Thought I'd bring this back again, since I got poison ivy again this fall. I know a bit more, and have done a lot of looking around, so here's my latest advice.
1. Everybody seems to react differently. Some people can roll around naked in it and it doesn't bother them (although I've never seen anyone behave that way) while others can get it just from reading this thread, and all the rest of us are anywhere in between those two extremes.
2. Eating PI to 'immunize' yourself probably doesn't work. People are either allergic to it or not, and one can become allergic, and one can also lose their allergy to it.
3. Getting PI one year will not immunize you for the next year. I've gotten it two years in a row now. Maybe it will happen with some people, but it doesn't seem to work for me.
4. There are two things to do to treat it if you get it:
a. wash it off - the sooner the better. NOT with soap and water, but with some kind of detergent. Tecnu is a product designed for this - I understand bleach works well, but I've not tried it. For Tecnu - follow the directions and repeat a couple times. Rinse off first in cold water, then do Tecnu again, then rinse off in hot water, then Tecnu again and rinse again. The cold water will close off your skin pores, so you don't trap more PI oil in your skin. Then the next time in hot water, your pores will open and the oil already in them will wash out better.
b. treat the symptoms. Use some kind of product to help keep you from scratching and possibly spreading the oil to other parts of you body. I use Ivy-dry, which is an alcohol-based spray product. Seems to work well. I like the idea of something forming a film over the skin, rather than a cream (like hydrocorizone) which you rub in but doesn't actually cover the skin.
5. Brag about it. When you get poison ivy, be sure and tell others how manly you are, and what kind of saw you were using. Do NOT tell them you were gathering flowers, or mushrooms, or taking pictures of the flora or fauna. Those result in a man-card violation, and three of those results in a revocation for 3 months - unless you were out woodcutting and decided to gather some flowers or shrooms or photos for the wife. That give you a man-card 'star' bonus.:msp_wub:
6. If your rash is especially bad, show it to small children with the remark, "this is what happens when you don't eat your vegetables.":msp_ohmy:
7. Pull in sympathy from the wife. Show her a website that says PI can affect the muscles in the back, and a good massage is the best treatment. Recommend treatment once a day at bedtime.:msp_love:
8. Stock up on buddy help points. Drop a truck load of wood at your buddy's place, groaning loudly that you got PI while getting him this load. He will feel like he really needs to pay you back extra for that, and you might be able to soak him for at least 2 truck loads of oak in return for your one load of willow.
Warning - don't overdo this. Some neighbors are smart enough to see through this after a couple times.
9. Beware of scratching your rash and then scratching your groin area. No further elucidation is necessary. :msp_sad:
umpkin2:
