So Who Has Poison Ivy This Year

[johnpma]

Stuff is nasty all throughout my acreage. We have been cutting firewood, running my lab getting her ready for duck season and some how half the family has gotten this crap. Any good remedies I would certainly appreciate the input. We are using a wash scrub few times a day. Son got it so bad they put him on prednisone as it was going to his eyes........

Wondering if it's more prevalent this year because of the mild winter

[RC Maple]

I get the stuff several times each year. My sons do too. Somehow my wife and daughter don't get it. Fortunately, I don't get it near as bad as when I was a kid. I usually just put up with a small amount of it. If it looks like it is a big patch or several of them, I have the doc call in a prescription for prednisone. I would love to have a big candy dish of that stuff sitting around!

[Paddymountain]

Try benadryl , it stops the itching and slows down the inflamation. Really helps in mild cases, other than that it's off to the Doc

[n8hutch]

I have Never Had poison Ivy, and I can't explain it. But I had a guy working with me once that was so allergic to it he got it from air born dust particules because it was in the Top Gravels of some Rock we were crushing. I felt pretty bad for him. It was in his eyes , throat & mouth what a nightmare.

[SeanD]

I get it at least a couple of times each year - right after I tap and usually again in June. There are a few trees I put on tubing and they have it all around. The stuff is still potent in the winter even without the leaves. I used to have it all winter when those trees were on buckets.

If you know you have been in it, try washing your hands and any exposed skin in Tecnu. That gets the vast majority of the oils off. Throw your clothes in the washer. If it's been more than a couple of hours of contact on your skin, the washing still helps, but you're very likely going to have an outbreak in a day or two.

Once the itch comes and it starts to break out (usually a couple days later for me), I treat the itch with hot water. If you are not careful, you can scald yourself, but I do it b/c it's 100% effective for me and gives me about 4 hours of relief. I can often sleep through the night if I treat right at bedtime.

Run the affected area (usually my hands) under hot water right from when you first turn the water on. The water will gradually get hotter and hotter. Once it gets into the warm/almost hot stage, the itch will be tremendous. Stick it out and keep the area under the hot water as long as you can stand it. It's usually just seconds after the bad itch phase.

The hot water causes your body to release histamine (the itching response) and by going as hot as you can get it, your body will release it all at once. It takes about 4 hours to build it back up again. Then you can treat again. My tap water goes way north of 120, so I have to be careful. I have burned myself more than once, but I prefer it to the itch.

It doesn't need to be life threatening to get treatment from the doctor. Most docs will help you out if it is blistering, oozing or making it so you can't get through a day or night. My biggest mistake for years was not going to the doctor when I could have.

If the poison ivy shows up in places that I know had no contact with the oil - like my belly, back, etc. then I know my body is having a bigger immune reaction to the poison ivy and I see the doctor. The steroids knock it down in about 24 hours and beat it completely in a matter of days.

Good luck!

[chuckwagon]

I've never had poison ivy either, don't see much around my property unless I just don't notice it.

[CTSap4Maple]

Try Goatscaping.

[johnpma]

Try Goatscaping. Great Idea buy a goat and tie him off to eat daily!!!! Thanks for all the input everyone.......

[BreezyHill]

Lava soap, hand cleaner for a shop all work well if you get it soon after it starts to itch and you don't scratch. Scratching just gets the plants oils into the open wound and...

Wife is on a steroid right now with it on a leg. didn't look like PI at first then it got worse and was obvious.

Goats do a great job on it! Round up works as well. Dry weather concentrates the oils in the plant and we were really dry until the past weekend and today. Now it will jump due to the water supply.

[3GoatHill]

Goats will eat it, but it's usually not their first choice. They also love to eat all the bark off of all the trees.

[maple maniac65]

Hint from a goat owner. Nigerian dwarf Wethers rather eat hay than browse. Does are more apt to forage. Full size goats will eat more than dwarfs. Also will do more damage to what you wish to keep. I have experimented with goats in the sugar bush for the last five years. 6 to 16 month old alpine Wethers are great foragers. A 2 year old alpine wether can push a sapling over and eat the tops off it. Debudding is good if done right but resale value drops when horns are absent. Certain cultures will pay $600 per goat for meat. Another subject.

[SeanD]

Try Goatscaping.

Blaming somebody else for your poison ivy? I might try that.

[Ken18621]

I never got poison ivy until 10 or 15 years ago. A few years back I found a product online that makes you temporarily immune to the stuff. It has to be taken daily, and throughout the season, and before exposure.

Its called "Oral Ivy". It is poison ivy extract that you add 5 or so drops in a few ounces of water daily. This stuff works. I generally start taking it in the spring and stop in the fall. I have yet to get poison during the time i am taking the drops. I will sometimes get a mild dose of it in the winter time when I havent been taking it.

[maple flats]

I used to get it big time, tried every remedy to come along, some eventually worked others not. Then I talked to a railroad worker who told me about Tecnu Extreme poison Ivy scrub. I found it the lowest price at Ben Meadows (online), a forestry supplier, the last time I ordered some. It comes in a tube. If I get into poison ivy or find the rash starting, I simply use the scrub with cold water. It does very well removing the poison oils. Often if caught early, just 1 or 2 scrubings is all I need. For me this has been my only remedy for about 20 years now.

[acafro]

I never got poison ivy until 10 or 15 years ago. A few years back I found a product online that makes you temporarily immune to the stuff. It has to be taken daily, and throughout the season, and before exposure.

Its called "Oral Ivy". It is poison ivy extract that you add 5 or so drops in a few ounces of water daily. This stuff works. I generally start taking it in the spring and stop in the fall. I have yet to get poison during the time i am taking the drops. I will sometimes get a mild dose of it in the winter time when I havent been taking it.
Seriously!?!?!?!

I get poison ivy so bad I'd probably take it in enema form if I had to....

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[RC Maple]

Fortunately, I don't get near as easily as I did when I was young. It is though a common occurrence to get "a little bit" of poison ivy, usually just a few blisters. If the patch looks to be a big patch, well...that's where the prednisone comes in. We did pick up a homeopathic remedy - "poison ivy remedy" from the pharmacy but have to admit I have never used it.

[Ken18621]

I'm as serious as a heart attack. It does take some planning though. The directions say to take 3 to 5 drops in a quarter glass of water daily by mouth 7 to 14 days prior to exposure and continue throughout the season.
It can also be used for treatment of symptoms after exposure too. But I dont think it is as effective.

To me it makes sense to prevent it instead of waiting for exposure. I have gotten poison ivy by second hand contact last winter when I wasnt taking oral ivy.........from the dogs walking through it and then me playing with them in the house afterwards.

A 1 ounce bottle lasts me for almost 2 years.

https://www.amazon.com/Boericke-Tafel-Oral-Ivy-liquid/dp/B0001APXWY/ref=sr_1_1_a_it/163-2549085-3811931?ie=UTF8&qid=1471012436&sr=8-1&keywords=oral+ivy





Seriously!?!?!?!

I get poison ivy so bad I'd probably take it in enema form if I had to....

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[anchorhd]

GoJo hand cleaner

I was told poison ivy is oil based so I tried it. Works for us. Drys it up.

[Tweegs]

Tons of poison ivy around my place.
So much so that I don’t even cut wood in the summer time. I wait until fall when the weather is cool enough to wear coveralls, hat, gloves and boots comfortably.

Ounce of prevention/ pound of cure as the old saw goes. Learn to recognize the stuff.
Most know what the leaves look like, but the vines will get you, too, even in the off season when no foliage is present. A poison ivy vine climbing up the trunk of a tree will have what looks like course hairs holding the vine to the tree. Don’t run your chainsaw through the vine if you can help it, for obvious reasons. I use a machete to remove the vine from the area I intend to cut.

I’ve heard said that you’ve got about 10 minutes to wash the stuff off after exposure. I take a bucket of water and bar of soap with me when I head out to cut or work the lines. If you even think you might have been exposed, wash up.

That oil will transfer from your clothes to skin. I strip down in the garage and head straight for the shower (and hope company hasn’t dropped by while I’ve been out).

If all of the above fails and you wind up with a dose, hunt down an herbalist at your local farmers market (all markets have at least one, right?) pick up something with jewel weed in it. It likely won’t have the smell a rugged, bush whacking, hardworking, sap sucking, syrup making, manly type man would prefer, but it does the trick. (I just avoid public venues, at all cost, when the need arises.)