Poison Ivy -- home remedies

[yelloww]

I end up getting a steroid shot because the oral steroids aren't string enough right away.

I also end up throwing out a lot of clothes.  Ive found out the hard way that if something is not 100 percent cotton, the oils stick even after washing. So I just toss stuff instead. Terrible, but I've had cases where I was reinfecting myself because of a pair of pants.

Tecnu and domeboro astringent are your friend. Good luck!

[GoingNuts]

DH got it not from touching the plant itself, but from (and I swear this is true) touching the walls of the garage months after poison ivy vine had been removed from it, including a power wash.  The  previous owners liked the way it looked so they let it vine up and climb the garage.  You can't make this stuff up.

That's when we got our education on how long the oils can last.  That was DH's first and nastiest case.  He's had others since then, but has finally learned his lesson about covering up, then slathering himself in Tecnu and getting into the shower after yard work.  And listening to me when hiking when I tell him to avoid a particular area of the trail.   

[Macabre]

See, the way my phobia has developed, I avoid hiking altogether. give me NYC as a vacation option anytime. Any city or beach.  I used to be a Mountains person but am not anymore. Too scarred of poison plants.

GN how did you get the oil off your garage?

[GoingNuts]

More powerwashing, total avoidance on DH's part, and then rebuilding it when I woke up one morning to find it listing to one side.  Yep, carpenter ants took care of it. 

This was during my "CAN WE JUST WALK AWAY FROM THIS HOUSE AND ABSORB THE LOSS" period, because I was ready to shoot myself due to the constant house-related disasters.

[Macabre]

I am less scared of this plant, lol.

The Little Shop of Horrors (1986) - Feed Me, Seymour (Git It) - FULL

[CMdeux]

Me, too, Mac.... me, too.

LOVE me a city vacation.

(And this is why I am absolutely crazy to think that even with a tecnu shampooing, that my DH can take our Brittany out hunting and not get ME into trouble... but it was a Really Really Big Deal for him.  A Marriage Breaking Kind of Big Deal.   So he will see for himself, I'll get a round of steroids and a trip to the ER out of things, and then we'll have a dog we can both live with.)

[sneaker]

To my3guys, I'm curious, what is the answer to the poison ivy riddle on page 1?

[CMdeux]

yet.

Your outer dermal layer is often THICKEST on the hands, and the skin turnover rate is highest in those areas, too-- plus, if you're like most FA families, hand-washing is a frequent feature of your life.

All of that combines to mean that the hands are probably one of the last places you'll see rashing.

This is the answer to that particular riddle. 

[krasota]

I can't be near Tecnu--stuff'll trigger a migraine faster than DH'll catch poison ivy from looking at a cat that walked through that corner of our yard. 

We buy old-fashioned lye soap from the hardware store and find that it does a darn good job.  Sometimes I buy the kind with jewelweed added. 

DS had a weird case of poison ivy this year.  Enough of an odd, non-localized reaction that I'm not pushing kiddo to undergo challenges for the mango family until he wants to do it.