Just wondering if people have some really good cures for poison ivy. I am severely allergic to it and once I get it I have a really hard time getting rid if it. Just thought I would post on here because there has to be someone out there that is in the same boat I am.
I get very severe reactions to sumac, and if I get any of the oil on my face/neck I need corticosteroids.
I run into every year trapping fence lines, and seem to can’t avoid it. Best method I have found so far:
Wash with DAWN dish soap first. Heavy on the soap and scrub it well. Your trying to get as much of the oil off as fast as possible. Let it get mostly dry and then apply Tecnu and wrap with gauze & an ace bandage to prevent you from scratching. Re-apply every 6-8 hours.
Very important to wash with COLD water. Warm water opens the pores on your skin and sucks up urushiol oil in an instant….the oil is what is the allergen on poison ivy. Cold water, and some sort of oil cutting detergent after contact…then keep as dry as possible for days to come. Jewel weed often grows next to poison ivy and is mother earth’s natural remedy if you don’t have any soap handy. Crush up the bulbs on the stem and apply to area contacted by ivy. It works!
I second technu. Works great. Mother in law get with in 20 feet of poison ivy and breaks out. I got it all over me and washed with this and it worked great. I’ll keep on using it.
Its probably easier to just learn how to identify the stuff and then stay away from it. Bad news stuff for some people, you guys must be some of them. I’m allergic to nettles and stay as far aay from them as possible.
Where would a person find that tecnu stuff at?
about $7.00 at Walmart
I get the same way im regards to poison ivy. Dawn dish soap will work if that is all you got, but I have had the best luck scrubbing with Zanfel from wal mart. It is $40, but If I get poison Ivy I use that stuff right away and I never have problems with it spreading to the rest of my body.
If I been around it I scrub with Murphy’s oil soap.
I have a friend that has major problems with poison ivy and he says that the best for him is a prescription of prednisone from the Doc. That is the only way he can get it under control.
Tecnu original or Extreme for me. I never know I have it until the rash breaks out. If you absolutely know where it touched you Tecnu will remove oil and you shouldnt have a rash. Good luck with that. Once you have a rash or bumps you can clean it with Tecnu but then it will take time to heal and it will itch during that time. I like to put super hot water on it to temp relieve itching sometimes.
After the rash has developed I use a product called Ivy Dry. Works great. Available at drug stores.
Brake parts cleaner… If I think I’ll be around poison ivy or sumac I keep a can handy. It cuts the oils better than dawn dish soap. I’m not really alergic but a buddy of mine is and we’ve found that’s what works the best. Afterward a good dose of benadryl helps too…..
I put in another vote for jewel weed also known as medicine plant or indian plant. You don’t need the bulbs the stems and leaves work too. When I was a kid I hade a case so bad the doc couldn’t get it under control. My great uncle dosed me with the stuff a few times and it cleared right up
I’m thinking Pro Drive Al made the best suggestion! Brake cleaner would be the ne plus ultra for removing any kind of oil! It sound’s eerily similar to the treatment my Mother favored when I was a kid! First we had to completely wash the affected area with straight kerosene! After that we had to thoroughly scrub the same area with that god-awful brown soap that she and my Aunt Dorothy made after we had butchered a beef! After that kind if treatment, most would have opted for the poison ivy! 
DIRTBALL2 
Don’t wait until you have a reaction, wash with Dawn dish soap as soon as you are out of the woods.
I do it every time I’ve been in the woods – even if I didn’t think that I had contact with poison ivy.
Waterless hand cleaner like Go-Jo or Goop would probably work, but I haven’t tried it.
Dan
My son had it to the point that it blistered and the only thing that worked was bathing in dead sea bath salts.
DT
I was just looking at some pictures that I took over the month or so and found these that I took from just after this discussion. I am thinking that I was looking at poison ivy, but would like some confirmation… Leaves of three leave be…
Mark
Looks like oak or ivy to me.
Suzuki:
I would have thought oak too, but I think they are vined together in the first picture…
Mark
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