blows

had a tree fall in the back yard last week and cleaned it up Sunday. Decided to take the opportunity to clear a bunch of the vines off my back fence.......bad idea. I think I am dying.

5/15/2012 7:12:15 PM

doesn't bother me. might itch a little bit, but it's nothing a shower won't take care of.

sucks for you.

5/15/2012 7:25:02 PM

same here, most of the time. but for some reason this time I am getting ate up

5/15/2012 7:26:27 PM

that shit always ends up with me going to the hospital.


i fear it worse than death.

5/15/2012 7:33:12 PM

Yeah. I remember when poison ivy struck me last year. I thought I could "brave it out" with a pair of gloves. somehow the juices ended up on my face, which was smeared every time i wiped my sweaty face off. So yeah. That's how I got my beard. Oh I remember how irritating it was...

I usually deal with a lot of annoyances/pains. But poison ivy is one thing I don't fuck with it.

A few sprays on the ivy leaves with some "special" poison ivy herbacide and they are dead in 3 days.

Day 1 - Spray
Day 2 - Leaves Wilt
Day 3 - Stems wilt
Day 4 - ....
Day 5 - PROFIT!

You want something with Glyphosate in it. I use Roundup® Ready-To-Use Poison Ivy, which is at your local Home Depot or Lowes:

http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/productTemplate.jsp?proId=prod10270004&itemId=cat50102&tabs=usage

[Edited on May 15, 2012 at 7:35 PM. Reason : .]

5/15/2012 7:34:35 PM

I'm so allergic to poison ivy that I've also become allergic to cashews. The only food I'm allergic to.

5/15/2012 7:40:31 PM

If I even look at poison ivy I break out in a rash.

Found a new cure last week when I got it all over my arm. I was well prepared, watched my hands and arms the entire time I was pulling it out. It NEVER touched me.

Anyways. After a few days of my expired calamine lotion not doing a thing I tried this.

Wet infected area with water. Then rub table salt all over the area. As hard as you can. It will sting a bit. Let the salt dry. It will stop the itching and dry up the rash. Might take two applications.

[Edited on May 15, 2012 at 7:41 PM. Reason : .]

5/15/2012 7:40:49 PM

I don't want to use a herbicide because there is honeysuckle wrapped in it as well, and my bees LOVE the honeysuckle. I plan to just suffer for the cause of saving the bees

5/15/2012 7:44:12 PM

I recently heard milk of magnesia works really well for drying it out.

5/15/2012 7:58:08 PM

Yeah. I have azalea bushes and the ivy is growing around them. fortunately, i'm really careful about what I'm spraying as to avoid the bushes. Have worked well for me this season thus far.

5/15/2012 8:43:16 PM

I end up at the doctors office getting a steroid shot in the ass

5/15/2012 10:35:30 PM

^DEAR GOD that looks awful. I'm pretty fortunate to never have gotten poison ivy. I know that can change though, so I don't take unnecessary risks.

My girlfriend got some a couple weeks ago and it seems REALLY hot showers helped with her symptoms.

[Edited on May 15, 2012 at 11:27 PM. Reason : .]

5/15/2012 11:27:07 PM

^ It did mine. Dried my skin up and felt GREAT.

5/15/2012 11:28:56 PM

Same here, it seems extremely hot water on poison ivy rashes feels like a step below an orgasm.

Inquiring minds want to know

5/16/2012 12:20:49 AM

^ While very true, that wears off pretty quickly when you get out of the shower (at least for me).

5/16/2012 9:02:20 AM

Here is the above after some Technu cream and hot showers



If possible, going in the ocean has a great effect too.

5/16/2012 9:02:55 AM

my dad used to put his arms into a thing of pure chlorine at our pool. killed that shit fast.

5/16/2012 9:04:20 AM

What, his arms?

5/16/2012 9:36:49 AM

The worst for me would be when I would sleep. I had it on my ankle and would be dreaming about scratching my ankle, wake up and I scratched it all to hell.

5/16/2012 9:44:24 AM

I hate this stuff so much. Normally if I get it I'll have patches similar to Pezking's pic. I've had my whole back and most of my face covered before. It's miserable.

You should wash whatever tools you were using djeternal with something that will break down the poison ivy oil. If not you'll get it again the next time you pick them up.

And now that you've developed a sensitivity to it you'll probably continue to get it much more readily than before.

5/16/2012 10:13:25 AM

Amazingly I've never had to deal with poison ivy despite using the woods as a playground my entire childhood. Maybe I'm just one of those lucky people that isn't affected by the oil.

5/16/2012 10:19:43 AM

I'm incredibly allergic to poison ivy. I had to miss the end of the 5th grade because I walked near a patch on the way to school one day, and it was all in between my toes, and I've still got a scar on my calf from a bout of it in the 9th grade.

Oatmeal baths are wondrous. Absolutely the only thing that would keep me sane.

5/16/2012 10:23:18 AM

^ I had to take the "CAT" test in the 5th grade with 90% of my back covered in poison ivy and my face bloated up from Prednisone. Why my parents/teachers thought that shit was that important is beyond me.

5/16/2012 10:25:38 AM

Some fucking contractors burned some accross the street from me as a child and i inhaled it.

It showed up everywhere on me..

i was 8 and my ball sack was about the size of a grapefruit.

5/16/2012 10:45:34 AM

Yikes, mine is nowhere near as bad as pezking's. I just have a few red bumps on my legs and arms. Doing much better today, so the worst is most likely behind me.

5/16/2012 11:14:57 AM

Quote :

"Amazingly I've never had to deal with poison ivy despite using the woods as a playground my entire childhood. Maybe I'm just one of those lucky people that isn't affected by the oil."

ditto.

5/16/2012 11:28:14 AM

Bleach works to dry it up. Hurts TERRIBLY bad, but if you can stick it out, it works!

5/16/2012 12:23:41 PM

I had a bad case last year after burning some doing some hurricane cleanup. After a day I said enough and went to my doctor. She prescribed prednisone to me and the itching went away and it was all gone within a week.

As an fyi, prednisone for sports is a performance-enhancing drug.

[Edited on May 16, 2012 at 12:40 PM. Reason : .]

5/16/2012 12:38:29 PM

That depends on what you consider "performance enhancing." In the very short term it acts similar to adrenalin producing energy and extending workouts. In the medium to long term your adrenal glands will shut down, you will gain weight, your immune system will become suppressed, your blood sugar will become difficult to control, and you just may end up with diabeetus.

It is nothing like an anabolic steroid that aids in actual strength gains. It's comparable to taking a stimulant and getting jacked up before your workout. Due to the side effects however, over time it will work against your athletic performance rather than for it.


[Edited on May 16, 2012 at 1:15 PM. Reason : l]

5/16/2012 1:12:06 PM

Quote :

"Amazingly I've never had to deal with poison ivy despite using the woods as a playground my entire childhood. Maybe I'm just one of those lucky people that isn't affected by the oil."

Similar here. I've gotten a few itchy rashes from it when I was younger...but nothing more than some red, itchy skin that went away after a couple days. I can't remember the last time I've had any effects from it though. It's gotta be close to 20 years. Sucks for you guys. Those arm pictures up there are disgusting.

5/16/2012 1:23:42 PM

Quote :

"That depends on what you consider "performance enhancing.""

Taking a pill orally is on the WADA Banned list.

5/16/2012 1:28:02 PM

I am fairly allergic and poisonous plants were the bane of my existence when I did surveying field work.

This stuff works really well -> http://www.ivarest.com/

5/16/2012 2:21:53 PM

^^ I can believe that. There would be a distinct short term advantage. I could see people taking it on race day.

5/16/2012 3:22:04 PM

Quote :

"nothing more than some red, itchy skin that went away after a couple days."

This is what I have right now. I feel like a pussy for even starting this thread

5/16/2012 4:38:20 PM

I am on day 10 of my poison ivy ordeal. It started out on my arms, but some how started showing up on my stomach and my inner thighs...awful.

5/16/2012 6:38:10 PM

Quote :

"some how started showing up on my stomach and my inner thighs."

This sounds like every one of my college hook-ups

5/16/2012 6:47:29 PM

My cousin gets it everytime somebody in the neighborhood burns yard waste. I, however, can roll around in it and get nothing. I once was sitting under a tree indian-style wearing shorts and didn't even realize I was in a patch of it. Got nothing. I don't run around testing this immunity though.

5/16/2012 7:41:04 PM

I am immune to poison ivy and oak, but its annoying because it can still get on my skin and i can still pass it on.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

5/17/2012 9:45:05 AM

I got it so much as a kid, that I eventually developed immunity.

our backyard was infested with it growing up.

years ago our next door neighbor ended up in ICU because he had chopped up some firewood that had dead poison ivy vines on it, and inhaled some smoke.

some fucked up shit.

5/17/2012 10:27:33 AM

Quote :

"I am on day 10 of my poison ivy ordeal. It started out on my arms, but some how started showing up on my stomach and my inner thighs...awful."

It is possible that you just spread a small amount of the oil via sweat and those areas reacted later than the areas that received a more concentrated exposure.

It sounds like it may have gone systemic though...Spreading through your bloodstream as opposed to being isolated to the spots that actually came into contact with the oil. Usually this happens when you breathe the smoke from burning it, but it can happen from normal exposure in people who are sensitive to it as well.

You may want to see a doctor at this point; especially if you're not starting to see a daily decrease in the symptoms. Systemic poison ivy can last for well over a month and often requires a corticosteroid (Prednisone) to stop the breakouts. If it is systemic this is exactly the type of breakout that would warrant Prednisone.

[Edited on May 17, 2012 at 10:40 AM. Reason : l]

5/17/2012 10:37:35 AM

Quote :

"I got it so much as a kid, that I eventually developed immunity."

You must be lucky as hell, because that's the opposite of how it usually works, from what I understand. Typically reactions worsen with each subsequent exposure.

5/17/2012 11:02:29 AM

^ My understanding as well.

5/17/2012 12:42:10 PM

that was my assumption. there may be some other reason why I don't react to it anymore.

5/17/2012 1:06:16 PM

5/17/2012 2:25:40 PM

Quote :

"I got it so much as a kid, that I eventually developed immunity."

That's what I thought as well, because I haven't gotten it in years of working out in the woods. I was wrong.

5/17/2012 3:29:32 PM

so did you have known contact with it and not have a reaction during that time?

I know i've had quite a bit of skin contact to poison ivy leaves in the woods, along with others multiple times, and didn't have a reaction.

it could be my legs are so hairy that the oil never made it to my skin

5/17/2012 3:45:44 PM