I grew up riding 3 wheelers, 4 wheelers, go karts and motorcycles through the NC woods. I've got more stories than I could ever remember. If you grew up here, chances are you have a camping-poinson-ivy-girlfriend story with itches in places that shouldn't itch.

Flash forward a few decades and I have a son. Laundry tends to give you those second hand foliage rashes from tainted clothes.

The worst for me is there are only like 2 or 3 things I'm allergic to. A certain mosquito is one of them. After an afternoon of shooting or working outside on my property, I'll have welts that look like I've been pummeled with paintballs. Honestly, I know when it is time to quit and go inside because I started getting light headed. Thirty minutes minutes later, the itch-fest begins.

 

Does it count if I say (knock on a HUGE piece of wood!!!) I think I'm not allergic to poison ivy? I've come in contact with it numerous times and never had a rash. In my line of work, I find myself out in places frequently that are havens for the damn weed...but I've walked away clean each time.

Now my dad on the other hand, he usually ends up in the doctor's office every time and walks away with some sort of intense treatment to keep it from getting hellaciously bad/worse.

 

I grew up riding 3 wheelers, 4 wheelers, go karts and motorcycles through the NC woods. I've got more stories than I could ever remember. If you grew up here, chances are you have a camping-poinson-ivy-girlfriend story with itches in places that shouldn't itch.

Flash forward a few decades and I have a son. Laundry tends to give you those second hand foliage rashes from tainted clothes.

The worst for me is there are only like 2 or 3 things I'm allergic to. A certain mosquito is one of them. After an afternoon of shooting or working outside on my property, I'll have welts that look like I've been pummeled with paintballs. Honestly, I know when it is time to quit and go inside because I started getting light headed. Thirty minutes minutes later, the itch-fest begins.

You know, I got tagged by something in the backyard a couple weeks ago and I have no idea what it was. When I felt the sting/bite, I immediately wiped it away, and all I saw was a measly little ant. I don't even think it was a red ant. Growing up in FL, all there is down there is fire ants...I'm pretty sure I have some fire ant venom in my blood stream. So it's very unlikely to have been an ant bite. Whatever it was, it got me three times: two ion the collar bone and one on my forearm. No bite/sting mark, just a raised spot and a radius of several inches of swollen-ness all around that lasted for days. All three bites happened at the exact same time which leads me back to the ant theory since I've heard they coordinate their strikes on large targets.

You mention a mosquito, and my backyard can be known to carry you away at times by mosquito flight. I wonder if there's some mutant breed back there that got me.

 

Ah yes........been through that wringer a few times over the years.

1) learn to identify it.
2) stay away from it.
3) treat contaminated clothes, garden tools, pets like toxic waste.

If you're exposed wash immediately with COLD water and dish soap. Hot water opens your pores and makes the exposure worse.

Most of the "poison ivy" products on the market are a rip off. BUT.....Tecnu works as advertised when used after exposure and before breakout......

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I'm like 9outof10mm. I'm 52, lived here all my life, grew up wandering all through the woods and I've never had poison ivy.

 

I'm on the TECNU train. Used to not be allergic to it, then that changed. Not sure how but it did. I've had it soo bad, I've gotten steroid shots in the butt. They didn't work. I have learned that it lasts on me exactly 2 weeks on my skin. Here is a fact commonly dismissed as a myth. I know it to be true because I have lived it. Outbreaks pop up at different times in different areas of the body due to thicker skin in some areas. Once the oils penetrate the skin and the body reacts, they are rendered harmless. Just because you scratched it, broke open the scab and got it a day later near that spot does not mean you helped spread it. It means the urishol oils from the plant were already on your skin, just hadn't penetrated yet. I will scratch open the sore in the shower then pee on it. No joke, it definitely helps get rid of any itching. my fights have turned into mind over matter, I know that at exactly the two week mark, mine dries up overnight and I'm good.

 

Most of the time exposure will help build up a resisitence to the rash. When I was young I broke out just thinking about it but today I can roll in it and only suffer a spot or two of irritation. Now chiggers are another story, I'm covered with welts from their bites.

 

I'm a surveyor and we had a summer intern one year who was violently allergic to the stuff. He broke out in blisters all over from it. He lasted about 2 weeks and we called him the toxic avenger the whole time.

 

Never had poison but got a day off a time or two while working at the park because I weedeated a huge patch of ivy had it head to toes boss saw me freaked out sent me home to clean up. Never have had it. But just healed from an ant bite that took 3 weeks to go away.


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Once when I was a kid I apparently sat down in some and it got up my shorts and I wasn't wearing skivvies that day. That night I scratched myself raw. I was in pain for days! I don't really get it any more though.

 

Most of the "poison ivy" products on the market are a rip off.
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Much like mosquito repellant. Off! Please...in my neck of the woods, they'll take the can from you and use it to catch a buzz.

 

If I touch the stuff It spreads quickly over my body. My face swells and closes my eyes some. Then I get to go and get a shot in the ass. Keep that stuff away from me!

 

The worst poison ivy/oak rash I ever got was on the back of my left knee in the joint area. I couldn't help but rupture that thing dozens of times a day. You can't keep a 10 year old from bending, running, etc. I got it all the time when I was a kid tromping in the woods with nothing but shorts and maybe a t-shirt on. Now, I am in boots, long pants, etc, and don't catch it.

 

Apparently I am not allergic to the weed myself. I have never had it and have spent as much time in the woods as anyone.

I understand it sucks for those that have a reaction to it.

 

I hit poison oak with a string trimmer once. A lot of it. I wasn't paying attention. And I had shorts on.

My legs got so huge that I couldn't get my pants on. Couldn't slide my leg into the pants leg. Went and got the 'roid pills and that cleared it up in a couple of days.

Now I'm more careful... but I did discover that if you hit the rash with the hottest water you can stand in the shower, it will stop itching for a few hours.

 

I just got over a bout with it about a week ago. Used Tecnu as well. Good stuff. I'll tell what you should really watch out for. If you see a hairy or fuzzy looking vine going up a tree. That stuff is the nastiest stuff on the planet. I knew a kid once up in WV that got it so bad, it got inside his body and he ended up in intensive care. Just about killed him.

 

Pretty sure I'm not allergic to it. Was not paying attention when i was fishing this summer and crawled through some thick weeds/woods to get to a good spot to bank fish and noticed on the way out that I had went through some Poision Ivy that was THICK lol "knocks on wood"

 

but I did discover that if you hit the rash with the hottest water you can stand in the shower, it will stop itching for a few hours.

Bingo!!!!! Hot water feels great. I read the instructions on the Tecnu scrub bottle and it said to rinse with cool water. Not me. I'd turn the heat up as hot as I could stand and it relieved the itch just like you said.

 

Bingo!!!!! Hot water feels great. I read the instructions on the Tecnu scrub bottle and it said to rinse with cool water. Not me. I'd turn the heat up as hot as I could stand and it relieved the itch just like you said.

I used to do this as a kid for mosquito bites and ant bites. For me though, it only lasted a few minutes. Not a few hours!

 

I'm not allergic to poison ivy... used to harass my brother with it though. He could look at the stuff and break out...

 

Thankfully not allergic to the stuff, have weedeated through huge patches of it and ripped vines out of trees. However to make you guys feel better that are allergic to it, I am clawing my legs (and other parts) raw, where I went and put mineral blocks out the other day and got into the chiggers in one of my unmowed fields. They feasted well on me.

 

Thankfully not allergic to the stuff, have weedeated through huge patches of it and ripped vines out of trees. However to make you guys feel better that are allergic to it, I am clawing my legs (and other parts) raw, where I went and put mineral blocks out the other day and got into the chiggers in one of my unmowed fields. They feasted well on me.

Chiggerex is your friend. It comes in a little white plastic jar. That stuff is great for chiggers and other insect bites as well.

 

I got a patch of poison ivy about the size of a softball on my right arsecheek once. It got so red and swollen that I had to go get shots (only time that's ever happened to me). I was sitting tenderly for about 2 weeks.

 

Used to get it every summer when I was cutting grass in high school. Methyl-prednisolone and shots every summer. Now I don't do much yard work, and when I do I very carefully wash immediately with dish detergent and cold water. I decided that, good money or not, I hate cutting grass and lawn maintenance in general, so I don't do much of it now that I have a choice.

 

Used to get the stuff so bad on my hands and between my fingers I would use a razor blade to cut open the sores and pour hydrogen peroxide and alcohol on it. Don't think that helped it heal, but it felt good to be doing something besides being miserable. Now I just hope it doesn't spread too much and wait my two weeks.