Getting rid of poison ivy

[+marcink]

My DH has had poison ivy for over 2 weeks now. As soon as he got it, I called the doc for the Prednisone prescription. This time around it did nothing for DH, and he is still itching like crazy, and it is spreading. Does anyone have something they swear by?

 

Any preventive advice, as well? He'll be going in the same area again in a few days.

 

TIA!

[+Keruso]

me, i seem to be immune to the stuff, but depends on where you live, wear pants. Try not touching your pants if you go in that area, and wash your pants/clothes when you get home

[+marcink]

me, i seem to be immune to the stuff, but depends on where you live, wear pants. Try not touching your pants if you go in that area, and wash your pants/clothes when you get home

 

He's one of those people who contracts it even from 10 feet away. He was wearing pants, and he showered as soon as he got home. We've tried all the normal things - long clothing, washing up immediately, Calamine lotion, the Prednisone...

[+Keruso]

got a weedwacker?

[+KoosKoos]

My DH has had poison ivy for over 2 weeks now. As soon as he got it, I called the doc for the Prednisone prescription. This time around it did nothing for DH, and he is still itching like crazy, and it is spreading. Does anyone have something they swear by?

 

Any preventive advice, as well? He'll be going in the same area again in a few days.

 

TIA!

 

Are you sure that's what he has? PI doesn't spread...the oil contact is the only thing that causes the rash, so if he was washed and didn't handle tainted clothing, dogs, tools, etc., then he shouldn't have anything beyond his initial contact. (or maybe he just didn't notice some of the rash sites and it seems like it's spreading)

 

I tend to just avoid the stuff, so I don't really do much to take precautions other than watching where I'm going. A lot of people swear by Buji for prevention and the wash for after exposure.

[+Sparrowhawk]

There's a "scorched earth" fix... depends on how desperate he is... worked on a very brave friend of mine. I now use it for times when I have nasty itching for whatever reason and nothing else works.

 

1. Stick a rag between your teeth

 

2. Get comfortable on a sofa or something - ya gonna need it.

 

3. Count to three. Grit teeth on rag.

 

4. Pour rubbing alcohol all over the affected area

 

5. Proceed to confess your worst sins to your favorite diety. Let your body react to the shock in the meanwhile. Just let your muscles react. Stay with it...

 

6. 10 seconds later... pain starts going away.

 

7. 20 seconds later... pain is gone.

 

8. 30 seconds later... ITCHING IS GONE.

 

10. Wash affected area with alcohol again, this time with a sterile cloth. Your skin will have adapted, and you won't get the alcohol burn feeling. There might be a feeling of your skin being a little sore, but it sure beats the intense itching.

 

The nice thing about this is that the alcohol does burn away the itch - and also cleans out the poisonous oil that causes the rash in the first place. If you can honestly deal with 10-20 seconds of "OMIGODHELPME OUCH OUCH OUCH" then this will take care of it.

 

I've tried this with 100 percent pure everclear alcohol... and the strange result is that it goes straight to numb mode without the pain for me. Don't know how it would work with a poison ivy rash.

 

Since this involves a bit of pain - I guess I should put in a legal disclaimer.

Try at your own risk, entertainment purposes only, not to be construed as actual medical advice, etc.

[+briansnat]

Tecnu is good. It does a great job of stopping the itching and if you are exposed and washing with it shortly after exposure will usually save you from a rash (but it all depends on how allergic you are).

 

Tecnu is not cheap, but it works.

 

There is also a product called Ivy Block that you apply like sunscreen before you venture into PI. Check that out.

Edited September 8, 2008 by briansnat

[+succotash]

Technu Extreme Scrub (works in 15 seconds) is very helpful on new spots and rashes. A little goes a long way. I recently posted a PI question in the backpacking forum wondering whether anyone had tried a disinfectant spray (like Lysol) to break down the poison ivy oils on other things - whatever may have contacted it in the woods or whatever you might have touched before realizing you had the oils on you. Maybe the residual oils are still around on doorknobs, the seatbelt strap in your vehicle, etc etc etc. I got feedback that Dawn detergent is good for cleaning gear. Didn't get any feedback on using the sprays but it's worth a try.

[+marcink]

Thank you, everyone! I will see if he wants to try the alcohol tonight, as I have that on hand. If anyone else has more suggestions, please let me know.

[+therealwesty]

St John's Wart, also know as Touch-me-nots, is a weed with an orange flower. You should be able to find a photo online somewhere. It is normally found in the same area PI grows in, which is handy. Anyway the pulp/juice from the stem will help stop the itch, but if the rash has already set there is really no getting rid of it. You just have to leave it alone and then let it run its course.

 

The oil/puss can cause the rash to spread. I usually cover the drippy bits with light gauze to stop the oil from getting on everything.

 

Touch-me-nots can help stop the rash as well, but you need to get the juice on the effected area as soon as possible, and no later than an hour or two after contact. It's an old farm remedy I learnt from an uncle.

[Skippermark]

The oil/puss can cause the rash to spread. I usually cover the drippy bits with light gauze to stop the oil from getting on everything.

Actually, the only way to get poison ivy/sumac/oak is by coming in contact with the urushiol oil directly either by touching a plant or something else that has the oil on it such as a dog or clothing or even from someone burning it, like if it's attached to a log that you're burning at a campfire.

 

A quick internet search shows that the rash cannot spread from contact with the oil/puss that forms on human skin.

 

A person can re-infect themselves by doing something as simple as moving their contaminated hiking boots and then touching themselves without washing, causing another break out. That may make it seem like it's spreading since they didn't go into the woods and touch a plant directly, but they got contaminated from the oil on their boots.

Edited September 8, 2008 by Skippermark

[Skippermark]

Not a direct answer to the OP, but to help avoid getting a rash, we carry alcohol wipes with us while hiking. If we come into contact with any ivy, we'll wipe the area ASAP.

 

We've only gotten PI twice from hiking and both times were in the winter where we didn't even realize we'd touched any. We'd probably touched a hairy vine while grabbing a cache and didn't even realize it.

[stryder717]

Just tell him to walk it off. jk i second the Technu Extreme Scrub my roomate got PI and uses this stuff and it works like a charm. That is the only thing i can suggest since the stuff dosen't bother me.

[+Wadcutter]

Ivy Dry. It comes in a spray and a cream. I've used it for 50 yrs. Takes about a week for it to clear up. Takes the itch out. You might have to ask for it. Some places carry it behind the counter but it's non-perscription stuff.

The wife has PI now for the past 3 weeks. She's got a patch on her wrist that's gotten infected so she went to the doc this afternoon. He told her about some over the counter preventative stuff where you put a few drops in water before. Don't have the name of it yet but he's getting her some. He claims it works well as he and his wife both use it.

[+TrailGators]

Ivy Dry. It comes in a spray and a cream. I've used it for 50 yrs. Takes about a week for it to clear up. Takes the itch out. You might have to ask for it. Some places carry it behind the counter but it's non-perscription stuff.

The wife has PI now for the past 3 weeks. She's got a patch on her wrist that's gotten infected so she went to the doc this afternoon. He told her about some over the counter preventative stuff where you put a few drops in water before. Don't have the name of it yet but he's getting her some. He claims it works well as he and his wife both use it.

It comes as a liquid too. Ivy Dry is awesome!

[+wapahani]

We carry a couple containers of the Hand Sanitizer with us at all times. As soon as we have been in an area that is "no good" we use it liberally on our hands and arms first, then go over our legs and then back on our hands again.

This summer I only got it on my ankle one time and it was a time we ran out of it. We just buy the cheap stuff at the store and in the big bottle.

[+TeamAtlas]

Not a direct answer to the OP, but to help avoid getting a rash, we carry alcohol wipes with us while hiking. If we come into contact with any ivy, we'll wipe the area ASAP.

 

We've only gotten PI twice from hiking and both times were in the winter where we didn't even realize we'd touched any. We'd probably touched a hairy vine while grabbing a cache and didn't even realize it.

 

I agree with the alcohol. We carry a bottle in the trunk and wash off with it after going in the woods. I stock up when it's on sale because we practically bathe in it every time!

It really works to wash off the urushiol.

 

I read on here a while back someone said to soak in a bleach bath. Not sure I'd want to try that, but maybe applying a little diluted bleach on the area with a cotton ball might not be a bad idea.

[+infiniteMPG]

Any preventive advice, as well? He'll be going in the same area again in a few days.TIA!

I get it bad, too, and have gotten into the habit of wearing long light weight hiking pants when ever I head out (most of the time). The urushiol oil is what does it to you and if it gets on clothing or hiking sticks or boots it can stay active for up to a year. If I have accidentally trekked thru some poison ivy when I return I immediately put everything in the wash including my boots and also wash the end of my hiking stick with a solvent like paint thinner.

 

Cortaid makes some GREAT poison ivy wipes. If you've come in contact with some then just rip one of these open and wipe off everything, skin first then clothing. Since we started using them we've never gotten it but also handle the used wipes with care. Ivy Shield works good, too, but you can sweat it off.

 

And keep in mind that the urushiol oil binds with skin cells and that's the break out. Once it binds with the skin it's no longer spreadable. Depending on the severity it can take from 24-72 hours to show signs, the higher concentrations first, then later the lower. So not all your contact points break out at the same time so people "think" it's spreading when it's not. It's just taking up to 2 days longer for lesser contacted areas to start showing. Once you break out just treating it as a skin injury is all you need to do. For a bad breakout I recommend Aveno baths and calamine.

 

Good luck!

Edited September 9, 2008 by infiniteMPG

[+MarshMonsters]

I don't seem to get it and I have walked through patches of it lately. One of the caches we were at recently was hidden next to a huge vine of PI.

 

We use the hand sanitizer method. Like others have said we buy a big bottle of the cheap stuff. One of our friends did the bleach method and it burnt his skin. I don't know if the bleach got into open wounds or what.

[+9Key]

We carry a couple containers of the Hand Sanitizer with us at all times. As soon as we have been in an area that is "no good" we use it liberally on our hands and arms first, then go over our legs and then back on our hands again.

This summer I only got it on my ankle one time and it was a time we ran out of it. We just buy the cheap stuff at the store and in the big bottle.

I second this one. I rarely get PI, but when I do it's usually because the oil gets into a scratch. I use the hand sanitizer on the scratch and while it stings like heck it seems to work. Its alcohol based, I believe.