beware the roots as well...

[BEConklin]

Last Friday I was helping a friend dig up a leaky water line. About 5 feet away was an old stump with some smaller vines of poison ivy on it - but I checked and did not see any in the immediate vicinity of the hole we were digging.

By Saturday afternoon it was pretty clear I'd gotten poison ivy all over my right forearm and hand. The only way I can imagine getting exposed to it in this area was by reaching into the hole to clear away roots, and to clean some much off the well line once we'd exposed it.

By Sunday I had blisters, by Monday some had gotten as big around as a dime, and others were leaking so bad I had my arm lightly wrapped in gauze. and I had gone from itch to pain. Tuesday I was eating lunch when I noticed my whole arm had swelled up like a sausage..and shortly after that my throat began to get tight.

Off to the ER. As soon as they heard about my throat they brought me right in and set up IV Benadryl and some steroid to counteract the allergic reaction.

After a few hours they released me...glad my wife was driving me as I was high as a kite. They put me on prednisone and an antibiotic. The prednisone really did the trick and the rash is healing, the last of the blisters are clearing up and today I'm not wearing a bandage until I go out in public (don't want to frighten any children)

This was by far the worst poison ivy I've ever had - and I think it's probably a sign that I have become very allergic to it. and as far as I know, I never contacted any poison ivy leaves ....just the cut ends of roots from vines that were growing 5 feet away

 

[bmblank]

Ha, the cure for the ivy was an IV...
But seriously, glad your better now.

 

[Chimney Smoke]

At the first sign of a blister I scrape it with a knife and soak the area with alcohol. Turns it to a scab and dries it out immediately. On a side note - why would you take an antibiotic for poison ivy??

 

[BEConklin]

antibiotic because I was getting cellulitis from the open blisters.

 

[BEConklin]

I get mild poison ivy rashes several times a season and it's usually not a big deal. This was a massive dose of poison ivy and it came on very quickly. It normally takes 2-3 days for a rash to form - this time it was within 24 hours. PI allergy is a cumulative thing - it often gets worse with repeated exposure.

 

[Jags]

Man - sorry to hear that. I guess I am one of the lucky ones. The only reaction I have to PI is a warm tingle that goes away in a couple of hours.

 

[bmblank]

I don't think I've ever had a problem with poison ivy. I can't actually remember any time I've come in contact with it, but with how much I ran through the woods and playing on the beach and junk, I had to have. Couldn't price it by me though. Maybe I've just avoided it for 31 years.

 

[holtkasg]

Ha, the cure for the ivy was an IV...

HA! Thanks for making me laugh.

 

[midwestcoast]

Wow, that's a bad reaction! I can hardly imagine how uncomfortable you've been.
One of many good reasons to keep a (non-expired) anti-histamine around the house. No substitute for a trip to the ER if your throat is closing of course...

 

[BEConklin]

I don't think I've ever had a problem with poison ivy. I can't actually remember any time I've come in contact with it, but with how much I ran through the woods and playing on the beach and junk, I had to have. Couldn't price it by me though. Maybe I've just avoided it for 31 years.

It wasn't until I was 40 that I had any reaction to PI and I spent my entire childhood playing in woods, in fields and along the banks of a river that ran through our yard. I never got more than a few tiny itchy spots from it. I used to show off by rubbing the leaves on the inside of my wrist in front of my friends...then show them 3 days later that I had no rash...while they spent all summer with calamine on their arms and legs...

I remember one summer night when I was 16 playing frisbee at a party. The frisbee went into a thicket of PI vines growing under a line of trees. Nobody would go near it but me...crawling in with shorts and no shirt. No problem....3 days later no rash.

Same thing in my 20s and thirties...fishing, hunting, hiking, lanscaping....never got poison ivy.

But that all changed when I hit my 40s. I was walking out of a salt marsh with a bucket of blue crabs and just happened to notice my right hand brushing a leaf of poison ivy along the path. Never having gotten a rash I did nothing about it. 4 days later all of the skin between 3 of my fingers had been transformed to fluid filled blisters which eventually became single blisters runnin the length of each finger

Now I'm in my late 50s and it seems I've become even more allergic to it.

So if you've never had a reaction to it, that's great but keep in mind there's no guarantee you will always be immune. I could say the same as you when I was in my 30s..

 

[bigbarf48]

I've heard the roots are actually where the oils are most concentrated

Whenever I see I'm starting to get poison ivy blisters, I spray the area with tilex. Let it sit for a minute and rinse it off and it'll dry up the spots and they won't worsen

 

[D8Chumley]

My wife ( who is a pharmacist ) always has a supply of Benadryl on hand here at the house. Comes in handy. Sorry to hear of your troubles, I get it but not bad at all.

 

[pastera]

Tecnu
(broken link removed)

I've had it literally from head to toe from cleaning up roots

 

[Pennsyltucky Chris]

Benadryl - diphenhydramine - works for poison ivy and bee stings. Anything that causes a histamine reaction.