I Itch......

[Emmsmom]

Hun if you itch try to just rub around the area. It you pop the blisters it won't spread. I had 2 doctors and a pharmacist tell me the same thing. It all depends on where the oil touched the skin that will determine where you break out. So be sure and wash all shoes and socks and clothes that you touched when you caught it. You can get poison ivy months later if you touch somehting like a shovel or old gloves that still have the oil on them. About a year or so ago my husband and I got into a nasty patch of it and didn't realize it. I saw the oils and my skin and thought I had gotten into some kind of oil. Every place that the oil touched I broke out. As much as I scratched and as many blisters that I popped it never spread.


Here is a link with some F&Q's
http://www.poison-ivy.org/html/faq.htm

[Tink]

You can get the oil off clothes, so be sure to wash what ever you were wearing before you wear it again... jackets and such are often the culprit and the darn stuff stays on them for a year or more!

I use tea tree oil to get rid of the itch. Straight out of the bottle. It smells kinda funky, but is better than ripping my hide off itching. My allergy to the sun looks and feels VERY much like poison ivy rash, so I deal with it every spring/summer. Right now my nose and left forearm are broke out. I hate it!

[DianaB]

Wow! You guys came up with some really interesting remedies for poison ivy. I'm still gently rubbing and still have the blisters on some of it. I've just been keeping Hydrocortisone plus on it and it really seems to help. I just put it on when it starts itching again. If I had it a lot worse I'd be trying a lot of your ideas, except for the peeing on it! I'm not sure about that one!

As far as having poison ivy spread if a blister breaks....I have had it spread when I've had it bad enough and that's no fun! Poison ivy is also more potent at different times of the year. There are times that the oils are more likely to get on you than at other times.

The birds eat the berries and then they poop the seeds out. That's how it's getting started in my yard and around. I'm going to have to fill a sprayer and go after it!!! Maybe I'll wrap up like a mummy first.........