Poison Oak Everywhere!
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jyoutz
Super Member
This product is advertised in forestry magazines. Supposedly you drink a drop in a glass of water for awhile to build immunity. IDK if it works or not.
My introduction to Northern California coast range in the 1980s was a miserable introduction to poison oak. And the smell of it burning is toxic and sickening.
My introduction to Northern California coast range in the 1980s was a miserable introduction to poison oak. And the smell of it burning is toxic and sickening.
I agree. Crossbow (or Crossroad) has about the same proportions but twice as strong, probably more cost effective. And definitely add surfactant.
John0829
Veteran Member
Waaay back when, when I was a kid I was highly sensitive to poison ivy. I could literally just walk in sight of it and be covered with horrible blisters and rash. Anyway the local pharmacist was a friend of dad and he gave him something that I took, for I forget how long, one summer just like that product a bit in a drink each day. Did it help, IDK but I like to think it did and give credit to it even though I have no idea what it was. To this day I still get a minor blister and itching but only if I come into direct contact with poison ivy and even then the area affected is usually very small, only lasting a day, two at most.
ultrarunner
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Imuneoak was issued by the Bell System for rural linemen in areas with poison oak…
It was a drop added to water to buildup tolerance…
It was discontinued maybe 40 years ago and I spoke to the lab who said it was a business not to spend the vast amounts needed to update the old patent medicine to modern clinical testing standards.
There are also tablets under the tongue claiming the same.
I get it terrible but by being careful and using barrier lotion can manage…
Sitting on my CAT dozer working fire trails I would get it bad on every square inch of exposed skin from just the dust.
By not dozing in hot dry dusty conditions was one way to avoid because a few days after a good rain with soil having a lot of moisture no dust…
It was a drop added to water to buildup tolerance…
It was discontinued maybe 40 years ago and I spoke to the lab who said it was a business not to spend the vast amounts needed to update the old patent medicine to modern clinical testing standards.
There are also tablets under the tongue claiming the same.
I get it terrible but by being careful and using barrier lotion can manage…
Sitting on my CAT dozer working fire trails I would get it bad on every square inch of exposed skin from just the dust.
By not dozing in hot dry dusty conditions was one way to avoid because a few days after a good rain with soil having a lot of moisture no dust…
ning
Elite Member
I've seen a homeopathic "remedy" (highland's) which purports to help if you have a rash. Thing is with homeopathy, the "6X" "active ingredient" means that there's 10^-6, a dilution of one part in one million, of the thing, like the poison oak (assuming they actually put the ingredient in there; at those dilutions you're not going to know).
So a 50mg tablet with 6X poison oak will have at most 50x10^-6 mg poison oak in it, or 50 nanograms.
It may be apples and oranges, but they're doing oral immunotherapy these days to desensitize kids who have peanut allergies - one of the more deadly allergies to have - and the treatment starts with 3mg of peanut protein and goes up from there. That's a hundred thousand times more than what's in the homeopathic poison oak remedy.
Even so, perhaps 50 nanograms of poison oak, ingested, is enough to train the body against reacting, but that's very close to zero. Studies have been done in the past based on rumors of people reducing sensitivity by eating leaves (quantities definitely higher than micrograms let alone nanograms), but the studies have all shown in the negative, and the common wisdom is that people get more reactive, not less, with time - though I've personally gone the other way, but not by eating leaves.
California
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I don't remember if I read it here or elsewhere, but I'll pass this along FWIW:
Tecnu seems to be the standard for washing off poison oak before it penetrates the skin. But more experimenting showed that any solvent or detergent that cuts grease is as effective, since the poison is in the form of an oil. So wash off the oil, working cold so pores are closed, and you've done all you can.
What I read mentioned Dawn detergent, paint thinner and other solvents, even acetone. Anything that cuts grease. Just not mechanic's hand cleaner that contains abrasives. Then follow with a normal wash to get the skin clean.
Tecnu seems to be the standard for washing off poison oak before it penetrates the skin. But more experimenting showed that any solvent or detergent that cuts grease is as effective, since the poison is in the form of an oil. So wash off the oil, working cold so pores are closed, and you've done all you can.
What I read mentioned Dawn detergent, paint thinner and other solvents, even acetone. Anything that cuts grease. Just not mechanic's hand cleaner that contains abrasives. Then follow with a normal wash to get the skin clean.
ericm979
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Wearing long pants and sleeves and scrubbing any exposed areas with Dawn has reduced my poison oak rash to nearly nothing. And I get a lot closer to it now than I used to.
I'm pretty good at spotting it even when it doesn't have leaves. If I get close to any or run over it with a string trimmer, the clothes I was wearing go in the wash when I'm done and I wash off with Dawn.
I'm pretty good at spotting it even when it doesn't have leaves. If I get close to any or run over it with a string trimmer, the clothes I was wearing go in the wash when I'm done and I wash off with Dawn.
California
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That plus a hat, gloves, and tall 'milking boots' is my body armor when I go down into the ravine, jungle, down in back.
Some years I've opened a trail through the poison oak to get to the blackberries covering the far side, but mostly it's not worth it, there are plenty of berries on this side too.
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I used to be extremely allergic to poison ivy and poison oak, which was a bad thing for a field biologist. I had Wetland Scientist 2 week field course, my arms were literally dripping pus. Also if you have dogs that get it on their fur they can rub the oil on you.
But I learned early on that it only lasted about 2 weeks on me and put up with it. I got some of that "drink a drop a day" stuff from Forestry supply, it worked but like he wrote
So I said the heck with it and about 20 or 25 years ago I made a practice of first the PI or PO I saw IN SPRING take a leaf and CAREFULLY rub it on a patch I could scratch, like an area on my forearm. After that developed an itch I seemed relatively immune to other contact. Still try to keep clear of it but don't seem to get it.
But I learned early on that it only lasted about 2 weeks on me and put up with it. I got some of that "drink a drop a day" stuff from Forestry supply, it worked but like he wrote
So I said the heck with it and about 20 or 25 years ago I made a practice of first the PI or PO I saw IN SPRING take a leaf and CAREFULLY rub it on a patch I could scratch, like an area on my forearm. After that developed an itch I seemed relatively immune to other contact. Still try to keep clear of it but don't seem to get it.