up
 
go to the doc and get a shot! I've suffered with that stuff over and over and always wind up getting the shot to clear it. All the other stuff just treats surface symptoms. The steroid shot, prednisone I think, fixes it in hours.
 
I don't get it. My wife got the series of shot some years ago. Thinking she was safe she pulled a bunch out with bare hands. She got it so bad she had to get more shots to clear it up. My dad used to get it bad and would get a bottle of tiny pills from a small pharmacy in Canton, Oh. Worked great for him. I'll try to find the name and post it.
 
I can tell you what didn't work, the $30 soap from the drug store, total waste of money!

Maybe if applied before the rash starts it would have worked, but how would you know where to scrub?

I even went and got the steroid shot. Not sure that even helped,just had to run it's course...

That's some miserable stuff, sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. But when I do it is awful!
 
Not sure what it is now or if it even worked, but I remember reading about a product that you could rub on ahead of time and it would prevent the oils from getting to you, or something like that. I've never been allergic but the wife is. However, we don't seem to have gotten into any up here yet. Not sure if it grows this far north.
 
I use ladie's shaving cream from Wal-Mart. Skintimate raspberry. It stops the itch very well for me and is a cheap way out. It also stops the itch of insect bites for me. I know it sounds silly but it works.
 
If it is as bad as you say, Get to the DR. now and get a shot for it , no waiting around for it to get better on its own. Take it from experence, as I am highly alleregect to P I.

My wife found some little green pills on here 20 + yrs ago that are for poison Ivy. They do work for me if taken imeditly after getting into the stuff. Here is the name and address.

Washington Homeopathic Products,Inc.
33 Fairfax St.
Berkeley Springs,
West Virginia, 25411

www.homeopathyworks.com

800 336 1695. I have used these pills for more than 20 years with very good luck. clint
 
I didn't see it mentioned but getting this stuff on clothes can create problems in the future if you don't wash the clothes. Your favorite hat or chore jacket etc, can spread this stuff back on your skin for weeks or months. Tools and equipment can hold and carry the stuff too unless cleaned.

The problem with washing is it needs to be done immediately to be effective, before it soaks in, urushiol will absorb into the skin within minutes of exposure. Washing after the rash has developed might only help slightly, if there is still urushiol on the surface of the skin.
 
Zanfel is what works best for me. Is expensive but you really don't need to use but a little amount. The steroid you might get from the doctor is methylprednisoloneacetate, trade name medrol, can be given as a slow release injection (depomedrol)or pills (medrolpac) which must be taken in a reducing dosage over the course of treatment.
 
I buy tecnu from Wal-mart. It works. Has abrasive particles in it and feels good when apply it, like you get to itch it. I Carry a tub in truck, keep one in house and in pole barn. First sign of a burn, apply it.
 
I've only had it twice in m life but each time I was cutting trees back. The vines were 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. I was told to wipe the area with 90% rubbing alcohol. It worked within minutes for me.
 
Calamine Lotion, OTC, dries to a crust, dries up the blisters. Great for all kinds of rashes and skin disorders.
 

Two things: First you have to wash it off quickly with any cleaner that will cut oil. Since we almost never do the first thing that leaves us with the second: which is steroid. You should be able to get hydrocortisone ointment without a prescription. The burn has to run it's course of healing but the cortisone makes it quicker.
 

Scrub down with vigour and time after potential contact with a big rough towel soaked with soap. Washing with hands is not enough to scrub off the thick sticky sap.
 
When I get poison ivy in the summer, I scratch it, sometimes almost raw and put Clorox on it. It burns for a minute but it helps dry it up. Another thing, on a sunny day I will put my hand,or arm on my truck hood and hold it long as I can and it will help dry it up also.
 
I once worked with a guy that got it really bad. All he had to do is look at it and he had a bad case. A fire chief that part timed with us got some real lye soap from the fire dept. and that was the only thing that helped. I guess it dried it got the oil out and dried it up.
 
I agree with some of the responses of applying heat to the area. I get it to, just by looking at it, anyway that's what it seems like. I use the better-half's hair dryer on high, keep the heat on the area and it'll start itching, you will almost want to pull your skin off, but then it will quite itching and last for about six hours.
 
I haven't gotten a case of it since I was a kid. Could I have become resistant to it? Cretainly I haven't gone this many years without crossing paths with it again.

Consider my poor mother. She and my dad had been out in the fields pulling YELLOW ROCKET, and she came in and used the bathroom without washing her hands first. Am told she had a pretty bad time with rashes in places I can't mention.
 
Thank you for all the suggestions and stories! I tried a few of your different home remedies as I have been very busy the last couple days and wouldn't have a chance to have gone to the doctor anyway. However, it seems to be drying up well, and a little ether rubbed on it with some good soap scrubbing. It still itches badly, but I've been very vigilant against itching. I'm getting to be less impulsive about just scratching the heck out of when it itches. Thanks for the responses everyone, I really appreciate the help!

Ross
 
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