windthrown
361 Junkie
My experience with PO/PI/PS
Poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac. All have an oil that adhears and binds to the skin if you come in contact with it and left on the skin long enough (in my experience about 12-24 hours). The body tries to get rid of the stuff once it is attached to the skin. It cannot, so a rash often times breaks out. Many times an allergic reaction follows, either locally, or a full blown hystamine reaction that spreads and swells up your whole body (hives or wheels). My brother can come in contact with PO and the next day be all puffed up like a fried pork rind. He has to go get cortisone shots to reduce the reaction. His eyes swelled shut one time when we were kids. I get it a little reaction at the contact site, but no full-body reaction. My girlfriend gets it like my brother. 2 weeks ago she brushed 2 of her dogs that got out into it and she broke out into hives the next day.
I learned how to ID PO from a park ranger in Big Sur when I was a kid on a nature hike. Tri-lefarious (three leaves coming from one point on the stem). Often times shiney leaves, and in the fall often times red tinge to leaves. In winter has thick stems that seem to be curved toward the bottom opening up like a vase. Spreads by seeds and by rhyzomes (underground roots). Can grow as a bush, or as a vine. All parts of the plant have the oil, even in winter. Though in winter this time of year there is far less oil on them, and far less surface area to come in contact with. You can get it from touching your clothes that came in contact with PO/PI/PS when you throw it in the laundry. read: AVOID! You can also get it from touching pets that have wandered into PO/PI/PS plants.
Best prevention for poison oak: avoid exposure. If you do get exposed, wash all clothes that have been exposed in laundry detergent (that will break down the oils) and pets that may have come into contact with it. Then wash yourself. Tecnu is good stuff. We have lots of it here. Cheap shampoo works just as well, like Suave. Any brand with laurel sulphate or sodium (or other combination of) laurel sulphate. Orvus is good for adding to your wash to clean your clothes and to clean your pets with; it is pure sodium laurel sulphate sold as an animal/rug soap. Wash your whole body and it will break down the oil before it adhears to your skin. Since learning how to ID PO and washing clothes in Orvus and myself in cheap shampoo after being exposed to it I have not had a reaction to it. We have 105 acres of the stuff growing here. It is everywhere. Next to its evil cousins, blackberries, which commonly scratch your skin and make a PO reaction even worse.
I do not belive that PO oils build up in your system. Your immune system reaction can increase with exposure to PO/PI/PS though and you will continue to be allergic to it over a long time. The oils bind with your skin and then shed off with your skin after your skin grows new layers from underneath the exposed area. At that time the irritation goes away, and the allergic reaction ends. Usually in about a week. Once the oil adhears to your skin there is no way to remove it. No amount ot Technu at that point is going to do any good. Take anti-itch medication like Banadryl and rub the contact area with hydrocortisone or Benadryl creme. At that time you are just trying to reduce the reaction and let the skid do its job and grow new skin. PO does not spread once it is on your skin and binds to it. The reaction is what spreads at that point. Your immune system is kicked into high gear, thinking it is an assault on your system. As such, what you are trying to do is reduce or suppress your immune system's hystymine reaction, which is why there is no antidote once you get it (it is not an organized disease that your body can fight off, it is a chemical reaction).
I would never pull PO with bare hands, ever. Pores in your palms or not (I believe that your palsm have pores) my girlfriend made the mistake of pulling PO with her bare hands here 4 years ago and has been extremely hypersensitive to it ever since. Use gloves, and better, use gloves that can be washed. Like the cheap blue-half rubber on the palm ones that I buy at my local Stihl saw shop. Toss them into the wash with your clothes after exposure, and then go take a shower. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200...
Also if you find a PO vine growing tall on a tree, just cut the vine and it will die from that point up. You can also spray PO with a variety of herbicides. We use Garlon and Crossbow on PO here and they do a good job to kill it off. As for how long the oils stay in the plant after it is dead, I do not know. It seems to me to break down over time. I do know that if you burn PO dead or alive the SMOKE DOES CONTAIN the irritating oil, and you can get it in your lungs. In that case, you will need to go to the hospital if you are allergic to the stuff, as you can die from shock. If I burn a pile and suspect that there is PO in it, I leave the area after the fire is started and do not allow myself to be exposed to the smoke (skin or lungs). PO is a big issue with firefighters here in the west for that reason. On their skin, and in their lungs.
My take on PO anyway. Learn to ID, avoid, wash if exposed, and you will not get a reaction to the stuff. If you are one of the fortunate few that does not react to PO/PI/PS exposure, then this is moot. Get a job removing it and charge a lot of money
Poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac. All have an oil that adhears and binds to the skin if you come in contact with it and left on the skin long enough (in my experience about 12-24 hours). The body tries to get rid of the stuff once it is attached to the skin. It cannot, so a rash often times breaks out. Many times an allergic reaction follows, either locally, or a full blown hystamine reaction that spreads and swells up your whole body (hives or wheels). My brother can come in contact with PO and the next day be all puffed up like a fried pork rind. He has to go get cortisone shots to reduce the reaction. His eyes swelled shut one time when we were kids. I get it a little reaction at the contact site, but no full-body reaction. My girlfriend gets it like my brother. 2 weeks ago she brushed 2 of her dogs that got out into it and she broke out into hives the next day.
I learned how to ID PO from a park ranger in Big Sur when I was a kid on a nature hike. Tri-lefarious (three leaves coming from one point on the stem). Often times shiney leaves, and in the fall often times red tinge to leaves. In winter has thick stems that seem to be curved toward the bottom opening up like a vase. Spreads by seeds and by rhyzomes (underground roots). Can grow as a bush, or as a vine. All parts of the plant have the oil, even in winter. Though in winter this time of year there is far less oil on them, and far less surface area to come in contact with. You can get it from touching your clothes that came in contact with PO/PI/PS when you throw it in the laundry. read: AVOID! You can also get it from touching pets that have wandered into PO/PI/PS plants.
Best prevention for poison oak: avoid exposure. If you do get exposed, wash all clothes that have been exposed in laundry detergent (that will break down the oils) and pets that may have come into contact with it. Then wash yourself. Tecnu is good stuff. We have lots of it here. Cheap shampoo works just as well, like Suave. Any brand with laurel sulphate or sodium (or other combination of) laurel sulphate. Orvus is good for adding to your wash to clean your clothes and to clean your pets with; it is pure sodium laurel sulphate sold as an animal/rug soap. Wash your whole body and it will break down the oil before it adhears to your skin. Since learning how to ID PO and washing clothes in Orvus and myself in cheap shampoo after being exposed to it I have not had a reaction to it. We have 105 acres of the stuff growing here. It is everywhere. Next to its evil cousins, blackberries, which commonly scratch your skin and make a PO reaction even worse.
I do not belive that PO oils build up in your system. Your immune system reaction can increase with exposure to PO/PI/PS though and you will continue to be allergic to it over a long time. The oils bind with your skin and then shed off with your skin after your skin grows new layers from underneath the exposed area. At that time the irritation goes away, and the allergic reaction ends. Usually in about a week. Once the oil adhears to your skin there is no way to remove it. No amount ot Technu at that point is going to do any good. Take anti-itch medication like Banadryl and rub the contact area with hydrocortisone or Benadryl creme. At that time you are just trying to reduce the reaction and let the skid do its job and grow new skin. PO does not spread once it is on your skin and binds to it. The reaction is what spreads at that point. Your immune system is kicked into high gear, thinking it is an assault on your system. As such, what you are trying to do is reduce or suppress your immune system's hystymine reaction, which is why there is no antidote once you get it (it is not an organized disease that your body can fight off, it is a chemical reaction).
I would never pull PO with bare hands, ever. Pores in your palms or not (I believe that your palsm have pores) my girlfriend made the mistake of pulling PO with her bare hands here 4 years ago and has been extremely hypersensitive to it ever since. Use gloves, and better, use gloves that can be washed. Like the cheap blue-half rubber on the palm ones that I buy at my local Stihl saw shop. Toss them into the wash with your clothes after exposure, and then go take a shower. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200...
Also if you find a PO vine growing tall on a tree, just cut the vine and it will die from that point up. You can also spray PO with a variety of herbicides. We use Garlon and Crossbow on PO here and they do a good job to kill it off. As for how long the oils stay in the plant after it is dead, I do not know. It seems to me to break down over time. I do know that if you burn PO dead or alive the SMOKE DOES CONTAIN the irritating oil, and you can get it in your lungs. In that case, you will need to go to the hospital if you are allergic to the stuff, as you can die from shock. If I burn a pile and suspect that there is PO in it, I leave the area after the fire is started and do not allow myself to be exposed to the smoke (skin or lungs). PO is a big issue with firefighters here in the west for that reason. On their skin, and in their lungs.
My take on PO anyway. Learn to ID, avoid, wash if exposed, and you will not get a reaction to the stuff. If you are one of the fortunate few that does not react to PO/PI/PS exposure, then this is moot. Get a job removing it and charge a lot of money
