The AM Forum

I must have gotten into it somewhere in my yard over the weekend and didn't know it. It sux. 

The song or the plant?

Roundup makes a product that is devastating to poison ivy (and any other plant that it touches). It kills the plant in a couple of days including the roots, permanently. Good thing is it doesn't poison the soil so you can still plant stuff in the same spot & it will grow.

Roundup is good stuff for the ivy.... Just don't touch the dead plant , or , worse yet, burn it. The oil in the plant causes the reaction...  The oil will wash off with water, if thats all you have on hand...  I've had a lot of contact with the stuff, and can pick it up visually without even looking for it...   See a doc, they've got some good treatments... for OTC, try " ivy out" ( I think thats the name)... 

Measles make you bumpy
And mumps'll make you lumpy
And chicken pox'll make you jump and twitch
A common cold'll fool ya
And whooping cough'll cool ya
But poison ivy, Lord'll make you itch!!

You're gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion
You'll be scratchin' like a hound
The minute you start to mess around

klc

I get poison ivy & a no-seeum bites reguarly. Both itch like mad.

I find the best itch reliever is a hot, wet compress. I usually get the water as hot as I can stand it w/o scalding myself, then dunk a wash rag in the water & immediately apply it to the itch. Leave it on a long time, re-apply a few times. It actually itches worse during the treatment but don't let that dissuade you.
Itch vanishes for at least 5-6 hours. All those OTC preps only work so-so.

I discovered this accidently about 30 years ago. I got an awful case of poison ivy on my shins & ankles. I got in the bath tub & the water was too hot, but I stayed in. When I got out of the bath, the ivy itch was gone & didn't return for 6 hours at which time I re-did the hot compress.

Terry
W8EJO

paint thinner works good for me. Denatured alcohol also good.
pink stuff is useless.
brown soap and scrub with real hot water.

One time about 5 years ago an old GF and I were out hiking, decided to take a shortcut up a hillside. "Gee, what are these funny, leafless vines everywhere?"

You know where this is going... We're both wearing shorts... She is half-Japanese, and due to a hereditary immunity, gets nothing.

I however, get my legs nearly 100% covered with poison oak. Not pretty, and it was several days of agony until I said enough was enough and went to a doctor for a double-shot of benadryl, or whatever...

Even the dermatologist  I went to was shocked... as soon as he saw my legs his eyes bugged out!

It was BAD... like I could barely stand up... the outside itched like hell, and the inside hurt like hell!  Fortunately I cant see any scars...

good thing you didn't drag your kick stand :o

People of Japanese heritage have an immunity to poison ivy??? Dayum ! another thing they are better at.


VERY true. Here's how it works, as explained to me by a doctor, there are histamines in the epidermis that tell you to itch.  They are triggered by hot water and you use them up by holding your arm, or whatever's been exposed, under the hot running water.

Topical cortisones also work, but not as well IMHO

Poison OAK, however, chemically bonds with your epidermal cells... so not only does you itch like hell, nuthin is gonna take it off, and then your own body starts attacking said cells.

I looked like a burn victim for a short while!


Yup. Supposedly from centuries of exposure to Urisherol (sp?) a common plant, similar to poison oak. Used over there to make that black lacquer that all sorts of wooden stuff is lacquered with.

Beleive it or not, but I have pics of my arm and legs that'd make you lose your lunch, and she didnt get nuthin. And hmm, the only pics I still might have of her aren't of her legs... nevermind!

I dun spelt it wrong:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushiol

10 or so years ago I was exposed to PI from head to toe and in places not mentionable because of decorum rules.  I couldn't tolerate it even though I tried all of the over the counter "remedies".  I succombed to the doctor who gave me a steroid shot and two days later I was pain free though still had welts all over the place.  Four days later there was little evidence that I was swimming in PI.

I'm not as bad as then but bad enough.  I made an appointment to see a doc tomorrow.  Hot showers and alcohol rubs give temp relief but I think the best relief comes from swimming in salt water.  I have no access to the beach these days but wish I had.  I'd be soaking right now.  Maybe epson salts might work too. Looking forward to tomorrow and the needle.

I used to not get poison ivy, even showed off to people. then,
after clearing a yard full of it I got it. not as bad as other people
but bad enuf. guess I wore out my immunity.  If I get into it,
I heard wash it off within 10-20 minutes with grease cutting
soap gets it off you before it sinks it. I tried that, using dawn
dish detergent and it works great. smear the soap on, lightly
rub it off under warm water and I've avoided getting it.

iam highly alergic to poison ivy.. and over the years i have tried everything to avoid getting predezone shots...
i found it...
been using this for about 3 years and the ivy goes away after about 1 day... doesnt itch at all about an hour after first use

go to walmart and buy a tube of zanafel.. its over the counter and about 30 bucks but it works... read the instructions and scrub it in a little longer and harder than it says

Oooh!  I can dig the desire to avoid Prednisone. That stuff has some nasty side effects.  I had to take it once for the mega asthma attack back in '03, that got me diagnosed with the disorder, and almost put me in the hospital.  I've also have to take it the last three times, when my Cluster Headache episodes, got out of control (take it from me, you DON'T want Cluster Headaches, they're even more painful than Migraines [my headache specialist, who is also a Professor for the Medical College of Wisconsin, confirmed this to me a few weeks ago], and you'll do just about anything to make them stop), to help stop them.  Prednisone may work well, but the side effects suck.  When you start it, you wind up all revved up, and oftentimes can't sleep.  You can also get pretty rabid, if something irritates you (this happened to my dad, when he had to take it as a part of his chemo, in 1990, for his cancer, and to me last year, while I was working on my TS-820, and on Prednisone for a nasty Cluster Headache episode [episodes are bunches of headache attacks]).  When you start to come down from predinsone (they taper the dosage off), you get a serious case of the blues.   No fun at all!

73,
Ellen - AF9J

If you don't already know about it, get a bottle of 'tecnu' - an outdoor skin cleanser.  It removes the oils that cause the rash and itching.  Works for me - just used it the other day after brushing up against some poison ivy in the yard.  No rash, no itching.  I'm told it is standard issue for the Georgia Power pole guys.

It works for me, and I actually believe I can get ivy itch from looking at pictures of the stuff.  Liquid detergent (not soap) works fairly well too.  Last time I contacted poison ivy, I used the Tecnu, and afterwards washed off with dish detergent, and never got any reaction.

It has to be the most prolific plant that grows wild here.  A shady area with a little open space between trees will literally become covered with poison ivy if left unattended.  And the strain that grows in this area is particularly potent.  I have contacted poison ivy plants in Texas, California and New England, and the most I ever got in any of those places was a mild rash.  But the slightest contact with the plants here, and I am laid up for a week.  I never saw any poison ivy in Europe, but they have stinging nettles there.  I'll take the nettles any time.  The pain is immediate, but it goes away after a half hour or so and it's all over.  Sometimes poison ivy rash doesn't even appear until days after exposure, and usually takes at least a week to go away.

I wish someone could genetically modify a strain of the blight that kills chestnut or elm trees, to kill poison ivy but not bother any other plant.  That is one plant I would like to see become extinct.  It makes this area of the country unfit for human habitation.  During the summer, the whole outdoors literally generates an allergic reaction, and that's on top of the tick and mosquito bites.

The oil that causes the rash is very durable.  Supposedly, a pair of shoes contamiated by walking through poison ivy, and then put aside, can still cause rash if a sensitive person picks them up and puts them on years later.  I have got rash from touching the dried stalks of vines in the dead of winter.

It works (more or less) for poison oak too.   The central coast of CA must be the poison oak capital of the universe.  It's rampant.  This seems to be a banner year.

Technu is expensive but I always keep it on hand.   Is the herbicide people are talking about "Brush Be Gone"  ?

Roundup works great. XYL was working the yard one spring and also got it real bad and needed a shot. A couple applications and I have not seen it come back in 5 years. She also looked like a burn patient and there was no fun for about 3 weeks. She was pulling up roots and didn't know it was PI because it was before leaves came out.

I have used both Roundup and Brush be Gone here in IL and both work well.  I have 3.5 acres of pasture where the antennas live and the friendly little birds eat the berries and deposit the seeds along the fence and the creek making ivy removal a summer long activity.  The only things more prolific than poison ivy here is lamb's quarter and the common mulberry tree (also courtesy of the birds).  If you have an established stand of ivy (as we did when I bought the place) there is a herbicide designed for preventing regrowth of cut down "weed" trees like mulberry and that herbicide knocks it out instantly and permanently.  It is pretty pricey (I get it from one of the Farm Services offices) but it is worth it for established poison ivy. 

The worst case of poison ivy I ever had was when I was around 7 years old.  We would go to the Cosby campground in the Great Smokies every year and there was a short self guiding nature trail in the campground with numbered markers at the various points of interest.  The brochures were all gone so my sister and I had great fun trying to figure out what each marker represented, of course one of the markers was pointing out a large colony of poison ivy.  The old self guiding nature trail is still there but most of the markers/descriptions have been changed to be more politically correct pointing out the damages the settlers caused to the environment and no more fun stuff like poison ivy.

Poison Ivy can be very dangerous so use caution.  A fire fighter died from the stuff where I grew up on the MS gulf coast, he was fighting a brush fire and inhaled the fumes from the ivy.  Apparently heat doesn't readily break down the properties of the irritant and that sounded like an absolutely horrible way to die; it sure made an impression on me as a kid.

Rodger WQ9E

I had a friend / classmate back in junior high school that was so allergic to that stuff that all he had to do was look at it and he had it.  The first day of school in the 9th grade, he came to school bandaged up from head to toe. He literally looked like a mummy. I asked him: "what in the hell happened to you". He replied that they were clearing off a field near his home and they had set on fire to clear some of the underbrush. he was downwind from it and the wind carried the oils in the smoke and got him good. He was one hell of a mess. That alone proves that some people dont even have to come near it to get it!!

                                    The Slab Bacon

Poison Ivy is stories are like like 6146 storys- everybody has one.

I got a small dab a month ago on a road clean up day ( no not as part of my sentencing - for the Lions Club!). It took a full 4 weeks to completely clear up.

Mike WU2D

Speaking of musicians from bands that have covered this song and happen to currently be in a movie playing in your local theater, and the musicians personality was the inspiration for the main character in the movie ... whew ...have y'all seen Keith Richards in Pirates of the Carribean III ?   The movie is really better than some of the reviews would indicate and your kids will like it.   Heres a photo of Keith (hint: he's not Johnny Depp and he's not the dwarf pirate).

My problem is I have no idea what the plant looks like so I wouldn't know when to apply a topical. I suppose I could apply one whenever I'm yanking stuff.   And what is even more strange I have it on my lower legs. I don't wear shorts when I'm out working in the yard.  How it got there, I have no clue.  I must have it on something I'm not aware of.

A friend of mine is very sensitive to it. He got it so bad one time that he had it inside his mouth and throat. And another time had it under his eye lids.

I'm one of those lucky ones who is immune to poison ivy, but I have heard that such immunity can disappear as you get older...so I give it a wide berth when I see the stuff.  When I was a teenager I did dumb stuff like rub poison ivy leaves through my hands  :o . Not.. a smart move.  Beware of those three leaves!!  My wife is just the opposite of me, she can break out by just being near the stuff.

73,  Jack, W9GT

                   "How it got there, I have no clue."

The stuff sure can get ya... My father grew up on a farm, logged timber, etc....  He was out clearing some weeds from my sisters ditch.....loaded with the stuff....  No problem.   He still had his immunity at 84 Years old. I have no immunity. I don't think that one should rely on immunity to the poison.

Do you have a cat or dog? They can carry the stuff on their fur and transfer it to you. You might try washing everytime you do yard work. Soap is cheap...  If you are really worried, wash your extremities before going out and dont rinse of well. The soap can be somewhat of a barrier to the oil...

Years ago, the psych. center I was working for had the patients go out to collect colorful leaves and vines to make Fall Wreaths  with. The social worker had no idea what the stuff was. So I told her. But, she had her MSW (masters social work) and I was the moron chopping up tree limbs. What do I know... Oh Well. I feel bad for the patients....    klc

"Leaves of Three, Let It Be"

http://www.calpoison.org/public/poak.html (http://www.calpoison.org/public/poak.html)
http://www.poison-ivy.org/ (http://www.poison-ivy.org/)
http://www.poison-sumac.org/ (http://www.poison-sumac.org/)

HTH.

73, Bill

Jack,
   smart to not test your immunity like I did. I don't get PI bad but
wash up even if I only think I've touched it. once your recognize it
you won't forget it! in VT we have tons or poison parsnips along
the farm roads there.

Thanks Bill.

Went to the doctor and got the shot.  Itching is gone. Welts still there but subsiding.  I figure 3 or 4 more days and it won't be to noticeable.

No pets. The best I can figure is I was out at the edge of the yard clear brush around some newly planted trees and had it on my hands some how or a yard tool. I'm usually careful when I do that and wash up afterwards and clean the tools.  I still can't figure how I go it in and around my knees though, shins and ankles yes but knees. I wear straight leg jeans and it's impossible to slid them up that high.  I guess it's water under the bridge at this point.  Maybe I've become even more sensitive.

I cannot find the posting for Zanfel but it definitely works. It's spensive.
Fred

I guess it is........

 Size Price
   1 oz. Was $39.95 now $37.99

http://www.dermadoctor.com/

If you get it (the ivy) its worth it ( the cream).... .. klc

Acording to the local natives, a mixture of witch hazel an jewel weed will fix poison ivy right away.  You can buy the witch hazel stuff off the shelf and harvest the jewel weed to mix in yourself.  cheap, but I've never tried it so ymmv...

deantured alcohol works good but won't make you smell pretty.

Try Jewelweed(plant)made into a paste.It works,is cheap,and available on e-pay.My wife gets it real bad and uses a mild solution of chlorox and water.It works......Lee

I applied the Ortho Jungle Juice yesterday. I'll let you know how it works. Not a radio post but this stuff loves radio sites so it's some good information.
Thanks
Keith

I had a patch come up every year for 20 years. I would dig up the roots and it still came back each year. Two applications of roundup and have not seen it in 4 years.

the old Ortho Triox vegetation killer was good schtuff!! It would kill everything and keep it dead!! But as always they stopped makin the stuff. I have tried its replacement (Ortho ground clear) and it seems to work on my pesky mulberry trees. Over the years I have tried diesel fuel, gasoline, bleach and even battery acid on them and nothing kept them dead for more than a few weeks. They laughed at Round up! I even drilled holes into the stumps before pouring in the sulphuric acid. Nothing worked for more than a few weeks and they were sprouting again. So far 1 application of Ground clear has kept them dead all season.
       
                                             the Slab Bacon
           
                                                                               

A mixture of denatured alcohol and tannic acid, then diluted 50% with water makes a good remedy to dry up the blisters once they have formed.

A better approach is to soak the area in water as hot as can be borne.  This causes intense itch that is at the same time pleasurable and painful, but leads to breaking the blisters.  I just apply pressure on the blisters to make them break (careful, the crud under fingernails can cause infection to the area; then you have a whole additional problem to deal with).  Apply to the raw area "new skin", the stuff designed to temporarily cover foot and hand blisters rubbed by shoes, tools, etc.  I have found that the itch doesn't return, and leaves the blistered area covered with a dry scab-like surface that does not weep fluid.  It still takes the better part of a week for it to heal up.

The Ortho Poision Ive killer juice seems to work I attacked three patches & they are all on the way out now.
Keith

One word: Tecnu.