I am terribly allergic to poison ivy and poison oak, having once had such a bad case that I had to farm out my children to my best
friend and my mother and stay in bed, with eyes swelled shut, nostrils and earlobes and lips swollen, rash in the roof of my mouth, going to the doctor for shots and excising of extremely enlarged patches, which made the back of my left hand looked like the largest lump on this person's arm. That’s background info so you’ll know this is worth trying. Except for a rash on your face, this will help:Run VERY HOT water over the rash, either under a faucet (for a small rash on a hand or arm) or in a shower, which I usually do. It must be RUNNING water, not just hot water you dip an elbow into (which doesn’t work). When I shower, I make the water as hot as I can stand it without burning myself, letting it pummel the rash (don’t you just want to beat it to death?). While you are under the rushing water, it will itch like crazy, but afterwards you will have relief for about three hours. Yes, truly, no itchiness for three hours. Only one of my doctors was already familiar with this treatment before I told him, but it really does work for me. None of the creams provides me much relief, but the hot water treatment helps it dry up faster than anything I’ve ever tried.When my neighbor Michael and I were comparing poison ivy stories the other day, he told me he used to be a park ranger and would itch so badly that, on coming out of the woods at the end of a hot
day, he would “burn” his itchy arms by laying them on the sizzling hood of his truck. He says it stopped the itching. I think you could really BURN yourself using Michael's method, while a shower covers itchy areas better, but my point is that heat also worked for him. And the best part? Hot water doesn’t cost nearly as much as salves and creams! And remember this:"If leaves be three then let it be."Why am I grossing you out with this? First, to provide you with a proven form of relief that works for me. Second, because of the "don't touch" prompt at Weekend Wordsmith.
6 comments:
Yikes, is this YOUR arm?? I'm so confused when out in the wild...so many things look to have three!
No, June, I googled to find a photo that looked like the back of my left hand. The largest lump on that person's arm looks like the one on my hand, which I measured using a cloth tape measure and found to be about an inch high and five inches in circumference.
Most of the poison ivy in my area (and probably around you there in Virginia) looks like the top photo. I think the bottom photo is probably poison oak ... those leaves look a bit like oak leaves.
If you notice the first three (of five) leaves of something like woodbine or an ash tree, you may at first think it's poison ivy. But look at it closely and see the five leaves, like this ash tree seedling:
http://www.savorlife.com/images/PoisonIvy/AshTreeSeedling.JPG
Here's an excellent page full of photos and explanations on how to distinguish poison ivy from other plants:
http://www.savorlife.com/special_pages/g_poisonivy.htm
oh gosh, glad we don't have poison ivy over here...
We don't have poison ivy here, so I've never encountered it, but I've come across something very similar - a plant which is the celery/parsley family which has the same sort affect - though not as severe.
Nasty, nasty.
Oh, and by the way, that 08-08 post of mine just got longer and more complicated!
My god that must have been extremely painful! I never heard of the hot water treatment. I do like to camp but have been fortunate not running into poison ivy or oak!
Nicky wrote to me: "Bonnie, you're a genius! Your hot water tip has really helped! Thank you! xx"
Then she posted on Facebook: "I've just tried Bonnie's hot water remedy and it really does work. Burns a bit... but it's the first time today I'm not itching! Thank you, Bonnie! Mind you, I did cheat a bit, I did hot water and then blasted myself with cold water. I think the itch has gone into hiding from the shock!"
My reply: "I'm so glad the hot water helped. It makes me itch like crazy while showering, but then -- truly -- I have itch relief for about three hours."
Post a Comment