i have a friend that swears his grandma and aunt take a poison ivy leaf roll it inside out and eat it...... he says if you do that you wont get poison it I told him to go first
I have NEVER had a breakout from Poison Ivy and I'm 50. Have been an avid hiker for years and have come into contact with it dozens of times. My two daughters are the same way, it must be hereditary.
A couple of years ago, my wife got a real bad dose of poison ivy, and had to go to a dermatologist. After getting two allergy shots in her butt, he also prescribed her an ointment call Vanos. If you don't have insurance, you may not want to get it, and ask the doc for lots of samples, but the stuff works awesome. I know when we filled the script, the insurance portion was close to $300, so strap a set on if you have to buy it out of pocket.
Your best defense against poison Ivy is to avoid contact of course. But if you KNOW youve been exsposed, the best thing to do is as soon as possible get home, remove clothing and wash the clothes. Then get in the shower, and take a Hot soapy shower. Repeat at least three times. MY wife is very sensitive to poisin ivy, and since we started doing this when we realize we've been in contact with the stuff, our cases are very mild to nonexistant depending how quickly we can get in the shower. Remember it's the oil from the plant that causes the alergic reaction. And plain soap like Ivory works the best, but what ever you have will get the job done. Just get really soaped up and scrub the stuff off. You'll be ammazed at the results!
As a kid I got some in one eye when we were buring some wood. Went to bed with an itchy eye and woke up with and eye i could not even pull open to see the eyeball. Made a trip to the hospital and got steroids for it.
My Dad and Uncle were raised through their teen years in Oakland City. They had a summer job picking cherry trees in a local orchard. Dad said my uncle ate as much as he picked and by early afternoon had a case of the screaming meemies. He walked off behind a tree and loosed a stool stream and grabbed a handle full of foliage to wipe his tuckous. Yep! It was mostly Poison Ivy. His butt got swollen as did the boys. He's 82 now with dementia and still cringes if you bring it up.
Most people forget there dogs will carry it back home as well.. Ive gotten it as well doing tailgate checks on the dogs for ticks, cuts, burrs etc. came home with a bad case on my mitts... not pleasant at all. Changed my technique no more poision ivy..