poison ivy

i'm sitting here scratching like a madman. i work outside landscaping and haven't had too many problems this year but last week we were clearing brush on the edge of a treeline and the homeowner warned us that it grew pretty thick there. wrong day to be wearing shorts thats for sure. my legs and arms are in sorry shape right now.

it's weird though because alot of the mexicans that we work with don't seem to get it that bad(not all of them). when i was a kid we had a friend that seemed to get it just from being near the woods. i've heard that some people can get it through the air but i'm not sure. he would get it so bad that his face would swell up and the doctor would have to put him on steroids. it reminded me of a joke that i heard that said "if the government wants to make a plant illegal, why not poison ivy?) share some of your experiences with this teriible plant.

We used to spend our summers in a small lake community in upstate NY when I was a kid. I would get poison ivy every summer. Benadryl works well. It will also help you sleep. Take two at bedtime. It's a miracle worker! Unless you want to be comatose, though, I wouldn't recommend it for day time!

I can honestly say, luckily, that I have never had contact with poison ivy. I've known folks who have, but my time in wooded areas has been relatively limited during my lifetime.

But, I've always heard you can only get it from direct contact. The thought that you might get it in some other way is new to me. Never heard this before.

What I did hear the other day on TV was that goats were being brought in (I forget where) to clear poison ivy patches. Goats will eat anything, including poison ivy. It seems that humans are the only creatures on earth who have a reaction to the plant; all other animals are immune to its effects.

Who knew?

(Now, I can't get that old song "Poison Ivy" out of my head!)

Signor V.

Actually, that's not true, SV. For example, never burn poison ivy, as the fumes can be very dangerous to your lungs if inhaled. The other is that the oil can survive a long time, so if you touch something that has the oil on it, you can get it, even if you've never left the house.

For example, if your dog rubbed against some and you then pet your dog, you can get it. If someone was working in the garden and got the oil on their clothes, and you now touch those same clothes, you can get it.

FF,

Did you try an oatmeal bath?

It's cheap and it works.

I remember the oatmeal baths when my kids had chicken pox. They did work well!

I know I had chicken pox when I was little, as did my siblings and was trying to think of what we took a bath in. It wasn't oatmeal. I wanna say baking soda, but would that inflame it? I don't remember

Btw, it's only recently with commercials that I learned that having the chicken pox as a kid can cause shingles as an adult. I didn't know that.


TIS

Yes, same virus. My mom, my brother, my aunt, my MIL and my daughter have all had shingles, and they're horrible.

I think that what the news reporter meant was that humans are the only species that has a reaction to physical contact with the plant, or its active ingredient (the oil). I mean, goats certainly don't, because the whole point of the story was that omnivorous goats are an environmentally friendly way of dealing with a poison ivy problem.

Signor V.

What do you mean are goats trying to eat the poison ivy??