Poison Sumac.How long does it last?

[avalancher]

I have always kept an eye out for poison ivy and sumac,but a month ago i went chasing after a round that got away from me on a job,if it had managed to get all the way down the hill it would have been bad news for me.House below in the valley probably would not have appreciated a 30 inch round of red oak crashing through their roof top.
With that being said, I found myself in a nice tangle of poison sumac,a first for me.Not a big deal,but in the efforts to stop that friggin round my pant leg got pulled out of my boot on up to my knee,and I got a good dosing of rash to remind me that not only is oak heavy,its friggin fast on a 40 degree slope.

Question is, how long is this rash supposed to hang around?Its been over a month now,and my leg looks like a pack of rabid cats make a habit of following me around and trimming up their claws.The rash is blistering and bleeding and really doesnt appear to be getting any better.I have tried all the usual remedies for poison oak and ivy, and nothing works.Anyone experience anything like this?

 

[CrappieKeith]

cut it back to a stump....maybe going to see a general practitioner might be the best bet.
If calomine doesn't work...I got nothing for ya. Man that's gotta be getting painfull...itching is funny....blisters...bad news.

 

[Mike PA]

It shouldn't last that long and definitely shouldn't still be bleeding - unless you are lacking in will power and keep from scratching it. You don't strike me as being short on will, so I'm guessing something else is going on. Get to the doc. It'll be worth it.

FWIW, I use Zanfels for contact with urishiol, which works extremely well. It ain't cheap, but it does seem to work.

 

[forestryworks]

poison ivy (oak and sumac cause the same rash) when i got it, the rash always lasted two weeks, and only in one spot.

typically when it blisters, that means you got about a week left.

that's my experience.

go see the doc. he'll probably give you a steroid shot.

 

[avalancher]

Going to the doc is out of the question,in our little town all the docs do is refer you to a specialist over in Knoxville,over an hour away.When earlier this year I cracked my skull and developed mastoiditus,our local doc treated me for an ear infection for over a month before sending to a real doc who promptly ordered the CT scan and MRI that probably saved my skull.I go to the doc only when ordered at gunpoint by the missus,I cant walk anymore,or if all else fails when hell itself freezes over.

I can generally tell when my wife has had enough and is to the point of making me go to the doc.I get TV dinners instead of good home cooking,she has a headache every night for a month,and someone keeps hiding my cereal cup every friggin morning.

 

[bass_on_tap]

Find Tecnu products at CVS and Walgreens, near the itch stuff. It really works. Not spam, just trying to help.

 

[dingeryote]

Two weeks or so. Hard to tell, cuz I am always findng another batch to make life miserable.

Get to the Doc. Tell him it's poison Ivy, and ya need a script for a cycle of predisone and a tube of Diprolene.
Make it easy for him.

If ya wait too long you're just risking infection and making life miserable.

Good old Benedryl will knock down the itch a bit, but if it's still driving you nuts for this long, the exposure ya got is deeper and more serious than usual.

Get it fixed!!!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Muffler Bearing]

This will help:

http://www.bacardilimited.com/brands_bacardi.html

 

[smokinj]

bleech in the tub trick!

 

[TreePointer]

Two weeks or so. Hard to tell, cuz I am always findng another batch to make life miserable.

Get to the Doc. Tell him it's poison Ivy, and ya need a script for a cycle of predisone and a tube of Diprolene.
Make it easy for him.

If ya wait too long you're just risking infection and making life miserable.

Good old Benedryl will knock down the itch a bit, but if it's still driving you nuts for this long, the exposure ya got is deeper and more serious than usual.

Get it fixed!!!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

:agree2:

Blistering/bleeding is the your cue to be cautious about infection and get proper medical attention. You don't want anything like a staph infection to develop.

 

[vincem77]

I get poison ivy every summer whether im near it or not. Tecnu has worked at stopping the itch and slowing the spread in the past. I have since found "Jason Satin Shower Body Wash, Tea Tree Melaleuca". I use it every shower and have found it to be by far the best prevention. May sound a bit girly but it removes the poison ivy oils better than anything i've come across. I no longer get huge outbreaks just a spot here and there that last a day.

When I had my extreme cases, I found liquid dish soap like dawn to also work well at cleaning up the large blistering areas. It completely dries the skin since it's so highly concentrated. Also make sure you wash all your gear that might have come into contact. Otherwise you are just reinfecting yourself over and over.

 

[nomak]

back 17 yrs ago before I knew what poision sumac even was I got into it pretty bad.. so bad that I had to go to doctor and get shots of something one day a week two weeks in a row along with some topical creams but I think it took a month before it was copletely gone... so you wont catch me near that crap anymore...im not allergic to ivy or oak,,

 

[RandyMac]

Try a paste of baking soda, it will dry the blisters. However if your skin is sensitive, you may be trading PO rash for some other rash.

 

[floydjr.]

fels naptha soap in the grocery laundry section...use it on the rash and wash any woodcutting cloths in it. oldtimers around here swear by it. it works and
will help without having to go through the white coat syndrome. I get it every
time I head to the overpriced witch doctors.

 

[brushbandit]

Sorry Floydjr but Fels Naptha doesn't do squat and if you have a bleeding rash a month after exposure you need medical attention because Poison Oak, Sumac, Ivy rash shoiuld be long gone. I've had terrible cases of PI with nasty oozing blisters and they never lasted much more than 2 weeks.

 

[vincem77]

I wash my sheets every 1-2 days as well if i have it bad. You spend all night rolling around spreading the oils on your sheets.

Even with medication from a doctor it can still spread if you haven't cleaned the oils off everything you've come in contact with.

 

[davec]

T
Get to the Doc. Tell him it's poison Ivy, and ya need a script for a cycle of predisone and a tube of Diprolene.
Make it easy for him.

Note well this advise.... Too many doctors play the odds for too long. If you are a young healthy looking guy with chest pains, why would I think you could be having a heart attack? That's only old fat guys.... Until you drop. "Heh, should have checked that...." Well if you tell them what you have and what to do about it, you'd be surprised how often they will go along with it, or some close variation of that. It seems kinda sad that you have to tell them what your diagnosis is, but I have found this to be true too often. ...And then sometimes they surprise you and figure out you have "X" when you had no idea "X" even existed. Go figger...

-Dave

 

[amateur cutter]

I wash my sheets every 1-2 days as well if i have it bad. You spend all night rolling around spreading the oils on your sheets.

Even with medication from a doctor it can still spread if you haven't cleaned the oils off everything you've come in contact with.

I was under the impression that the rash is a reaction in the body too the oils, & once the oils are washed from the skin it's no longer contagious. IE your sheets wouldn't be able to spread the rash once the skin is clean. Any oil on clothes or anything else will cause a reaction in anyone that is exposed though. I got into sumac bad about 25 years ago, & it lasted over a month. I finally did the steroid shot, & it cleared up very quickly. The old wives tale is if you get it 7 years in a row you become immune, & I think that may be somewhat true. I got some more exposure every year in a row for a long time, & each time the reaction was less. To this day, I get exposed 3-6 times a year, & may get a few bumps that go away in 2 days time. I'm fortunate that I don't have to worry much about it anymore, but I don't let the wife anywhere near my cutting clothes or boots.
If it hasn't gotten better by now I think I'd bite the bullet & see the man with the needle, as was stated infection is a very real threat on broken skin.
Personally, I wouldn't do the bleach, if you wouldn't drink it, keep it off your skin, the skin is porous, & bleach, chlorine is toxic. Just my .02 Good luck. A C

 

[vincem77]

I was under the impression that the rash is a reaction in the body too the oils, & once the oils are washed from the skin it's no longer contagious. IE your sheets wouldn't be able to spread the rash once the skin is clean. Any oil on clothes or anything else will cause a reaction in anyone that is exposed though.

I agree, but if it lasts that long you are reinfecting yourself somehow. So i treat it like is still contagious and just clean everything that comes in contact with that area until its cleared up.

The shots at the doctor did very little for me.

 

[Mike PA]

If he is reinfecting himself, that is a simple fix of washing everything. However, this does not sound like that, as it is unlikely he is reinfecting himself in the exact same place a month later. He simply isn't healing.

Av - if you refuse to go to a doc, at the very least you need to keep washing the area with soap and warm water and use an antibacterial cream to help the healing process. This should not be lasting this long. Don't be so dang stubborn. Even an incompentant boob can help with this. Prednisone works wonders.