A Friend's Experience with Poison Ivy [View all]

[NJCher]

I just received this email from a union colleague regarding her attendance at an upcoming meeting:

Hi Guys,
Not sure I can make it.
Spent the last 4 days in and out of doctor's offices including a stint in the ER.
I had a VERY bad reaction to poison ivy.  Was prescribed prednisone to which I am apparently allergic to.
Now I am a mess....swollen and red all over.  I look like the elephant man....not kidding.
Will not leave my house until back to normal.  I can't drive because I can't really see too well. (face is too swollen)
I look scary.
Now have $40 ointment and super-duper Benadryl-like antihistamine to hopefully calm things down.

My colleague is not big on yardwork, and I don't know how she got it. She does own her own home, which has a fairly substantial amount of property around it.

Poison ivy and other such plants (sumac, for example), can make one's life miserable. Not to mention a $40 ointment and other drugs are not inexpensive.

For that kind of money, you can have a stash like this, which I keep both in my car and under my sink at home:



Products like Buji (protects skin from plant oils that cause allergic reaction--have to put it on before working in an area where there might be poison ivy), Cortaid (instantly removes poison ivy, oak, and sumac and keeps any oils from spreading), and Tecnu, which also removes the poison oils.There's also Cortaid poison ivy care which keeps rashes from "weeping." Nice to have these handy because you have to use some of the products within 15-30" of being exposed. I keep mine under the kitchen sink, because some require running water to use.

I also take a bag with me to any of my kid gardening sessions and I consider it my job to inspect each bed for poison ivy before I let the kids work in them. You would be surprised how often I find a young poison ivy plant.

Now, if you don't want to spend any money, at least check youtube because last I knew, there was a video there that explained how to scrub for 15-20" after exposure. Might want to bookmark it.