Poison Ivy Phobia

[greenmanner]

I know this is going to sound very odd for someone who grew up in Appalachia and have been hiking for twenty years, but here goes. I've had poison ivy a million times in my life, usually not very severe. However, last November I caught a bad case after a couple hours hiking a little suburban park. I don't really understand how I got it, but the most plausible explanation would be this tree I had to climb over twice on part of the trail. There were no leaves at this point, but in retrospect I didn't check to see if there was any pi-zen on the tree (careless of me--can hear my grandpa saying, "well boy, what d' ye expec'?"). Ended up getting it a day later, all over my face, lips, arms, genitals, and legs down to my feet. Started on the wrist, knuckles, between fingers, and then face, and then the other areas. My torso was pretty much spared, and didn't have any on the back part of my body at all. I think this may reflect how I climbed over the tree (with the genitals comes from getting it on my hands and going urinating a couple times during the day trip). After one of my eyes was pretty much swollen shut, and my penis was very disfigured, figured I'd better go to the doctor and get some prednisone--which cleared it up in a couple days.

However, now I have a weird feeling about poison ivy. Not exactly a terror but just a sense of discomfort and fear that I'm going to somehow get it again from something in my house that is contaminated. I worry about this even though I've cleaned everything (threw out my clothes from the trip) and this was months ago. I haven't been on another hike or gone camping since, but I fear that I will be worrying about this on the next hike. I also know that I will be worried about all my gear having gotten contaminated during the hike.

Has anyone else been in the same boat? Did you find you got over it as soon as you did another hike and were fine? I don't know if my problem is not having gone another hike, and thus haven't gotten "back up on the horse" and not gotten it out of me yet. What's your experience?

[Smile]

I have a friend who has a really bad reaction to Poison Ivy, they use this product:
Eric's Pharmacy (http://ericspharmacy.com/?page_id=116)

Here is a photo of the vials of stuff you drink Photo of poison ivy stuff (http://ericspharmacy.com/?page_id=122)

You actually ingest this stuff over a few weeks in the wintertime, when the plant is dormant.


You can still get poison ivy in the winter with the right exposure to it, because of the 'resin' that it contains.

I hope that you'll keep hiking, I can understand your fears though. Everybody has their own usually, whether poison ivy, spiders, mice, but most get out there and enjoy the other 99% of the good time :)

[warraghiyagey]

I learned that the hard way in late November when I thought the ivy was dormant and pulled the vines off a tree trunk that reached 8' high. Had the worst case I've ever had. . . ever since I respect the Ivy year round:o

[Smile]

Yeah W, it can be really worse in the wintertime, just fewer people are 'out there' with skin exposed. Burning it is even worse, you can get it all over your body if you're close enough to the smoke - yuck! :)

[warraghiyagey]

My right arm swelled up thicker than my leg for over a week, it was really gross, not to mention painful. . .:mad: . . .

[shelterbuilder]

I've never had it THAT bad, although the section of trail that I maintain is loaded with it, so I have to be careful (especially when I run the brush cutter, which tends to aerosol the plant material that's being cut).

Get yourself a bar of FELS-NAFTHA (sp?) soap - it's the old-fashioned lye soap. Lye soap will disolve the oils from the poison ivy and wash them away. (Works on skin and clothes.) If, after that, you still get the rash, it will usually not be as severe and will usually be isolated patches. Then, go to the drug store and buy some "Tech-nu" - it's a liquid over-the-counter medication that will neatralize the rest of the oils from the ivy. This stuff isn't as cheap as calamine lotion, but it works 1000% better.

Have you talked to an allergist - he might be able to do something for you BEFORE you're exposed.

Don't give up on the outdoors - just be a little more aware of your surroundings.

[john gault]

I'd be pretty screwed in the head if my penis was disfigured. Luckily I don't react to poison ivy and use to chuckle when I heard other hikers say, "Did you see all that freakin POISON IVY...!!!"

However, after hearing your story of a mangled penis, I'm now a little worried about the stuff. I may never go back into the woods.

[shelterbuilder]

I'd be pretty screwed in the head if my penis was disfigured. Luckily I don't react to poison ivy and use to chuckle when I heard other hikers say, "Did you see all that freakin POISON IVY...!!!"

However, after hearing your story of a mangled penis, I'm now a little worried about the stuff. I may never go back into the woods.

...and then there's the story of the newbie who ran out of TP and wiped himself with...oh, never mind.

[JERMM]

I've had poison ivy spring, summer, winter and fall. I'm miserable every time and usually have to get an injection before I get any relief.

[greenmanner]

Thanks for all your responses. I checked out homeopathic preparation recommended by Smile--has anyone, by chance, also used this? (Thanks, Smile, by the way.)

Yeah, the penis was traumatically grotesque for awhile. Even the doctor made a face. :)

Part of my problem is that I wish I had a clear answer on how I got it. One time I had a really bad case when I was in high school and it was just the classic story of me and my girlfriend out in the woods on a late spring day, and... So we both deserved it that time. I know I probably got it this time from carelessly climbing over that tree, as it was the only thing "physical" I did during this short hike that could have gotten it all over my hands and lower legs (although I guess it's possible I got it on my boots or pants and spread it to myself later). But, I'll never know for sure, so I guess all I can do is get on with life and try not to worry about. How's the economy in Alaska? Figure most of Alaska doesn't have poison ivy, so maybe that's a possible escape route. :)

[Strategic]

The stuff suggested by Smile is not a homeopathic remedy (and that's a good thing, since actual homeopathy is nothing more than quakery and the placebo effect.) It's an updated version of an old folk remedy that was a bit easier to get but less certain in its effects: eating poison ivy leaves. Basically, both methods work by desensitizing the body to the toxins by giving you a gradually increasing dose starting from a very small one (i.e., one that in most people won't give you a reaction.) For the old-fashioned way, the idea was that you started with the tiny leaves as soon as they open in the spring and then eat one every day until they're fully developed, by which time you should be immune to most exposures. This does actually work, but only if you can take the treatment in the first place. Basically, if you're more sensitive to the toxin than average, you're running a real risk of a reaction to the treatment. I'd be very careful with this stuff until you know how you're going to react.

Because if you think the swollen penis was a problem, just wait until it's your throat that's swelling shut.

[john gault]

...and the placebo effect...
If a placebo works, than what's the problem.

[Strategic]

If a placebo works, than what's the problem.

The problem is, it's often substituted by quacks and other unethical hucksters for treatments that actually work (or it's given to people for whom there are no other treatments, an even crueler piece of behavior that givens them false hope.) It may be fine to talk about the use of placebos to relieve pain, for instance, on the occasions when they can even do that (or, more accurately, when the patient can be convinced or convinces themselves that the placebo is actually doing something, which by definition it is not in reality.) But most of the time we're dealing with conditions that are not susceptible to that kind of self-delusion. You can't make a cancer cell or brain tumor disappear just because you want them to and someone gave you a "remedy" that can't actually affect the condition in any way (if it could, we'd call it a drug and it could be tested to show its effects.) Most homeopathic "remedies" have no real content anyway, they're essentially water that may have come into contact with another substance at some point, but which is not present now. Here's a fine debunking of homeopathy (http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/homeo.html) that lays out the impossibility of these "remedies" having any real effect.

Homeopathy was an 18th c. reaction to the even more harmful medical practices of the Galenics then in charge of the medical profession, but that's no reason to keep it around today when we have actual science to show us real medicine.

[john gault]

I basically agree with you, but this is my problem with the Placebo effect when explaining away unknown cures.

I’ve seen numerous programs on so-called "miracle cures". They always have an expert, usually a doctor, try to explain the sudden cure as some sort of placebo effect (along with other explanations).

Well that’s incredible in it’s own right. Some person, who was dying from an extremely bad case of lung cancer all of a sudden the cancer is gone and a doctor wants to explain it away with a placebo, Huh???

I’m not saying something magical happened, but for an expert to use the placebo effect to explain the cure seems to me to imply something magical happened. Yet he explains in such a matter-of-fact way.

For the record, I’m not sold on the placebo effect as an actual cure to very serious illnesses. I’m just amazed actual doctors would use it as a possible explanation for a medically verified and very serious illnesses.

[Jayboflavin04]

When I was younger I use to get poison ivy by just being around it. I use to spend alot of time in the woods in the summer. It wouldnt be uncommon for me to have poison ivy 3-5 times during summer break. One time I had an extreme case and my mother took me to the doctor.

Doctor prescribed a z-pack (prednazone steroid). I still get it and avoid it to be safe, but when I do get it its only small spots hardly itches and goes away quickly (because I am not scratchin). I took this steroid 20+ years ago and havent had a serious outbreak since.

[Strategic]

Most doctors confronted with an inexplicable anomaly will not resort to the placebo effect to explain it; if they do then they obviously don't understand what the placebo effect is. Most doctors would use the term "spontaneous remission" in such a case, reflecting the fact that occasionally cancers and other diseases may behave in ways we don't yet understand. But unless the doctor (or someone else) has been giving the patient a placebo to begin with, that's unlikely to be used as an explanation.

Nor are the rare and unusual cases the ones where you usually have doctors charging that the placebo effect is what's really going on: that's usually reserved for those more common cases of quackery where claims of a general efficacy are being made (as opposed to the exceptional nature of a spontaneous remission, for example.) I'm particularly sensitive to this, being a rheumatoid arthritic, as this is one of the areas most visited by quacks and most susceptible to contamination by the placebo effect. Like all chronic pain diseases, arthritis can be affected by placebo effects in the short-term reduction of pain (literally a "mind over nerves" situation in which you convince yourself that there is no pain,) but that's as far as it goes. The real cause of arthritic pain is not touched (joint inflammation) nor do the effects last for as long as actual medications. These "remedies" have no demonstrable effect on the body, and the pain itself does not actually go away. Nor does the joint damage and other effects that can be combated by proper medication.

Basically, the placebo effect is just an advanced form of fooling yourself. While this might be fine for temporary pain, it's at best useless and usually counter-productive with anything else.

[Jeepocachers]

Check into Jewelweed. You can find it anywhere in the woods, often right where you get into poison ivy. Slice the stem and rub it on. Very effective herbal remedy right at your fingertips.

[greenmanner]

Thanks, everyone--appreciate your two cents. Went for a walk yesterday in a park known for its poison ivy--didn't actually see any along the trail but washed my clothes afterward. Should be fine--just need to get back on the horse.

I've used Jewelweed before, too--can't tell if actually worked or not. It was the kind of situation where I thought maybe I'd gotten some on my hands after touching a tree I realized had a poison ivy vine on it, but not actually knowing whether I'd come in contact with the vine itself. Rubbed my hands down with the juice from the plant and never got a rash. I often see Jewelweed along streams and sometimes even along the trail here in the coastal plain. Some will note it as a Touch-me-not. It's blossom is orange, at least where I've seen it.

[emerald]

Check into jewelweed. You can find it anywhere in the woods, often right where you get into poison ivy. Slice the stem and rub it on. Very effective herbal remedy right at your fingertips.

That shelterbuilder feller has a fine sense of humor and should post more often, but I wouldn't count on finding any jewelweed on his maintenance section.

Y'all are slipping. It sure took long enough to get around to posting about jewelweed (http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=IMCA). I'm sure I posted on the subject before the thread was even started, but I can't seem to find my post. Click on my link to learn how to identify jewelweed and to see images from USDA's Plants Database.

[Smile]

Strategic, there are many people who benefit from homeopathy. It's not fair to claim they are all hucksters, and that it is nothing more than 'quackery'. :)

[bigmac_in]

IMO - this stuff is the best thing on the market, once you have Poison Ivy. The rash will start disappearing after just one treatment. Relief from the itch is almost immediate.

http://www.zanfel.com/help/

I used to get Poison Ivy very easily, not so much after I got older. But I'm no longer afraid of getting it after using this stuff. It is unbelievable.

[Tinker]

I'm deathly allergic to it (need shots when exposed to it). You don't develop a tolerance to it. Your sensitivity to it becomes worse the more often you're exposed.
Know what it looks like, where it's likely to grow (hammockers beware, it likes to climb tree trunks, notably in Georgia among places I've hiked), and avoid it like the plague. I have never gotten it while hiking on the trail. My exposures have been due to landscaping.
If you can't avoid contact, wear long clothing (I'd rather be hot than off the trail), and wipe areas of bare skin with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer. The alcohol breaks down the urishiol (sp?) which causes the blisters. If blisters form, don't scratch. Rub lightly if it helps sooth the area (a cool cloth is wonderful - heat is nasty). Removing the urishiol from the skin will prevent it from spreading too far.

[emerald]

Know what it looks like, where it's likely to grow...

Thanks for your post but you never did point out what it looks like (http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TORA2). Leaflets three, let it be! Berries white, poison in sight!

I could be wrong, but I heard it grows on the Appalachian Trail and you can expect to find it most anywhere.

[emerald]

It's not fair to claim they are all hucksters, and that it is nothing more than 'quackery'. :)

Smile, still I wish I were able to post a row of imprinted ducklings following a hen across everyone's screen.:D

[ChinMusic]

I am fortunate. I don't react to it whatsoever and don't pay any attention.

[Tinker]

Thanks for your post but you never did point out what it looks like (http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TORA2). Leaflets three, let it be! Berries white, poison in sight!

I could be wrong, but I heard it grows on the Appalachian Trail and you can expect to find it most anywhere.

This time of year you won't see the leaves, but the vines (growing up trees they are usually dark and hairy with crooked branches growing out and upward at an angle). The end of the branches remind me of what a broken finger might look like (at least mine did). You'll find the vines growing along the ground, usually under leaves, with the same crooked branches growing straight up, usually to knee height. The branches are usually greenish.

[theinfamousj]

Check into Jewelweed. You can find it anywhere in the woods, often right where you get into poison ivy. Slice the stem and rub it on. Very effective herbal remedy right at your fingertips.


^^ This.

I had a horrible case of poison ivy this past summer. After falling in love with a tube of benadryl cream, and discovering that smooth river rocks can "scratch" itches really well, especially if you are in the river with the rocks, I decided to learn up on what jewel weed looks like no matter what the season.

Now I feel that I am prepared to deal with poison ivy should it rear its ugly head again.

[emerald]

Had I time to find winter images of poison ivy, I would add some. Keep in mind it is a variable plant which can assume a variety of forms. In time you will learn to identify them even in winter although it may be easier initially when it is in leaf or fruit.

[Many Walks]

I've had Poison Ivy that was irritating, but really not that bad as it went away in a few days. Then I got into Poison Oak. Now that stuff is REALLY nasty! Similar growth patterns to PI, but it is about 10 X worse for me. I found a product called Technu dissolves the oils so they can be washed away from skin, clothing, equipment and dogs. Prednisone oral pack (prescription) will start relief in a day and cure it within a week. I got into Pacific Poison Oak that is prolific on the PCT and in Northern CA, but lucky you, there is a version called Atlantic PO on the Southern part of the AT. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TOPU2

[greenmanner]

Too bad we can't get a prednisone pack to carry with us on a big hike.

[Chaplain]

Hey, lets carry a machete and cut it up as we go. Like in the jungle, huh, huh, huh.

[booney_1]

There are a few products now that can prevent exposure if applied before you go out.

Ivy Block
OnGard

You apply these to your skin before you think you might be exposed.

After you been exposed Tecnu is one product that will dissolve the oil.
This company has a line of products that can be used on clothes and tools also.

I can easily recognize poison ivy, but living in the south, I've learned to watch out for vines and roots. When digging a plant bed-don't pull roots by hand. They are not ALL honey suckle. Like a previous poster, the worse I ever got was from pulling vines from trees. It never occurred to me they were poisonous. Both eyes swollen, hands and arms covered.

[Slosteppin]

I am very allergic to poison ivy and have had a few severe cases. One time I got it on my face and one whole side swelled up and my eye was nearly shut. I worked for many years on a survey crew, mostly in woods and swamps so I got the rash or worse nearly every year. In the early 1970's there was a product available in drugstores called (I think) Aqua Ivy. I used the pills just as instructed and did NOT get poison ivy for two years. Then our all knowing government made them take it off the market saying it was not effective.
I read long ago that poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac all have the same poison agent. As someone else said, all parts of the plant are poisonous, all year.

I carry a can of mechanics hand cleaner in my Jeep. If I get in the stuff while day hiking the hand cleaner removes all the problem - if I can get back to it within about 2 hours. If I know I am likely to get in the stuff I carry hand cleaner with me in a small tube. Paper towells are necessary to wipe it off.

Slosteppin