And fun fact, that hairy rope retains the oil basically forever.
Last year we moved into our new house, which had sat vacant all summer. Poison Ivy grew up over the porches and doors as some sort of ominous warning. We did our best removing it, but a year later I still occasionally brush up against little dead bits remaining on the brick and develop a rash. Those little hairy rootlets attach to surfaces with what seems like the strongest force known to man.
Ivy in general is so %$##^ing hard to kill. Even non-poisonous English ivy from my neighborâs house has invaded parts of my yard, and itâs miserable to control.
I read that 85% of the population reacts to PI and 15% does not. I wonder whatâs the special gene that determines if you do or donât, and why the allergy seems to get more severe over time.
Itâs an immune response, so just like how allergies can come out of no where, and continue to get worse, so can a poison ivy reaction. The immune system is a good learner!
Poison ivy reaction is also tied to latex allergy and things like cashews & mangos. Weird, huh?
Iâve never seen poison ivy in CA but do we ever have poison oak. It would be abundant in late summer and fall. You learned not to ride bareback in those seasons. It was bad I tell ya. Never seemed to bother the horses.
no fear as poison oak is very common there and it contains the same ingredient that causes the blistering rash.
The reaction has to do with your T cells. People with AIDS do not react because their T cells donât work correctly . My father, like a small percentage of the population, just didnât have a reaction to the oils in the plant. He however did have quite a few allergies, mostly hay fever. My mother does not suffer from allergies but she has a terrible reaction to poison ivy. My siblings and I all have lots of allergies inherited from my father and also have a bad reaction to poison ivy, inherited from my mother. Go figure.
You young kids have it pretty easy these days when you get poison ivy. A little cortisone cream or maybe some antihistimines to start with. Us Boomers grew up in the 50s when Eisenhower was president. Life was much simpler then. Calamine lotion was it. Mom used to slather it on and I have no recollection of it doing much of anything for more than 5-10 minutes. Healthcare got better in the 60s. It probably was still calamine lotion for poison ivy, but Adolfâs Meat Tenderizer was great for big itchy fly bites.
Iâm terribly reactive to poison ivy. To the point that there is just no level of covering up that makes weed eating a safe task for me. With the amount of poison ivy we have in our fence lines, I get it anyway.
You can also get it from your animals, which is how I get it now when it does happen. I keep Technu in my shower and use it liberally.
The best thing Iâve found to help with the itch (the only thing for me, really, other than steroids) is to use a hair dryer and blow hot air onto the rash for as long as you can possibly stand. It will itch, and then hurt a little, but then you stop blowing hot air on it and the itch stops and stays away for a while. What I was told is that your body essentially releases ALL of its histamines which is what causes the itch. Then youâre out and itâll take the body a while to replenish its stores in order to itch again.
A related PSA for those living in the mid-Atlantic - Virginia Creeper can cause a poison ivy like rash. Itâs got FIVE leaves, not three,
I got into a bit of it years ago cleaning up my patio and ended up with it all over me - legs, arms, waist. I think the only places I missed were my face and down there. Took a couple rounds of steroids to clear it up.
As a bonus, I got some of the stuff on my couch but didnât figure it out for a week.
NoooâŠIâve seen that all over here.
I wear thick gloves, even just mowing the lawn, but now I will be extra-careful.
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