I have heard that people react to this more with every exposure. I have never had a reaction and don't think I have ever been exposed, but it is always good to here of something that works, problem is, personally, I will forget by the time I need to know.

As much tromping through the woods that I do, I haven't yet developed a rash from poison ivy. There have been times where I would rub against something and say "Oh no!!" because it looks like poison ivy but nothing ever happens. Maybe I'm one of those people that doesn't get rashes from it. I don't plan to find out for sure though.

Poison Oak is a west coast plant so I don't think you're going to encounter that here.

Actually, we have both here. I was enlightened the hard way.

Thanks, we're going to get some. New property we purchased is just laced with the stuff. It's hanging from every tree and it is VERY VERY annoying. We've had it on and off all summer!

GGG

I wish it were a west coast plant!!! It's a big problem on Coastal Georgia and I suspect just about everywhere else in the state. You have just been very lucky if you haven't found any. My husband is very allergic to it. He doesn't have any problem telling me where some is so I can take care of it for him. LOL
Frog

went to the doctors today (un-related to poison ivy!) and she said that the only way she made sure she was ok after being in the garden was to wash herself down with Tide in the shower!!

Barb, I hope she had a friend who was a dermitologist to help her with her skin after that. She must not have done it often, that stuff will dry your skin out so fast. Makes me itchy to even think about it. I have hand washed some things with tide before and have had to soak my hands in lotion and wear gloves afterwards they get so dry.

I spent my childhood in Pa, and I was constantly exposed to poison ivy. I had a pony that would roll in the stuff, and I always rode bareback (wearing shorts in the summer), and would get rashes of the stuff all up and down the insides of my legs, and on my arms. As I grew older, I got less and less rashes, until I just stopped getting the rashes at all. Forward about 6 years...and I moved to GA. My husband, who gets rashes all over his body (and I do mean ALL OVER!) just by looking at our wooded back yard, and I decided to clear out the woods one late October. I figured that if he was real careful, and I did most of the pulling, we could clear it all out without a problem. WRONG! We both woke up the next morning with our eyes swollen shut, and rashes ALL OVER! Hubby opted to go to the doctor's and get put on steiroids. I decided to just "wait it out and deal with it." I think I healed faster than him. (I'm not a big fan of our doctor's "fixes everything steiroids." Anyways, ever since then, I have gotten bad cases of the rashes many times. -And some of the time, without even knowing that I'd been exposed. Not sure if it is poison ivy or poison oak that we're getting into...took a sample into the doctor's office one time in a baggy, and they couldn't identify it. Who knows. This summer, we finally knocked most of it out of the woods. I've been smothering it. I pour rock salt onto the plant, cover it with MANY layers of wet newspaper, and it seems to die off. Unfortunatly, it's root system is throughout our wooded area, so we get new sprouts here and there. But I just keep on trying to kill it off anyway. It will probably finally be killed off when we decide to move away.

Having had a bout of the ivy/oak/sumac rash probably every year (sometimes several times a year) for the past 25+ years, I did some internet searching and found that something known as "Pepper Vine" (fairly common in Georgia) can also cause a contact dermatitis similar to that from poison ivy/oak/sumac. A "google" search under pepper vine will bring up some pictures.

I often shudder at what people are told to wash in to "get rid" of the rash (bleach, old fashioned harsh brown laundry soap, kerosene(!), gasoline(!)). Doing such often works by removing the entire skin, often leaving terrible burns and scars.

I've found the best solution to control the itching is...hot water. The initial intense itching reaction is caused by histamine being released by the skin cell. Once released, it takes roughly 6 to 8 hours to replenish these levels again; it the meantime there is blissful relief.

Get in the shower, start with warm water and very slowly work up to the hottest you can stand without the risk of burning. Initially there will be a period of intense itching for 10 to 15 seconds as the histamine is released. This then dies away.

Do this before bedtime and you'll be able to sleep quite comfortably throughout the night.

I have also found that this hot water treatment tends to dry the rash more quickly; instead of lasting the usual 2 week period, it's often drying up nicely by the end of the first week.

I wish I had learned about this years ago.

Gail

In the past, I was a frequent listener to Walter on his Sat. EAM radio program and have heard him pronounce that Poison Oak is not found in GA, so we must be wromg in our identification...Right? WRONG! The Eastern species of Poison Oak, Toxicodendron pubescens has been vouchered in 25 GA counties from the Mtns. to the Upper Coastal Plains and can probably be found almost anywhere that birds feel the urge to purge.
The oil that is present in all parts of the plant usually persists for about a year after it dies, so it's not advisable to put it in compost or burn it. The oil is suspended in the smoke and if you come in contact with the smoke, you could develop a rash all over your body. As a child, I once unknownly burned some, along with other brush and had a rash and swollen membranes in my nostrils, mouth and ears. It was so severe that I could barely breathe or eat and my eyes became so swollen that it was difficult to see. Definitely not a pleasant experience.
Rather than use laundry detergent, I have found that dish detergent is best to remove the oil from the skin, if used soon after contact. Those are formulated to break down and remove oils and grease and almost all contain a lotion to prevent skin dryness.
Learn to recognize both Poison Ivy and Poison Oak, wear gloves, long sleeves and pants and if contact is made, carefully remove those items and wash(clothes and yourself).
An ounce of prevention is worth..etc, etc.
Rb

This Toxicodendron pubescens (poison oak) looks enough like poison ivy for me to be wary of it because poison ivy can vary so much in itself.

Here is the USDA's county map as a guideline, don't take it as gospel for whether it is in your county or not.

Here is a link that might be useful: Poison oak by county according to USDA

I had no earthly idea there was an "Atlantic" Poison Oak. I read on the Internet that it only occured out west. And I thought everything written on the Internet was true!

Odd thing for me is, half my family seems to react upon just thinking about poison ivy/oak. The other half of us don't.

The most I've ever gotten from PI (so far *knocks on wood*) are these odd tiny little bubbles that don't itch on my fingers. BUT because the oils persist so long I make sure I wash really well that first time in, and if I've been knowingly pulling PI I will, once, wash with some bleach mixed in water to dry out and help break down the oils.

After that, if you can keep the infection to say just your hands and lower arms because you had covered yourself up when dealing with it, washing often with soap and water and then applying some lotion helps immensely. It's what my brothers and dad have to do to keep from being useless when they get it. The good hydrating, non-oily lotions keep the rest of the skin from dieing off and drying out, but you can leach out the histamines with some hot soapy water first and dry out the blisters faster.

Other than that, good luck. I have friends who call me to bribe me whenever dealing with PI, and there are a few areas of the yard my partner won't go near b/c of the in-creeping PI from my neighbors each year.

I totally agree with Gail on treatment. I used to get poison ivy regularly when we first moved into this house and before bed I would take the hottest shower I could stand and use the handset shower massage and blast the rash with hot pulsating water. It is the best and only relief I would get so I could sleep. I never knew why it worked just that it does. Thanks for the info.

Ditto that about the hot water. I had a fairly bad case last summer. Before I knew what it was I had spread it to 5 or 6 places on my body. I would get into the shower and slowly increase the hot water until the mixture was almost entirely hot water. I remember telling my wife that it felt better than sex...and I meant it. It was a mixture of pain, burning and abscence of itching that just felt sooooo darn good I can't even begin to describe it.

As the itching went away (after the treatment described below) so too did the enjoyment of the extra hot water. At that point it was just freaking too hot water. Amazing really.

Unfortunately, while the hot water did help temporarily, I was so miserable that I continued to look for a more permanent treatment. I tried some of everything without much relief until I finally found the site below and took the very good advice of getting some zanfel.

It's pretty expensive stuff and I'm kind of cheap, but let me tell you, that was THE BEST money I ever spent in my life. After washing with it as directed I noticed an immediate improvement. I repeated the treatment the next day and was much, much better. I would have tried one more but there was only enough in the tube for two applications (for my coverage level anyway).

FWIW the folks at the site below also recommended Tecnu very highly as well. Tecnu should be used immediately after exposure and I was too far along at the time. I bought some anyway as a precaution for the next time. I don't EVER want to go through that again if I can help it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zanfel

I have added Zanfel's web page to my favorites list...as a reminder for next Spring...for some strange reason...the poisons haven't bothered me in cool weather (YET)
But when the temperatures rise...
I was never allergic to poison ivy or oak until about 15 years ago...We lived here several years before I had my first allergic reaction to that stuff...my left arm swelled, from wrist to elbow...Calamine lotion was useless...the top of my arm formed a hard crust...it actually made a sound when I used my right fist to 'knock' on it...I should of seen a doctor I guess, but did not.
Since then,I've read and tried old-home-remedies...cause even with gloves, long sleeves,etcs. the poison still finds me. The hot water treatment really does help relieve the itching and lets you 'rest' for several hours.