Need some advice for dealing with poison ivy rash.
Warning: the following post may be gross to some people. Do not read it if you are eating
So I've been battling a nasty case of poison ivy. I haven't had it this bad in 6+ years, actually it might be worse than that time. It was really ichy this weekend & had huge blisters that would sometimes break open & puss would come out. I decided last night to try to dry them out really well by breaking the big blisters open & putting bleach on them. Yes, it stung, but it helped the itch. I think it helped dry them up, but not 100% & the sores are still weeping. This morning before work I put tissues over them & then taped medical tape over that thinking it would help keep it from leaking too much, but it seems to have soaked through already. It's just really gross & I'm really sick of it. Does anyone know any good way of drying it out? I can get to both a CVS drug store & a Whole foods at lunchtime if there is a particular tried & true product I should use. Please Don't suggest Ivy Dry or Iverest, I've tried them both.
I had a really nasty case of poison ivy just a month ago. It was so bad on my legs that they were so swollen and it hurt so bad to stand up, that I had to stay in bed for about a week. In hindsight, I should have gone to the doctor for steroids, but I didn't and am generally not a friend of taking medications.
I tried various things, aloe, Zanfel, Teknu Spray, witch hazel etc. I took two baths a day in baking soda and that seemed to help. In the past I have tried other "remedies" such as Calamine lotion, various sprays, homeopathic remedies - all without much success.
Wish I could tell you what the magic bullet is, but I haven't found it :-[
Hope you feel better soon!
Homemade Paste: Mix one tablespoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of peppermint essential oil (Mentha piperita) with 1 to 2 cup green clay, and add enough water to form a paste. Apply the paste liberally to the rash and leave it on for 20 to 30 minutes. Store leftover paste in a tightly sealed jar and reapply as needed. The remedy soothes the itch by absorbing the irritating plant oils and drying the rash. It also works for poison oak.
Turmeric and lime or lemon juice: Mix one tablespoon of turmeric spice with roughly equal parts of lime or lemon juice to form a thick paste. Carefully apply to the afflicted skin. This remedy stains, and stings ever so slightly, but works miraculously. For avoiding stains on clothes, furniture or carpet, use it in the bathtub, so the bright yellow stuff doesn't fall down and make a mess. Let it sit on your skin for fifteen minutes, then wipe off excess. Some stain will likely remain. By the next day you will be astonished at how it the ivy has dried up and nearly vanished.
Vick's Vapor Rub: Clean the infected areas first and then rub Vick's on the areas twice a day to rid infection. Slightly burns at first. Dries up the infection in one to three days.
I have not tried any of these but thought I would give you what I found as options.
good luck.
Ouch Lisa! *comfort* That just sounds so painful.
For bug bites (that I have 25 of currently) I use a product called Sting Stop to help the itch and swelling. This weekend in the store I noticed the same company has an itch / rash / poison oak or ivy goo as well. The company is Boericke & Tafel, a division of Nature's Way Products. I like it enough to recommend the other gel though I have never used it.
I would thing the big thing would be to not let the sores get infected. So please please be very careful and go to the doctor if things get worse! I would use Hydrogen peroxide on the blisters instead of bleach because that just sounds bad to me. :(
bf had poison ivey super bad last week! it was *everywhere*...
he ended up having to go to the ER and get a cortizone shot and they gave him a prescription for some antihistamines. it eventually kind of went away on its own. the shot just made him itch less.
hope yours gets better soon!
Thanks for all your advice everyone!
Luckily, it's not iching anymore. It's the oozing that is the problem. I changed out my tissue bandages, so I'm thinking I'll just pick up more medical tape at lunchtime & just change as needed. I think I'm going to try to turmeric & lemon tonight since that is the one that says it will help dry it out and I know I have the ingredients at home already.
In hindsight, Hydrogen Peroxide would have been a better choice, but I remembered using bleach for some reason a long time ago & thinking it helped, so that's why I used that.
Let this be a lesson to me to look where I'm going when playing in the woods!
An old remedy that people swear by is Fels Naptha. It's a laundry soap in bar form. I've found that a lot of supermarkets still carry it, but only a couple of bars so it's sometimes hard to see on the shelves. Lather some up on the rash and let it dry. It's a very drying soap so if your rash is someplace sensitive, then be careful. I wouldn't use it on your face. I've tried it and for me it only helped a little. However, my mom and ex bf swear by it so maybe it will help you too.
Something else you can try that helped me when I had a case of chiggers is hot hot water. Put the itchy parts under water as hot as you can stand. It helps release the histamines and my lord does it feel good. It was the only relief I got from chiggers, but I haven't tried it for poison ivy yet.
Hi. There's a product called "Tecnu" at most drugstores which I have used effectively. I'm highly allergic to poison ivy. If my dog brushes up against a leaf and I pet him, I go through what you went through. I always keep some tecnu in the houser.
SCRATCH IT.
Touch everyone you know with it and laugh.
Rub it with sandpaper and bleach.
I agree with Technu. It's good to use it as soon as possible, though. An Austrailian I knew swore by tea tree oil.
Touch everyone you know with it and laugh.
;D
I kept telling smooch I was goign to rub my poison ivy on him whenever he teased me about something over the weekend, but he's too smart. He just says, so, that's not how you get it. It worked for my sister though. she said ewwwww! and ran away from me.
Rub it with sandpaper and bleach.
Tried that method last night. Helped for a short while
I forgot to add "Calagel". Very soothing for the itch.
Just sympathy from me. I've never had poison ivy, and I went the first 28 yrs of my life never even seeing it (the rash) on anyone... til last summer when my bf got it. I was so skeeved by the way it kept endlessly weeping. He kept picking at it too, and now he's got scars, so, don't do that :nono: I was reading up on it when he had it though and learned that it is NOT contageous once the oil from the plant is washed off of your skin, and that you can go to the doctor and get some Rx stuff to put on it if it's bad. Hope it heals up quick!
Okay, this is what I've done for an ex of mine who found out after wards that that he had slept in a bed of poison ivy all weekend last summer:
Make a paste with:
baking soda
benedryl capsules broken open
cornstarch
aloe jell
oregano oil
I also had some cortisone tabs that I pestled into a powder that I mixed in there.
My ex is a pharmacist, and I've studied mid-evil apothecary texts.... so I eyeballed all of this, and have no clue as to the measurements...
another thing that would probably help w/ the drying out, is a paste of vinegar and salt. be aware though, I use that combo to polish my household silver as well!!
For drying out, some store bought things are hemorrhoid cremes/jells, zinc oxide cremes for diaper rash, etc....
A bath of chamomile would not only be relaxing, but also help to dry everything out. I'd just go to a discount store and get a couple boxes of the cheap stuff; I have an assortment of $1 boxes of teas for the sole purpose of baths.
Good luck!
theres a newish product that starts with a z that really seemed to relieve things quickly last time I got it...on my face from a mango! i cant remember the name but i got it at a regular drug store. it felt great when i washed with it.
UGH>>>>>i hate poison ivy!!! Its in my back yard....hope i never get it again!
mango=poison ivy's cousin! the skin is what can get ya!
Hyland's homeopathic poison ivy/oak.
http://www.hylands.com/products/poisonivy.php
This stuff is magic. Will is crazy allergic (by some gift from above, I am not) and I get to do the weed pulling around here. There have been times when he gets it off my clothes or the dogs. It spreads like crazy on him. He keeps a bottle of Hyland's in his car and at home. It takes a day or two, read the directions, but by halfway through the first day, you'll stop itching so severely. By the second morning, you won't itch at all and the bumps will begin to heal.
You can get it any any HFS; I have even seen it at Walgreens.
Good luck, that sucks. Until I married him, I never realized how bad it was for some people.
If you're strict vegan, homeopathic tablets contain milk sugar. A company near my house, Washington Homeopathy Works will custom blend remedies in a vegan liquid base. Rus tox is the most important one.
Ooops, sorry it does contain lactose. I've never even looked, he just swears by it. Sorry!
Thanks for the advice everyone. I tried the turmeric & lemon last night. It burned more than the bleach! It dosent itch or hurt me anymore, but it is still very weepy. I'm just sortof dealing with it.
Oh Lisa, you poor thing. I had the worst case of poison ivy years ago. I had to be hospitalized because of it. I was covered from head to toe. It was growing on the side of my house & I didn't know what it was. I pulled it all down over the course of 2 days. It was in my eyes & my doctor was really concerned that it was in my throat. Do you know who George Chuvalo is? I looked just like him after a big fight with George Foreman. LOL...not pretty! I had the cortizone shots & steroids & was generally miserable for a week.
The itch is torture. DO NOT SCRATCH IT....don't break open the sores either. I have scars on my wrist & ankle from sores that broke open. Oatmeal soap helps a lot.
It is hard to ignore but repeat after me....don't scratch, don't scratch, don't scratch, don't scratch.....
Burt's Bees makes a wonderful poison ivy soap that has helped my husband several times.
The best tried and true method I've used is calamine lotion-
Technu works fairly well, but I use it more for after I've been "in" poison ivy.