Poison Ivy

[avoxo]

For years I have played golf and rummaged through fields and forests full of poison ivy looking for my lost golf ball or just being a ball hawk and have never gotten poison ivy Well over 2 weeks ago I was trimming my yard with my power trimmer and came across a 1 foot poison ivy plant :eek:. So I use my weed whacker and whacked that weed. The problem was that I whacked only the leaves and bark off. So I bend over and start yanking on this bare stem :eek:. The stem was all slimy and slippery to the point that I could not get a good grip on it. I decided to give up and finish trimming. I went in and took a shower and went to bed I was a little itchy but ok.

Five days go buy I start to break out in rash so I go to the Urgent Health Care place and find out that I have a systemic reaction to the poison ivy. Get a shot and a prescription, which I follow, finish and feel better. A couple of days goes by and I start to get the rash again. I go back to the health care place. I am told that I am having a sever reaction to the poison ivy, another shot and prescription.

Moral to the story: If you come across a Poison Ivy Plant that you want to get rid of, buy surgical gloves (which you will put on three pairs on each hand) and a sharp hand trimmer. Trim the plant, put it in a trash bag by itself with the gloves and trimmer and throw it away.

[Watcher74]

Another little trick for Poison Ivy: If you get a rash(or your kid) get some dishwashing soap like Dawn and rub it into the rash very well, then rinse it off. It will prevent the poison ivy from spreading.

Note: You should never scratch a poison ivy rash. Rub it with a rough cloth for the itching. If you scratch it, the above treatment will not prevent it from spreading.

I've caught Poison Ivy hundreds of times.<----Grew up in the woods.

[Snake Eyez]

Don't forget that the stuff antigen in poison ivy can aerosolize, so other precations can be taken.

[happychem]

rub with alcohol

tourniquet above the wound

bite wallet

amputate

:D ;)

[geoffgarcia]

you went to the hospital because you had a poison ivy rash?
are you grossly downplaying your reaction? because a simple rash doesn't sound hospital worthy...

I've never seen bark on a poison ivy plant...:confused:

[Dangerdoll]

Originally posted by geoffgarcia

I've never seen bark on a poison ivy plant...:confused:

I'm thinking it's the skin of the plant which can look like bark if the plant is old enough... ;)

[PumaWard]

Jewelweed (Spotted Touch-me-not) plants are also supposed to help out with poison ivy...


Good thing my parents told me to just leave poison ivy alone ;).

[Watcher74]

I've had to go to the hospital a few times due to Poison Ivy. Once when my brother and I chopped up this large "vine" on the side of a tree. It looked like it had bark. My face swelled up so much I could hardly see or breath.

If you have poison ivy on more than 70% of your body they give you a shot that gets rid of it.

I've had that shot at least half a dozen times.

[fishlvr]

I've had to get shots and oral medication before as well. was when I was very young. I didnt know better, I thought it was fun picking and tearing upthose leaves while perched on top of the fence :(

I quickly learned how to swallow pills back then... I had no other choice. :p

[avoxo]

Geoff, once you touch poison ivy you should get a rash between 12-48 hours on the areas that the ivy touched. I was getting the rash on parts of my body that the ivy did not touch 5 days later, which meant that I was systemic, or the poison was in my blood stream, which is bad. People can continue to get breakouts for over a month (when systemic) with out medication and if left untreated scaring will occur. Yes poison ivy has bark.

What makes poison ivy poisonous is and urushiol oil. Only billionth of a gram is needed to cause a rash, 1/4 ounce of urushiol oil can cause a rash in every person on earth, 500 people could itch from the amount covering the pin head. The part of the plant that has the most oil on it is the stem and roots. That was the part that I was messing with. I was exposed to enough oil on that plant to cause a rash on over 10,000 people. So yes I needed to go see a doctor because of this. I am still suffering from this today and it’s been 18 days since I came into contact with the plant.

[Snake Eyez]

I don't think the oil actually goes systemically. You can have a systemic reaction, but that is from the APC activating numerous lymphocytes througout the body. Hence a different type of allergic reaction than simply the contact dermatitis that is normally associated with poison ivy. Some people can over stimulate their system to much that exposure could be life threatening.