Poison Ivy Relief

[Jim Dodd]

I'm one of those people who blister up, just talking about Poison Ivy !

Several years ago while doing a river clean up in Southern Iowa, We had a Presenter from Zanfel, the poison Ivy relief people.

Their timing was perfect ! Southern Iowa is loaded with PI ! Yes I got into some and was suffering. The presenter gave everyone a tube of their product ! IT WORKED !

It took several applications, and DO adhere to their instructions.

I'm offering this advice to others that are likely to encounter PI !
One thing about ZANFEL is it has a long shelf life !
I know it seems expensive, but compare it to a visit to a Dermatologist !

This Stuff works !

https://www.zanfel.com/

 

[Patrick Corry]

Oh jeez, me too! Thanks for the medication information! As a kid, I used to get a dose just walking through our Pennsylvania woods (which are full of PI) on hot, humid summer days!

I went to college in VT, and studying botany we students went out collecting local flora to be identified, pressed, & labeled for appropriate herbarium storage and study. At least one kid in my study group collected poison ivy without knowing what it was, (Toxicodendron Radicans or Rhus Radicans - member of the Sumac family), and proceeded to press and preserve the collected samples- much to my chagrin. I wouldn't have even touched the stuff.

Apparently poison ivy is far less prevalent in New England, and maybe not present at all in Canada.... I dunno!

 

[Guest]

In the field we have long used the old-timey prevention/treatment of juice from fresh Jewelweed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22766473

There are dozens of less scientific articles on the use of Jewelweed

https://www.thespruce.com/treatment-for-poison-ivy-rash-2132921

http://customers.hbci.com/~wenonah/hydro/jewelwed.htm

On a trip, after Urushoil ivy contact, I can usually find a patch of Jewelweed to crush and rub on my legs. Jewelweed seems to lose efficacy if not fresh. We’ve tried freezing ice cube trays of Jewelweed juice; it may have worked a little, but nothing like fresh squeezed.

 

[Alan Gage]

I'm fortunate that I must be fairly immune to poison ivy....or maybe just lucky. I've spent all my life running around the woods and it wasn't until a few years ago that I even knew we had poison ivy around here. A friend and I were getting ready to walk down the bank to put a boat in the river when he stopped and said, "I'm not walking down there." He was very sensitive to the plant and pointed out a large swath of it. Since then I've often noticed it in places I've previously frequented.

Alan

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Patrick,

The following is from a Government of Canada website:

“Poison ivy can be found in every province except Newfoundland. It grows on sandy, stony, or rocky shores, and sprouts in thickets, in clearings, and along the borders of woods and roadsides. This glossy perennial can spread by seed or by producing shoots from its extensive underground stems.”

When I was a forestry student at the University of California, we were required to attend a 10-week summer camp between our second and third year. At that camp in 1967, we were required to make a collection of 50 plant species. There was a lot of poison oak, a close relative of poison ivy, growing near the camp. I maintained that I was not susceptible to poison oak, based on much personal experience. So I volunteered to collect this species for me, and my 26 camp mates. Turned out to be somewhat of a big mistake on my part. It seems that susceptibility depends, at least partially, on the dose.

 

[Alan Gage]

Turned out to be somewhat of a big mistake on my part. It seems that susceptibility depends, at least partially, on the dose.

That's a good story and brings to mind another one about my sister. She was asking me what stinging nettles look like (we grew up calling it itchweed). I described it to her and told her there was a big patch of it growing on her acreage in the pasture. She said, "That's what I thought. I think I'm immune to it. It never bothers me."

As far as I know the irritation comes from little hairs on the plant that break off in your skin. Doesn't seem like something you could be immune to. I told her I thought she was mistaken but she was adamant.

Next day she came to work (we used to work together) and told me when she'd gotten home the night before she put on shorts and tromped through the patch of nettles barefoot to prove me wrong. Turns out it was her that was proven wrong.

Alan

 

[Patrick Corry]

Nettles... Itchweed? On the farm, we used to call that "Seven Minute Itch" since the effect was fortunately brief. It is apparently a fast growing plant which would sprout up in between harvests of winter wheat and the next crop, either alfalfa, timothy hay, or corn in our usual rotation. We would lure unsuspecting non-farm kids in shorts to run through the weeds, and with evil delight watch their discomfort. A dip in a creek often relieved the itch. Alan, I believe you are correct in the "hairs" on the stems & leaves.

PaddlingPitt, that sounds like a case of youthful bravado gone wrong!

Here in PA many (40-some) years ago, there was a newspaper article about a suburban guy who was clearing out a huge area of poison ivy to improve his yard. Apparently, he collected all the dried plants he cut up, then proceeded to burn the pile. While working around the burning pile, and consolidating it so it would all burn, he inhaled a significant amount of PI smoke. I seem to recall he died of respiratory failure!! If I'm wrong about the outcome, at the very least he was seriously ill I bet.

 

[Alan Gage]

we used to call that "Seven Minute Itch" since the effect was fortunately brief.

That's a good name. I remember us kids all feared that plant but that didn't keep us from making contact with it on a regular basis. The redness and bumps and trying really hard not to itch it. Like you said it thankfully doesn't last long. We always thought if you itched it it made it worse and lasted longer. I don't know if that's true or not but it seemed to add to our agony and took a lot of will power not to scratch at it for an 8 year old.

I now hang out with some 7 and 8 year old boys on a regular basis and it's always fun to see them make contact with the plant. I tell them it won't last long and try to keep their attention diverted on something else. They're so surprised and happy 10 minutes later when they suddenly realize it doesn't itch anymore.

Alan

 

[PaddlingPitt]

PaddlingPitt, that sounds like a case of youthful bravado gone wrong!

Patrick,

Here's a picture of us as we began our 10-week summer camp in 1967. We were from throughout California, and looked so wholesome back then. We would soon be at Berkeley during the turbulent '60s. Somewhat of an intellectual challenge, to say the least. I am on the far right (of the picture), second from the bottom. DoI look like a kid with youthful bravado? I would say no!

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I discovered from the internet a treatment to stop the itching of poison ivy, which has absolutely worked for me.

You use a hot hair dryer very close to the itchy patch of skin. Keep it there until strong pain actually begins for a couple of seconds but not long enough to burn yourself. You can oscillate the air gun slightly to prevent burning. The itch will stop for several hours, up to 8-10 hours for me. Then keep doing it periodically until the itch cycle dies down over a few days. This has worked for me with two poison ivy cases the past five years, and I've also used this technique to stop the itch from insect bites and fungal infections.

The technique doesn't speed the healing of the inflammation, infection or bug bite; it just treats the itch symptom for a temporary but fairly long time. Try it.

The explanation for how this works is supposedly this: The same nerves that communicate itch from your skin to your brain also communicate pain. But those nerves can't communicate both sensations at the same time. So, if you overpower the itch sensation with a pain sensation, the effect of that will last several hours.

Obviously, this won't work if you are out in the wilderness, unless you have your solar powered hair dryer with you . . . or you're tripping with someone who's full of hot air.

 

[Guest]

I don't recommend this, but the last time I did the green scrubby and dawn detergent in the shower treatment to the blisters. Not pretty, but it worked

 

[yellowcanoe]

I don't recommend this, but the last time I did the green scrubby and dawn detergent in the shower treatment to the blisters. Not pretty, but it worked

OW??!!!! Green Scotchbrite scrubby I use on cruddy fry pans? OWWWW!
I should remember what jewelweed looks like. While we don't have much PI we do have occasional PI. It only takes one roll in the snow so to speak.

My Zen moment of the evening Studying a picture. of jewel weed. It might be my savior someday
https://wildmedicinal.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/orange-jewelweed/

 

[Jim Dodd]

I'm fortunate that I must be fairly immune to poison ivy....or maybe just lucky. I've spent all my life running around the woods and it wasn't until a few years ago that I even knew we had poison ivy around here. A friend and I were getting ready to walk down the bank to put a boat in the river when he stopped and said, "I'm not walking down there." He was very sensitive to the plant and pointed out a large swath of it. Since then I've often noticed it in places I've previously frequented.

Alan

The Northern half of Iowa has much less PI than the Southern half. From Highway 30 South ? Look out.

I remember one evening, John Pearson, Horticulturalist with the DNR, took Project AWARE people for a walk. In the campground we were staying. Right above me was PI hanging from a Walnut tree. I'll never forget it !

Jim

 

[Guest]

My Zen moment of the evening Studying a picture. of jewel weed. It might be my savior someday
https://wildmedicinal.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/orange-jewelweed/

Even when not in flower Jewelweed is easy to identify. The tubular zig-zaggy stalk with a “knuckle” at each zig is very distinctive. The stalks are hollow and when crushed that is where the juicy goodness lies.

 

[Clint]

I do not get poison ivy or oak bad. Just enough to make it annoying. Another alternative to Zanfel is Tecnu Scrub. It works well also.

https://www.teclabsinc.com/shop?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyrq3puGu6QIVDk2GCh3l8Qt7EAQYASABEgIq_fD_BwE#

 

[Guest]

I used to be "immune" to poisen ivy. now I'm not. Don't know how that works.

 

[Guest]

I used to be "immune" to poisen ivy. now I'm not. Don't know how that works.

I don’t know if there is actual immunity or acquired immunity to poison ivy. I likewise seem to have at worst minor reaction to poison ivy. How much of that is from awareness avoidance remains a possibility.

My wife reacts badly to Virginia Creeper. We have Virginia Creeper everywhere. Google that on your own. Could be worse, we could have Giant Hogweed

https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/39809.html

I too have “minor reaction to poison ivy”, which I easily recognize and avoid. On a western trip in the ‘80s I must have leaned up a pack strap against some unknown villainous leafy vine, and encountered some unfamiliar poison oak or sumac nastiness.

My guess is that the pack strap ground it thoroughly into my shoulder, which looked like I had weeping, puss seeping leprosy. It was nasty.

The cure for that was stopping by a friend’s place in Arizona with a heavily chlorinated backyard pool for a few days of swimming and soaking.

FWIW salty ocean waters seem an equally effective remedy.

 

[Guest]

Since it is supposed to be the oil of the plant which causes problems, once when I first noticed symptoms I thourally scrubbed the area with soap and had mild symptoms. A friend at my suggestion, takes a squeeze bottle of mechanics hand cleaner to degrease with-says it really helps.

 

[scoutergriz]

My mom used to just use a bar of "Linda's Laundry Soap" on us as kids, seemed to work really well, then in the mid 60's I had a real bad case (fell in a patch in a bathing suit) and received some sort of injection at the hospital. I haven't had it for over 50 years now.

 

[PaddlingPika]

Years ago my dad and brothers tried some kind of desensitizing drops that were a very very dilute solution of poison oak extract. These drops had to be taken regularly over a period of time. My brothers still got rashes when their Boy Scout troop went hiking and camping in areas with poison oak, but it seemed to somewhat reduced the severity.

My Dad had a really bad experience with poison oak in California as a kid. One time in the fall or winter he was at a weenie roast and cut himself a stick to use for roasting his hotdog. He roasted and ate the hot dog then ended up in the emergency room where they had to put a tube down his throat to allow him to breathe. There were no leaves for identification so he didn't realize the stick he cut was poison oak.