Avoiding Poison Ivy

**stormcrow** · 08-17-2009, 22:47

nice testing. This is becoming a great thread for this red head and his family of 5 red heads ( and one blondie)

**JayS** · 08-17-2009, 23:53

Originally Posted by SmokeHouse

My wife has got it bad right now,,, After petting the dogs she got it...

My dog had sniffed through PI and my forearms got it from his snout while I was scratching behind his ears. I used Technu scrub and caladryl but it took almost 3 weeks to go away.

I take pre-packaged alcohol wipes and wipe anywhere I thing has contacted PI -- this works very well. At home I wash the area with rubbing alcohol straight from the bottle which also works well. I have waited up to 15 minutes before washing with alcohol and it worked for me.

**Sailor** · 08-18-2009, 00:10

Like others, I didn't get PI as a kid, but apparently decided my body was missing something, and have gotten it plenty of time since about 30. Aside from washing, I have found that putting the hottest water I can stand on the rash--usually in the shower, and increasing the heat bit by bit, stops the itching for about half a day. I haven't found that that causes it to spread, and my doc also confirmed that heat/hot water does not cause it to spread.

**stormcrow** · 08-18-2009, 09:57

Originally Posted by Sailor

Like others, I didn't get PI as a kid, but apparently decided my body was missing something, and have gotten it plenty of time since about 30. Aside from washing, I have found that putting the hottest water I can stand on the rash--usually in the shower, and increasing the heat bit by bit, stops the itching for about half a day. I haven't found that that causes it to spread, and my doc also confirmed that heat/hot water does not cause it to spread.

I have done that in the past too, only with sunburns. When the sunburn is two or three days old it really starts itching. I found that hot water trick about 10 years ago when I got burnt really bad in Utah (long dumb story). I think what happens is that the hot water kind of tricks your skin into releasing all of its histamine or something (whatever your body uses that tells you that you need to itch a spot). Anyway, the main thing is, if the itch is driving you insane and you do not have access to medication, the hot water really seems to work.

**animalcontrol** · 08-18-2009, 10:35

Originally Posted by oldgringo

I've used Prednisone perhaps a half dozen times over the past 40 years. In each instance, it was prescribed by either a flight surgeon or civilian physician specifically for contact dermatitis resulting from exposure to poison ivy. It was always effective, clearing the rash in 3-5 days. I suffered no side-effects.

what was your doseage?
I was prescribed prednisone for another skin rash, took it at the prescribed doseage and the side effects still linger today (16 months later)

Personally, I will have to be life and death to use that stuff again...YRMV

glad it worked for you though

**BillyBob58** · 08-18-2009, 16:32

Originally Posted by animalcontrol

what was your doseage?
I was prescribed prednisone for another skin rash, took it at the prescribed doseage and the side effects still linger today (16 months later)

Personally, I will have to be life and death to use that stuff again...YRMV

glad it worked for you though

What were your side effects?

**oldgringo** · 08-18-2009, 16:36

I couldn't tell you what the dosage was, other than to say that it always came in a dose-pack. Something like 5 pills on day one, and then tapering off for the remaining 4 days. 5-4-3-2-1, or something close to that.

**BillyBob58** · 08-18-2009, 17:04

Got a couple of nice pics at the start of todays hike. Then like an idiot, I put the camera in the truck instead of taking it with me. Which is a shame, because I wanted to post some pics for help with identity. I'm pretty certain I finally correctly identified some Poison Sumac(red stems), as well as a bunch of hopefully NON-poison Sumac.(non-red)

But I really wanted to post a pic of a big bush or shrub or young tree I found. I'm assuming it was poison Oak, as I didn't see any vines associated with it, and it was more(very small) tree like. But it had hundreds of "leaflets of three" so I let it be! But, there was at least one or two leaflets of four! I wish I had a pic for you. Every thing I read indicated the the one nearly unbreakable rule with this stuff is three leaves. I saw plenty of pictures of very PI or P.Oak looking plants that were ruled out because of one or a very few non-three leafs. But I was taking no chances, it was about thousand to one, or so it seemed. Maybe I can get a pic of these plants latter.

But some stuff is without debate. And some of this stuff hung down from the trees right at face level on the trail! And if you don't look close, it just looks like one of the trees branches and leaves!

Look at the almost perfect camouflage(sp?) of that vine just to the right of my hiking pole. Sometimes these devils can be hard to see. Even in the next close up it is hard to see. Then, there are no leaves to use to identify until you get about 15 feet up the tree. The further up the tree, the more leaves of 3, but all mixed in with the trees leaves.

You could almost think the evil weed is trying to camo itself from us, so we won't recognize it and hang from those trees.

Or just bump some of the stuff with your face as you hike.

**fin** · 08-18-2009, 17:05

Originally Posted by oldgringo

I couldn't tell you what the dosage was, other than to say that it always came in a dose-pack. Something like 5 pills on day one, and then tapering off for the remaining 4 days. 5-4-3-2-1, or something close to that.

I use to take those dose-packs 3 or 4 times a year. Then they went to the massive shock dose on me, because I would get it so bad and so frequently. Now I just get a shot of solumedrol every spring, as soon as I get my first case of PI. One shot clears it right up, and I don't have to worry about taking pills or missing a dose.