# Poison Ivy/Oak remedy???



## Sawdust7 (Jun 11, 2007)

OK, here's one for all you Home Remedy types. Gotta be somebody here who is up on poison ivy/oak. A guy I know was over Saturday. He used to work here in the 50s and 60s when this place was a dairy farm (Humble, Texas). We got to talking about poison ivy and oak. I am very alergic to it and he said he used to be but isn't anymore. He told me that the property owners brother told him to swallow three of the berries/seeds that grow from the poison ivy/oak in the fall. (I think what we got here though is the poison oak because that is most common in this region.) Anyway, he didn't believe him so the owners brother swallowed three of them himself so this guy did the same. He told me that he has never been affected by the stuff since then. Now, any of ya'll ever heard of such a thing or is this an old country tale? Sure would be hard to scratch my inerds if I was to try this and it turns out to be BS. OK, I'll wait for ya'll to finish laughin'.


----------



## kennertree (Jun 12, 2007)

Don't know if I'd eat the berries or not, but I have seen poison ivy pills. The pills contain just a little bit of the poison to help build a tolerance. I think I saw it in the sherrill catalog.


----------



## ropensaddle (Jun 12, 2007)

I got in trouble as a kid for eating the stuff as I ate all sorts of chit
Iverest is made of the poison plant and was givin out many years ago.
I would be careful ingesting if you are allergic as some people get it from 
burning leaves. I did chew it as a kid and I don't get it but what worked 
me might kill you so I think I would ask your doctor what he thinks.
Now if you get it go a head and scratch and then take
a long hot as you can stand shower and it helps my wife the hot
water stops the itch at first its worse but a second later the 
heat stops the itch dead in tracks for about four hours.


----------



## Ed*L (Jun 12, 2007)

I use this: http://www.taropharmadermatology.com/article.asp?siteID=237&catId=937&pgId=25223&sub1=3

A couple of days and the PI is gone. 

Ed


----------



## Zac (Jun 12, 2007)

When I was a kid a got poison ivy a couple times and it covered my whole body, and my face would swell up. Then when I first started in the tree business I would have poison ivy all the time. Didn't matter what the season was, as soon as it would clear up, two weeks later I would have it again. I never had it very bad though. Now, I havn't had it in 2 years, I think I built up an immunity to it. If that is the case then I think the berry-eating theory might just work.


----------



## ATH (Jun 12, 2007)

Like kennertree mentioned, there are homeopathic pills. I have also seen a homeopathic liquid. I asked a pharmacist/pharmacy professor his thoughts about these products. He said they are unlikely to clear up an infection. However he could see, in theory, how they would prevent/reduce future outbreaks.

I have heard the old wive's tale that if you eat a couple of leaves when they are still tiny first thing in the spring that it would prevent infection...

I'm not dumb/crazy/adventerous/despirate enough to try to eat a part of the plant. I did take the pills for a couple of years and the liquid for a couple of summers. I used to get it pretty bad when I was younger, but have not had more than a couple of blisters for several years.

I also need to note that I try hard to wash up as soon as possible after exposure. I am careful about wiping my hands after I tie/untie my boots when I know I have walked through it. I also put clothes straight in the wash when I get home if I have been in it bad.

So...did the homeopathic stuff work? Have I naturally developed some resistance? Have I simply avoided a rash through better sanitation? Combination of the 3???

I am not sure a sample of "1" is enough to say the homeopathic solutions worked...but it is not that expensive, so I'd recommend it.


----------



## Sawdust7 (Jun 12, 2007)

Would that be WT Sherrill Kenner? I went to their site after a search but didn't find anything online. I suppose I should download their cat and look in it for the pills. As far as my doctor, Har-dee har-har . . . HMO Blue/ Kelsey Seybold. In other words, She will say "No, don't eat them berries, I'll prescibe you some pills. . . Now that'll be $20 for the co-pay and come back in a week with another $20. If you get it again, bring another $20". She got on my case for rubbing Clorox on in the shower. I do that after I've been working around the stuff. Clorox kills fungus so I figure, why not? I reckon it works because several times I have got the stuff on me then bathed ASAP with the Clorox and didn't break out. Zac, I just wish I could build an immunity to it but with me it seems to get worse every year. I get it mostly on my arms 2 or 3 times a year from cleaning along my fence lines so maybe like ropensaddle said, what works for some might kill the other. As I understand now, the only bad part to poison ivy and oak is the goop on the leaves which is or causes a fungus (correct me if I'm wrong here please). So maybe the little berries don't pack the same punch. I am going to keep researching on this because if I can find out if it would be safe then it would be like a miracle to be able to be immune to the stuff. I'll also keep looking for the homeopathic pills. I appreciate all the input from ya'll.


----------



## luvthetrobag (Jul 1, 2007)

I have it pretty bad right now. But to answer your first question I dont think its a good idea. I know a guy who ate some back in the 60's and was in the hospital for a month. Almost died. All his major organs were actually covered with the stuff as well as every squre inch of his body. He is immune o this day though. Its probally hard to tell the proper dosage.


----------



## Sawdust7 (Jul 4, 2007)

:jawdrop: Hey luvthetrobag, I think you just helped me decide. I believe I'll leave the berries be. Wishful thinkin' though.


----------



## jrparbor04 (Jul 5, 2007)

have anyone heard of "oral ivy",,,sold by vermeer and it kinda made the reaction alittle better,,,dont think i would ever eat those dang old berries though


----------



## bushinspector (Jul 5, 2007)

What I think is going on here is everyone is eating some "Willy Nelson's mushrooms" and just thinking that it its the posion ivy,/ posion oak berries. 

All kidding aside it would be very, very dangerous to eat some. It could cause your airway to close up so bad you could not breath due to your airway swelling shut.


----------



## bushinspector (Jul 5, 2007)

There is another poision ivy thread running in the commercial treee care and climbing forum. It also has some imput to the same subject.


----------



## Elmore (Jul 6, 2007)

*Fungi*

"Clorox kills fungus so I figure, why not? " heh heh...that's funny.

I've heard that prompt washing with Simple Green might work.


----------



## pmfiore (Jul 7, 2007)

*poison oak and ivy*

i have used a product called oak and ivy made by a company tecnu.i to am allergic to the stuff and this product really helps me.the problem with poison ivy is a oil called urishi oil and this product removes the urishi oil from your skin. also never take a bath only ever take showers you can also use this product to remove the oils from your clothes.


----------



## chainsawchick67 (Jul 7, 2007)

Ok, I know alot about PI cause i am VERY allergic and get it all over my arms and face EVERY fall. Ok, HOT water is bad. Do not wash in super hot water. PI is caused by oils , water makes oil melt/run/spread, and in turn, it will spread. Use COLD water when you wash your body(in a shower, not a bath) as well as your clothes, and do so ASAP. Also, for me Technu products dont work. I use a cream/scrub called Zanfel. It comes in a shiney siver and green box and you can get it at any drug store, you have to ask for it at the pharmacy counter. It runs about 35-40 dollars, but it WORKS and you get a lot of uses out of the tube. 2 washes and mine was gone. You can use it on ANY part of the body including the face. Also, if I get in bad enough, I must get put on a steroid to get it out of me(cant think of what its called):taped: . If you have tried everything, and nothing you try works. Go to the doc. Its easier for to go to the doc and get some pills and take them than to try to fart around and see what creams work or dont work.


----------



## neighborstree (Jul 8, 2007)

im verrrrrrry allergic to anything poison. oak or ivy. sumac , u name it, im allergic to it, if im working around it. i go home that night and scrub every inch of my body with bleach, and i wont get it, if i dont scrub with bleach, ill be laid out for a few weeks


----------



## gasman (Jul 8, 2007)

neighborstree said:


> im verrrrrrry allergic to anything poison. oak or ivy. sumac , u name it, im allergic to it, if im working around it. i go home that night and scrub every inch of my body with bleach, and i wont get it, if i dont scrub with bleach, ill be laid out for a few weeks



Exactly!!! The treatment for PI exposure is to wash like hell. What you use or the tempeature of the water, etc. is secondary. 


My choice would be a pummice type soap,(lava,octagon,fels naptha) to get the filth off and a degreasing soap (dawn dishliquid, clear glycerine bar soap, many others) to get the PI/PO oils off.

Also PI is spread very frequently because it remains under your nails for days!! Wear gloves, cut and scrub under your nails as needed.

Wash within two hours of exposure. But even if it has been more time it will help to wash. Go straight to the shower after working!!! 

Do not expose yourself to PI directly after showering. You have scrubed off all of your protective oils and external layers of skin.


----------



## Sawdust7 (Jul 10, 2007)

Believe it or not, I have been having good success using diesel (I think). I put some in a spritzer-sprayer bottle and some Tide in a hand soap pump bottle. After working the fences etc out out back in the North 40, I spray my hands and arms with the diesel then pump about 4 or 5 squirts of Tide then rub it all together. I wait about 5 minutes, rinse then re-wash with the Tide. Last week I started getting the rash after working with one of the cows I had penned (the stuff likes to stay on there hair). I got out the diesel an Tide and rubbed it on and the next day the rash had begun subsiding. Now, I did however rub some PI cream on that evening but I don't think that that is what did the trick because It went away too fast. Not saying the diesel and Tide did it but it does appear it did, too soon to tell. I'll know the next time I get a rash, which won't be long from now. The oily residue from PI , almost like pitch, is hard to wash off with mild soaps so I figured the Diesel and Tide would wipe it out quick. Also, diesel has sulfur in it and that just may have something to do with it. I also keep a squirt bottle of Clorox in the shower and use it religiously. As far as the berries . . . NOPE, not yet.


----------



## Sawdust7 (Jul 10, 2007)

Duhh, it posted twice


----------



## Zac (Jul 12, 2007)

Zac said:


> When I was a kid a got poison ivy a couple times and it covered my whole body, and my face would swell up. Then when I first started in the tree business I would have poison ivy all the time. Didn't matter what the season was, as soon as it would clear up, two weeks later I would have it again. I never had it very bad though. Now, I havn't had it in 2 years, I think I built up an immunity to it. If that is the case then I think the berry-eating theory might just work.



I spoke to soon. I ran into last Thursday and cleaned up well. Then Sunday mourning I wake up to find it all over my left hand. Now it is Thursday and I am on steroids and have a demon hand.


----------



## Sawdust7 (Jul 12, 2007)

AHHHH! A test subject! Hey Zac, wanna help me test my Diesel and Tide theory? See my previous post and it explains what I tried. I'm curious as to whether or not it helps clear the crap up. Mine sure did seem to clear up right away. I would usually have it for days. Now, I only put it on my arms and hands, not any vital parts where I have screwed up and got it before (One of these days I will learn to wash my hands reeeeeallll good before going to the bathroom)  
Oh well, just a thought. Crazy Idea??? :blob5: 
And remember, the future of Poison Ivy victims depends on you.


----------



## bushinspector (Jul 12, 2007)

Come on and be a "TEST DUMMY" for all of your friends at the AS. Let us know how it works! Will be standing by for updates!!


----------



## Sawdust7 (Jul 12, 2007)

Well now Bushinspector, that's the term I wanted to use but heck, I'm tryin' to shmooze him into submission and figured "Dummy" would have been counter productive. :hmm3grin2orange: 


opcorn:


----------



## bushinspector (Jul 12, 2007)

Oh No not at all. I have a lot of respect for those fokes!!

After all haven't read all of the "Dummy Books"?????


----------



## Mad Professor (Jul 17, 2007)

The homiopathic approach.........

Rub a few leaves on your toilet paper once a week until you no longer have symtoms..............:hmm3grin2orange: 

Seriously,


As soon as you realize you are exposed wash with soap/detergent to remove oils, do the same with you clothes. Use cold water at first to avoid opening the pores of your skin.

Crushed jewel weed provides some relief once the oils have penatrated your skin and started the inflamation.


----------



## TNMIKE (Jul 18, 2007)

*Technu Oak n Ivy wash*

This stuff works. You can roll in poison and if you wash with Technu you will not get it. Foresty Supply sells it in QT bottles..much cheaper than the small ones at Rite Aide.


----------



## elmnut (Jul 18, 2007)

chainsawchick67 said:


> Ok, I know alot about PI cause i am VERY allergic and get it all over my arms and face EVERY fall. Ok, HOT water is bad. Do not wash in super hot water. PI is caused by oils , water makes oil melt/run/spread, and in turn, it will spread. Use COLD water when you wash your body(in a shower, not a bath) as well as your clothes, and do so ASAP. Also, for me Technu products dont work. I use a cream/scrub called Zanfel. It comes in a shiney siver and green box and you can get it at any drug store, you have to ask for it at the pharmacy counter. It runs about 35-40 dollars, but it WORKS and you get a lot of uses out of the tube. 2 washes and mine was gone. You can use it on ANY part of the body including the face. Also, if I get in bad enough, I must get put on a steroid to get it out of me(cant think of what its called):taped: . If you have tried everything, and nothing you try works. Go to the doc. Its easier for to go to the doc and get some pills and take them than to try to fart around and see what creams work or dont work.



Right on!


----------



## chainsawchick67 (Jul 18, 2007)

TNMIKE said:


> This stuff works. You can roll in poison and if you wash with Technu you will not get it. Foresty Supply sells it in QT bottles..much cheaper than the small ones at Rite Aide.



I dont agree with the technu stuff, im serious about the zanfel stuff though, go back and look at my big long post i made

elmnut quoted it right above this post


----------



## ckliff (Jul 20, 2007)

Sawdust7 said:


> [bathed ASAP with the Clorox and didn't break out.



Interestingly enough, I jump in the pool with the kids in afternoons and my PI seems to ease up from that. Chlorine? Cool water? Anyhow, beats sweatin' & itchin' in the hottest part of the day...


----------



## chainsawchick67 (Jul 20, 2007)

probably both, cause my uncle uses bleach on his PI, F%$K that! NOt for me, any how, the cold water also prolly helps cause hot water will make it spread


----------



## Mad Professor (Jul 20, 2007)

chainsawchick67 said:


> probably both, cause my uncle uses bleach on his PI, F%$K that! NOt for me, any how, the cold water also prolly helps cause hot water will make it spread



The allergens in poison ivy is caused by a class of phenolic componds called urushiols. The more potent allergens of the class contain both phenols and polyunsaturated groups which can/will react with chlorine, this MAY serve to inactivate the oils so there may be some relief from swimming pools/bleach (Those of you framiliar with organic chemisty may recall these reactions).

Hot water DOES NOT spread poison ivy, the oils involved are not water soluble. Hot water opens the pores of the skin and areas already exposed become effected. This is why some poeple think that for days after exposure (even after washing) their poison ivy rash is "spreading". It is mererly because those areas with less exposure have had enough time to elapse to allow the small(er) amount of oil to make it's way through the effected skin.

Avoiding the plants is the best thing you can do. If exposed wash immediately with detergent and COLD water to remove as much oil as possible before it has had a chance to penatrate the skin. Once it has penatrated there is little that can be done other than to take steroids to suppress the immune response (allergic reaction).

As the oils are also soluble in hydrocarbon solvents the old remedy of washing with diesel/kerosene may also help to remove the oils. Many "barrier" concoctions sold are just greasy films which hold(dissolve) the oils and reduce their penatration into the skin. 

Dish detergent (or even hand soaps) will serve just as well to wash away the oils as expensive drugstore soaps. In fact you wouild be better served washing/removing the oils right away than waiting until you can get to the drugstore..........



P.S. BTW, I teach chemistry/biochemistry and unfortuneately know firsthand about poison ivy/oak


----------



## chainsawchick67 (Jul 20, 2007)

good post- i took steroids once and they gave me panic attacks-weird- i woke up in the middle of the night freaking out and it stopped when i went off the pills. The Zanfel stuff i was talking about is more like a . . . .whats it called. . . .ummmm. GoJo? its got scrubby things in it. mechanics use it to wash up with, any how, thats waht the zanfel stuff reminds me of. Its got like, and abrasive in it


----------



## shawn.m (Jul 20, 2007)

long pants, long sleeve shirts, gloves, take boots off with gloves on. 

everything comes off on the porch and straight to the shower. wash cold water with dawn soap and a scrubby. Fels Naptha soap works very well also. 

Once you wash with Fels Naptha soap you can feel your skin cracking. Then use Oak-N-Ivy CalaGel medicated anti itch gel. Stuff is WAYY better than the runny pink stuff.

I got it bad brush clearing on my forearms. A home remedy from the net said use a blow dryer on the affected spot would alieve it for say a half hour. Also I would wash the affected area with soap and water like every hour to try and get rid of the itching.


----------



## chainsawchick67 (Jul 21, 2007)

also lye soap works well too


----------

