They call it poison for a reason

[Gardening]

I like to read more stories or cases on that, since in our area it is common to locate ivy's.

 

[lawn_king]

I was badly exposed on a mulch job, i installed about 7 cubic yards of mulch that was loaded with poison ivy. Long story short, trip to the hospital & a 2 week run on anabolic steroids, no fun. poison ivy is very dangerous!

 

[jimmer2880]

When my father was a young farm boy - he had a real bad case. The Dr wasn't able to do anything about it. He said that he went out and ate a couple leaves. He swears that it cured him. To this day, 65+ years later, he rarely catches it and never wears gloves when working around it.

Having said all of that, he didn't allow any of us kids to eat it, realizing that it was a dangerous thing to do.

 

[Spiveyman]

JoelD,

Here are all three plus some more irritants. Bad stuff. Look at the pictures.


Skin Rash Hall of Fame

This is kind of an old thread, so I'm not sure who will see it, but it's that time of year again. My wife and I just moved out to our farm a couple of months ago and she's deathly allergic to PI. The whole fam was out on the tractor taking a ride. She never got off the carry-all. About 3 am she was running for the show covered with a rash.

The reason I quoted the above post was, did anyone notice something odd in the thumbnail? Kind of like the kid shows, one of these doesn't belong? Well, my wife thinks I'm nuts (no pun intended) but I told her that I'd heard eating cashews will make you immune to PI. I used to get it bad, every year. Then I heard the cashew thing so I started eating a handful every day. For the last year I've been working on cleaning up the farm. I cut HUGE PI vines out of the woods with my chainsaw, then yanked them off the trees. I was covered in debris. I regularly weedeat the stuff out of my fence rows, and the string always breaks down inside the hub when I'm right in the middle of it, so I have to pull the head off and re-thread the string bare handed. Not to mention the oil spraying all around as I weekeat. Now, I'm knocking on every piece of wood I can find near my PC, but I haven't had PI since I started the cashew deal. The oil in cashews is nearly identical to the urishol oil in PI. It's safer than eating the spring leaves, although my granny who lived on this farm before me used to make biscuits every year in the spring with a ground up PI leaf. She never got PI either. Now I think THAT is nuts, but the cashew deal is worth it.

 

[ampsucker]

NPR just did a story on it. seems the higher carbon dioxide levels and warm temps have given poison ivy a boost. it grew faster in their experiments than any other "under story" plants (that grow under the tree canopy in the US).

so, if you think you are seeing more PI than you used to, you're probably right!

amp

 

[cherokeecowboy]

I've never had it. My kids get it all the time. A few showers with lye soap and it seems to dry up in two days or so. Never had any problems using the lye soap.

 

[Snapper Head]

It never bothered me until I got into a shedload of it when clearing out a pine grove back in 2001. Manged to get into again a couple of more times, and each time it was worse. I found that Zanfel worked wonders, but at $45.00 for a tube, a small one at that, it is pricey. Still worth every penny to me.

After hurricane Katrina I got into it severely, and was blistered from head to toe. No Zanfel. Bathing in a half gallon of water each day. No running water or power. Had to keep cleaning up and moving forward, despite the misery. I won't soon forget that.

What I can tell you is that after showering, if you hit the blisters with a blow dryer it is the best feeling in the world, nothing short of orgasmic. Like scratching it, but much, much better feeling. The problem is that doing this stimulates the blood flow in the area, which serves to spread it.

That stuff is ****.


Big Al

 

[Soundguy]

i guess i've been lucky.. so far I don't seem to be alergic to it.. have handled it frequently, by accident and never had anything but a mild redness inthe area that went away in an hour after washing with soap and taking an over the counter antihistamine.. and that's with extended handling. occasional brush ups have offered no reaction ( knock on wood )

now.. I do like cashews.. ane real relation to these two?

soundguy

 

[czechsonofagun]

What I can tell you is that after showering, if you hit the blisters with a blow dryer it is the best feeling in the world, nothing short of orgasmic. Like scratching it, but much, much better feeling. The problem is that doing this stimulates the blood flow in the area, which serves to spread it.

That stuff is ****.


Big Al

I second that, same thing with hot shower. I use hand hold shower as hot as it gets and the feeling is very very intense.

 

[dex3361]

I used to get PI but I took Spiveys Grannys remedy and I eat a fresh tender PI leaf every spring. Mind you I do not chew on it and wallow it around in my mouth I ball it up and swallow it hole. I may get a speck or two a year that looks like a bug bite but thats about all for the last 15 years or so. I read about it in a folk remedy book years ago. I dont recommend it for anybody but it works for me.:thumbsup:

 

[Soundguy]

wow! I'm not brave enough to do that.. but glad it seems to be working for ya.

soundguy

 

[horse7]

Had a friend years ago whose dog ran through PI though no one knew it at the time. He carried the dog into the shower to wash him off (both of them at the same time washing) and his lower body doubled in size within a few days. Had to takes lots of steroids after the ER visit...

Recently a friend's dog stepped on one my bare feet indoors... didn't think much of it. He had PI apparently on his pads, I got it on top of my foot, but I only found out a few days later. By then my socks had crosscontaminated my feet... both feet with a mild to moderate rash on top. Indeed, still have a bit of it now. I don't think that washing does a very good job on removing the oil from wool socks. Did not have any problem on the bottom of my feet, even though clearly the dog walked on the same floor I did. It was just the more sensitive skinned top of my foot where the rough pads ground in oil that got PI irritation, followed by cross contamination.

Yes, the hot (hotter! near first degree burn hot!) water spray on PI infested areas feels... really good... :cloud9:

 

[Taylortractornut]

I get it terribly, Even clearing at work 3 or 4 days later when doing extended maintenance o nthe dozer i will get it. Whats bad is I gather wood in the summer and middle of the winter I will get it on my arms. I got a load of rock salt from a friend that had a homemade icecream stand. Wen I get it really bad I run the hottest bath I can stand and put a bag of this salt in there and lay in it for an hour or so. Sometimes the blisters ar so big Ill take a hand full of salt and rough up the blisters with it and then gauze wrap the salt up. In a day or so its gone. Also mechanicing and getting lots of fuel on my hads keeps it back.

 

[FredH]

Look for a Product called " Tecnu " . Follow directions and you will be amazed at the results . It is basically a liquid type soap ( not really a lathering type soap ) that neutralizes the oils in either poison oak or ivy .

Have been using it for 20+ years and although I have become more immune to it , my wife is the opposite in becoming more prone to getting the dreaded rash . A few days of cleaning the area with Tecnu though , and it dries up and is gone .

Found it when I was in the Fire Department fighting grass / brush fires in the summer . Many of our rural fire departments including State Forestry keep some on hand at stations .

Fred H.

Tecnu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Poison Ivy Treatment, Poison Oak Treatment from TecLabs Inc.

 

[AchingBack]

I used to get PI but I took Spiveys Grannys remedy and I eat a fresh tender PI leaf every spring. Mind you I do not chew on it and wallow it around in my mouth I ball it up and swallow it hole. I may get a speck or two a year that looks like a bug bite but thats about all for the last 15 years or so. I read about it in a folk remedy book years ago. I dont recommend it for anybody but it works for me.:thumbsup:

Hey, bon appetite. As for me, my beekeeper sells poison oak honey. It is twice the price of his other honey; yet priceless for building bodily immunity to the poison oil in the ivy, and poison oak. Honey on a biscuit sounds better than eating a leaf. Just my opinion,

 

[J_J]

This link is related to PI. Interesting.

Poisonous Honey

 

[ultrarunner]

I've been in the extremely susceptible group since a child... I would get it just from the dust when dozing the right of ways and fire trails...

The last few years... I have not had a problem... it is also the time I started buying cashews from Costco.

I did get a mild rash from the cashews and my Doctor told me I would need to build up to eating them slowly... so I started again with only 2 or 3 every night... it works on the Homeopathic approach...

Dogs were another source... we had a puppy that jumped into my arms when she was threatened by a large barking dog while we were walking... that night... my arms had many poison oak blisters...

I will always respect the stuff and will go out of my way to minimize my exposure, which can be hard when there are 1000's of acres of it where I live...

What ever the reason... I'm glad the last 3 years have been kind...

 

[Soundguy]

interesting read on honey.....

soundguy

 

[dmccarty]

The bee link was very interesting.

It made me wonder if maybe there is a plant that is spreading that the bees feed on but then kills the hive. Our place has at least four invasive plants that are all but impossible to remove.

I have heard that eating poison ivy will keep you from getting it. I WILL NOT try it though.

The morning radio show I listen too had a caller one day who as a kid was fed a bit of poison ivy. She almost died.

Later,
Dan

 

[Chuck K.]

Great info here guys... One question though do you use raw or roasted cashews? I too will have to pass on eating a leave...
I just did a little mowing job and afterwards did some maintenance on my brush hog only to get (again) some good ole PI...
AND on the subject of hot water on the PI yes its unreal.... While showering the other night I let out a moan while spraying my legs with near scalding hot water and my wife yelled out " Just WHAT in the h3LL are you doing in there???" :laughing: