# Poison F'ing Ivy **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 16, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803 "2005-07-16T15:47:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/1 "2005-07-16T15:47:30Z")
Grrrrrrrrrrr. Last Sunday : scratch scratch : I was weeding in my back yard when I : itch itch : I discovered that blessed three-leafed wonder, Poison Ivy. It was : scratching till it bleeds : a hot, muggy day so I just jumped : Gah! : into the pool to wash off the offending plant oils. Didn’t work. Two days later : scratch scratch : a few welts started to appear. Three days later, I had every product at Walgreens sitting in front of me. SIX DAYS LATER, I’m STILL getting NEW WELTS. GAH! Do you have any remedies before I drive myself batshit insane? ---
**Author:** ![Canadiangirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Canadiangirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadiangirl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/2 "2005-07-16T15:51:33Z")
Sit in a bathrub with 2 cups of vinegar…it will sting for a while then take the itch away. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/3 "2005-07-16T21:34:21Z")
Plain ol’ benzoyl peroxide. Your local grocery should have their own generic of it in the the facial care aisle. My dad went the benadryl, etc route and I just used my Stridex pads. Beat him to healed by a week. _ **Mind that it has peroxide in it, which will bleach whatever cloth it touches. Use white clothes and sheets when wearing it.** _\* ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/4 "2005-07-16T23:24:06Z")
I feel you pain. I got into some a couple of weeks ago – but didn’t realize it at the time, I thought I just had a slew of bug bites on one arm. Managed to spread it all over my own damn self before realizing what it was. It stopped being poisonous about a week ago, but the scabbing and scarring is still going strong. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/5 "2005-07-16T23:27:11Z")
Depending on what kind of health insurance you have, it might be worth a trip to the doctor/dermatoligist to get a prescipton for, say, **Prednisone**. I’ve had several poison oak incidents, and it cut my recovery time from 2 weeks to 4 days. Last time, I also scored some samples of\*\* Luxiq\*\*, a topical foam that did a good job of calming the irritation. If you’re getting NEW erruptions, you’ve still got some urushiol oil floating around on your clothing, bedding, upholstery,dog, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/6 "2005-07-17T03:14:31Z")
Hot water. Just as hot as you can stand it without being burned will stop the itch. Just be careful. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/7 "2005-07-17T04:27:51Z")
Thanks, all. Right now I’m soaking in CalaGel and it seems to be taking the biggest itch/sting out of it, at least for a minute or two. Plus I took an antihistimine earlier this evening. I hadn’t even considered the Benedryl route. :smack: As soon as it stops raining, me an my RoundUp are going to be veeeery busy. Gah! ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/8 "2005-07-17T12:52:37Z")
I have a [poison ivy thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6192486&posted=1#post6192486) bookmarked for my next encounter with the stuff. In post 27 **Sampiro** linked to a previous thread that includes 2 [very](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=4825866&postcount=16)[informative](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=4826485&postcount=25) posts from **Ogre** , the SDMB expert on the topic. GT ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/9 "2005-07-17T14:52:40Z")
this info won’t do you any good this time, but it may help next time: Whenever I suspect I’ve been near poison ivy, I take a shower with dishwashing liquid, not regular soap. The theory is that dish liquid is made to dissolve vegetable oils --so it also disolves the plant oil in poison ivy . I have no idea if the science is correct–but I know that it works for me. Even several hours after touching the stuff, a good shower with my kitchen sink liquid leaves me totally decontaminated.Try it–it can’t hurt. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/10 "2005-07-17T16:09:16Z")
I’ll check out **gardentraveler’s** links in a while (near time for me to leave to do something today), but if you’ve the time and the access, a day at a good, chlorinated pool will usually do it for me. I have fun splashing around in the sun, get some exercise, and the PI is dried out that evening, and disappears entirely w/in days. The really hot water thing mentioned by **Reeder** has helped me, too, and I double the caution about doing this, as it’s easy to go too hot and scald yourself. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/11 "2005-07-17T16:11:13Z")
Gargh. Forgot to mention: my parents usually made us wash down with a strong lye soap after camping trips just to prevent PI, and it _sometimes_ worked. ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/12 "2005-07-17T21:45:13Z")
You won’t spread the poison ivy by scratching it. There little blisters on your skin do NOT contain the allergen. The allergen is called urushiol. I just came off a bout with poison ivy in my eyes. I know what I speak of! 😛 Yes…I can laugh about it now… Here is an interesting link: [http://scc.uchicago.edu/poisonivy.htm](http://scc.uchicago.edu/poisonivy.htm) ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/13 "2005-07-17T21:46:55Z")
:smack: Crap. THE little blisters. NOT THERE little blisters. I need a nap. ---
**Author:** ![sangfroid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@sangfroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sangfroid)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/14 "2005-07-18T00:11:43Z")
I sympathize, **Ruby**. I’ve had some pretty bad bouts of the ivy curse. Several years ago, I had an exposure (I think my dogs got into it when we were walking in the woods and exposed me, as I am quite vigilant) that turned into a work-loss incident. I had to take nearly a week off, had a biopsy, and wound up taking an oral corticosteroid (prednisone) to knock it back. (See **blondebear’s** post) I’ll tell ya what, though… the stuff worked. Extraordinarily well. The rashes started drying up in 24-48 hours (for me, anyway). Last ditch cure, yes, but if one is really hurting it may be the way to go. (Docs have a threshold for the Rx, something like 25% of body surface, or coverage in sensitive areas like the face, hands and groin; I was over the %.) It’s a strong drug; best used sparingly. Also comes in a cream (but you can’t use it on sensitive areas). As always, your doc is the last word. Good luck and best wishes. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-fing-ivy/312803/15 "2005-07-18T06:15:27Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > I’ll check out **gardentraveler’s** links in a while (near time for me to leave to do something today), but if you’ve the time and the access, a day at a good, chlorinated pool will usually do it for me. > > I have fun splashing around in the sun, get some exercise, and the PI is dried out that evening, and disappears entirely w/in days. The really hot water thing mentioned by **Reeder** has helped me, too, and I double the caution about doing this, as it’s easy to go too hot and scald yourself. I was in the pool within 1 minute of touching the plant and stayed there for several hours. I’m afraid that it didn’t do a darn thing for me. > [@chappachula](#): > > this info won’t do you any good this time, but it may help next time: > > Whenever I suspect I’ve been near poison ivy, I take a shower with dishwashing liquid, not regular soap. The theory is that dish liquid is made to dissolve vegetable oils --so it also disolves the plant oil in poison ivy . I have no idea if the science is correct–but I know that it works for me. Even several hours after touching the stuff, a good shower with my kitchen sink liquid leaves me totally decontaminated.Try it–it can’t hurt. That’s what I normally do. I use the regular pump soap at the kitchen sink and I haven’t had an outbreak in several years. Silly me thought that the pool would work. > [@sangfroid](#): > > I sympathize, Ruby. I’ve had some pretty bad bouts of the ivy curse. Several years ago, I had an exposure (I think my dogs got into it when we were walking in the woods and exposed me, as I am quite vigilant) that turned into a work-loss incident. I had to take nearly a week off, had a biopsy, and wound up taking an oral corticosteroid (prednisone) to knock it back. (See blondebear’s post) > > I’ll tell ya what, though… the stuff worked. Extraordinarily well. The rashes started drying up in 24-48 hours (for me, anyway). Last ditch cure, yes, but if one is really hurting it may be the way to go. (Docs have a threshold for the Rx, something like 25% of body surface, or coverage in sensitive areas like the face, hands and groin; I was over the %.) > > It’s a strong drug; best used sparingly. Also comes in a cream (but you can’t use it on sensitive areas). That’s what I had to do when I got it so bad 10 years ago. It’s not nearly that bad this time but it’s amazing how a little itch can drive you nucking futz. Nature’s Torture Chamber.