Re: Me & My Big Mouth.
Hey Jeff....
I'm kinda new here... so I just stumbled into this thread tonight. I've had the misfortune of having to "book up" on this topic ... so long winded post ahead...
The world doesn't need to worry about Anthrax - a pound of Poison Ivy oil (Urushiol) distributed evenly could incapacitate 90% of the population of this entire country! Talk about WMDs!
I think alot of people underestimate how serious of a problem poison ivy can cause! (I know I did!)
The people that say "I can roll in the stuff and not get it" are ignorant of how poison ivy works. It's a "sensitizer" - meaning that the more you're exposed to it, the more likely you are going to eventually get a whopper reaction to it. Other examples of [less popular] sensitizers are nickel (in junk jewelry and watches, for ex.), and another possible very serious allergen is latex. Very few people that are not exposed to latex regularly are sentitive to it - but some hospitals have banned latex (even balloons) from being brought in because of the health risks.
Occasional exposures to healthy skin might not ever be a problem for many people... but if they get it into their lungs, or broken skin - it can be very serious (poison ivy or dust from latex gloves). So the next time a person is exposed (especially if they have broken skin or it gets into a mucous membrane) might cause a reaction worthy of a trip to the Emergency Room.
I never had a poison ivy reaction until summer of 2003. (45 years old) I got very, very sick with it. The IDIOT boyfriend at the time had some sort of contact dermatitis problem on his legs but he refused to talk about the possibility of chemicals or weeds causing a problem. I thought he was being really stupid (which he was!) but I finally gave up and let him deal with the little patches of blisters that were working the way up his legs all the way to his butt (from never clearing your environment of the contaminant, you can keep spreading it). I didn't know what poison ivy plants looked like - and I didn't know there were loads of these plants by his work at the time.
Anyway... I gave up on trying to help him troubleshoot his problem - I decided this was a battle I didn't want to get involved in - let the stubborn fool scratch and deal with it - after all, it was *his* problem, not mine.
I was SURE it was a contact dermatitis thing - which would mean it was probably chemical (from his work) or something like a weed.
Well.. that attitude worked really well for me (probably for about 2 months) until I caught it! I had nicked my ankle shaving my legs before I went to bed one night, and I'm pretty sure I caught it from my dog - she most likely had some of the oil on her coat from running through the weeds after bunnies. I had *never* been in the weeds, but I had been exposed to the urushiol before (for weeks) because the BF's legs would have contaminated our bed, our house, my car, my camper, etc.
As soon as I got it, of course I troubleshooted the problem. I baggied a sample of the weed and took it to the doctor's with me. Even after they verified it absolutely was poison ivy, the stupid BF still refused to admit it. (I demoted him to roomate status after this!)
Anyway... because I had an open nick in my skin (didn't even have a chance to scab over before going to bed), and my pooch lays by my feet at night, the poison ivy had a chance to literally go straight into my system. "Ground Zero" (which was just a tiny nick) turned into a mess on my ankle that looked like one of those blooming onions you get at Outback Steakhouse! I had incredible shooting pains in my foot because the blooming blistering lesion on my ankle (and my body's reaction to it) was cutting off the blood supply to my foot. I went to the hospital for it, because I was aching and itching ***from the inside*** on all of my limbs!!! I didn't have any other patches of sores on my skin, but I literally was itching my upper arms and legs to the point I was bruising my skin (acrylic nails - not sharp enough to cause scratches - but hard enough to bruise under layers of skin!). I didn't know I had cellulite in my thighs until I looked like a purple leopard! I graduated to using one of those hard bristle vent hair brushes to scrub all over my body so I couldn't bruise my skin. This stuff was in my bloodstream. The doc put me on Prednisone - and that was another real trip (hope I never have to take that again! - I could have "gone Postal" on that stuff!) ... anyway... I was very, very sick with this for about 6 weeks.
The dog got bathed several times over the first few weeks (using dishwashing detergent) and I did massive loads of laundry - I washed everything the BF could have worn and any unworn clothes in the closet that could have been contaminated from the clothes that could have had the allergen on them. Clothes worn even for a few hours would go into the wash to reduce the recontamination risk.
Shampooed the carpeting of the house a few times that first month, too.
Oh.. and I had to totally go through a thorough cleaning of my camping trailer at the time as well as my car.
Anywhere that stupid BF (or my sweet little dog) had been had to be cleaned and re-cleaned if there was any chance of recontamination.
ALSO.. The urushiol can survive on regular bar soap - so I had used Dawn dishwashing detergent to bathe & wash hands for the duration. (took the soap bars away from the BF too)
There is a product called Zanfel that is supposed to be great stuff - but it wasn't easily available at the time, and I also wasn't having breakouts in any other places on my bod (the prednisone probably prevented that).
Like someone else said - Urushiol can stay active for a very long time (YEARS!) .. so be sure things like any work gloves or tools that could have become contaminated are cleaned. It's very possible to go through another whole episode from an item that remained contaminated.
Systemic poison ivy is a really bad thing... it's nothing to take lightly.
As far as relief from the itching... During the worst of it, I take uncomfortably hot showers every few hours - because that raises the level of histine in your system and will relieve the itching for at least a little while. (I'm talking HOT).
And... lastly... once you've been sensitive to it, it's possible it will come back with even a bigger vengeance next time you're around it. Your body has gotten "smart" to it - and your body *might* go into overdrive and try to fight back even harder (causing a more serious reaction) against the allergen the next time you're exposed.
Horrible stuff. Be careful.
Best site on the web for poison ivy info that I have had bookmarked is this one:
http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/welcome.html
Off my soapbox now.
Sally
, I'm looking at it all over my arm and between my fingers 
. It doesn't itch unless I brake open the blisters. I seriously think that some years the poison is stronger than others.
