Just in Case Anyone Didn't Know...(PI)

[+AustinSweetnSour]

While out caching this last weekend for the first time since my big virginal dose of Poison Ivy, I was very cautious about the 3-leaved bandit...but here I sit today, with new, painful breakouts. I did some reading yesterday to find out that it's not just the leafy plants themselves that you have to watch out for...I was tangled in these vines, that were fuzzy and dangling from trees, only to find out that they were poison ivy vines. I had no idea, and therefore had no qualms about grabbing them to get them out of my way, or letting them brush up against my exposed skin. Now, I'm paying the price!

Here are a couple of photos of the vines, just in case anyone didn't realize that they, too, were dangerous.

[me_chris]

Interesting - thanks for the warning!

I do not think that I have ever seen these, but I know for a fact that there is plenty of poison ivy everywhere in Northern Illinois. Luckily though, since moving to Southern Illinois, I haven't really run into all that much of it...

[+ZSandmann]

I'm not allergic.

[+prontopup]

While out caching this last weekend for the first time since my big virginal dose of Poison Ivy, I was very cautious about the 3-leaved bandit...but here I sit today, with new, painful breakouts. ...

 

Here's something else to be cautious about if you are allergic. If someone burns the vines - for example, vines on logs in a campfire - and the smoke "encompasses" you, then you can get poison ivy from the smoke!

 

There are several good products (e.g., lotions) available which you can use to prevent poison ivy even if exposed to it. One example is a product called Buji block and I am sure you can find others at local camping stores.

[+DavidMac]

I'm not allergic.

 

Not yet.

 

I've known several people who swam through the stuff for years, then suddenly developed an allergy to it.

[+sbell111]

I'm also not allergic and, given my age and exposure, I seriously doubt that I ever will become allergic. Therefore, I never pay any attention to the stuff. I have no doubt that I would be likely to hide a cache very near it simply because it's not on my radar.

 

That being said, I'm considering searching some out. As many of you know, my wife and her dad endulge in the hobby of pen turning. Last week, I was reading a woodworking magazine and there was an article about turning pens from PI wood. They looked pretty sharp, so I might give it a try.

[+weinema]

Very interesting!

 

Also watch out for the "Herkules Staude" / "Giant Hogweed"

Latin: "Heracleum mantegazzianum"

 

I used the trunk as a light sword to be a jedi when I was jung :-D

And until now I had never a problem with the toxic of it.

But please be careful-

 

Wikipedia says...

German: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riesen-B%C3%A4renklau

Englisch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracleum_mantegazzianum

 

Happy hunting,

Martin

 

[+ArcherDragoon]

Add Wild Parsnip to the lsit...very bad stuff!!!

[+Stunod]

I'm not allergic.

 

Not yet.

 

I've known several people who swam through the stuff for years, then suddenly developed an allergy to it.

 

Raises hand.

 

Never had a case until I was 35...since then each case has gotten worse.

[+KoosKoos]

I'm not allergic.

 

Not yet.

 

I've known several people who swam through the stuff for years, then suddenly developed an allergy to it.

 

Raises hand.

 

Never had a case until I was 35...since then each case has gotten worse.

 

Yep, same here, pulled it up by hand as a kid, so I never worried about really looking for it in the woods...around 32, I carried some wood with PI or something similar on, and had "night of the living dead" arms for quite a while....I'm VERY careful now!

[+briansnat]

I'm not allergic.

 

..yet.

 

 

I'm always on the lookout for those hairy vines. Around here they are the best indicator that PI is nearby. Not just at the vine, but in the surrounding area.

[+StarBrand]

None of that around here but I saw plenty of it on a recent trip to the east side of our state. I stumbled through lots of it looking for one cache - no reaction.

[+Brik]

This is all very interesting about people not ever being allergic then starting later in life.

 

For me its just the opposite. As a kid and teen I was highly allergic. Now, pushing 40 it barely affects me. Maybe one little blister here or there but thats it. I think I have built a resistance to it!

 

I'm not allergic.

 

Not yet.

 

I've known several people who swam through the stuff for years, then suddenly developed an allergy to it.

 

Raises hand.

 

Never had a case until I was 35...since then each case has gotten worse.

 

Yep, same here, pulled it up by hand as a kid, so I never worried about really looking for it in the woods...around 32, I carried some wood with PI or something similar on, and had "night of the living dead" arms for quite a while....I'm VERY careful now!

[+apetro]

thank you for the warning about the vines! we have alot of grape vines hanging in the trees around here and that is what i thought the hairy ones were. pi doesn't bother me but my hubby has baaaddd reactions to it. we got lucky i guess because we seen alot of it while out caching this weekend, thankfully no breakouts.

[+bash177]

For those that are allergic, go to rite aid or cvs and ask the pharmacy for Poison Ivy Pills. They are little white balls that come in a container of about 150 or so. You take them twice a day for one week and repeat every month. They are immunization pills that build your resistance. As long as you dont cut the vine and rup the oil on your skin, you wont get PI.

I am a land survey so I deal with this stuff constantly. I used walk by PI and get a rash but havent gotten in about 5 years now, thank to these pills. It only cost about 6.00.

[+mtn-man]

I'm not allergic.

Not yet.

 

I've known several people who swam through the stuff for years, then suddenly developed an allergy to it.

You betcha'. Count me in that group. I have wrapped my arms around pine trees crawling with it in the past tying up ropes. Not anymore. I now know it by sight now and avoid it expeditiously.

[+Thrak]

While out caching this last weekend for the first time since my big virginal dose of Poison Ivy, I was very cautious about the 3-leaved bandit...but here I sit today, with new, painful breakouts. ...

 

Here's something else to be cautious about if you are allergic. If someone burns the vines - for example, vines on logs in a campfire - and the smoke "encompasses" you, then you can get poison ivy from the smoke!

 

There are several good products (e.g., lotions) available which you can use to prevent poison ivy even if exposed to it. One example is a product called Buji block and I am sure you can find others at local camping stores.

 

We have poison oak here instead of poison ivy but the active ingredient is the same thing. I have a friend who was hospitalized due to breathing smoke from a burn pile that was full of poison oak. He had it internally as well as over most of his body. Nasty stuff.

[nonaeroterraqueous]

This is all very interesting about people not ever being allergic then starting later in life.

 

For me its just the opposite. As a kid and teen I was highly allergic. Now, pushing 40 it barely affects me. Maybe one little blister here or there but thats it. I think I have built a resistance to it!

 

 

I think it's called acclimation. The allergic reaction is actually the resistance, technically. Eventually, with enough exposure, a person can sometimes become acclimated to things that they were allergic to. People who live in areas with high mosquito populations often stop developing an itchiness to mosquito bites for the same reason. There is some thought that the development of cancer is related to acclimation, where the immune system is over-exposed to the tormenting inflammatory agent and gives-up, as though it suddenly decides that this thing is really part of the normal body.

 

I would never recommend attempting to force the body to acclimate.

[+Klatch]

We have poison oak here instead of poison ivy but the active ingredient is the same thing. I have a friend who was hospitalized due to breathing smoke from a burn pile that was full of poison oak. He had it internally as well as over most of his body. Nasty stuff.

I was going to add the same thing. My father-in-law almost died from breathing the smoke of burning PI.

[+the hermit crabs]

I'm not allergic.

 

Not yet.

 

I've known several people who swam through the stuff for years, then suddenly developed an allergy to it.

Both of us hermit crabs had been immune to PI for all of our lives, until suddenly late this summer my co-crab (age 46) started reacting to it. He's had several outbreaks of it in the past few months, and we now have to actually start paying attention to the plants and vines (we had always ignored them before).

 

Luckily he is much more stoic about that kind of thing than I am, and won't scratch it no mattter how itchy it gets. (It still takes almost three weeks to go away though.) Me, I wouldn't be that disciplined; if it was itchy, I'd scratch until I was one big disgusting flaming red lump of pus.

[+zafwon]

Thanks! I need all the help I can get. I always seem to find the bad stuff. :-(

[bogleman]

You know what really bothers me about all this mess is that I never really knew what PI looked like. Now I know I think back in the past to the stupid things I have done with the vines and other lovely plants really scare me. I've always nosed around in the weeds and never had any problems, still don't. Now look before I jump.

 

I had a small rash/blisters on my wrist a few years ago (after some heavy yard work) that would not heal, I could not figure out why - then someone turned on a light and - wow. (it was the chainsaws fault, not mine)

[+papasurf]

Thanks for the warning. I never had a reaction to it until I was in my forties - then it hit me like a locomotive. B4 then, I could have eaten it with no reaction. Also - poison oak, - never had a prob with it, 'till I got old...now, all it takes is for me to be near it.

 

Thanks again for the warning.

[JASTA 11]

I used to get mild cases when I was a kid. I've pretty much had a 99% immunity to it since. I'll get the first few 'bumps' and redness but that's it. That's why my Father-in-Law sends me into the rough to find his golf balls. You'd think it was enough that I took over payments on his daughter! Speaking of her, she gets really ill after getting PI. The last time she had it she ended up in the hospital for four days. Here's what we recommend (as in previous threads), it's called TECNU. It will work even after you think you've been exposed but still aren't showing any symptoms. It removes the inflicting oils from your skin, your clothes, even your pets. There were other treatments suggested earlier in this thread. We've never used them, so I can't make any recommendations. We do know that the TECHNU product has worked for us. As always, beware the three shiny leaves!

[+bitbrain]

One of my nephews told his younger brother that he could develop immunity to PI if he ate the leaves once. Silly boy. Of course he did not develop immunity. What he did develop was a horrible rash on both hands, around his mouth, inside his digestive tract and all around the exit point of his digestive tract.

 

I think the most important thing he developed was a healthy suspiscion of anything his brother tries to talk him into doing.

[+gorillagal]

Interesting - thanks for the warning!

I do not think that I have ever seen these, but I know for a fact that there is plenty of poison ivy everywhere in Northern Illinois. Luckily though, since moving to Southern Illinois, I haven't really run into all that much of it...

 

I have family in Carbondale, and between the ticks and the PI, caching in Southern Illinois has been miserable when I've been there. Of course I'm comparing it to Colorado which has very little of either of those things. Have you done the Rend Lake caches? Lots of PI around those!

[+chrisandjanet]

WARNING: SCIENCE CONTENT

 

The irritant chemical in poison ivy belongs to a class known as "sensitizers". Every time you are exposed, your body becomes a little bit more sensitive to it, until you eventually break out in an allergic reaction. Some people never will, some people can be exposed for years before getting a reaction, and some will break out at the meerest hint of exposure. Don't bank on the fact that you "never" got it - when you finally do, it will be a doosey.

 

FYI, latex does the same thing, which is why a lot of hospitals and schools are becomming latex-free zones.

 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread...

[+9Key]

This is all very interesting about people not ever being allergic then starting later in life.

 

For me its just the opposite. As a kid and teen I was highly allergic. Now, pushing 40 it barely affects me. Maybe one little blister here or there but thats it. I think I have built a resistance to it!

 

 

I think it's called acclimation. The allergic reaction is actually the resistance, technically. Eventually, with enough exposure, a person can sometimes become acclimated to things that they were allergic to. People who live in areas with high mosquito populations often stop developing an itchiness to mosquito bites for the same reason. There is some thought that the development of cancer is related to acclimation, where the immune system is over-exposed to the tormenting inflammatory agent and gives-up, as though it suddenly decides that this thing is really part of the normal body.

 

I would never recommend attempting to force the body to acclimate.

I used to get PI when I was a kid and when I first started geocaching but now I never get it. Same thing with mosquitos and fire ants - the bites don't bother me or itch. They sting at first of course, but that's it.