Freakin poison ivy

[flight17]

Ive had it bad enough on the legs and arms that they were horrible swollen. I could take my finger and poke my leg and still have an indent in the skin about 1/2" deep after I removed the finger. Took some over the counter meds and it finally went down in a week or so.

should of went to the doctors. they could have gave you some Steroids for that.

[DREDIOCK]

Never got into poison-ivy, but I have poison-oak. That stuff is no fun either. 

I've had both.  Happens in my line of work. Oak is worse IMO though.

The absolute worse case of poison oak I had I got from climbing a tree to get my favorite fishing lure back.
This tree was a menace and claimed a couple dozen lures over the years. Finally it claimed a lure I had made myself and was my favorite. There was no way to fish this thing wrong. About the only thing I didnt do with it is fly fish it.

 Well one day I cast and released a tad too early and  around the branch it went. I looked at it lined up to about 6 other rigs that were lined up next to it from various people. And I looked and looked and was getting more and more pissed "the hell with this Im gonna settle this once and for all"  I finally said and went and got a bow saw out of my truck and attached it to my belt with a small bungee. This area around the trunk was so over grown with all kinds of stuff I didnt even notice as I was shimmying I was hugging a tree covered in the stuff till I was about 6 feet off the ground.

"Screw it. Its too late to do anything about it now" and up the tree I went, retrieved my lure and a few others then cut the branch solving once and for all that problem and shimmied back down the tree.

Now have you ever shimmied down a tree? Well if you have then you know that quite often your shirt will ride up your body exposing you from belt line to upper chest. Course I didnt think about this part when I was on my way up. I figured I'd shower it off when I got home and maybe get some on my arms and maybe my neck and that would be about it.

Nu uh. Within a few days from belt line to neck and both arms from the end of my short shirt sleeve down were noting but giant scabs. And this stuff not only itched. But literally hurt. It succccked big time. For some strange reason I only got a little bit on my face and non on the palms of my hands. and only a little on the backs of my hands.

 Im guessing that because I didnt have my face buried in it going in either direction and because I kept fishing afterwards I probably washed it off my hands soon enough in the place I was fishing after handling the fish I caught.

But it was horrible.

Next time I just cut the whole tree down at the base

[CAP1]

Swear this stuff singles me out everytime

when i was young, i could roll around in the stuff, and never get it. i was cleaning out weeds around the back of my garage a few years ago. i saw the ivy there, and ignored it based on the above. never effing again. it got me good.

[F22RaptorDude]

human nature.

ive got a rough area where i live. more inner city issues in the county i live in then the rest of the state (Springfield and Boston included in the poll)... in a farming based economy. tell me...why are people so stupid?

People are stupid because there isn't enough discipline anymore, because people are choosing to be stupid and their stupidity is affecting others

[100Coogn]

It sounds a bit crazy but plain old lye soap works great to remove the oil from you and your clothes. It also helps dry out the reaction your skin has to it.

I'd hang out with Granny.  She makes more than lye soap... 

                   

Coogan
easy on the eyes too...

[B-17]

blah...

[F22RaptorDude]

I'd hang out with Granny.  She makes more than lye soap... 

                   (Image removed from quote.)

Coogan
easy on the eyes too...

[Maverick]

I was totally serious about the lye soap idea. I've had poison oak and it was miserable. I got a touch of poison ivy last summer in Louisiana. The lye soap got rid of the oil off of my skin in one washing. When I did get the reaction, I am allergic to the damn stuff, I did the old tyme remedy. I used the lye soap again. I soaped up the area a second time and did not rinse it off. It took out the itch better than the calamine lotion and linocaine ointment. The nice thing is if you have a bar of the soap you just wet it a little bit and rub it on the skin irritation. It heals up very fast.

I also had a bad case of dry skin on my hands for over 6 months. The skin around the nails and all across the finger pads would split. It was like having dozens of paper cuts all the time. I tried everything to get the skin to stop drying and cracking. Nothing helped including prescription ointments. I tried the lye soap and inside of a week it cleared up. I wasn't going through ointment and band aids every night trying to soften up the skin and stop leaving blood on the sheets. I now order the soap online form a family that makes it in Arkansas. If my hands start to dry up I start suing the soap again and it stops right away.

The darn stuff can be used for laundry, bath soap and even to remove scent from your hunting clothes. Just don't dry them in the drier where you used drier sheets or it's a waste.

This is where I order the soap. They will send you a free sample bar. They have the best prices of anyone I have found yet.  http://homemadelyesoap.net/

[flight17]

I've had both.  Happens in my line of work. Oak is worse IMO though.

The absolute worse case of poison oak I had I got from climbing a tree to get my favorite fishing lure back.
This tree was a menace and claimed a couple dozen lures over the years. Finally it claimed a lure I had made myself and was my favorite. There was no way to fish this thing wrong. About the only thing I didnt do with it is fly fish it.

 Well one day I cast and released a tad too early and  around the branch it went. I looked at it lined up to about 6 other rigs that were lined up next to it from various people. And I looked and looked and was getting more and more pissed "the hell with this Im gonna settle this once and for all"  I finally said and went and got a bow saw out of my truck and attached it to my belt with a small bungee. This area around the trunk was so over grown with all kinds of stuff I didnt even notice as I was shimmying I was hugging a tree covered in the stuff till I was about 6 feet off the ground.

"Screw it. Its too late to do anything about it now" and up the tree I went, retrieved my lure and a few others then cut the branch solving once and for all that problem and shimmied back down the tree.

Now have you ever shimmied down a tree? Well if you have then you know that quite often your shirt will ride up your body exposing you from belt line to upper chest. Course I didnt think about this part when I was on my way up. I figured I'd shower it off when I got home and maybe get some on my arms and maybe my neck and that would be about it.

Nu uh. Within a few days from belt line to neck and both arms from the end of my short shirt sleeve down were noting but giant scabs. And this stuff not only itched. But literally hurt. It succccked big time. For some strange reason I only got a little bit on my face and non on the palms of my hands. and only a little on the backs of my hands.

 Im guessing that because I didnt have my face buried in it going in either direction and because I kept fishing afterwards I probably washed it off my hands soon enough in the place I was fishing after handling the fish I caught.

But it was horrible.

Next time I just cut the whole tree down at the base

you cant get anything on the palms of your hands. The skin is too thick for the oil to irritate it. The closest i have ever gotten anything to my palms is in the webs of my fingers.

[5anders]

you cant get anything on the palms of your hands. The skin is too thick for the oil to irritate it. The closest i have ever gotten anything to my palms is in the webs of my fingers.

Interesting, I was wondering earlier why I'd never got it on my palms. 

[DREDIOCK]

when i was young, i could roll around in the stuff, and never get it. i was cleaning out weeds around the back of my garage a few years ago. i saw the ivy there, and ignored it based on the above. never effing again. it got me good.

Same thing here. I seemed ot be immune to it growing up. Didnt have my first case of it till I was around 25. Now Im not oversensitive to it. but I do occasionally get it

[Becinhu]

you cant get anything on the palms of your hands. The skin is too thick for the oil to irritate it. The closest i have ever gotten anything to my palms is in the webs of my fingers.

Then why was I always told I would get hairy palms........

[Shuffler]

Strange how some are bothered by poison ivey and some are not.


Hope you recover soon.

[flight17]

Then why was I always told I would get hairy palms........

did you get hairy palms?

[SuperDud]

I'm one of the lucky ones who isn't allergic to it either. My wife, however, is very allergic so I still have to wash real good after messing around in the yard.

And shuffled if I remember correctly it's basically an allergic reaction caused by the oiit on the leafs. Unfortunately most folks are sensitive to it.