Jeez, I'm miserable.

Somehow this past week I got next to some poison ivy when doing yardwork. Now I have a 6 inch square patch of this disgusting stuff on the back of my right thigh. It itches like crazy and neither the ointment my doctor gave me or calamine lotion seems to help. On top of that, it's started weeping and is gross. I can't really sit down and I can't put a bandage over it to absorb the gunk because they say let it air dry. I heard it takes 2-3 weeks for this stuff to clear up. Right now I have bright red lizard skin that itches fiercely. Any suggestions?

:pals:

last summer with poison ivy. spread to his face and neck from arms and hands .. arghh..

He got a needle/ cortisone and a course of prednisone pills.

There is a product called Band-aid Itch gel. It works pretty good.

good luck

aA

http://www.cortaid.com/family_fun.jsp

http://www.cortaid.com/itch_reaction.jsp


(Product top left corner area)

"Sting Stop" is available at health food stores and will expedite the healing process for sure.

Feel better soon.

Running hot water or hitting it with a blow dryer for a while will make it stop itching for a while. Someone told me it releases all the histamines at once. DOn't know if that's true, but if you heat it, at some point you will feel a sudden rush, and it will stop itching for a while.

I got it so bad once that my leg swelled up larger than any of my pants legs. I had to stay off the leg for a couple of days. I also took aspirin every few hours to see if it would relieve the swelling. The swelling did go done quickly once I started the aspirin, but I can't swear the two were connected.

Also, don't eat cashews if you are allergic to poison ivy. They are related to poison ivy and cause the same type of outbreak, or make the outbreak much worse if you already have one. Cashew rashes show up in the areas behind the legs and inside the elbows and wrists. People often think they have poison ivy rash when it is really a reaction to cashews.

On edit: Careful not to burn or scald the rash if you use the heat method. I've done that, too. Bad, bad thing.

and I'm not itchy now. This evening I'm going to try a hot baking soda soak since I understand it draws out the gunk and relieves the itching.

Benedryl or something similar?

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

But I'm not sure if it is available anymore.

http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/

Along with Catfish Candy.

for some Prednisone. I guarantee you it will be gone in 24 hours.

Clean and easy. Plus, you get a handy peg-leg that you can beat people with.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=55421

I have noticed the stuff everywhere. It's terrorist kudzu.

By son has a bad case on his foot. He's been using Aveeno, and it seems to work OK.