Poison Ivy -- home remedies

[my3guys]

One DS has managed to get the first case of poison ivy in this house.  Twice in one week he got a red, angry rash on his belly after eating lunch.  I assumed it was a food allergic reaction, brought him to the allergist the second time it showed up.  When we first got in the car it appeared to be a rash contained to his stomach, so I wasn't worried just puzzled.  As we're driving he's complaining of being really uncomfortable, and he's just acting very off.  So I'm driving a bit faster, looking in my rear view mirror at him a lot.  And...I almost hit a teenage girl who darted into the street while on her phone .  I slammed on the brakes and missed her by about a foot. Yikes!  Definitely reinforces the need for an ambulance in a serious reaction! But I digress...

Get to the allergist and nurse declares it poison ivy.  Rash is now appearing on his face over his eye lid and near his lip.  Due to that she prescribes oral steroids (Small step down dose for 6 days) and a steroid cream.  He's now finished the oral steroid.  It's not out of control but new patches appeared last night, and I think I see a little bit on his face again. Grrrrr.

He seems better after bathing, applying the steroid cream, then lathering on aquaphor.  On days that I've skipped that step, it's flared.

Wondering about home remedies and any other thoughts?  I'll google to of course, but I trust SOAK knowledge;)  I'm also thinking he may be going back to the doctor tomorrow...

[Macabre]

You must wash everything he touched when he had the oil on his hands. I wash three times for poison Ivy.

I don't know if Clorox Wipes take care of the oil, but I woulda use them for hard surfaces--doors, bed, sink handles, door knobs. Everything.

Use them for the seatbelts and other car surfaces.

Think of it like getting rid if peanut oil.

[CMdeux]

TECNU.

WELL worth the $$ and the trouble to locate it.

Also-- scrub EVERY touch-surface in your home and cars that he's been in within 48-72 hours of the appearance of the rash.  He's probably re-contaminating his skin, poor kiddo.

[momma2boys]

CVS carries tecnu. Good luck!

[my3guys]

Just found it thanks for the tips ladies!

[YouKnowWho]

Is there any chance he is touching something that keeps recontaminating him.  I wonder if the oil is on his shoes (rash on stomach makes me wonder if he is transferring the oil when pulling up his pants).

Just a thought.  I know they warn that the oil can remain on gardening tools indefinitely.

[CMdeux]

Regular Dawn dishsoap is the best surfactant/detergent out there for lifting urushiol off of washable surfaces.  Just a little PSA from the wilderness school of bitter experience.

[GoingNuts]

TECNU.

WELL worth the $$ and the trouble to locate it.

Also-- scrub EVERY touch-surface in your home and cars that he's been in within 48-72 hours of the appearance of the rash.  He's probably re-contaminating his skin, poor kiddo.

Word.

And yes, CVS has Tecnu.  I think we've bought them out on occasion.  DH can't even stand downwind of poison ivy.  It is nasty, nasty, nasty. 

Wash his sheets, since he may have dragged the oil into bed with him.  And yes to the shoes as well. 

It's really crazy, but with all my allergies, I've never reacted to it.  I take precautions if exposed because I know that can change at any time.  But honestly, I think I could roll around nekked it the stuff with no problems.

[Macabre]

I ditched a booster seat with it once. DH had moved to Houston and we were finishing out the year in Dallas. It was the week of a dance recital in a huge old downtown Dallas theatre in which DS had a solo. Great solo for a six year old. He was in after school daycare and pulled some posin Ivy on the playground.

With everything going on that week, I wasn't able to take the booster seat apart to wash it. It was much was it to toss the thing.

Getting everything else clean that week in the evenings after work was a big enough job. And he developed strep.

I did toss potentially contaminated stuffed animals into a plastic bag for later. Well, we moved to Houston a few weeks later, and I still hasn't gotten to that bag. He found it in Houston, pulled out Angelina Ballerina and got recontaminated.

So really--wash everything he may have come into contact at least twice---clothes, sheets, towels. Get an old soft toothbrush and use it with soap to scrub under his fingernails. Wash down toys, all hard surfaces, the couch, doors, toilets--anything he may have touched.


I will say that poison Ivy has become a true phobia of mine. I go to great lengths to avoid places where it might be. That experience was too much for me. It may be one reason I have no real desire to go hiking in the woods ever again.   Yep, I am a wimp. I blame it on PIPTSD.

[hedgehog]

I agree with washing everything that may have the oil on it.  Oatmeal baths may feel soothing.  Also, if he is not already on an antihistamine, that can help as well. 

[my3guys]

You ladies are good!  I did find the Technu at RiteAid, and used the soap and the anti-itch spray on him last night.  Now going through trying to think of all spots to decontaminate. Yikes! It started over a week ago (she types while starting to develop a twitch).  I didn't realize or know this info on poison ivy.  I didn't think of the booster seat, another place, thanks for mentioning that.

After Technu, it doesn't seem any worse today. No new spots so far. Fingers crossed, Clorox wipes out!  Thanks again!!

[CMdeux]

And really-- second-gen antihistamines may not be the best for this particular job.  My best results are actually with the short-acting first gens that are not as common now; chlorpheniramine is THE BOMB for me personally with urushiol-induced reactivity.

Like Mac, I have a genuine phobia of the stuff-- I've had (no, really) systemic reactions to it-- requiring steroids and even epinephrine once as a kid.  The example of the "really, really awful" rashes on this site?  Yeah-- I've had those covering as much as 80% of my body.  I'm SERIOUSLY phobic.  I spent my sixteenth birthday looking like a scalded pufferfish, and it wasn't the worst case I'd ever had.  I regularly develop rashes on the 'mild' side just from community contact with the oil-- it's the reason why I am super-aware of where I rest my bare arms/legs and why I never, ever use pens provided at the grocery store/doctor's office.  I carry my own.  I'm that paranoid (er-- or maybe it's just that I'm that sensitive).



http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/fastfacts.html

http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/welcome.html


I have scarring on my legs from that case when I was 16.  I even had a black spot from a location of oxidized lacquer (urushiol) the size of a quarter, which is evidently so unusual that it has been featured in medical journals.    The ONLY way that I could sleep for nearly three weeks was to wrap myself in a damp sheet like a mummy. 

I began breaking into the rash about 2hr after exposure-- and the problem is that once the oil is locked onto the skin cells, there's little that can be done to get it OFF.  Great, right?  Yay!  I have a super-potent allergen fused to me...  EEK!!    That's why these reactions can last SO darned long-- basically, the effected skin has to turn over.   If you are one of the truly unlucky (like me), then you tend to react systemically, with angiodema and other bells and whistles of anaphylaxis.  Let's just say that "protracted anaphylaxis" was nothing new to me.   


(See the rash photo of the man's lower leg and ankle toward the bottom of the page? Yeah-- like THAT.  THAT is what any urushiol exposure means for me, personally.  Phobic?  Well, I think it's just prudent.)

[my3guys]

Yikes CM and Mac that sounds brutal!  While he has gotten more patches, it hasn't gotten out of control.

Here's a poison ivy riddle for you: he touched the leaves with his hands, but didn't get any on his hands???

[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.

[hedgehog]

CM, I think I have posted this somewhere here before, but my poison ivy history is similar to yours, but not quite the same.  When I was a kid, I got it worse and worse each time.  When I was in sixth grade, I woke one morning thinking I had gone blind.  My eyes had swollen shut. I had gone to bed with no symptoms, woke with it all over my body, face horribly swollen.  My parents rushed me to the doctor.  Looking back, they must have thought I could die, because my father took off work.  He never, ever did that because he did not get paid sick time, and was in danger of losing his job if he took and unpaid sick day.  The reason I had antihistamines is that I remember getting a benedryl shot at the doctor, and taking it orally until I recovered. 

This was in spring, and there were no leaves on the vines yet.  The doctor said that he frequently sees poison ivy cases at that time of year, because people don't recognize the vines, or don't realize they are as bad as the leaves. 

I was out if school for a while, and still looked horrible when I returned.  I was also still very itchy when I returned. 

The twist is I was exposed many more times as a child after that.  Pre-teen to teens are not always known for their good judgement, so I did not get as paranoid as you did.  But after that I never got it again for years. The only time after that in my life I got it s when I was using the weed whacker and hit a buch of poison ivy leaves.  I got the juice all over me, and broke out in those spots.