I Think It's Extremely Possible That I Have

[+fly46]

In my entire life, I have never gotten poison ivy, but lo and behold, lookie here...

 

Tuesday, I went caching in flipflops. Yesterday, I woke up with an itch on my foot.

 

The spot in question is about the size of a dime (a bit smaller) and it's red and there's a blister-esque spot, but it's not like centered on the red part, it's kinda next to it.

 

I put a bandaid on the spot and it's making the itching stop, and it's the only spot that I have.

Someone else suggested the possibility that it's not poision ivy, it's a chigger bite, but do chiggers reside everywhere?

I cached Here and Here....

[+Snoogans]

Awwww, lost your cherry! You're a REAL geocacher now. I've had PI twice. The second time my doctor said he had seen radiation burns that didn't look as bad.

 

Next on the list is sweating out a Lyme tider test. Been there. Done THAT!

 

My motto:

 

Geocaching: Wayyyyyy more chances to contract Lyme Disease, or West Nile than the average person.

 

[+fly46]

I did get bit by a tick that I didn't catch at GeoWoodstock...

Well, the day after the cache n dash anyway.. I never even felt it bite me, but I had an itch, and I scratched my "itch" and instead of scratching what I thought was a mole or a bug bite or something, I pulled off a tick.

[+JayFredMuggs]

When I was a kid, I could hike in the woods and never have to worry about getting poison ivy. My brother and I would chase down errant baseballs in the woods next to our house, he would usually get covered with PI, I never got it... Until I turned 35 yrs. old. I guess as you get older your body chemistry changes, and I got a case on my hands and between my fingers from trimming a hedge that had a few vines in it. I'm very careful now when geocaching, that stuff is everywhere you go.

As for chiggers, I was always under the impression that they would move to areas of the body where clothes fit tight, like your waistband. I've never had them that I know of.

[+fly46]

I read about poison oak that every time you touch it you 'use up' part of your immunity... So maybe PI is the same way?

 

I suppose it's my own fault for not wearing real shoes. Flops are not good footwear for the woods!

[+AuntieWeasel]

I've trudged through the ivy and the oak all my life with nary an itch. I fell and smashed my knee on a hike once, and my two fellow hikers had to drag me up an embankment covered in the stuff. I've had pangs of guilt about that ever since. I understand immunity isn't necessarily permanent, though, so I try to have some awareness.

 

My brother used to get it so badly, they painted his legs with gentian violet. I have no idea why that was the treatment then, but gentian violet is a permanent skin dye they use to mark people up for surgery. It never comes off, you just have to regrow clean skin. We called him Super Grape.

[+Stunod]

I never got PI until about 2 years ago. As I kid I was always in the woods, and friends would get it, but I never did. I figured I was immune. When I did get my first case of it, it broke out next to a scratch on my shin...I don't know if it was the fact that the oils were able to get "under my skin", or if my time was just up.

[+art begotti]

hm... i thought i was the only person who had some decent immunity to poison ivy... well, so sorry... i go caching in shorts and sandals every time, and im usually fine.

[lowracer]

my doctor said he had seen radiation burns that didn't look as bad.

Snoogans, are you sure those weren't actually radiation burns?

 

Quantum Leap

 

[+Pobre Rico]

As a kid I used poison oak as a defense against my older sister. I'd get her PO'ed then run across the road and hunker down in a big patch of poison oak. She'd swell up like a balloon if she got near it.

 

Now, here's the weird part. 25 years later I got poison oak for the first time. Just a little patch on my right wrist. Since then I've contracted poison oak 3 more times. And only on my right wrist!

 

What's up with that? Any experts around?

[+sept1c_tank]

57 years old...had PI severely once as a child...wear shorts and sandals all the time in the woods (and even sleep in the evil stuff)...no PI in the past 4 decades...I'm the king of immunity...I'll never get it again...I plan to start drinking PI tea...dadgum, got this funny little blistery, itchy rash...wonder what that could be?

[+BeachBuddies]

You can becmore more (or less) allergic to Poison Ivy (Oak, Sumac) over time. So, yes, it's possible. But from your description, it sounds much more like an insect bite to me.

 

Here's a pretty good site with more info: http://www.poison-ivy.org/

[+Ambrosia]

Sounds like a bug bite, to me, too.

[+Polgara]

As a kid I used poison oak as a defense against my older sister. I'd get her PO'ed then run across the road and hunker down in a big patch of poison oak. She'd swell up like a balloon if she got near it.

 

Now, here's the weird part. 25 years later I got poison oak for the first time. Just a little patch on my right wrist. Since then I've contracted poison oak 3 more times. And only on my right wrist!

 

What's up with that? Any experts around?

Not an expert, but I've been reading in these forums about people getting PI and then not getting PI for years, and then getting it again etc. You develop immunity to something after exposure to it. FOr example, there are 20 different strains of bacteria that cause strep throat. You could name them after the letters in the alphabet, A through T. If you're immune to strains A, C, K, & L, you won't get sick from those strains upon exposure. You will get infection from them, but since you have immunity to them, your body works much faster than the bacteria, and you fight it off without ever knowing you contracted it.

 

However, if you are exposed to a strain that you have not gained immunity to, you will get sick.

 

I'm thinking maybe PI is working in the same way. Whatever the body is reacting to in the PI oil, perhaps there are several strains of whatever that antigen is. So if you're immune to the PI in your backyard, it seems you may still be able to become infected from a PI plant you come across on the trail cause it has a slightly different strain of antigen than the one in your yard.

 

This is by all means, my own little theory from my clinical background, and to my knowledge, not proven anywhere.

[bak2Exodus]

The dredded PI...Nothings worse, and it's everywhere up here ( northern Michigan). My personal best defense. Find the most light weight running pants you can find. In white because it's cooler. I still usually wear a short sleeve shirt...but watch those arms. And a product called Zanfel, yup it's $40 but it works. Tecnu cleanser, did'nt touch it. Zanfel finally kicked it.

[+flask]

here's some handy advice... carry PI soap in your car, with plenty of water. if you KNOW you have been through PI, wash your exposed skin thoroughly. even once the blisters appear, you can help by washing well. use strong soap. put your exposed clothes in the laundry with good detergent and hot water. scrub your shoes. if you got PI on your body, chances are very good that the volatile oils are still on your clothes.

 

i used to enjoy some immunity. now i get PI every few weeks, and this WINTER i got it once. in deep snow. go figger.

 

oh, and a drying agent like caladryl will help dry it up, and it includes a minor anesthetic to help with the itching.