Watch out here it...opps its here

[jazilla]

Yes its here.Along with spring and flowers and the birds and bees its Poison Ivy. Watch out cause it could be in a wood near you. I know it is cause....... sorry had to NOT scratch just now, I caught it. Doing my not scratching dance. Its not that bad. It took since last Thursday till yesterday for me to notice it was there. So heed my warning or stock up on the Caladryl. Or do both to be safe. Just a little note, get the clear cause not everyone thinks your pretty in pink.

[TN_Hiker]

LOL.....spray laundry starch will help dry out poison ivy. Not practical on the trail, but great for a home remedy.

[EarthJourney]

I have either been incredibly lucky or I'm immune to it. I have (unwittingly) found myself in patches of it and came out w/nary a incident! Just last week, literally, I leapt (sp?) before I looked and was in it at John's Mtn. in GA. Got lucky again (unless it's a really delayed case!) - whew!

I won't intentially go into it as I read (a long time ago) that the immunity can disappear overnight.

To contrast that I have a buddy who seems to get it just by looking at it!

[icemanat95]

There are a number of good poison ivy prevention and clean up solutions on the market. Some are pretreatments, others are for washing up afterwards. On the trail you are likely to know when you got exposed. When you get past the poison ivy, wash the exposed skin well, this'll head off an infection before it gets started.

Hikers are often so dirty and sweaty by the height of poison ivy season, that the oils don't manage to get to their skin. I had no problems with poison ivy on the trail, but I did wash off as well as I could every day and especially after having to walk through sections of trail where I couldn't avoid it. Other than that, no special precautions.

[icemanat95]

One more thing, every piece of the poison ivy and poison oak plants contains the nasty oil that causes the rash, so the twigs, vines and roots left over from last year's crop can get you if you bruise them. Takes a while for the oil to lose it's potency as well. The plants you killed thoroughly last year may not grow back, but they could still cause a rash if handled.

Do not burn poison ivy either, the oil will be in the smoke and an infection in your lungs will land you in the hospital.

[Mountain Maiden]

Watch out cause it could be in a wood near you.

Ha! Not just in the "woods" either! Here I sit--in this miserable hot CITY--covered in the lousy rash!! I got it from moving my potted plants around in the front garden area. Today, after several hot days and rain--poison ivy is FLOURISHING everywhere I look!! I must have rubbed my face and arms unknowingly. I have had several encounters resulting in horrific breakouts in the last few years. I must be the kind that just has to say the words "poison ivy!"

Mostly, the breakouts have required multiple doses of prednisone and injections. The last was so bad, I hated being seen in public.

During one terrible breakout, I had someone offer to "talk the poison out." Anyone else ever heard of this?

[Mr. Obvious]

already had a good case of the it starts at your ankles and soon it's on your chest, on the backside of your knees all over your arms ect..this year..
I use a scrub.. It feels like that soap "lava"... rub it in, then wash it off, works really well..

[Lilred]

Another home remedy is to wash with Dawn. It's great for cutting grease and oil so it works well on poison ivy oil. Also, wash with cold water. Washing with hot water just helps spread the oils.

[Just Jeff]

I had it maybe three times growing up in the woods, but I've gotten Poison Oak four times since I moved to CA last June. Just getting over my last bout. For some reason, I'm VERY allergic to this type out here - I get humungo nasty blisters, but thankfully they don't itch much.

The PO out here just looks like normal shrubs. On one public park trail down the road, there's a sign to stay on the trail because the PO is so bad. I didn't see any PO. Then I looked really close at this head-high shrub-tree with no leaves on it. Here and there I saw single clusters of three leaves - teeny little leaves scattered throughout this impenetrable wall of sticks. It was all PO.

My last bout was gathering firewood at night a few weeks ago. Last time I'm that stupid.

Check this out:

[Just Jeff]

Oh yeah - here's a trick for PI/PO/PS. Blow it with a hair dryer for a while - it'll itch like crazy for 10-15 minutes because the heat draws out the histamines, but then it'll quit itching for several hours.

Same idea as the hot shower, but better IMO b/c you're also drying it out.

I've already added Technu soap to my standard kit...from now on I'm adding Ivy Block, too. I wish the mountains weren't so awesome out here so I could just keep myself inside!

[woodsy]

Oh yeah, something else that makes you itch has arrived too...the notorious Maine blackfly! First sightings today, only 25 miles from the AT. Break out the BEN'S 100.!

[Mr. Obvious]

I had a friend swear by taking steel wool to the infected area, ( i would imagine this wouldn't work with some body parts.. ouch!!) ..washing afterwards, then wrapping with crazy amounts of gauze ect , leaving for a week , and presto........

[Hikerhead]

Here's something BB told me about after we both got into some on our BMT hike last year. It's sold by Natures Sunshine and it's called BP-X. It's a Herbal supplement. All I can say is that the itching had stopped the next day. I'm not a doctor, I just play one on Whiteblaze.

[Mountain Maiden]

I had a friend swear by taking steel wool to the infected area, ( i would imagine this wouldn't work with some body parts.. ouch!!) ..washing afterwards, then wrapping with crazy amounts of gauze ect , leaving for a week , and presto........

Oh my, my, my! That makes me hurt just thinking about it! Not to discount your friend's advice but, my experience has been that ANY thing that can spread the urishol (PI, PO oil) is a bad, bad thing!! I found that out the hard way when I "scrubbed" the dirt off me in a hot shower at the end of the day! Following days, I ended up with an all-over breakout that lasted five weeks and almost put me in the hospital!

Arggghhh--all this PI talk has me itching! I remember it feeling like tiny explosive volcanoes at every breakout point!!

My advice--wash immediately and GENTLY with degreaser (Dawn is good) to remove the oil and take it easy from there. Caladryl is good.

There is also a tea you can make from jewel weed flowers gathered in the late summer to drink in the early spring. Supposedy, it is a distant cousin to PI and makes your body resistant. They also sell jewelweed soap for treatment.

Best advice--avoid it at all costs if you can! Already too late for me this year.

[Riddick]

Search on WB for "Zanfel" or "Technu". Both are amazing cures for poison ivy, maybe poison oak...not sure. Close to immediate relief from the itch and very soothing, even starts to clear it up the next day in my cases. With these products (Technu is MUCH cheaper, works the same), I don't worry too much about prevention, rather washing after I know I have come in contact or just washing when the symptoms start. These two products are simply amazing.

Good luck. They really do cut even the worst poison ivy itch in about 10-30 seconds.

[Just Jeff]

The Technu bottle says it's good for PI, PO and poison sumac. It doesn't cut the itch that quickly for me, but it does help a bit.

Incidentally, some folks (even the second doctor I went to out here) say that it can't spread once you've washed the oils off. Therefore, she said, using the Technu after the initial cleansing won't help any more than using regular soap.

Not true in my case. I'd washed with Technu soap three times over two days. Then I wrapped my arm in fresh gauze so I could sleep. When I woke up, the entire underside of my arm had broken out in mini-blisters. I used the Technu again and never put that gauze back on, and the mini-blisters went away within a day and never came back.

Oddly, though, she lanced my blisters (b/c they were so tight it was painful, even though they weren't itching much) and the fluid inside the blisters didn't seam to spread it any further.

I can't imagine scrubbing my body with steel wool! But if it works for him, have at it!

Oh - one more thing. A friend here in Monterey told me that Technu doesn't have any special chemicals in it to take off the urushiol...it's just a mildly abrasive soap. She uses regular old abrasive soap for her body because it's cheaper, but still uses Technu for clothing since it's "specially formulated" for that. I haven't looked to see how true that is, but it seems to work for her.

[Hikes in Rain]

Even burning the stuff doesn't eliminate the danger! I remember way back when I was growing up, one of our neighbors burned some, and accidently inhaled the smoke. Ended up hospitalized, with the rash in her lungs.

At least, that's what I remember.

[EarthJourney]

Even burning the stuff doesn't eliminate the danger! I remember way back when I was growing up, one of our neighbors burned some, and accidently inhaled the smoke. Ended up hospitalized, with the rash in her lungs.

At least, that's what I remember.

I'd say you remember correctly. When I was a kid my friend's father bunred some "debris" that included poison ivy - my buddy got COVERED and his face was as swollen from the burning poison ivy as if Mike Tyson had gotten ahold of him. His doctor told him he was so LUCKY not to have inhaled the smoke or it would've gotten in his lungs.

[Just Jeff]

I know a girl whose father burned some PI when their clothes were drying on the line. It got on her bra and panties. Uncomfortable.

[lobster]

You folks must have attended Ivy League schools!