After we'd cleared most of the fallen tree last weekend, I asked our neighbors across the alley if they'd mind me adding some underbrush to the pile of stuff to be hauled away. They were okay with it, so I cleared out a little flowerbed that is actually on my next-door neighbor's property, a raised bed next to his garage and adjacent to the short driveway to my garage. It's no real use to him -- or me, either -- and it gets scrubby.
It seems I picked up a mild case of poison ivy when I hacked away the weeds, honeysuckle bushes and various other greenery. Not as bad as it could be, my siblings and I are low-reactive (my big sister is just about immune) and my Dad was completely immune to the stuff. (He had a theory why: as a child -- age 5 or 6 -- he'd been told if you ate it, you'd never get it. So he did. Do. Not. Try. This! Immunity is pretty clearly genetic, not acquired -- on the other hand, if you do react, every exposure makes you a little bit more sensitive.) Me, I get it but it's slow-developing and usually not too big a deal.
Soooo.... I've had a patchy, itchy rash on both forearms for a week now. Running very hot water over the affected areas usually calms it for awhile. Anti-itch cream barely works. Drat!
Anyone have any other palliatives I can try?
(Vick's Vapo-Rub, suggested online as a source of relief, is working a treat!)
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
14 comments:
My dad gets decent results from Caladryl: the ooky, pink stuff. He's allergic to cortisone, so a lot of anti-itch creams aren't on the list of possible remedies even though he reacts very badly to both poison ivy and oak.
You might try the oatmeal-bath thing. You can pick up packets on the cheap in Walmart's health-and-beauty section. That helps a LOT when I get the screaming itches from something. (I live in the middle of nowhere. God only knows what I get into around here. Usually, it's on my legs, so I soak in the bath with my Kindle in a Ziploc bag.)
One of the better things for poison ivy is Preparation H.
Okay, link didn't come in:
http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/tecnu-outdoor-skin-cleanser/ID=prod3984826-product#BVRRWidgetID
My wife swears that using jewelweed on poison ivy is the way to go, but I have (thankfully!) never had cause to test that out.
For mild skin irritations (sunburn, rash, bug nites) I learned long ago that Chloraseptic (yes...the sore throat stuff) spray works a treat, especially on sunburns...it cools as it dries.
Two or three squirts on the arm, and smear it around. It dries in a few moments, and relief is nigh instantaneous, but is not long lasting...maybe an hour or so.
However it's good for those times when the irritation becomes too much to ignore and once your mind is distracted, the Chloraseptic wears off so slowly that it may be several hour before you notice it again.
Seriously, Vicks?? My husband has a horrid time with it, I'll have to remember that....I've never reacted to it, although I've never knowingly touched it there area's I've lived most of my life make it unlikely I've never done so.....
I am one of the immune ones, but the wife is hypersenstive. She swears by laundry bleach to denature the urushi whatever it is that causes the problem.
She lathers up with ten percent commercial bleach and soap, left on for a minute or so, and repeated a couple of times over the day.
And no, don't try eating the stuff. An almost local scoutmaster put his troupe in the hospital trying that.
Stranger
ROBERTA !
You might wish to consult
"Prescription for Nutritional Healing" by Phyllis A Balch CNC PAGES 643-645
they go into considerable detail as to treatments for Poison Ivy and EVERYTHING else as well this is a MUST have book! get it for your ready reference shelf its available at bookstores pharmacies health food stores libraries and on the internet trade paperback 883 pages relatively in expensive
FEEL BETTER SOON!
Baking soda in the bathwater helps with itching. We used to use it on the kids when they'd bring various rashes home from school.
I have had some serious issues with contact dermatitis in the past. Technu helps, as does Zanfel.
I heard the "Eat leaves" thing too, from a friend who learned it from his mentor, Euell Gibbons. Gibbons talks about it in an old interview with Mother Earth News
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/1972-05-01/The-Plowboy-Interview-Euell-Gibbons.aspx?page=10
But I heard it from other sources too. You have to get the leaves when they're very very tiny and red. Wyeth used to sell poison ivy extract. That was injectable. Frightening.
http://www.jimmunol.org/content/50/5/local/advertising.pdf
Best of luck.
I've had the best luck with Calagel: http://www.teclabsinc.com/store/poison-oak-ivy/calagel
Benadryl makes a topical gel that is the only thing that eases my wife's allergy to mosquito bites.
I used to get poison ivy bad. Mom had it so bad once that she was on steroids for six weeks; she was medically excused from military service during that time (her CO didn't believe her...until she showed up for him to see). I'd like to think I have an informed opinion on the subject:
Domeboro. Worked a treat. So did scrubbing with Fels-Naptha, but who knows if it's still the same recipe--the last time I used it was twenty years ago.
In an amusing development, I'm pleased to note that I no longer seem to be sensitive to it. Heck if I know why. Even mom hasn't had it in years.
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