Poison Ivy Toxin

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ve read that people who used specific drugs had some component of the drug dissolve into body fat. Later in their lives, they lost weight, burnt the fat, which re-introduced the chemical into their blood, either giving them a mild ‘trip’ or making them fail a drug test. (I might be making up the drug test bit)

So, what I’m wondering is if a really really bad bout of poison ivy could do the same. In the fall I went wandering in the woods in shorts. I’ve never had a problem with poison ivy breakouts, and I always do examinations for ticks, so I wasn’t too worried about wearing shorts.

Anyway, a few days later I had the poison ivy rash from hell on my leg; it was the size of my hand, and on my bad leg of course. It constantly oozed clear pus that dried into amber scabby stuff, running all the way down my leg from the breakout which was just below my knee (and leaving lovely crusty yellow spots on my sheets). Once or twice I attacked it, picking all the quarter inch pus encrustation off (and taking all the leg hair off in the process). After a few long weeks, the skin finally grew back and it stopped oozing.

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to do a TMI thread.

While I had the thing on my leg, other bits of me would randomly itch, usually my arms.

Now, it’s spring, and I’ve been losing a bit of weight. I now have a few little spots on three places on my arms. They aren’t continuous ugly patches like I had on my leg, just small concentrations of bumps that look like normal mild ivy breakouts. They itch like hell, and I’ve been trying to avoid scratching them.

I don’t have a real job or health insurance, so I can’t afford to see a doctor, and I probably wouldn’t if I did. I was hoping that this was just a random allergy to something I hadn’t identified, but the fat solubility theory just popped in my mind and I was hoping this august forum might be able to confirm or deny my suspicions.
[bootnote: Sadly, due to me being a bit of a dolt, and a slight camera malfunction, the only pictures I have of the lovely original breakout are double exposures on slide film of ol’ oozer and of macro shots of a huge hairy spider.]

2

Poison ivy toxin doesn’t “dissolve” in body fat - but it can remain virulent on clothes and other objects for over a year.

So if, for instance, you have clothes you were wearing from the initial outbreak that weren’t thoroughly cleaned, and you recently came into contact with them again, you could get poison ivy that way.

Much more likely you got the say on something in your home environment and you’ve re-contacted it.