Poison ivy
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive September 2005:
Poison ivy
I have my first ever case of poison ivy and it is driving me crazy!! How long do new little spots show up? Any sure fire ways to get it to go away? I have been taking poison ivy pills and using ivy dry spray on it, but I keep getting new little spots! Any advice??
Are you sure it's poison ivy? If you've washed the area well and aren't scratching it should be spreading. Make sure you wash your hands very well after putting on the spray. You might want to get some calmine lotion. It's not pretty (well, it's a pretty pink  ) but it works. I haven't had poison ivy in years (since I was a kid) but remember it well. Not fun stuff. Good luck and I hope it heals quickly. No hugs, though. That stuff's contagious!
Dh has had it before and said that is what it is. From what I have found online, it looks like it too. And it actually says that the oozing stuff is not contagious and doesn't make it spread. It also said that it wouldn't really "spread", but that you could have it appear at different times depending on how fast your body absorbed it in that area. I just can't find any good cures for it!!
You may have to go to the dr and get a steroid. DD got it bad in July and that was the only thing that helped. That and Aveeno oatmeal baths.
Good luck, Vicki. I've got it myself, have had it two weeks now and been on steroids for a week and I'm STILL fighting it. I've learned a LOT about poison ivy from this experience, however!!!
First, it's been two weeks and I am STILL getting new little spots showing up here and there. You need to retrace your steps right after you were exposed to the poison ivy, if you can figure out when that happened. If you wiped it off on things in your house, the oils could continue to contaminate you for months to come!! The oils will soak into your SKIN within thirty minutes so you just need to think about what you might have touched the first half hour after you were exposed and make sure you clean it thoroughly with either Tecno which you can buy at Wal-Mart, or you can use alcohol or dishwashing liquid -- I used both just to be on the safe side. Think about doorknobs, refrigerator handles, faucet handles, things like that. Dishwashing liquid is better than soap because it has a degreaser to break down the oils.
Once you're certain all the oils in your house are gone, then you know new spots aren't coming up from re-exposure. You're right, your rash is simply your immune system's response to the oil and is NOT contagious in any way. Scratching can break the skin and open yourself up for possible infection, but it cannot spread the rash.
Now then, even after you've prevented re-exposure, I learned that the rash CAN continue to spread even to unexposed parts of your body!! I had never heard this before, but the doctor told me that sometimes the body's immune response is so active that it starts popping up here, there, and everywhere all over your body even on places that were never exposed to the oils. I looked it up after she told me that and found confirmation from several medical sites on that. That's what happened, and is still happening!!, to me and might be to you too.
The only real CURE for poison ivy is time -- a couple weeks at least, or if you are highly allergic like I apparently am, longer. From what I read, if the rash is INSIDE your body anywhere (like in your mouth or in private areas...) OR if it's on your face, OR if it is on more than 60% of your body, you should see a doctor. I ended up having to go that route, had a shot of steroids immediately and have been on prednisone for a week already with two weeks left to go, sheesh.
The things I have found that helped best:
1. HOT water. As hot as you can stand it without having to worry about burning or scalding your skin. It intensifies the itching while you're under the hot water but once you're done, it will barely itch at all for a couple of hours. This was a lifesaver for me!! Try it -- while it's under the water the sensation will be pure agony and ecstasy simultaneously -- I can't explain it, you just have to experience it to understand.
2. Calamine. I used it because it was supposed to help dry up the blisters. It helped a little with the itching, but not that much. I'm not sure if it helped dry up the blisters or not, but it's what everywhere says to use, so I used it.
3. Benadryl. This will help reduce the itching so you can sleep at night.
4. Keep it exposed to teh air as much as possible and keep it CLEAN. The key is to prevent infection. Any broken skin is potential for infection -- all that hot water treatment comes in handy for keeping it all clean too. :o)
5. Mix baking soda and water and apply it to the rash. This will help dry up blisters as well. When I had to go to dirty places so had to wrap the main part of the rash anyway to keep all the dirt out of it (I work in kids' homes and some are great and others not so great :o) ), I applied a baking soda paste to it and wrapped it in a sterile bandage. This helped it not to itch while wrapped AND it really did seem to make a difference in drying up all that nasty ooze.
6. Don't use bleach. It does seem to work because it dries up the ooze, but it actually takes off layers of skin which makes you more susceptible to getting MORE rash coming back and also increases risk of infection.
7. If you must, get steroids!!! If your body just reacts and reacts and reacts some more and you can't make it stop, you'll HAVE to go that route!!
Good luck!!!
Thanks for all the tips Zoie! Sounds like you are a pro at it!! LOL Now, let me say that I don't have it bad at all. I am sure that some would look at the few little spots that I have and laugh at me for it driving me so crazy. LOL But it is! I have two bad spots on my wrist and arm and a few spots on my fingers. It is only on my right hand/arm. Funny you should mention the bleach because a neighbor just told me about that tonight! LOL I am 99% sure that I got it the other day while pulling a few weeds. That will teach me. I never pull weeds, I always spray them with round up!! I am fairly confident that I got it off the door knobs etc because no one else in the house has it but me. If it were on common items like that, wouldn't dh and dd break out too?? I will use some of your tips and see what happens. I just never thought it would last that long!! Thanks again!!
One more thing to add to Zoie's list is DAWN dish soap. Wash with Dawn. When my son had it so bad the doctor suggested it because it "cuts grease". It really keeps it from spreading.
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