Aaaarrrgggg. Poison Oak, Again

[HOrnbrod]

Cut down and hauled away about fifteen scrub trees, about 10'-15' feet high out back about five days ago. They were entangled with vines that didn't look like poison oak. WRONG again. Two days later blisters start appearing on my forearms, then spread to my legs, face, privates, etc. Crap. Stuck it out with baths and calamine until with eyes swelled almost shut this morning and crazy itching everywhere I went to the doc for a steroid shot for swelling and after care meds. After midnight now here and the itching has calmed down quite a bit, but I'm wide awake. But I'll take it vs. the itch.

 

God supposedly created everything living thing for a purpose. I figure poison ivy, oak, sumac, and the rest were created to punish certain stupid humans susceptible to these toxic plants who roam about His other creations for punishment. What else could it be? Unless for goat food.   :(   This bites.

[AeroNautical]

I always wondered why a plant produced a poison to affect the victim later, rather than instantly. I would think it'd be there to discourage the animal from eating the plant, but not if it takes several hours for it to take affect. A spider bite or bee sting has an instant reaction, to try and deter you from hurting them or their home. But plants... those plants are there for one reason... and I think mr. hornbrod nailed that reason, to punish us for not paying attention in that survival course we took so many years ago..

[HOrnbrod]

Best survival course I took was in the Philippines, the 5-day JEST (Jungle Environment Survival Training) out of Subic Bay. No food, you ate what you could trap, snare, or forage using only tools created available in the jungle. Snakes, fish, monkeys, native plants, whatever. The local indigenous natives called Etas ran and taught the course. Very rare to see an Eta over 5' tall. I loved the course and aced it. And there were no plants that could be toxic to humans from simply rubbing against it. Did other survival courses in Guam and Korea too, never caught anything from a stupid plant. Why are they here?

[skidoo_j]

I pretty much bathe daily in tecnu and fels naptha soap.  It's like I have it continuously.   I started getting it in December when I had an oak tree fall in a store after I cut up the tree.   I have no had it to the extremes you have, but the rash seems to play musical body parts for me.   What really sucks is while riding my dirt bike in the woods i find myself constantly looking at the plants i'm riding through going oh $#!& that's poison oak,  don't fall don't fall.  And of course it seems when i do do something stupid i'm in or near a batch of poison oak.     

[Keyav8r]

Hornbrod, it seems to work the same for me. I can almost just look at the stuff and break out in a rash of blisters. Bought a gallon of poison oak/ivy/sumac killer and i spray everything with three leaves (or two or four, just to be safe) before I do any clearing in our giant patch of hedge. Wear long pants, long sleeve shirt and gloves and still manage to get it on me somewhere.

It's been a while since I've had a case of it like yours, but I've been there, brother (including the privates) - important lesson, don't urinate in the woods while clearing brush! Don't ask, you can figure it out.

My doc gave me a prescription for oral steroids to take for a small outbreak so I could avoid going in for the shot. I've used it already this year.

[87Warrior]

I just got over a month of dealing with poison ivy. The rash on my arm had blistered so bad I could feel it oozing and dripping. Then my eyes swelled shut. I haven't had a case this bad since I was kid. The rash didn't itch anymore, it was to the point of a burning pain. Off to the doc I went and got the shot, meds and a cream.

 

I seem to have more sever reactions when I get into the dormant or dead vines vs. their leafy counter part. The Tecnu scrub usually keeps it at bay.

 

....great, now I'm all itchy.

[Bmoore2]

I am one of the lucky ones who Poision Ivy or Oak does not take too. It did not take to my father or grandfather either..... Wierd huh?  My brother, another story. He is super allergic to it.

[Akula69]

Used to have a crazy old dude where I lived as a kid that ate the leaves...said they would "cure" the effect of the sap on the skin. One day, a girl that was at the sitter my parents used took him up on it. She was in the hospital for a week for the blisters in her mouth and throat.

 

The stuff never did effect the old dude...and I watched him eat them. Crazy :hmm:  :nuts:

 

***Disclaimer**

 

This is a true story, but if anyone tries this I think you are a dumb s#!t

[danbyrambler]

My SIL is also one of the unfortunates - The least contact & it spreads all over - She nearly died once - In her lungs, eyes, mouth & everywhere from brush burning smoke- - - My forearms still have scars from the stuff - Probably from 1st springtime mowing along fencerows - only thing blistered was my hands & foreams - Dunno, that was in 1988 & it's never happened again - - I remember a coworker/friends wife telling how her grandmother used to protect the family when she was growing up somewhere in Oklahoma - They ate a little of the stuff every spring when the potency was supposedly strongest - Didn't really eat it -  her half native american GM would  crush the leaves into small pellets & drop 'em into their opened mouths kinda like a bird feeding its young - no chewing, backa da mouth & swallow - I declined her offer to treat me - - Also about this time a neighbor told me about the stuff he was given each spring to be immunized - He was a lineman for the local power utility - forgot whether pills or liquid but do remember it was oral & not a shot - - Might be worth asking your MD about similar  - - -  I do get a few blisters from time/time - - Figure it's from the doggy but dunno, stuffs all over here in SE Missouri - - 

[HOrnbrod]

This is the worst I've had since I was a kid. Went camping as a Boy Scout around 11 or 12 years old and breathed in smoke from firewood covered with poison ivy. Had to be hospitalized for two weeks because I swelled up like a blowfish inside and outside. You would think I would know better by now.

 

The itching has subsided a bit and my eyes are opening up a little - feel much better. Of course the steroids keep me wired up all night, but still better than the constant itching.

[87Warrior]

You know, my doctor recommends taking Zyrtec and Clariton at the same time to help with itching. It seems to have worked for me.

[Bornindesert]

Nothing more annoying than a bad case of the stuff, have gotten it many times brush hogging and weed whacking the farm back into submission. Worse one, weed whacked and then brushed off the material from my pant legs. Never realized it was covered in the crushed up vine. Only thing I learned was if you do think you've gotten into some, if you wash off the oil with soak and water say within 30 minutes, it greatly reduces the outbreak or it doesn't even rash up.

 

Hope you're feeling better soon!

[dakal]

wow. i feel your pain.

 

in the service we were clearing fields and then burning the brush in large piles. yes , i got it all over and in my lungs. took three months to get rid of it. now when i go hiking i touch nothing green or brown.

[AMCJeepMJ]

I got mixed up in some poison ivy while clearing some brush behind the house about 10 years ago while living in Texas. Took 4 weeks to be rid of and that with shots, washing, salve, pills, and everything else under the sun that I could get just to be rid of the itching and swelling. Legs, arms, lower back and sides. Ugh.

 

I understand the 'poison' kind of plants produces an oil that is the irritant that does not break down with regular soap.

 

Fortunately that particular scourge does not grow in this part of Oregon, so I'm safe for the time being.

[Keyav8r]

There is a product called Technu that works pretty well.  They have a defensive cream to rub on before doing yard work, brush clearing, etc. And they have a foaming soap for use after suspected contact that breaks the oils down.  Any time I'm back in the tree/hedge patch in our back yard I go into the garage and wash hands, arms, face and neck with the soap (after taking off outer layer of clothes and turning them inside out to avoid contact when putting them in the washer).  It's worked so far this year (knock on wood, etc.).  IT should be available at pharmacies, in the same area they keep the calamine lotion and cortisone creams.

I make it through the summer if I can just remember to wash immediately after any possibility of being near the stuff.  Had it on my face two years ago and have some scars as little reminders.

[ParadiseMJ]

Ouch Don,

Sorry to hear, I feel your pain.

 

When I was 16, my cousin and I helped my uncle clear some propertry and was doing the same as you described, cutting trees and VINES that looked just like ...well, vines.  The vines were poison oak.  We we're also throwing it all together in burn piles and torching it.  Day done, we headed home, went to bed, exhausted.  I woke up the next morning with my eyes swollen shut and blisters all over my mouth, nose, ears and had a hard time breathing...because of the smoke.

 

I was VERY sick for a week, I was IN the hospital for 5 or 6 days.  I missed 3 weeks of school.  My skin looked and felt like a leather couch for about 6 weeks.  Doctors said I could've died, since I breathed in the smoke, I came away with lifelong athsma. 

 

BUT...apparently my body developed an immunity to poison oak.  I live in profuse poison oak country and have for over 30 years and have NEVER gotten it since.  I even made a bet with a guy when I was 23-24, that I would not get it even if I rubbed a leaf on my arm.  So we both rubbed a leaf on our arm.   He got PO all over his arm and neck.  I didn't even get a bit of it.  I don't think I'd use it for emergency TP and not likely to go tromping through it on purpose, but I don't really worry about getting it anymore.

 

I also know what the vines, berries, stems and summer and fall phase of the leaves look like.  What purpose it has, who knows...but deer and cattle eat it.  Animals, including my dogs/cats don't get it even after running through it all day, it's just a people thing.

 

 Old native-American remedy that actually WORKS is to make a tea out of manzanita leaves and soak towels in it, wring them out, and lay them on your skin.  Also, Colloidal Oatmeal (Aveeno) works real good in a bathtub and cool towels soaked in tea (regular old Lipton tea) and wrung out will give you some relief. Hope you're feeling better soon.  Good Luck

[SW86]

hell for me, i deal with it all at work in the woods. ive done it for so long i can spot all types a mile away. i change clothes asap after work along with washing my hands nonstop at work. i have a seperate pair of boots i wear while there as well.

i got a good little spread a few weeks ago, on my face, arms and legs. i didnt know it at the time but i had a tiny and i mean tiny spot on my finger. i rubbed everywhere not knowing it was there. boom. terrible. my eye actually did swell shut and my lip swelled up. for me its just a routine when i get it. i do a main sweep clean with 90% alcohol everywhere i know its coming up to get the left over oils. then use ivarest like crazy.

 

my dad gave me some medical grade steroid cream and its the best stuff ive ever used. took it down in almost half the standard time (a week is standard). i couldnt believe it. ill find it later and give you the name.

[HOrnbrod]

hell for me, i deal with it all at work in the woods. ive done it for so long i can spot all types a mile away. i change clothes asap after work along with washing my hands nonstop at work. i have a seperate pair of boots i wear while there as well.

i got a good little spread a few weeks ago, on my face, arms and legs. i didnt know it at the time but i had a tiny and i mean tiny spot on my finger. i rubbed everywhere not knowing it was there. boom. terrible. my eye actually did swell shut and my lip swelled up. for me its just a routine when i get it. i do a main sweep clean with 90% alcohol everywhere i know its coming up to get the left over oils. then use ivarest like crazy.

 

my dad gave me some medical grade steroid cream and its the best stuff ive ever used. took it down in almost half the standard time (a week is standard). i couldnt believe it. ill find it later and give you the name.

 

Please do. Felt a bit better this afternoon and went out to the garage to install my new ADDCO sway bar. Started sweating and the wife came out and ran me out of there. She was right, I'm paying for it now. Better give it another couple of days. I sent her out for some Technu, seems to help quite a bit. What really helps the most though is several doses of Miller High Life.   :yes:

[Keyav8r]

That's the ticket! Internal medication!

[SW86]

clobetasol propionate

 

there you go. whatever that stuff is, it did wonders for me. i just hate ointments!

[HOrnbrod]

Me too. Thanks.  :cheers:

[wurst]

never got any of it unless I ran through briars prior and it settled in the cuts on my legs.  I know lost of folks who fully apply technu before entering any type of woods and it works for them.  Had a friend when I was a kid who was home bound for a month from poison ivy.

 

I've heard it's the oils that make people  break out, so when you wash your clothes it contaminates everything you wash it with.  Ideas?  Experience?

[Comanche County]

I've had it many times and had get several late night emergency room cortisone shots.  It spreads real easy.  I can usually deal with it unless it swells up my face or gets down to you know where...?  Then its straight off to the docs.

 

I've seen guys get it and just laugh, I'm not one of em.  The key is not to scratch it but its almost impossible not to.

[Pete M]

turns out my father is immune to poison oak.  when he was younger his buddies and he were playing in the woods behind the subdivision and they all broke out in horrible rashes and swelling (one kid had to go to the hospital) while he was just fine.  I've camped a lot and never had an issue so I'm hoping I'm immune too.  but it's one of those things you just don't want to try to find out.  if it happens, it happens.

 

 

I'm allergic to evergreens though.  try avoiding those in your daily life.  :shake:  and don't touch 2x4s or plywood either.  

[Geonovast]

I'm immune to poison Ivy, not sure about Oak or Sumac.  If I've ever been exposed to it, I'm immune, since I've never gotten it.

 

I also don't sunburn unless under extreme circumstances(like in water).