Poison Ivy

I don't even know anymore. Rational thought is hanging by a thread.

I have no idea how I even got it. I was weeding in my garden, the same place I got it last year. I've been in this garden on hands and knees 5 days a week for 6 weeks now, no issue. I do have a flowering vine in the garden (probably more a creeper than a vine) but haven't had an issue with it. I pull it out of the ground and/or trim it by hand with no issues ever. When I moved that iris, some of the creeper had made its way into it. 3 little vines. I plucked them out and replanted.

Now, I am completely covered.

It started on my right hand, from wrist to the second knuckle of my pinky. It's not a rash, not a patch. It is a complete sheet of blisters upon blisters. On my knuckle, between my fingers, it's a mess. They're at the point now where they're filled with fluid to the max, stretching the skin until it's shiny and ready to burst.

Hands are the worst. Partly it's because they hit everything, so you can never have the rash quarantined where it won't brush something and start itching. The other part is that it's your freaking hand. Get it on your shoulder and your shoulder isn't touching anything else. The rash stays put. On your hand? On your dominant hand?! Christ on a cracker - I got it everywhere.

Next after the hand was the inside of my right thigh. That's where my hand rests when I sleep, and it got direct contact. The sheet of rash on my hand is perfectly transfered to the inside of my right thigh. Yay. And of course, when I sleep, my thighs lie together. Yup, then I got it on my left thigh. Weeee. Sometimes my legs are up, sometimes down, sometimes crossed at weird angles. So I get it behind my thigh. Squat down and sit on my legs? Behind the thigh transfers to back of calf. We're really cooking now.

I have to quarantine my legs, keep my hands away from it. So this mental heavyweight tucks them under his head. From my eyebrow to behind my ear in one thick line is now nothing but fiery blisters. That sucked so much I kept my hand away from my head, but the demon of sleep scootched it under my neck. From the bottom of my ear to my collar bone, from jugular to the nape is blown the hell up.

It's my freaking hand! It goes everywhere. Chest? Yup. Stomach? Yup. I imagine I can put deodorant on without... nope. Failed that exersize, too.

Oh, and I'm a guy. A guy. A GUY. So sure, why not? Might as well go for the perfect game. I'll tell ya... I got it so bad, that this last one doesn't even rank in the top 5 worst patches I have right now. I am absolutely lousy with blisters.

My right calf, both ankles, both feet, and my ass. These are the last places I do not have it. I have no hope that I can preserve them. It's like the Battle of Okinawa, and my sensitive, as-of-yet untouched skin is unfortunately representing the Japanese.

Home life isn't too bad. I went to the crick yesterday and got all muddy, soothing the leaking, burning, fiery misery. But I also got bit up by midges, so their itch is now making the ivy itch even worse. And it's like playing the punch game on The Price is Right. Sometimes an itch gets scratched and it's a bug bite. Oh, sweet relief. Other times that itch ends up being the rash. Damn and blast. Plus at home, I can just sit naked, covered in pink splotches and have nothing touching me. That ain't bad. Sitting at work in a goddamn suit, with the silky legs tickling the rash on my thighs and the tight collar/tie combo grating into my neck rash with the minutest of movements? My masochistic side is drunk with joy -_-

I'm gonna ride this one out. It's so bad that going for a new personal record is the only thing I got to look forward to. Plus I'm too broke and too busy to go to the doctors for steroids. So let's see how far this can go, how much more I can take until I break =)

Quote: Face

I don't even know anymore. Rational thought is hanging by a thread...

Go see a doctor.

I second the go see a doctor. Poison Ivy will not spread once the rash starts. The rash is a reaction to the oils on the ivy, which once washed away causes no new rash. Now if you had lots of it on your hands and touched parts of your body you get it in more places. Or, as I was told as a kid, it can get in your bloodstream and rashes hit anywhere.

If you can't see a doctor, go to the nearest public swimming pool with the most chlorine. Spend at least an hour, soaked to your neck. The chlorine will dry the rash out. You may need to go daily for a week.

Quote: AZDuffman

I second the go see a doctor. Poison Ivy will not spread once the rash starts. The rash is a reaction to the oils on the ivy, which once washed away causes no new rash. Now if you had lots of it on your hands and touched parts of your body you get it in more places. Or, as I was told as a kid, it can get in your bloodstream and rashes hit anywhere.

If you can't see a doctor, go to the nearest public swimming pool with the most chlorine. Spend at least an hour, soaked to your neck. The chlorine will dry the rash out. You may need to go daily for a week.

I heard that too about the oil. It's been scripture for me for lo these many years. So whenever I get it or suspect to have contacted it, it's DEFCON 3 in my house. All clothes washed seperately, full scrub double shower, double rinse, shoes/gloves/tools quarantined for washing, wash door knobs or shower knobs... every single thing I contact gets quarantined and washed.

But this keeps going and going. Granted, the secondary and tertiary rashes aren't as bad as the original two. Rather than sheets, it's just a patch of blisters the size of a dime, or just individual blisters without a rash. But even a single blister is a day ruiner when it's on your knuckle, or under your waistband. God, but fingers are the worst place to have it ><

Quote: Face

I heard that too about the oil. It's been scripture for me for lo these many years. So whenever I get it or suspect to have contacted it, it's DEFCON 3 in my house. All clothes washed seperately, full scrub double shower, double rinse, shoes/gloves/tools quarantined for washing, wash door knobs or shower knobs... every single thing I contact gets quarantined and washed.

When I was a kid there was a big argument, could be blood-arguments, as to if it was "contagious" or not. People didn't realize the oil could get on other things.

I once met a guy who it did not affect. He was pulling it out of a garden, no glove no nothing. Talk about lucky.

Quote:

But this keeps going and going. Granted, the secondary and tertiary rashes aren't as bad as the original two. Rather than sheets, it's just a patch of blisters the size of a dime, or just individual blisters without a rash. But even a single blister is a day ruiner when it's on your knuckle, or under your waistband. God, but fingers are the worst place to have it ><

If there is no pool, try a "bleach bath." Put about a cup of unscented, pure bleach in a tub and soak.

Please read -- ways to treat poison ivy

- obvious creams and lotions
- Baking soda:Water 3:1 applied to rashes will pull the fluid out the blisters (or buttermilk or yogurt, same effect)
- Antihistamines or sleeping pill equivalents (Unisom) will lower the rash and make you drowsy.
- Oatmeal bath, but not hot, as you don't want to open your pores.

I got this about 15 years ago and thought I was
going to die. I was in IN for an auction and got
it walking my dog in an empty lot. I used calamime
lotion, but first I used rubbing alcohol. It dries
out the oils from the ivy. Then I kept applying
the lotion. Stay out of warm water, take cold
showers. Warm and hot water makes it worse.

And hang out in your basement today, Face. it's a warmish day.

Quote: Evenbob

I got this about 15 years ago and thought I was
going to die. I was in IN for an auction and got
it walking my dog in an empty lot. I used calamime
lotion, but first I used rubbing alcohol. It dries
out the oils from the ivy. Then I kept applying
the lotion. Stay out of warm water, take cold
showers. Warm and hot water makes it worse.

I only take cold showers anyway, so that's covered. Taking 3 a day currently =p

I've tried everything. Me and PI have a loooong history. I found that aerosol antiperspirant, like Right Guard, works a real treat. Like instantaneous relief. But it wears quick, and sort of makes it worse in the long run.

Alcohol was kind of meh. It burns real good, but alcohol doesn't really dry me out like I think it should. On PI I noticed no change.

Oatmeal also, not much of a result. Even the baking soda paste / bath wasn't worth the hassle.

I once even bandaged all the rashes to keep from rubbing them on other parts and spreading. Please oh please don't ever do this ><

Mud from the crick worked real good, same as it does on bug bites and bee stings. And of course calamine lotion is the old go-to.

Driveway blacktop, the liquid stuff that rises to the top before you mix it, works real good as well. Of course, you then smell like sulfur, and it makes a terrible mess.

Right now is not bad. When I can be home and not in a suit and tie or any clothes at all, it's tolerable. It's a lot like my chronic pain, you can sort of learn to tune it out. But the stuff on my fingers, especially in the web and on the knuckles, oooh lawd. When the blisters reach that point when they're shiny, so full of fluid they're ready to burst, and there's a thousand of them all between your fingers... I gotta keep reminding myself how important hands are, and this temporary issue isn't worth chopping them off.

Isn't worth it... but it's a close contest ><

Make a paste out of baking soda and water and
put on your hands where the blisters are. Leave
it on till it dries. Do this as much as you can
stand it. Use vinegar to swab the area when not
using the baking soda.