Poison Ivy

[KentT]

At the risk of sounding like Red Green, try spraying it with WD-40 until it runs and drips off...

My brother swears by it, and the one time I've tried it, it worked. It must lift the oil out or something, since WD-40 was developed to displace water -- which is heavier than oil.

 

[georgeT]

If I am away from home and get into poison ivy, I use some tricks my grandfather taught me. Get some mud, make some if you need to, and rub it all over where you touched the plant. I've also had good luck washing off with crushed jewelweed (my Grandfather called it silverleaf). If I'm near the house, I wash off with plenty of soap and water. My wife's Grandfather thought that Old Spice aftershave worked better than soap (I've never tried it). As long as I know I touched the plant, and wash off soon enough with either soap, mud or jewelweed, I never get the rash anymore.

 

[thatguy]

I found that a prescription steroid cream 'Triamcinolone Acetonide Cream USP, 0.1%' does a GREAT job of stopping the itch..

IF you start using the cream when you first start to itch it will keep the water blisters from forming.. If you start using it too late it also does a great job of keeping the itch at bay..

Its about $4 for 2 tubes...

Brian

 

[Pilot]

Forget calamine lotion. Throw it away. They had that 60 years ago and that's about all they had back then. Ok for 1950, but we have better stuff now.

I haven't had poison oak for several years now, so I haven't tried Zanfel. Tecnu is OK, but best used soon after exposure. If it is really bad, you can get steroid shots that really do the job, but they lower your resistance, so the docs don't like to give them to you--at least that was the case when I had it bad a long time ago. There are some benedryl creams that might help. I get poison oak-like reactions from the rubber like stuff they wrap your arm with after you give blood--coban, I think it is called--and the benedryl cream does the job. Without the benedryl cream, it is just like poison oak and it lasts for 2 weeks or more.