PSA - poison ivy oil lasts a long time

[reforger2002]

A neighbor down the road passed a few weeks back and I was helping his family clean out some things.

He had the odd bright orange set of coveralls from his days as a rail road track maintainer. They were super high quality and sized to go over your work clothes. Later in life he used them when doing battle with honey suckle, russian olive and poision ivy. He's been in poor health the last few years so it's likely been at least two seasons since he's been out doing battle. They were hanging in a corner of the basement with winter coveralls and rain gear and such. His family said to toss them so I took to the dumpster.

Today I have a very nice patch of poison ivy rash on both forearms. I gets the poison ivy oil can last a few years. Going to see the doc to get a course of steroids to keep it in check.

Side note he was found just after Thanksgiving in HIS chair with the newspaper , an almost finished cup of black coffee and the radio on to the new/talk station. I guess there are worst ways to pass.

[barnetmill]

Thanks for the information on poison ivy residue persistence. Some people are more allergic then are others. I have never had a poison ivy or poison oak-sumac rash and I am sure I must have gotten into it at least once in my life.

[Christopher Calhoun]

Same issue here for me in June. Had my sleeping bag in my closet. Hadn’t used it for years, pulled it out to wash but had other clothes in the laundry. Set it on my bed, where I was setting and folding my clean clothes as it came out of the dryer.

Got a rash that lasted too long because it got on my sheets and some of my clean clothes! Had to rewash everything!


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[reforger2002]

Thanks for the information on poison ivy residue persistence. Some people are more allergic then are others. I have never had a poison ivy or poison oak-sumac rash and I am sure I must have gotten into it at least once in my life.

I'm generally pretty immune to ivy but this one is kicking my ass pretty good. I wonder if a tot of medicinal rum might help?

[barnetmill]

I'm generally pretty immune to ivy but this one is kicking my ass pretty good. I wonder if a tot of medicinal rum might help? Might help you not to notice the pain. Go for it. Rum the drink of pirates.

[John_Frederick]

A few months back I had to clear a downed tree from across the drainage ditch behind my property. The tree was long dead and covered in climbing vines which were also long dead... No leaves to be found, just dry dead vines.
3 days later my forearms and knees showed me it was poison Ivy. Gaah!
At least I wore gloves so I didn't have to deal with blistered fingers.

[chad newton]

Well, last spring I thought I would go out and clear the yard. Being from the West I only knew what poison oak looks like. Needless to say Georgia has poison oak, poison sumac, and poison ivy..... They all got me good, I was head to toe covered and it was close to having to go in and get the antihistamine shot.... It wasn’t fun...

[Ragsbo]

Guess I am lucky. Been in poison ivy all my life and never gotten a rash from it. Ripped it off fences and tombstones bare handed and no problems. My boy can walk by it and get it.

[Blacked out]

Guess I am lucky. Been in poison ivy all my life and never gotten a rash from it. Ripped it off fences and tombstones bare handed and no problems. My boy can walk by it and get it.
Want to come over to my pace and help rip out some roots? My ao is covered in it and I am highly allergic. Yes, poison ivy oils can last for a few years. It’s bad when you get it with snow on the ground.

[cmcampbell]

Octagon soap (lye soap) and /or Chlorox and cold water (do not open pores). Get the oil off the skin soonest. Cortisone shots will clear up a bad case.

[toothie]

Local TV station once did a little segment about poison ivy/oak. In it, mentioned that archeologists while excavating Indian burial sites unearthed poison ivy samples that were verifiably over 500 years old and would still break you out. Now, that is one ferocious plant!

[coastalcop]

A symbol of staying power ;)

[reforger2002]

I'm normally not bothered by poison ivy , an occasional blister or rashy spot, maybe I'm getting old. I have a clinical day on friday and need to wear short sleeve shirt around patients so I got the shot and this rash is in full retreat.

I've found , passed down from my dad, Fels Naphtha found in the laundry soap area works well when we've been around it, also shave a little sliver off the bar and throw in the wash with ivy contaminated clothes. Fels does seem to take the top 2 or 3 layers of skin when you shower with it.

The worst ivy I ever got was in Feb with 4 inches of snow on the ground. We used the occasion to to burn out an overgrown border between a couple fields. Well that ivy oil can be carried in the smoke it seems and I got nasty
case of ivy around my neck and wrists. Was totally miserable for a week or so.

[Froghalla]

Being somewhat of an expert on poison ivy, through vast personal experience, I have to tell "the story". My mother was a pharmacist. I'm told quite a pioneer in the early days when only men filled that profession. One of the things she used when I was a kid on everything that didn't require stiches or a cast was Sperti ointment. It worked on literally everything from chapped lips to burns, rashes, etc. it was then found to work very well on hemerhoids. Well, since nobody wanted to use something that worked on hemerhoids on chapped lips anymore, the market went away as did Sperti ointment. Years later, Preparation H arrived on the market with great success.

Once I learned this, Preparation H has a reserved place in our house. And NOT for anal use either. Once you get poison ivy there's no way out other than time. If you know it early, I've found Technu products work very well for immediate use. I'm not big on getting shots or steroids, I'd rather stick it out but I've found H works wonders mitigating the symptoms through that time. I once heard my mother jokingly call someone a pansy for even thinking about getting the shots! No tough little farm kid will take THAT chance!

The newer, kinder version of H sold in the US no longer has the shark oil in it, as we're kinder to sharks than other nations. But, if you get it in Canada it still has the shark oil in it. That does make a big difference so check the ingredients even in Canada.mthey have generics that also contain the oil.

[droggsey]

Zanfel Poison Ivy, Oak; Sumac Wash. You can find it at most pharmacies and online. It isn't cheap, but it is the only thing I have found that gets rid of the ivy rash. Without it I'll itch for a couple of weeks, with it, it's done in a couple of days.

Sent from the Command Center

[Ragsbo]

As mentioned before be EXTREMELY careful when burning poison ivy. The oil can get into the smoke and it will have evil effects on all that get into the smoke, including in your nose and mouth. NOT a pretty sight or feeling.

[Greg Nichols]

The worst ivy I ever got was in Feb with 4 inches of snow on the ground. We used the occasion to to burn out an overgrown border between a couple fields. Well that ivy oil can be carried in the smoke it seems and I got nasty
case of ivy around my neck and wrists. Was totally miserable for a week or so.

Absolutely! Poison Ivies are a natural blister agent and burning can cause the same blisters/rash/irritation to the lungs as it can to skin and can be fatal, including plants that have been dead for years. If you ever burn it use a respirator or at the very least stand up wind.

[UNO]

A neighbor down the road passed a few weeks back and I was helping his family clean out some things.

He had the odd bright orange set of coveralls from his days as a rail road track maintainer. They were super high quality and sized to go over your work clothes. Later in life he used them when doing battle with honey suckle, russian olive and poision ivy. He's been in poor health the last few years so it's likely been at least two seasons since he's been out doing battle. They were hanging in a corner of the basement with winter coveralls and rain gear and such. His family said to toss them so I took to the dumpster.

Today I have a very nice patch of poison ivy rash on both forearms. I gets the poison ivy oil can last a few years. Going to see the doc to get a course of steroids to keep it in check.

Side note he was found just after Thanksgiving in HIS chair with the newspaper , an almost finished cup of black coffee and the radio on to the new/talk station. I guess there are worst ways to pass.

Yep. I got some on the arm of my computer chair. For weeks. Until i found what it was. Got it with dawn and scrubbing. Chair is safe now. For 3mo my forearm had a line running down it, lol

[Allen]

Want to come over to my pace and help rip out some roots? My ao is covered in it and I am highly allergic. Yes, poison ivy oils can last for a few years. It’s bad when you get it with snow on the ground.

Goats. Hungry, bored, preferably not yours. Check with local farmers, you'll find one who rents out their herd for clearing brush. Don't pet them.


As mentioned before be EXTREMELY careful when burning poison ivy. The oil can get into the smoke and it will have evil effects on all that get into the smoke, including in your nose and mouth. NOT a pretty sight or feeling.

Oh god, that has to suck. Makes me wonder what the forest service firefighters dealt with in N. Cal last year.

Before I get into my "I know your bubbly sticky pain..."
https://www.amazon.com/Mean-Green-Power-Hand-Scrub/dp/B00CZIG28Y/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Mean Green. Its essentially Tec Nu, just not at Tec Nu pricing. Check the review photos on Amazon.

To set the scene, a road rally in Yolo County, North West of Sacramento, CA. Not quite as rural as Why, Arizona, but close. And hot.

All of the checkpoints are a bit off the road, or puzzles of some sort. 2nd to last one before we're risking hitting the time cap is 1/2-3/4 mile off the road. We park, slide down a hill into a dry creek bed that should take us within 1-200 yards. 1-200 yards away, we're 100+ feet below the orchards on either side in a valley full of downed trees and stagnant water. We've blown time cap. Everything is covered in broken bamboo and roots of something. We manage to get to the checkpoint, and decide to crawl up the ~100 foot high embankment and run back through the orchards. The entire thing was covered in dead poison oak. Not that we realized at the time.

So 2-3 days later it's a buddy's birthday, he works for a medical practice, so there a few cute nurses around. One of them notices me icing my left arm with a beer and recommends I go to a doc the next morning. It'd swollen up & looked 1.5x the size of my right. Bright red, and getting pebbly. Next morning I have poison oak/ivy blisters all down the left side of my face, including behind my ears, down my arm, shoulder back etc. 2 weeks of steroids and antibiotics.

Al

[mross]

As mentioned before be EXTREMELY careful when burning poison ivy. The oil can get into the smoke and it will have evil effects on all that get into the smoke, including in your nose and mouth. NOT a pretty sight or feeling.
Yep, ouch that brought back memories. When I was a kid my neighbor was burning it out. Me and my friends thought it was great fun running through the smoke. That is until latter. I had blisters in places I don't even think you could mention on a porn sight.